Thursday, Founders Day, was a lovely, spring-like day – a perfect day to visit with some animals.
Preschool and elementary classes took turns trekking up the hill behind the school to our Founders Day petting zoo. There were alpacas, cows, lambs, two very pregnant goats, a donkey, a llama, piglets, and some rabbits. Some of the children, especially younger ones, were content to view the animals from a distance, while others were eager to pet, or even hug, them.
The happy event was planned and organized by our fifth grade. Fifth graders told visitors about the animals they were tending and explained how to pet them. (Each animal likes to be petted a certain way.)
Back in their classrooms, the children and their teachers each received a Founders Day treat, a gift-wrapped chocolate chip cookie that was almost, but not quite, too pretty to eat.
Missing this year because of social-distancing requirements was our neighborhood bluegrass band, which has entertained at Founders Day celebrations for as long as anyone can remember. (We set some cookies aside for them.)
We rented the animals from Friendly Pony Parties and Barnyard Pals in Half Moon Bay. The camp’s founder, Terry Tenzing, was married to the son of Tenzing Norgay, the Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer who guided Sir Edmund Hillary on the first ascent of Mt. Everest, in 1953.