Near the High School we have a place called the "Family Center." You can use the internet and check out books and family games. They also hold Literacy Nights. Lately for Literacy Night we have been learning about Navajo culture. We learned to make fry bread. We did not measure at all. Just about this much flour, a two finger scoop of baking powder and a pinch of salt, then water to make it soft. It was really yummy though. Another thing we learned was to make traditional Navajo shirts. We did not use a pattern, or even a measuring tape, we just held the material up to the boys and then tore the material so it would be a straight line. About four fingers for the collar and cuffs. It was quite an adventure to sew like that. Anyway all of this was leading up to the tour that we took on Saturday. We went on an educational tour of Moonlight Ranch, a traditional Navajo sheep ranch. It was about 8 miles southwest of our house. Spencer was so excited because we got to ride on a bus.
Here are the boys in the shirts I made.
The person who taught us to sew brought extra shirts for my friend Julie and I, and lent us her turquoise necklaces, I thought that was so nice.
Spencer and James both loved the bus ride. James liked the bumps (it was mostly dirt road). Spencer spent most of the time looking out the window.
At the ranch they had a traditional octagon building and hogan. These pictures are inside the hogan. We learned a lot about the traditional Navajo lifestyle.
Spencer's favorite part was feeding the sheep. They actually got to go in the pen and drop the hay for the sheep. Spencer kept running around saying "Excuse me, excuse me!" to all of the sheep. I asked him about it last night, "Did the sheep listen to you?" "No, they just said Baa!"
After the tour we got to eat some delicious Navajo tacos. I tell you even the restaurants around here don't make them as well as the people around here, they we so delicious.
It was a great trip.
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