Smoke Signals

Tuolumne Tribe of the Sun Nation

Better late then never! The Tuolumne Tribe had a great time at the Fall Campout. Everyone enjoyed the great weather on Saturday and then Koda later that night.

Noonay!

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The Mighty Sarrano enjoy El Nino!

The Mighty Serrano Tribe held their winter campout this last weekend up at the Fillet Chalet in Lake Arrowhead and had an unusually lucky time snow wise. A weekend earlier and we would have needed chains. A weekend later and the snow would have been gone. It was perfect. The showing was good as well. We had12 big braves, 14 princesses and 3 alumni for the event. One dad brought a popcorn maker, another a projector and we had an amazing movie night. Saturday we all had a great time on the slopes!

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Merry Christmas from the Might Sarranos Tribe!

The Mighty Serrano have been a very busy tribe. We took the Newport Landing Boat Parade tour on and the weather was perfect. It’s a late night for the princesses, but worth it once a year.  We also          had our favorite event, our annual caroling at the Orange Healthcare & Wellness Centre. This is always a great time for the group home residents and a great experience for the princesses. We are allowed to go room to room and sing to the residents who can’t make it out to a general meeting area and it warms your heart to see their reaction to these young girls singing to them. Our girls always walk away with lasting memories as well.

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and families in the Longhouse of the Orange Skies.

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Trail Mates kick off meeting is in the books!

The long awaited Trail Mates program for this year has official started. Though delayed I think we had a very successful meeting. Our young ladies were excited about getting started and have come together as a group on our first event this month. Art is the theme and a location will be found to accommodate our group to try our hand at painting. More events are in store for our Nation this year. We will also be attending the Indian 500 race as an independent nation at the end of the month. Also discussed was an opportunity to join the Santana Nation during their Spring campout at Emerald Bay.

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Our mission: This programs is for older boys or girls and their dads where they can plan about 3 age appropriate events a year with at least one geared towards community service. We all graduate from the program for a variety of reasons, but graduation comes at a time when our kids need even more opportunities to spend time with us as they grow older and need their fathers to provide a solid male role model to demonstrate to them how a man should behave in their presence. This program is designed to provide a few more years of fathers sharing time and forging stronger lifelong bonds with their kids.

If you know of anyone who is interested in joining our nation, please contact me or Mike Garcia via this website. 

Noonay!

Eric Bergeron

 

The Sky Nation’s Serrano Tribe is on the move!

This is continuing to be a great year for Sky Nation’s Serrano Tribe. We are looking forward to an event filled Holiday season as usual. We are booking the Newport Landing Parade of Lights, singing carols at a group home and taking in the Ducks – Red Wings hockey game. The Turkey Shoot was another successful event this year as well. Some of our shooters managed to get their pictures taken. A big Noo-to-the-nay to the Mighty Cherokee tribe of the Santana Nation for putting on this great event.

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The Tuolumne Tribe had a great time at the 2015 Fall Campout!

The Sun Nation’s Tuolumne Tribe is reporting all went well at Yucaipa this year at the Fall Campout. Koda gave us all words of wisdom and the weather was beautiful. El Nino gave us a break this year! Many new Braves and Princesses were assimilated into the Tribe, Nation and Longhouse during the Bear Claw ceremony which makes the Great Spirit very proud!  NOONAY!

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2015 Pancake Breakfast

The 2015 Longhouse of the Orange Skies Breakfast was a huge success thanks to the dedicated volunteers who took time to make it all come together. A big WAR WHOOP to all who set up, cooked, served and otherwise slaved away so that Braves, Princesses, Guides, family and friends could enjoy the day. More than 130 enjoyed pancakes on a beautiful Saturday morning, September 12, 2015, at Hart Park in Orange. Kids took part in more fun with game booths and bounce houses. More than 20 outstanding raffle prizes were donated and given away to happy Princesses and Guides. While we have most of the names of who volunteered, several others stepped up at the event and we don’t want to leave you out so a BIG thank you to all who helped. You know who you are. There were some hard working chefs, early morning unloaders, dazzling dishwashers and a crack clean-up crew. THANK YOU!

This was our first year holding this event early in the program year which was a deliberate attempt to use the event as a recruiting tool. Several prospects attended the event and nation and tribal chiefs are following up with them. This was a very successful event and with some more focused marketing to prospects in future years ahead of time, the event could really increase tribal numbers. We can increase our marketing as the school year starts directly to schools. With our new marketing collateral (Thank Mark Kuli and Kustom Imprints!), we can attract new families into our Longhouse.

The Pancake Breakfast is a big undertaking but it’s really condensed to hours in the weeks leading up to the event and then of course the big day which goes by super-fast. It is unique in that it is not a volunteer opportunity that lasts all year so it may be the perfect match for you if you are looking to get involved. The Longhouse is in need of a couple Braves who may take over as Warchief of the event in 2017. Please contact Dave “Big Cat” Simpson if you would like to assist in the planning and implementation of the 2016 Pancake Breakfast and learn the ropes with the idea you would take it over in 2017. Big Cat can be reached at DgSimpson1@cox.net or (714) 865-0531.

Dave “Big Cat” Simpson
2015 Pancake Warchief

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The Mighty Serrano Tribe of the Sky Nation brings home Best Camp at the Fall Campout!

The fall campout is behind us and it was amazing. The weather was nearly perfect and the Serrano tribe was impressive in every way. We had 17 braves and 19 princesses at the campout this year, which was one of our strongest showings in many many years. We welcomed in 5 new braves and 6 new princesses with their help took home the Best Camp award. Thanks to John (Tatonka Amiliwa) Somerville and his squaw for sending a birthday celebration for Calista and Olivia to the campout. That was a great surprise, added another dimension and the princesses really enjoyed it. We also want to thank Joseph (Full Moon) Barbeito for making and bringing a tree swing for the girls to use when they weren’t busy cooking or preparing for the judging.

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First Outing for the Mighty Serrano of the Sky Nation

The mighty Serrano Tribe of the Sky Nation has a strong start this season and look forward to a terrific year. We met at Tustin Lanes for a “Farewell to Tustin Lanes” outing. As most of you probably know they are closing their doors. Our braves and princesses had a great time and are looking forward to the Fall Campout next month. We had 8 braves and 8 princesses participate aswell as potential new recruits and some family. It was a fitting farewell.Our tribe has four new braves and five new princesses this year, which will make us strong for many moons to come. We are also looking forward to welcoming in the new Pioneer Princess tribe into the Sky Nation who are filling a void left when the Mighty Huron Tribe went dark a few years ago. This looks to be a great year.

Noonay,

Mighty Serrano Chief Grey Eagle

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Valley Nation Blackfoot tribe heads up the hill for their winter campout.

The Blackfoot tribe had a weekend of great food (including lots of fresh homemade salsa), nature, games, more food, and even a bit of snow. Friday night was spent eating enough chips and salsa to feed a small army, followed by dads and sons practicing world domination in a hard fought game of Risk, lasting into the wee hours.

On Saturday morning, the little braves weathered the bone-chilling sub-arctic temperatures as low as 45 degrees, built a squirrel trap, and adventured in our backyard forest. Then we grabbed our hiking sticks and ventured out for a backwoods hike. The boys found swords (sticks), knives (sticks), light sabers (sticks), a giant ogre hammer (particularly awesome stick), and unsurprisingly, more than one splinter. Then more salsa via fresh tacos, and then dad/son teams built cross-country railway routes in a competitive game of Ticket to Ride.

A few braves headed home on Sunday morning, and a couple stayed behind for some snow and snowboarding up at Snow Summit. It was Roman Bauer’s first time on a snowboard, and his friend Connor Chu was out for his second. Roman’s dad Chris had been once before… many, many moons before. Veteran snowboarder Chien Chu was our resident instructor, and patiently taught us how to NOT barrel into other hapless newbies, and how to keep the slippery side (mostly) down. We all had a blast. Noonay!

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Santana Daddy Daughter Dance

On February 12th the Santana Nation held its annual Daddy Daughter Winter Ball at the Santa Ana Elks Club. With the theme set as “Winter In Paris” the building was decked out with wonderful winter decor. All tables were decorated with Eiffel Tower center pieces and there was a huge Eiffel tower that stood over all the gift baskets. Our tribes enjoyed an excellent French cuisine, ice cream sundae bar, dancing, games, professional photos, fun photo booth, and the most anticipated event, the gift basket raffle. Our tribes donate fun gift baskets that some lucky Princesses would take home. The last drawing of the night was sponsored by the Santana Nation which was a free trip to our Spring Campout at Ponderosa Pines in May. Congratulations to all the winners last night!

This dance has been a labor of love for the Seminole tribe two years running. A HUGE Noonay goes to our Seminole Chief Dave Welch the Nation War Chief for this event. Along with Dave, Chris Bauer was the Seminole War chief in charge of coordinating the rest of the Seminole for this event. Another Noonay goes to the wives that were there to check us all in and help where ever needed.

As I’m writing this, I’m finding myself reminiscing all the Santana Daddy Daughter dances that I’ve attended in my ten years in the program. I find myself going back into the photo records and wondering where my little princesses have gone. I remember the early years where they would not leave my side but as time went by they were more and more comfortable venturing out with their friends dancing the night away but always coming back to Daddy for that special dance. Even with this being the last Indian Princess Daddy Daughter Dance that I will attend with my youngest, she still comes back for that special dance with Daddy to Butterfly Kisses! This is what this program is all about. As I wipe the tear from my eye, I’m so proud that they knew that they’ll always be daddy’s little girls no matter what. So if this is your first years in this program or other, I encourage you to always ensure that you set aside the time for these events with your princess. Because before your know it, you’ll be kneeling down in front of her with blue tears painted on your face and breaking that arrow together over your knee.

Noonay!

Eric Bergeron Longhouse Sand Painter

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