July

The annual Fourth of July Pancakes on the Plaza event in Santa Fe

Along with the classic car show downtown.  The kids were actually encouraged to write on this car with chalk.

We had a 4th of July BBQ at our house this year with Thompsons, Scanlans, Weiners, and Burdicks but were too preoccupied to capture it with photos.  We finally got the camera out after everyone had left to capture some "sparkler art" the kids made. 

Both kids stayed up until 10:00 to watch the city fireworks from our back porch.  Toward the end of the show they were both yawning and begging to go to bed.  I remember Jack said, "I'm as tired as a bucking horse." 

Fun with the baby pool and the sand box.

We went to see the opera "Carmen" preceded by a lovely tailgate picnic in the parking lot.  I really enjoyed this opera in part because so much of the music is recognizable.  I found myself thinking, "I can't believe that's from Carmen too!" with nearly every aria.

We did one of our favorite waterfall hikes on a Saturday morning.  It's about 5 miles round trip but not too strenuous other than some fun rock scrambling at the end. 

The water was freezing! 

This was the rainiest monsoon season I can remember since we moved here 6 years ago.  The countryside looks lush and the kids actually have gotten to use their raincoats and umbrellas. 

I won 4 free tickets at the childrens museum last spring to ride the Cumbres Toltec narrow gauge railroad that spans the Colorado/New Mexico border.  It is the highest train in the country and traversed gorgeous parts of the Southern Rockies.   It was fun to stand out on the open air observation car or relax in the old-fashioned coach cars.  Sasha read almost an entire Wimpy Kid book that day I remember.  She is an easy keeper now when she has a book in hand.

This is a bobcat that wandered into our front yard one day.  Apparently my parents saw a baby bear later this summer crossing the road by our house.  We definitely live closer than I'd prefer to nature sometimes!

Jack with his teacher Gabriela at his last day of Momentum Preschool.  He has been there for 2 1/2 years but is excited to move to Rio Grande School with Sasha in the fall.

It's hard to see, but Sasha is holding the tiniest of geckos that she found in our dining room of all places.  She named it "Alabama" and observed it for a day or so in our bug box before releasing it on the boulders in our yard where other geckos seem to hang out.