A Wrap Up

The week in Santa Fe went really quickly. Tuesday the guys went fly fishing and the rest of us went first to the Georgia O'Keefe museum and then to the Children's museum. The littles and Bella appeared to enjoy the O'Keefe museum and really loved the Children's Museun. Here are some pictures from the children's museum.

Here's Bella pulling herself up the pole by using pullies

Grace and Nonna threading beads

Ella playing music







Grace playing music

Bella surrounding herself with a bubble (sorry for the orientation - I forgot to flip it)

Ella and Sara making bubbles







In the afternoon while the littles napped Nancy and I went to Whole Foods and Susan's wineshop for food and wine (the staples of life). We also shot some baskets in our private court, played with the kids, had a late supper and got to bed early in anticipation of an early start the next day for a balloon ride.

Grace makes a basket (with a little help)




Mark making a point after dinner. Of course Wes and I are attentively listening to his sage advice.

Wednesday arrived early (like 4 AM). We left the littles with a babysitter and met our balloon pilot, Johnny, and drove to the launching site by way of the balloon storage area. We 'helped' inflate the baloon then all hopped in the basket and we took off. Mark had driven and still had his keys as we ascended. The crew had forgotten to tell us that they needed the keys to move the car so we sat down on a bush, gave the keys up, and took off again. Down the canyons, up over the ridges and down the next canyon until we arrived at the landing area Johnny had picked out. A great ride. We were even allowed to fire the burners at times. We were back home a little after 10 AM.

Getting ready


















Laying out the baloon
















Filling it with hot air (Bella and Johnny in picture)











Ready to go





















Lift off!














Airborne


















Bella firing the burners






















The scenery














Do these people look happy or what?








Polly takes a shot at triggering the burners



















We almost land in a bush

The balloon gets deflated









































And packed up












A celebratory party to attest to our survival (it was a great experience)!







After some short naps Nancy, Wes and I toured the downtown area around the Plaza which was interesting but kind of touristy. The next day the women went to the spa and the rest of us took Bella, Grace and Ella swimming at a public pool. It was inside and the water was warm with slides and lap lanes. All had a good time. That night we had dinner catered in by two Native American chefs. It was all local and all Native American food, most of it coming from the reservations around Santa Fe.





The table before dinner (with Lois, one of the chefs)











Making desert plate decorations - everyone is involved, escpecially the granddaughters

















The results
















Blowing out the candle

























Ella's decorated plate with desert (mostly the littles watched a movie but they came out for desert)

















Polly and Sara read an original poem in honor of my birthday, much to the delight of us all


















And the girls put on a terrific skit!






We all went to bed full and happy that night.

The next day we all went to a pueblo village at Bandelier Monument. It was fun climbing up into the caves that were used as part of the Native American houses.









Ella in a pueblo nitch













Grace is the same nitch





















Sara, Wes, and Ella in a pueblo 'house'












After the pueblo trip we came home and started to pack up for our trip back the next day. Saturday we said good bye to the house and to Santa Fe and headed to the airport in Albuquerque. After almost a day of traveling everyone arrived home safely.

Santa Fe continued

Sunday Mark and Wes went golfing (the golf balls fly further at high altitudes according to Wes) and enjoyed a fairly good course. The rest of us went downtown Santa Fe and looked into store windows and ate at an outdoor cafe. We returned home for naps which some of us managed to get while others (mostly the littles) didn't. Polly and Mark put on a great dinner of steak baked in the oven. Very tender although slightly salty. The littles put on a show for us.
They also liked playing in the wading pool we set up for them, especially the littles.

The next day (Monday) we all went to a working Pueblo outside of Taos. It was elightening as to the way Native Americans lived and how they live today. Some pictures from the village:



After we got back there was horseshoes to play as well as baskets to shoot.

For dinner the Bella, Grace and Ella stayed with a babysitter (Laura) and the adults all went out to the Coyote Cafe. We had a great dinner (the ice cream special for desert was outstanding) and the babysitter had them all in bed and asleep when we got home around 10 PM. A great day.

Still Here

Bella has shamed me into taking up pen, so to speak, and reinvigorating my blog. We had a wonderful time in Santa Fe. It was a week of seeing sights, eating great food and taking in new experiences. Some of all these are shown below. I'll try and do it in several posts. This first one is from the time Nancy and I arrived through Saturday, July 4.




The first day (Thursday) Nancy and I took a 10,000 to 11,000 foot hike in the Santa Fe National Forest. This is a (unclear) picture of Santa Fe taken while on our hike. The trail was easy but constantly up.










This is a picture of a gorgeous spruce forest that covered I don't know how many acres that we walked in on the hike.












The next day (Friday) we traveled to 3 small towns to look at art galleries and Native American jewelry and art works. Here's a picture of a Christ statue outside of a (the) church in one of the small towns we visited.


And a cactus that we saw along the way. There actually weren't that many cacti out there but some of the ones that were there looked deadly like this one. Along the way we visited mucho art galleries that displayed all kinds of art. Apparently Santa Fe and the surrounding area sells more art than anywhere else in the USA except for New York City.




Saturday, July 4, Polly, Mark, Isabella,Grace, Sara, Wes and Ella all arrived in the afternoon. We were able to get into the house in the morning and do some shopping so things were at least partially settled when they got there. We had a great view of the mountains and just a short walk to downtown Santa Fe. Here's the view:



Once everyone arrived they lost no time in settling in. this is a gathering in the kitchen;


Here's a couple of pictures of our outdoor table where we ate most of our dinners.















Night finally came and with it fireworks. We could see some of the town fireworks but decided not to go out to see the official Santa Fe ones. We did, however have our own:















To be honest, Ella was tired and went to bed before the sparklers got started so we had some just for her the next evening.

That ended the fourth for us. Everyone was somewhat tired from traveling and the time change and went to bed relatively early. More about the week later.