HAPI 2012

Here we are again - it's Christmas 2012.

Wow! How did we get here so fast?!

First of all, there was Thanksgiving with Granddaddy in Taos (while Grandmommy was getting used to her new knees in Santa Fe).

Paloma is an avid reader, and Granddaddy was happy to oblige.

In the meantime, Imme was eating (again). 

 It was a lovely, simple Thanksgiving, with plenty of time for just hanging out.

Imogen likes hanging out. 

Back in Albuquerque, we decided to take a stroll down to the river to see the last of the autumn colours...

At our favourite spot near the Rio Grande Nature Center. 

... and do a spot of baking...

Paloma decided to put a thumbprint in every little ball that she rolled in coconut. Yum! 

... and do some more hanging out...

Imogen loves hanging out! She's pretty good at pulling herself up to stand, and she likes shuffling around on the edge of the furniture. 

 ... and elk hunting. Howard went with Mike and Lee down to the Gila: Mike got his elk on the first day and Howard got his on the second. (Lee didn't draw a tag, but was happy to be the scout/meat-hauler.) We have a full freezer and a couple of happy meat-eaters. (I think Paloma has already declared herself to be vegetarian. We'll see if it sticks.) (Imme had her first taste of elk meat and seemed to like it! Howard is over the moon!!)

Houghton Canyon in the Gila Wilderness.
(How do YOU pronounce 'Houghton'?)

Merry Christmas everyone! We're off to Taos tomorrow - let's hope that they have plenty of snow for our White Christmas!!

Birthday wishes for Dad

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY WONDERFUL DAD!!!!!

This is a big birthday for you, Padre! I thought it would be cool to post some pictures of you so I scrounged around in my old (paper) photos to see what I could find. Oddly I found a lot of pictures of you outside, hunting and fishing. I wish I had a photo of you walking back home from your deer hunt in the mountains behind our house (circa 1978??). I remember seeing you returning. You were a tiny speck at the base of the mountains and watching you walk across all the fields on your way home.

I found pictures of you and our family, lots of pictures, but these two sum it up. You are a wonderful Dad and have given so much to all of us. I think about you as I raise my children as I have a wonderful guide to follow..

Cathy and I loved the image of you and Duff sleeping in the motorhome. We hovered over your bed giggling and snapping pictures. By the angle of this photo we were sitting damn-near right on top of you and you did not wake up...not too surprising.

In my search for pictures I even turned up a photo of you stuck in a dog door. I contemplated posting it but remembered the pact we had made and the trade for the down jacket and kept it off this blog. It makes me happy though that I still have a photo of that night. Do you want to trade something else for that picture?

I love you Dad!! Happy happy birthday. With any luck you will have Elk in your freezer for a birthday gift!

Turkey Day 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are in Taos to quietly celebrate and be thankful.

We are all feeling thankful for great adventures and old knees made new,

a hint of winter for our lantern walk,

and beautiful princesses.

Stand

As we all know, Imogen is a curious little monkey and likes to get around.

Now she likes to stand.

I'm sure that soon she won't just stand there, and we will be chasing her around everywhere.

And Claire will be up and running soon! Two new knees and she's as good as new. :)

We will probably be running after Paloma too. She has already decided that it's a good idea to share her sister's clothes (but there may be a size issue).

Determined to make this onesie fit...

Festival of the Cranes

I headed down to Bosque del Apache last week for the Festival of the Cranes. I had a great morning at Research Day, talking to scientists about what has been happening on the Refuge. (Yes, really, I was there for work!)

And then I headed out for lunch in the sunshine.

Most of the cranes had already flown off in the early morning, but I did get to meet some birds and enjoy the view.

Ducks and geese...

Wetland and mountain...

Cranes!

Four more years

We watched the President's Victory Speech together. Paloma seemed to be really interested.

About two-thirds of the way through she sighed and said, "Gee, I sure hope Elmo turns up soon."

Happy Halloween!

Jack o Lantern by Paloma

Candy Corn by Paloma

Candy Corn by Imogen (cute toes!)

This was the first year that we took Paloma trick-or-treating.

Here we go!
[Thanks to Steve P. for the dress.]

We dropped in on a couple of neighbours that we know well, to say hello and surprise them with a visit from Snow White.

Knock! Knock! Hello Judy!

Showing off her Halloween stash. 

 And then it was back home to finish up the pumpkins.

This isn't a particularly interesting photo but
doesn't Paloma look like a little mini-me?

Time to instruct Papa about exactly where the pumpkin should be placed. 

Imogen likes pumpkins* too!
[Thanks for the vest, Aussie Grandma!]
*actually, she prefers sweet potato.

Carefully lighting the Jack o Lantern
and replacing the lid...

This Halloweening is serious business....

Happy birthday Paloma!

Paloma turned three last week. Three already. It feels like we just celebrated her second birthday.

My, how time flies.

Her birthday was on a Thursday, so we opened a couple of presents before school. She seemed pretty happy to get a new bunny ears jacket.

Modeling her new jacket

Ears to keep her ears warm in the winter

At school, she shared some hedgehog slice with her friends and everyone sang happy birthday.


When we got home, Howard artfully hid her next present in the backyard.

Although she seemed a little distracted, we eventually got her to try out her new trike.

And away she goes!!!

After a trial run in the backyard, we decided to take it to the streets.

She talks a lot, doesn't she?

The next night, Grandmommy and Grandaddy came to visit and she dressed up for the occasion.

Thanks for the hat, Aunt Shari!

Then on Saturday morning, we celebrated AGAIN! (Three parties: what a lucky girl!)

We had a bunch of friends around and they had a grand old time with paint and a blank wall.

Of course, no party is complete without birthday cake. Paloma had requested purple cake with pink frosting and I did my best to oblige (despite some technical difficulties).

Proud as punch!

Mia, Caroline, Paloma, Finn, Liam, James

One, two, three blow!

Thanks to Sarah for capturing Paloma blowing out the candles. Apparently, I missed the first attempt:

In the meantime, Imogen just soaked up the atmosphere...

"Yeah, I'm cool. No big deal."

And now we have a beautiful mural in our backyard!

[Thanks to everyone who came and painted with us![

There's still room to add more!

I wonder what will happen when (if) it snows?

Dreaming of camping

  Rolling the hands of time back, back to the warmer months of August, at a time when the Brandenburdetts went to explore Heron Lake. Yes, it takes me this long to get my act together to post a blog entry.

 While Paloma rigs the raft I attempt to wear Semilla down with perpetual stick throwing in the lake.

We journeyed across the lake to a road-less area so we could escape the weekend crowds and have a portion of the lake all to ourselves. The motion of the boat and the repetitive sounds of the oars has a relaxing quality to it as evident by the passengers. 

 At last we arrived and set up our little camp. This was to be our home for the next three days.

 Paloma set to work building a fire pit and gathering wood.

 Our evening were calm and peaceful...

 ...and our mornings were cozy all piled into the tent.

 We spent the days puttering around the lake,

relaxing,

 exploring the lake side,

 hiking to interesting destinations,

 (did I mention the rocking of the boat had relaxing qualities to it?)

 We organizing sticks and logs to resemble houses which we could all occupy.

 oh, and swimming too,

 and flying kites!

 The whole adventure tuckered Paloma out...or maybe it was just the motion of the boat on the water.