Boo!

The beasts of all hallows eve....

Born from the bones of a rotting bird corpse, and from the ashes of a fallen unicorn, the spirits rise for Halloween....

Bwa ha ha haaaaaaa.....

The Bird Skeleton hits the trick or treat trail.

The Ghost Unicorn needed a little help navigating the trick or treat trail. 

Thanks for the pumpkin, Auntie Cathy!

A Ride down the Rolling Rio

A Ride down the Rolling Rio

We had been planning some sort of raft trip in May and after many iterations of location we settled on the Middle Rio Grande. The weather leading up to the trip did not consist of the usual sun parched summer days. We had weeks of rain and all of New Mexico's rivers were swollen. The Rio Grande was true to name sake. So in two cars we set out south to escape the sounds and sights of the city and to enjoy life next to the banks of a river.

The crew about to depart from the launching point, San Acacia, NM

"take your stations. Good rowing Imme!"

"What do you see out there, first mate Paloma?"

We reached our first nights camp in the early afternoon. To fill our time we, relaxed, hiked, and played in the river, particularly Semilla.

The river rolled past our beautiful camp.

So did the occasional rain cloud.

The next day we rowed on. We covered over seventeen miles with not a lot of effort, the high water pushed us along nicely. Paloma had a turn at the sculls.

That evening we camped in a very narrow and deep section of river. The sand waves crashed and the storm cells built.

While swimming and hiking options were limited we found other means to occupy our time.

day light hours passed...

...making way for the evening.

The morning brought sun...

and more water down river

And we were off for another day of adventure....

Spirit week

Every year, our preschool celebrates "Spirit Week" by encouraging the kids to dress up every day. Some days, they are asked to wear a certain colour, or wear pyjamas to school (always a hit!). Other days, the dressing up is more elaborate.

One day, we dressed as our favourite cartoon characters:

Popeye:

Butterfly: 

CRAZY HAIR DAY!!!

Having crazy hair is serious business....

"The Day After Tomorrow"

Snow daze

It finally snowed in Albuquerque!

It snowed in our front yard!

 And in our backyard!

Some of us were more content to stay inside (mainly because she doesn't like hats and jackets).

Our new xylophone survived the snow.

Semilla had a great time bouncing around in the snow.

So did another little girl...

 Meanwhile, inside, towers were being constructed...

Howard is very proud of this one. 

Happy birthday, Aussie Grandma!