Santa Fe 2010, June 30

Papa: Today we went to Bishop's Lodge for dinner.  I had farm raised venison.  It was the first place we had taken Zozo after she joined our family.

We saw the little grass yard with the low stone fence that prevented Zozo from escaping.  

Orrie: Today at camp we went rock climbing!!!!!!!  Then we went to Bishop's Lodge for dinner.  After that we had frozen yogurt for dessert.  Then we bought pocket knives for whittling. I had a great day.

Cooper: Today I went to Abique Lake. We found a godmother and a godfather crawfish.  They were the size of an average lobster.  The god mother was missing a claw. We also found one that was dying and we buried it. Then we went back to camp and I played sketchfighter for the first time.

Santa Fe: June 29

Papa: Last night we went up to John Miller's Xanadu on the mountain and watched the sunset after eating chicken and guac tacos from El Parasol. The sky transitioned from bright red to pink bursts of clouds lingering over the Jemez caldera. Eventually, the sky was bright orange over Taos. No reason to the patter, but lots of rhyme. Tonight, we went to Jackalope and looked at all sorts of crazy things from live prairie dogs to tin skeletons. No luck on the cowhide pillows. We then met Scott de Marchi at Upper Crust Pizza.

Mama: We discovered a memorable root beer tonight: Way 2 Cool, a local microbrew with anise and mint and bourbon vanilla. Yummmmm.

orrie: at camp we went swimming but that was not to different then we went to jackalope and I got a log compartment !!! Then we got pizza and root beer. I had a good day.


Cooper: Today I went to bicentennial pool after that we did rotations: Art, free-play, cooking. For cooking we did blueberry muffins. Then j-t came he was a singer/storyteller. And we went to upper crust pizza for dinner.

Santa Fe 2010: Day 7

Mama: What an insanely beautiful weekend. I'll leave the details to the boys, but we went on two hikes that might be my favorite two hikes ever. Saturday Cooper took us to his favorite hike, Rio en Medio, which criss-crossed along a creek and ended in a superb waterfall. We need to load the photos! Today Orrie led us to his favorite, Cave Creek hike. This time to the Pecos National forest, near Zozo's hometown of Mora. Again along a river, and this time our destination was an awesome cave. Dinners both nights were cherished annual events: Saturday night Sue B. flew in from San Francisco and John Miller joined us for lobster spring rolls (yum yum). Tonight, back to Rancho de Chimayo, lovely as ever. We also went to Shidoni on Saturday.

Papa: We had an amazing weekend retracing long hikes of Orrie and Cooper. Each hike was more than three hours. Not only did we get to see a waterfall and go caving, we also enjoyed a wonderful drive along the Pecos River. The trip to the cave hike took almost an hour and a half, partly because we stopped at a roadside mini donut stand. Somehow, we wound up a mere fifteen miles from Santa Fe as the crow flies (assuming a crow can fly over a mountain!). Last year, Rancho de Chimayo was closed because of a fire. It was wonderful to sit on the patio and reminisce about our wedding. It was particularly poignant to be sitting in view of the old wagon that served as the backdrop of family photos taken at our wedding. I could close my eyes and see grandma Bednar smiling and seeing my dad wandering on the patio and chatting up everyone.

Cooper: This weekend was fun. On Saturday we went to rio en medio, we got on the hike we kept crossing the creek. Sometimes we had to move rocks logs. Once we got there the waterfall was much bigger then anyone thought. for lunch we went to a restaurant/grocery store. when we were finished we took a snack to shidoni there were all these cool statues there. At dinner john miller sue.b came over. On Sunday we went to cave creek. 0on way there their was a little doughnut machine. It was so cool that had to buy some doughnuts. It was a beautiful hike to two tunnels. Well it was one tunnel but there was two ways to get out. I went on the big one then the small one. right before we got out

Santa Fe 2010: Day 4

Papa: Today Jenna and I had lunch at La Casa Sena, a beautiful restaurant situated in a courtyard just off the main plaza. It's one of our favorite places to hang out in Santa Fe. We then spent the day roaming some of the local shops in Santa Fe, finding some bargains and laughing at the $695 linen shirts.

Cooper: Today I went bowling. When we got there I was the first one up to bowl. the first time I got a split. In the whole game I got 3 strikes 2 spares and 1 split. When we got back to camp we had free play then rotations: art, free play, free play, snack, free play, inside free play.

Mama: Today was wonderful! Work in the morning, but Scottie picked me up at about 1pm and we had a DATE! Santa Fe is such a good place for us to work that we forget its other, more obvious charms: first rate museums, restaurants, and it is a great place to stroll around with your loved one. In 15 years of coming to Santa Fe I've never been to the Georgia O'Keefe museum; when I pointed that out at breakfast, Orrie suggested that we all go together. How could a mother turn that down? So we'll save it for an evening visit next Thursday, when it is open late. Anyway---back to the date. I love the courtyard of the Casa Sena at lunchtime. And then we poked around the shops. Still no good star or angel for the top of our tree, much to our surprise and dismay, but on the other hand we are pretty picky. The search may be a lifetime mission, but that's ok by us.

Orrie: Today I did some games at camp until lunch time then we went for a quick hike then things got fun. First we went to a park then we went to a giant fort made out of all kinds of random stuff and it was all still working ! Then we went to a GIANT fort. It had tunnels and beds in the wall, birds nests that were life-size hanging from the ceiling!! We played in there for a while then went and got sno-cones. I had a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Santa Fe 2010, Day 3

Orrie:  Today we climbed villa Nueva state park. The first part was hard but it was nothing compared to what happened after that. First of all, our counselors mistook an old arroyo for a trail so we followed that for another mile in the wrong direction. Then we came to a barbed wire fence. That is when we realized that we were in the middle of nowhere had no idea where we where going and were almost  all out of water! So ...... we retraced our steps all the way down to the place where we had got on the fake trail then we were able to make it down the hill fairly well.  At the bottom of the hill was a river. We went swimming in it; it felt great.

Cooper: Today I went rock climbing. The drive there was 1 hour and 20 minutes. once we got there we had lunch because it was already 12:00 once we got there. Then Misty (the professional rock climber) taught us what we need to know and called up the first group. Unfortunately I was not in that group. I went over to the creek I went to the bathroom and then I helped build the dam. After that I started and finished a boat. But I didn't get to use it because right as I finished it was my turn to go climbing. Once I got to the site a girl was at the top. Then she came down. It was my turn I got the harness on then started climbing. I climbed until there were no grippes...                     

Papa: I got up around 6am and was able to do some writing before anyone else awoke.  I was listening to the radio and the announcer said that time had run out and the USA had tied Algeria in soccer.  I found out an hour later that we'd won in extra time.  I managed to sneak in a very quick trip to the gym and was once again reminded that we're at 7000 feet.   Cooper and I both got haircuts, and neither of us had much taken off the top!!             

Santa Fe 2010: Day 2

Papa: Today the students presented their homework answers on the diffusion of jokes. I saw a snake on my way to the St John's Gym. Lucky for me, the snake scurried away. Two of the students saw a bear last night in our classroom -- pretty cool.

Orrie:today I went kayaking and swimming. I had to do my wet exit which is where you get in a kayak and a teacher flips you over. It is to make sure that if you did fall out of a kayak you would be prepared to get out of the kayak easily. Most of the time I was skipping stones or catching crawdads.

Cooper:Today I went to bicentennial pool. I did the swim test. What you had to do was swim across the pool there and back with any stroke. After I did that I could go in the deep and down the slide. The second time I went went down the slide I had my eyes closed and I didn't know when the slide ended. So I put out my arms too early and I scraped my elbows. After bicentennial we had circle. We were doing rotations :strawberry shortcake, wall pockets, sprout-ball, African drummers, more sprout-ball. Then I went home.


Mama: Work! I focused on institutional path dependence and made reasonable progress. Lunch itself was a disappointing pizza, but brought an interesting conversation with Jerry Sabloff, the new SFI president. I loved picking up the boys; I can't believe how strong they get, so much more so each day. We've taken to doing exercises together, encouraging one another to do more push ups and that sort of thing. I'm up to 8! Ok, I am the weak one in the family, but even I am growing stronger each day.

Santa Fe 2010: Day 1

Cooper: Today Orrie and I went to CAC (Children's Adventure Camp). I hiked to a waterfall. The water was almost the coldest substance on planet Earth. All of the boys went behind the waterfall; there was a dead bat one of the place that was to hard to reach. We didn't touch because it might have rabies. I went under the waterfall five times everybody thought that was amazing because barely anybody went under. I was freezing after that but once you got the hang of it it wasn't too cold. After that we drove to a park and ate a snack of oranges and granola bars. Then we played on the playground. Then we drove back to camp then I played shuffle board until my parents came to pick me up.

Orrie: Today I got to go to the underground caves. I did the big tunnel a few times but that got boring so I decided to go through the small tunnel. I had to go with a teacher and some other kids because it was hard to see in there because there was no hole for the light to come through. The last tunnel iI went through was tiny and you had to rock climb the last part; what made it even harder was that there was a giant spider in there so you could only climb over the mud part of the wall. Then we hiked back to the buses where we had a snack of burritos and oranges. Then we all got back in the buses and drove home. I had a great day.

Mama: While the boys were getting out in the mountains I went up the hill to the Santa Fe Institute. I have a beautiful view but wasted it on a full day of a tricky referee report. I do NOT want to spend my most productive two weeks of the year knocking off all professional duties! Tomorrow, and all days after, I'm going selfish, focusing on my own research, rather than someone else's. Scottie and I picked up the boys at five-ish and after a much-needed feet & face wash, went off to the Cowgirl, where the boys had their first kid cocktails: OJ, sprite, cranberry, and a dash of grenadine (or, as we said, a grenade, and they'd leave the pin in if the boys were good). Ditto Orrie: it was a great day!

Papa: Today was the first day of the 16th SFI Summer Workshop. The students seem great this year. I'm taking time to appreciate the wonders of Santa Fe -- especially the sunsets. A highlight of the day was having dinner at the Cowgirl, the site of Jenna and my rehearsal dinner.