Living in Munchkinland

What an amazing week we've had here in Taos. The kids have had cooking camp each day in Arroyo Seco in a beautiful home where Davis has made a great friend. In the afternoons the kids have been building hover crafts with paper plates and batteries. I've been exploring Taos with Tina. We've toured the Taos Pueblo, explored the art galleries on LeDoux street, eaten tamales at Leonels, gone to the San Franscisco Assisi church, eaten a fabulous dinner at Love Apple, driven the Enchanted Circle, which was green and gorgeous and filled with wildflowers of yellow and pink and purple. We've read on the porches and watched monsoons blow in and slept with the windows wide open. I've gone on long walk/runs almost every morning. We've spied prairie dogs and white cotton tailed bunnies in abundance. We saw a rainbow that touched down on both sides of the mountain and arched in vivid color across the sky. I laid on a picnic blanket in the green grass of our yard a...

We are in Taos. We began our drive Friday afternoon after the kids finished their horse camp. They loved their week at their camp and ended with a big award show for their week of jousting on horses with pool noodles. We drove to Lubbock, listening all the way to the audiobook, Inkheart, which I recommend whole heartedly to everyone. We slept at a Home2 Suites and were surprised in the morning to run into some friends of ours from San Marcos at breakfast! It was a lovely surprise and we enjoyed their company for a bit before getting back on the road. We drove into Las Vegas, NM and had lunch at our usual New Mexican restaurant. The whole town was very crowded and full of bikers. They must have been having some motorcycle rally. We got to the Taos house around 3 on a gorgeously sunny afternoon and after unpacking and resting for a bit, we drove over to KTAOS for happy hour, mountain gazing, and play. I love that place so much. On Sunday, we lazed about and then headed into t...

We are home this week. We are both working and the kids are at horse camp. Michael and I both caught Davis's cold, but aren't taking the time to feel unwell. We had a wonderful evening on Sunday at the Duchman winery with my mom and dad and Tiffany and Keith and Kaden and our boys. We drank wine and laughed and told stories and then had a wonderful dinner at the Trattoria next door. We were celebrating my sister's birthday and my wedding anniversary. We also had a nice evening on Monday catching up with Martha and Clark who treated us to Thai food for dinner. We came home to hot and dry. We are only home for six days before I load up the car and head to Taos with my parents and the boys. The two and half weeks off was lovely and made me refreshed to come back. It also gave me a different perspective. Things are changing fast around here and being gone so long gave me a clear picture of that. I am so grateful for my family. They are truly loving and so fun. I am...

On our last day in NY, we woke leisurely, ordered room service breakfast (free to diamond members) and finally left our hotel with a plan. First stop was the Sony Technology Wonder Lab near Rockefeller Center. This place is FREE and absolutely amazing. We spent two geeky hours there, programming robots, producing a news show and practicing open heart surgery. We left and took a taxi all the way down to Chinatown. I'd been there many times, but never explored it in the way we did that day. We went deep into China town. We ate amazing dim sum for lunch at the Nom Wah Tea house with chrysanthemum tea. It was absolutely delicious and the kids loved it. Then we explored the back streets of chinatown, visited a mahayana buddhist temple and picked up a fortune, played in the local park and ate ice cream at the chinatown ice cream factory. We went home and had a rest and then got ready to Go Out. Our friend Jamey had a friend who was willing to babysit and she came to our hotel...

This morning we met Carol and took the subway to the bottom of Manhattan to take the ferry to Governors Island. The ferry was cheap, fun, and fast. We were there in about 7 minutes and it cost us four dollars. The day was sunny and clear and gorgeous. We had a private by default tour of the fort and the kids played in the treehouse and we exp,owed the art installations. We ate lunch in the beer garden and tried out the hammocks and rented a quad bike to tour the island. Everywhere the skyline wAs spectacular with the Freedom tower dominating one skyline and the Statue of Liberty the other. It wasn't crowded there at all and the gardens were verdant and green and full of purple and yellow flowers. We stayed for four hours before wattIng back do to the ferry for our seven minute ride back to Manhattan. We parted with Carol at that point and headed over to Battery Park where Michael and I found a shaded and beautiful beer garden next to a fountain. The kids played in the wat...

We are in NYC. I am sitting in a hotel suite on the 51st floor overlooking Times Square. It is the best view I have ever had. It is incredible. We are staying in this evening. We went to the Lego store this afternoon and the kids have new Lego sets to keep them occupied and I have a big beautiful bathtub in which to soak. We ordered in Chinese food to our room, as we figured we couldnt get a better view with dinner. We moved down from our VRBO apt this morning. We had a great little apartment in a brownstone on 94th and CPW. IT was tiny, but clean and most importantly, it had a washer and dryer. We took the train from the tip top of Vermont down to Penn station on the Amtrak on Saturday. It was a beautiful ride. We got in late at night and slumbered long. Davis had come down with a cold and ear infection at Tyler Place and was suffering. We finally called teledoc on Tuesday and got him some medicine, but the train ride was hard for him. It was hard for us to leave Tyler ...

Here we are at, camp Tyler. Today has been another grand day. Michael and I laid in bed while the kids cycled off to their groups, then had a leisurely breakfast. We were slow to roll as we stayed up doing karaoke at the inn last night. After breakfast we headed outside for lawn games which included tug of war, capture the flag, dodge ball, kick ball and more. we played hard for over two hours. It is such a joy to get to play like a kid again. We finally quit and headed in for a hearty lunch with our teammates. We picked up our kids after and headed down on our bikes to the soccer fields, where we sat on soft green grass and watched the kids play. After soccer, Sam lobbied for a game of putput golf, so we headed to the bike shed to check out the equipment. We played nine holes which is the perfect amount for two kids ages 8 and 10. There was a nice breeze, but we were still hot and sweaty so we cycled to the cottage to strip into our swimsuits And head for the lake. It is s...

Just checking in here from northern Vermont. We are on our second full day at the Tyler Place, and I am in love. We spend our first five days of vacation in Montreal and had a good time and saw a lot of amazing things but the real vacation part of vacation is happening right now. It's like going to summer camp with your kids, but you only actually see them for four hours in the afternoon. We have been sailing, paddle boarding, swimming, water trampolining and sliding in the lake this afternoon. This morning Michael and I read and then took a yoga class and then had a beautiful farm to market lunch. Everything is included here and there is no tipping. We throw our swimsuits on the screened porch and sleep with all the windows open and pull up the covers as the night grows colder. We've met friends at the evening cocktail parties. The kids have their own rooms and a secret playroom in the loft on our screen porch. They love their groups and counsellors. Today they did ...