We began the day with the plans to spend the day visiting museums.. but that all changed when max found a giant wounded raven in a neighbors yard. The poo e. Birds wing was broken. Max has. Huge heart and couldn’t leave the bird to suffer.. he marshaled us all to capture the giant bird using a . Combo of brooms, sheets, boxes nd ladders.. I was so impressed with how quickly and gently max got the bird in a box.. it must nHave been 18 inches tall !

Max had called the New Mexico wildlife center in espanola.. and they’d agreed to try and tret the bird… the 6 of us piled into 2 cars and drove the 20 miles to the center..

They took in the bird and confirmed its wing was broken and started X-rays.. we wont know the out some until tomorrow..but it felt good to try and help this beautiful creature ,

We took advantage of our visit to see some of the other animals that the center hd rescued..but were not able to be released for various health reasons. It was. Great setting some of these magnificent animals ..many are used in schools for outreach and seem to enjoy being fed and well cared for. Some of the residents had been there for more than. 30 yers !

We spent a good hour t the center seeing the animals.. then grabbed a delicious santa fe meal on the Pojoque reservation on our way back to town. We sill had time for one museum and we chose the beautiful santa fe folklore museum. What a treat

We first hit the exhibit of 10000 toy miniatures from one collectors collection.

Then we saw a great collection of Japanese manga and ghost masks..

We finished the day with a wo derful takeout meal from the big tusque reservation..

The watched a really great animated movie called Klaus.. it was a Christmas story.. but had some really nice twists.. very beautiful to watch !

At the end of the movie, it was time for us to say good bye to max, becky , doreen and george ..

It has been. Truly wonderful holiday visit.. we managed to see and do so much.. including great food, great hikes, .. and great family time. We’re very grateful to max and becky for playing host to such. Large and busy group..

This trip has really filled us up.. we love our family so much !

Heading back to Vermont early tomorrow .

Ore from there !

Nite ll,nite sam

-me

The day started early with gabe and I leaving the airbnb at 5:30 to catch gabes 7am flight home.. its been so great having him here. With us ! Were so proud of our boys !

I got back home by 6:30  and caught a few more hours of sleep..

We met. Up at max and beckys at 10:30 and headed up to the mountains to see some. Fresh snow ! It was a beautiful hike.. we brought our new butt sleds which added some great sliding fun !

B

danny braught H s drone along..l I hope to be able to share those pucs soon …

We said goodbye to danny and Elizabeth… then mx,becky, doreen, George and I headed back up to the hot tuba at 10000 waves for. Wonderful soak.. then a Great meal a their restaurant izunami for. Great Japanese meal

It was a great way to spend boxing day..whatever that mens 😉

Note ll, note sm

-me

Beckys family had their family Christmas on thursday. We had ours on friday.. and we spent saturday all together which worked out great.. we had just the right mix of big and small gatherings. Today we started with a great hike on thie outskirts of santa fe. I dont remember the name of the place but weve been there before.. great views of the mountains and the city

Then we headed back to the house ready for an early evening dinner… Thank he had made beef Wellington from scratch… Diane made creamed spinach and then we had leftover homemade pasta from the night before it was quite a feast !

After dinner in Scott fun… We started doing science demos like shining UV lasers through alcohol and olive oil (Fresh olive oil fluoresces pink…if you heat it too much it changes to red.. And stays that way… Even write a short blurb about that for cooks illustrated which they never published..dang)..

And we put some steel wool in the microwave!

We can use the night with a family Christmas tradition of decorating a tree for the animals… This time we didn’t have far to go. We took some old still bagels and hung them in Max and Becky’s chicken coop… A real treat for the birds.

What a wonderful day!

Nite all, nite sam

– me

Today we all glt together at mx and Becky’s to celebrate our family. Christmas. Our family is a blended culture and we celebrate both customs…. and its a whole lot of fun.. we started at o ur airbnb

Packed the var and headed over to max and beckys.. its really fun all being together…

Sam is always with is.. we are always thinking of him when we are together .

we showed up at max an Becky’s around 10. And the party started.

Max made a beef wellington for us all when we get together with the neils tomorrow.

The dogs viloet and ben are excited too ! Our dogs used ot love christmas. Chai would always find her stocking and take the toys out before we all came down .. we miss those girls !

We spent the whole day eating, exchanging very cool presents and hanging out.. it was really wonderful.. max made us all stings of lignts with. 3d printed versions of our schoolhouse.. how cool is that ?

We had lox and bagels for breakfast

And cookies

Gabe gave is some really cool stuff including a calendar with all of our pets over time.. and socks with his dog nova on them .. he got max socks with volet and becky with her late cat ruckus.. . I got a rope dart to start learning fire spinning. Such thoughtful and creative gifts.

One of the gifts max got was a kitchenaid mixedr withi a pasta attachemnt.. so thatss. What we all made for dinner .,. It was really fun allworking together to make it with scampi scallops

Rain let up right after dinner .. so we all got dressed and headed downtown tfor the annual ‘ferolito’ festival.. there were arts gallerys and luminairs lights all over t he place.. we met up with beckys parents and her brother and sister and law. It was so beutiful and so fun !

Such a wonderful day .. I love my family..

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday…

Nite all, nit sam

– me