The Lee Family: First Day in Santa Fe!

Aunt and Uncle asked us to join them once again for Thanksgiving in Santa Fe, one of our favorite places to visit! We considered spending Thanksgiving this year at the lake, but always love the tradition of the holiday in Santa Fe with Aunt and Uncle. After packing up our clothes, including clothes for a visit to the snow, Thanksmas gifts, and for the first time, Buddy and all of his things, we headed out Wednesday morning to Santa Fe. We'd called Aunt and Uncle a few days before our departure and asked their thoughts of us bringing Buddy. During our visit in July, they said that we should have brought him with us, so we figured we'd ask. They said yes and we were excited to have him be part of the celebration!

The flight went smoothly, after a quick stop in Tucumcari for a much needed bathroom stop for Olivia. Tucumcari is incredibly flat and it feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, but it was interesting to see from the ground. We all had a bathroom break and continued on our way to Santa Fe, which was only about 40 minutes further. We landed and somehow squeezed all of our bags and gifts into the tiny white Jeep Cherokee! The girls even had to hold CK's guitar on their laps and Buddy had to sit on CK's lap while I drove.

We made it to Aunt and Uncle's casita and enjoyed some delicious chili that Aunt Shirl made. The girls explored the arroyo for a while and then we headed to the Bug Museum, which we visited a few years ago and loved. Since then, it's grown considerably. Aunt Shirl read on the website that the museum would be feeding many of the insects and animals at 4pm, so we quickly got ready and got there around 3:30pm. The girls were so excited and eager to get started in the museum. Sofia remembered our last visit and was super excited to be back.

We started with the tarantulas and turned the corner to....cockroaches! Yikes! They were very big and there were so many of them in various glass containers. After the cockroaches, there was a chameleon, leopard geckos, various toads, snakes, a monitor lizard, red slider turtles and a variety of spiders, bugs, millipedes and all sorts of crazy insects, bugs and animals. Sofia studied each aquarium container and loved really checking out each animal, while Olivia took my cell phone and took approximately 1,000 photos of everything, as well as several long, rambling videos.

At 4:00pm the young man with the museum arrived to start the feedings! Because the museum would be closed the next day on Thanksgiving, our guide planned to feed most of the snakes and the monitor lizard, since they are normally fed on Thursdays. It was absolutely fascinating to watch all the animals eat, especially the chameleon and the toads. The leopard geckos were also much more active than the pair that we had from Ms. Hayes class. The monitor lizard ate mice, which were frozen and handed in by prongs. He was more than happy to gobble it down though. It was fascinating to watch all the different animals eat their dinners, and I especially loved watching the toads eat live crickets! The chameleon was also fascinating! Sofia fell in love with the Axolotl, which was named Toothless and looked a lot like the dragon from the movie. Of course, Sofia went on and on about "when she gets her own Axolotl"..... It was fun to watch it eat a worm.

After the feeding series was finished, we sat down across from the young man who led us through the feeding and he led the kids (and parents) through a series of "insect and bug holding and petting." It was really great! Of course, it started with the Hissing Cockroach, which Sofia has held before and which I wasn't inclined to touch. Olivia held the Hissing Cockroach too and said it "tickled" and she loved it. Next, he moved on to the millipede and then to a very usual spider, tarantula and then a scorpion! The scorpion wasn't able to be held because there is a slight chance it would sting. The millipede was actually really awesome and loved walking on the girls' hands.

After we'd met all of the insects and bugs, we headed out. Of course, Sofia had to playing with all the dragons and toys in the lobby and the girls each picked out a dragon, which they then played with for the rest of their visit. We then headed to our usual first night dinner spot, Maria's, which has excellent New Mexican food and great margaritas. It's always so cozy and comfortable and one of our very favorite places to visit. We had a great meal before heading back to the casita and bed. What a fun first day in Santa Fe!

Ready for our trip to Santa Fe!