a major purchase

Hey all! It's been a very busy couple of weeks. When I wrote to you last we were gearing up for our trip to the Grand Canyon. As I may have mentioned previously, the trip was Brenda's gift to her father for his most recent birthday. They had a great time photographing the Grand Canyon over a few days, and one day they even hiked down into it a bit. Brenda helped out some fellow hikers along the trail who had run out of water and were looking a little parched. They happened to be German and were very surprised when Brenda started speaking their native tongue. Meanwhile, back in Williams, AZ, Joanne, Rowan, and I explored all the playgrounds and kid-friendly attractions the town had to offer. Rowan skinned both of his knees while we were there, which was more traumatic for me, but don't worry, I'm recovering well.

After driving back to Santa Fe we had just a couple of days left before we had to pack up and hit the road. Brenda's last performance was the night before we left, and Justice Ginsburg, her family, and accompanying U.S. Marshals were all in attendance. Justice Ginsburg is a big opera fan, and she attends the Santa Fe Opera every summer. At a dinner in the Justice's honor the night before, I had the opportunity to get to know Justice Ginsburg's daughter-in-law who also happened to be Brenda's voice teacher during her freshman year of college. Small world!

On Friday night we arrived in Minneapolis and descended upon Drew and his tidy apartment. We quickly turned his home into a disaster zone, but in spite of that he has been a kind and generous host. As I may have mentioned in a previous post, we are interested in buying a home in Minneapolis, so on Saturday we looked at houses for the first time. We toured seven houses, found one we really liked, and made an offer on Sunday. Later that day the offer was accepted. Buying a house is easy! (Just kidding.) We're super excited. Please keep your fingers crossed for us that everything works out with the sale.

So that's what we've been up to more or less. I hope all is well with you, and we'll talk to you next time!

changing states

Hey folks! Brenda, her parents, Rowan, and I are all getting packed up to drive to the Grand Canyon today. Its been around thirty years since I've been there, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. For most of the trip, however, Rowan, Brenda's mom, and I will be hanging back at our Airbnb house while Brenda and her dad explore the canyon and take a bunch of photos. So prepare yourselves for some Grand Canyon photos next week.

And speaking of photos...

I posed for a picture with my brother, his wife Tracy, and their son Tyler earlier this week before we went to see Brenda sing Lucia di Lammermoor.

After the show we met up with Brenda in her dressing room.

Brenda and I tried hiking on Big Tesuque Trail, but we cut our hike short after storm clouds rolled in.

So many aspen trees!

I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time!

picture perfect

Hi folks! We've been busy entertaining, hiking, and parenting, and are once again delinquent with our blog post. Brenda had her eighth (of ten) performance of Lucia di Lammermoor last night. My brother, Brad, and his family were in town visiting, and he, his wife Tracy, and their son Tyler attended the performance. I tagged along too so I could show them around the opera campus a bit (and because I'm a Brenda groupie). We took some pictures that I don't have at the moment, but I'll share them with you in the next blog post.

A view of the mountains from the opera grounds.

The opera gift shop has been having the artists do signings before some of the performances. Here Brenda is pictured with Lucia conductor Corrado Rovaris on their night to sign autographs.

Brenda has a another show in a few days, but after that she has a week off before her final performance of the summer. We're going to take that time to travel to the Grand Canyon with Brenda's parents. Neither Brenda nor her dad have ever been to the Grand Canyon, and I think they're really looking forward to it. Plus, Brenda just got a new camera and is looking for an excuse to try it out (although she has, of course, been taking a bazillion pictures of our adorable son). 

Nap time is about over so I should wrap this up. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time!

the joy of not studying

Hello all! We're enjoying a little more down time here in Santa Fe now that the bar exam is finished. I was even able to join Brenda at the gym the other day, although my legs were quite sore afterwards. (Two months of being chained to my computer studying didn't seem to do much for my physical fitness.) My parents were kind enough to look after Rowan on Monday so I could see Brenda's fifth Lucia performance. She was amazing, as were her castmates. We also saw the first Alcina performance over the weekend. It's a really fun production, and the singing is top notch. Santa Fe Opera has put together a really nice season this summer.

I thought you might enjoy seeing a few photos we took recently...

 This is where I took the bar exam. Yeah, it's a barn.

 After I finished taking the test I met up with our friends Dan and Whitney.

 It's monsoon season in Santa Fe, and we've enjoyed some really beautiful rainbows.

A friendly snake was hanging out on our patio last week. We named him Gary.

Brenda and I attempted to hike to the top of a nearby peak (Atalaya) on Sunday, but we decided to cut the hike short after seeing some ominous clouds and lightening as we neared the top.

Last night we took advantage of my parents' open invitation to babysit and went to Die Fledermaus. Tonight we have a dinner at the opera house, and tomorrow Dan and Whitney come to town. I think we're going to have a great last few weeks in Santa Fe with so many friends and family coming to visit.

I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time!