A S P E N 

After Minnesota - we went and joined Kade in the beautiful ski town of Aspen - located at the base of a mountain some 10000 feet right at the end of amazing drive from Denver through some spectacular scenery 

It was snowing when we first arrived and snowed for the first two weeks nearly everyday. We were in powder heaven - the kids went to work on snowball production and epic snowball fights.

In between we wandered through the town and stared (much like the tree above) at all the rich and famous who fly in by private jet for the Christmas Holiday Week ...

epic snow battle on Christmas Day

wandering 

around

in the snow drifts

hah! 

with Lonel Gray - Kade's comrade in Aspen

and soon adopted by Sailor and Iggy as theirs as well

for a week my parents joined us!  Which was great!  

We did a day trip to the hot springs (naturally occurring)

at Glenwood Springs (helped especially with all the

sore muscles from skiing..!)

snowman 

iggy and one of his friendly lumps of snow

trying out ice skating ..

best pizza in town!

christmas day

my birthday

iggy makes a friend ...

there was a lot of stuffed animal heads in aspen - quite the decor

not too mention the animal skins on people ... 

NYE, meat and cheese- our favourite deli

bird watching at ACES

we also discovered ACES - the Aspen Centre of the Environment

which offered information about the flora and faun of the area - birds, beavers, elks, bears, cougars, coyotes! - it was a great centre and we went there a bit, might have had something to do with these guys too ...

we had a great little apartment located an easy walk from the town centre and gallery

M I N N E S O T A

This is our first ten minutes in  R E A L   L I F E   S N O W 

and the first time  E V E R  for Iggy 

he has sneakers on, yes

and a big smile ...

In order to re-visit my year as a AFS exchange student in 1993, when I was still a young sweet potato of a person, and to re-visit my old high school buddies and family, the boys and I went to Stillwater, Minnesota (its tiny on the map) for 2 weeks ...we started my reminiscent trip by staying with my good high school friend the incredible and positive Karen Akey along with her smiley and silly kid Jake (him and sailor were like peas in a pod).  It was fun.  just like high school .... ha! not really!

totes haven't changed a bit since high school 

three silly kids

we went to the famous Mall of America - it has an indoor amusement park

and Lego Land.  Big thrills all around.

We also stayed in a hotel that had a built in water park - 

which seemed completely counter-intuituve when it was snowing outside.

this is a rare moment caught on film

this is my old house i lived in !  my gosh, so cute isn't it!

like a snow dome wonderland

this is the boys with the girls ... separate sides!

Iggy also expanded his food repertoire to S N O W

fitting in perfectly with his 'white diet'

We spent the weekend in Henning (its even smaller on the map!) where my 'mom and dad' now reside - Hello Becky and Dean !! - 

My lovely accommodating host sister Nicole and four of her five gorgeous children (Audrey, Evelyn, Ingrid and Oona) took us there - a mere 4 hour drive! We got to go to 'The Lake' which was of course, frozen over. We got to walk on it! It was very cool. Then cousin Carl Jr turned up on his snow mobile (hello best cousin ever!) and took the boys for a snow mobile ride on the frozen lake.  It was pretty exciting for everyone!  The we got to go inside (this part I especially liked) and make hot drinks and decorate with Uncle Bud's house with tons and tons of Christmas decorations.  

these two !!  

and nicole !! in the snow !  just like high school.!  ha

see y'all in another 4 years, you betcha!

XX

B R U M B Y    U T E 

We have just returned from a month in Aspen America!! woop woop !

Kade was approached to run the new gallery Brumby Ute : the brain child of Julie Harvey and Michael Liener (of Harvey Arts and Aurobora galleries respectively).  Located in downtown Aspen in the Ute Building  (more commonly known as the Burberry Building) the new gallery showcased 'The Barn Project' the second in a series of shows that combine both of Aboriginal Australian and American contemporary art - it's aim to "broaden the dialogue between traditional and contemporary art cultures by exploring connections and cultivating the common turf that continues to change and shift between artistic visions current in the art world. In doing so, The Barn Project’s mission is to highlight not only the universality of contemporary art but to emphasise the intriguing intersections as they emerge and take root." (from Harvey Art Projects)

In the photos you can see the Aboriginal Australian artworks curated with American artwork in a manner that simultaneously enhanced and elevated the work itself as much as the one next to it. It's an interesting and revolutionary concept. and i loved it.  It looked incredible.

Here the kids are hard at work .... 

After the Barn Project - on January 10 to be exact,  the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka show opened - huge works on boards and a forest of larrakitj  (hollow logs)

It looked very impressive and incredible - these photos don't really do it justice but trust me, it looked good

So while Kade was running the gallery and selling art as best he could, the boys and I had a month to wander the streets, the snow, the mountains and visit him and see how the other half live ... which was interesting.. Before though we went to Minnesota, but more on that in the next post ...

http://www.brumby-ute.com

http://harveyartprojects.com

http://www.aurobora.com