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Erin Rettig🦸‍♀️Lifestyle

@wundamutha

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Family Activities + Travel • STEAM Fun
Mom of @milaandsoleil • Designer • Rookie Gardener • Sci-Curious Polyglot • Globetrotta Foreva

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Some cherry rides at the friendly neighborhood lowrider expo 🍒🚘🔥

¡Ay, qué chido!

#lowrider #lowridercars #njlowriders#localfamilyevents #supportlocalculture taken in Clifton, New Jersey by @wundamutha

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2 months ago

We took the Wild Horseback Ride with J.R.’s Carriage Service in hopes of encountering the mustangs of the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range.

While we didn’t find the main band, we did come across a couple of roving bachelors. Our excellent guides made sure we kept our distance—the two young stallions seemed much more interested in making the acquaintance of our mare mounts than in posing for photos.

Fun facts: The Bureau of Land Management manages 175 wild horse herd management areas across 10 western states, but Little Book Cliffs is one of only three ranges dedicated specifically to protecting wild horses.

Although they’re called “wild” mustangs, they’re technically feral. The Little Book Cliffs herd descends from horses once owned by the Núuchiu (Ute) people and others that escaped from nearby ranches—horses whose ancestry traces back to the Spanish horses introduced in the 1500s, later mixed with ranch and cavalry breeds. Today, the herd is managed at about 90–150 horses to keep both the population and the range healthy.

Enough adventure for one day? Of course not.

Next, we set off in search of amethyst based the vague online advice of some self-proclaimed Colorado rockhounders. We found exactly zero purple gemstones, got thoroughly overheated - and there was at least one moment when I was convinced I was about to plunge to my demise.

As we trudged back empty-handed, a veteran rockhound named Dennis took pity on us and gifted the girls a stone he identified as amethyst. We were thrilled...until my rock identification app confidently declared it was topaz.
Considering that, an hour earlier, we’d wondered whether Dennis was a murderer on an ATV, I’m still calling the search a success.

So much excitement in a single day!

#ColoradoWithKids #ColoradoAdventures #WildHorses #Rockhounding #GrandJunctionColorado taken in Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range by @wundamutha

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3 months ago

Evening visit to Rettig Farms:
Received a lesson in tractor operation, swapped stories, and picked some zucchini - which made for a tasty side dish at dinner.

I’m wondering why the farm’s wagon seemed so indefatigably entertaining to the girls compared to our green wooden Amish wagon at home…. maybe the lack of side guards of the farm wagon made it seem more dangerous, and therefore, more exciting!

Either way, the girls pulled each other around for what seemed like an hour on the big, flat farm wagon, laughing all the way. Then they finally broke the grown-ups down and got their AUTV ride to boot. Persistent as squash beetles, they are, those two…

#grandjunctionco #gjco # familyfarm #coloradoforkids #goldenhourglow taken in Rettig Farms by @wundamutha

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3 months ago

It was muy colorado on the Grand Mesa this weekend - an explosion of wildflowers splashed the mountainsides, pollinators were abuzz and aflutter in abundance, and the lakes scintillated in hues from peacock to cerulean. It was quite a display. So many colors - but no fish!

Is it possible the girls were too loud and scared them away? 🤔Nah - not my kids.😁 Must have been the wrong kind of bait!

Oh, and yes - that’s a bald eagle (fledgling)!

#grandmesa #coloradoforkids #travelfam #adventureswithkids #naturegirls by @wundamutha

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3 months ago

Sunset karate practice (and other shenanigans), Isla Holbox.

The last couple of slides are from a bioluminescence tour at Punta Cocos. I guess the operators knew they’d better throw some kind of photo into the package to appease the photophiles on the tour who quickly realize it’s nearly impossible to capture the shimmering lightshow created by phytoplankton in the water with an iPhone.

#IslaHolbox #ExploreMexico #TravelWithKids #Yucatan #holbox taken in Isla Holbox by @wundamutha

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5 months ago

When I booked a car with the plan of visiting Chichén Itzá, Río Lagartos, and Las Coloradas for Mother’s Day, the rep wrote back and said, “If you want to do everything — yes, it would be possible. But we do not recommend it, as we don’t think adults would stand it, and even less children.”

I relayed this quote to my husband and he said (I’m paraphrasing), “That sounds exactly like the kind of day you love planning.”

“Exactly!” I thought. So I wrote the rep back and acknowledged that although I would likely have hot, tired, and grumpy kids on my hands — and would be questioning all of my life decisions on Mother’s Day — I’d like to proceed with the booking. (I had forgotten to add “hungry” to that list, as the proposed schedule allowed little time for nourishment. On a positive note, the girls picked up some new Spanish vocab words: “cacahuates” and “totopos” — which was pretty much all we had to eat in the car.)

Predictably, something had to give — we did not make it to Las Coloradas. But hey, we didn’t even have to catch the very last ferry to Isla Holbox that night; we caught the 9:00, and the girls had dinner at the hotel at a very reasonable 9:40 p.m. 😬

Best. Mom. Ever. …I even have the necklace to prove it — handmade by the designer herself, @devonsjewelerysweetshop.

#BestMomEver#FamilyAdventure
#NatureTravel
#RioLagartos
#CreativeKids taken in Río Lagartos, Yucatan, Mexico by @wundamutha

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5 months ago

Costa Mujeres and Chichén Itzá

My aspiring archaeologist is going to need to toughen up if she ever wants to dig south of 37°N latitude — she was flopping around listlessly after about 10 minutes in the Yucatán sun… granted, I probably should have reminded her to bring a hat before we left the car.

Luckily, both girls were revived by lime paletas, and we made it to our next adventure!

#TravelWithKids
#MexicoWithKids #AdventureFamily
#EducationalTravel #chichenitzá by @wundamutha

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5 months ago

Best wishes and congratulations to Mrs. Jordana and Mr. Ifeanyichi Asoluka! It was such a joy to witness the marriage of this wonderful couple - and great meeting and hanging out with family and friends. This was such a beautiful and FUN wedding! 🥂🍾💃💃

Thank you to the most stunning bride @jordana_ for inviting us! by @wundamutha

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5 months ago

This is my final farewell and gracias 🙏 to Guatemala – for now! Would love to go back again soon.

I’m reigning myself in here and only posting a few crumbling walls. I often find them as compelling as any great Abstract Expressionist’s work. Fortunately for the sake of variety in this post, Guatemalan motorcycles, chicken buses, and people riding them – or otherwise head to or at work, give the mottled Antiguan walls a run for their money.

#TravelGuatemala #AntiguaGuatemala #TravelPhotography #UrbanTextures #WabiSabiWalls taken in Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez by @wundamutha

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6 months ago

Back stateside now—but still compelled to wax prolific about the wonders of indigo, and Indigo. The former is @reicheolga’s true love; the latter is her shop, @indigocustomtextile, opened in 2005 at 5A Callejón de la Concepción in Antigua.

Olga has spent more than thirty years mastering natural dyes, and her favorite above all is Guatemalan indigo (Indigofera suffruticosa). After taking her workshop in a pueblito near Antigua, it’s easy to understand the allure of this enigmatic pigment. Participating in the process feels like alchemy—chemical reactions produce seemingly magical results.

Indigo begins in the plant as a colorless compound released when leaves are soaked and fermented, eventually yielding the familiar blue pigment. Because indigo blue won’t dissolve in water, dyers first reduce it in an alkaline vat to a soluble yellow-green form that can penetrate fiber.

Cloth emerges yellow-green and only turns blue in the air, as oxygen re-oxidizes the dye back to insoluble indigo. Repeated dips deepen the shade. Excess air bubbles in the vat should be avoided during dipping so the dye oxidizes on the textile—not prematurely in the bath.

Other dyestuffs pictured here include cochineal (from the crushed carapaces of the insect Dactylopius coccus), Brazilian logwood (Haematoxylum brasiletto), marigolds, and onion skins, among others.

I wish I had taken a photo inside Olga’s store! The last slide shows a couple of mementos I brought home: the maestra’s book on Guatemalan plant dyes (soon available in English!)—and of course a dreamy, featherweight indigo-dyed top Olga designed, hand-woven by skilled artisans. I picked up the pink style at @folkartmarket in Santa Fe, where she is a regular exhibitor—I believe she said it was dyed with cocoa bean (?).

Never were souvenirs so chic.

#guatemalatextiles #plantdyes #naturaldyes #textiledesign #indigodye taken in Guatemala by @wundamutha

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6 months ago

Neither the pace nor the piety of Semana Santa in Antigua has slackened. Over the last twenty-four hours, processions have included the somber depiction of Señor Sepultado (the Buried Christ), as well as others in honor of La Virgen de Soledad, symbolizing the Madonna’s mourning and faithful reflection after the Crucifixion.

Tonight the mood remains reverent—but by tomorrow, Antigua will erupt into joy for Easter Sunday, celebrating the Resurrection.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

#antiguaguatemala #semanasanta #travelguatemala #cucuruchos #devotascargadoras taken in Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez by @wundamutha

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6 months ago

My first Semana Santa in Antigua has been a maelstrom of incense, tired toddlers, riotous colors, devotion, community, sawdust, flowers, Romans… and vegetables.

I can’t explain the unique mix on that list at present, as I figuratively—and literally—cannot keep up with the program here. The procession I watched leave the Iglesia de la Merced at 3:00 this morning (what was I thinking staying up to witness the departure when my plan was to get up at 5:00 to check out the freshly laid alfombras?!?) has now made its way back to the church, gargantuan anda carrying Jesús Nazareno in tow.

Normally, I would try to write something reasonably eloquent to explain what’s going on in these photos—but I can hear the marching band booming out there! I’m working off 2.5 hours of sleep (I did get up to see the kaleidoscopic patterns, as evidenced by these photos), so I’m not going to make much sense if I try anyhow.

I hope it is not sacrilegious for me to pray for my very own resurrection, because the cucuruchos are now clad in black, so I’m blowing this paleta stand and hittin’ the calles. I’ll explain everything later!

#alfombras #semanasanta #cucuruchos #antiguagutemala #holyweek taken in Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez by @wundamutha

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6 months ago