Albuquerque BioPark

The children (especially Emily) have been asking when we can go to a zoo again and we finally got it done. We choose to stay in Albuquerque an extra day since they have a large zoo that is also connected to a botanic garden and aquarium. The combo tickets included all 3 plus unlimited train rides to different stops. 

     Unfortunately, the day was supposed to be cold and blustery but we pulled out the winter clothes and prepared for the worst. As long as the sun was shining and there was no wind it was almost comfortable. Our Montana friends would call it a "dry cold" 😉. The children did fantastic in the less then ideal conditions. My pictures are a bit out of order since some are from my camera and some from my phone. Also, we did part of the zoo, then the aquarium and gardens, then back to the zoo.

Watching fish and stingrays is so hypnotizing.

Lots of coral.

Lobsters.......or something similar.

The seahorses were so fat!

The garden eels just bobbed around.

Pinecone hugger 😍.

The Leaf-cutter Ants had a colony but they traveled over a rope into another room to retrieve leaves. Eldon was fascinated with it! They also went through tubes and the wall.

The lush, humid Mediterranean Garden. Right next to it was the dry, dessert garden!

Michael loved the roses.

 

Riding the train was a nice break from all the walking.

Mr. Polar Bear just hanging out and enjoying the cool weather.

    

The gorilla just sat and stared at us. I totally expected him to wave at us!

The male orangutan was a hairy beast!

A wombat! We've never seen one before so this was cool.

      This zoo also had koalas and Tasmania devils, 2 other species we've never seen before so we were looking forward to that. Sadly, both were off the exhibit.

The seals were swimming around, much to our delight.

You can't see him well, but the baby elephant was adorable. I say baby but he weighs 700 pounds!

The aquium pictures didn't turn out well but we spent a lot of time there! They even had sharks!

The fantasy garden was Makayla's favorite. We went through a rabbit hole and "shrunk" to insect size. We went inside a pumpkin and under tree roots, ect. Super cool!

There was a huge model train but it doesn't run on Tuesdays.

A bridge the model train went over.

Due to the cold weather only a few butterflies were in the butterfly house.

The Japanese Gardens were so peaceful!

The rose garden still had lots of blooms!

The lioness taking her afternoon nap.

     To our surprise, the children liked the botanic gardens as much as the zoo. Around 4 the wind picked up and it got cloudy. We decided to pack it up and went to Wendy's for a hot meal. 

ABF2018 - Part 3

     This blog post will wrap up our time at the balloon fiesta. It's hard to believe that it's over already!

The children always enjoy the crafts. Here the younger group was painting hot air balloons.

Playing London Bridge is Falling Down while we get the next activity ready.

Stringing colored noodles onto pipe cleaners. Makayla choose to help the little ones since she didn't want to get all messy making.........

......a paper mache balloon! It's basically strips of paper towel dipped in glue. They layered them over a balloon then it dried in that shape. Pretty cool!

Ethan stringing noodles.

Friends :).

The few mornings we didn't go to the field, we could watch the balloons rising over the treetops. 

One morning close to a dozen landed in the field near us!

It was a wild scramble as the kids tried to get a trading card from every balloon.

I thought this one was pretty cool!

Coming down!

This was our group, in the cemetery. We weren't actaully in it but everyone called it that. Photo credits to Dustin Schroeder.

Michael painting his paper mache balloon. Photo credits to Michelle Simpkins.

Hundreds of balloons! Photo credits to Dustin Schroeder. 

Flying above the Rio Grand. Photo credits to Jason Simpson, who got to fly with his pilot.

The adults had coffee talks so the these guys wanted to have a tea talk.

One morning I helped crew the Liberty Bell and took Emily and Michael with me.

View from our living room window!

Up close and personal with Cynthia Seal.

Emily saying good-bye to our next door neighbor, Anna Belle. These 2 were together pretty much all the time and had such a good time!

16 pounds of pork shoulder! By last night only 10 families remained so Eldon smoked this all day then we had everyone over for a potluck.

     We had a great time rekindling old relationships and making lots of new ones. Of course, the balloons were a highlight too!

     We were without hook-ups for 14 days and are so excited that we didn't need to run our generator once, thanks to the solar. Our 110 gallons of fresh water was plenty. Eldon did take 55 gallons out of our gray and black tanks once but I'm not even sure if we would have had to.

     For the next 2 nights we're at an RV park in Albuquerque with full-hooks. So lots of laundry, cleaning, and long showers going on!

More balloons! - ABF2018 Part 2

     Albuquerque is still getting some small effects of hurricane Rosa so the weather has not been as balloon friendly as last year. We've had winds and rain every night and of the first 5 sessions, only 2  the balloons were able to do their thing. But hopefully that's over now and we can get on with the show.

Rising over the trees!

Occasionally the novelty wears off and they get bored.

These 3 year olds are good friends-most of the time. Here they are singing Old McDonald had a Farm and she kept yelling at him for singing "E-I-E-I-YO". 

Makayla and her friend Violet spend nearly every waking moment together, just quietly playing games or riding bike.

Our gravel lot is packed with over 40 rigs at this point. It was handy to have plenty of assistance and extra eyes as some spots were tight.

Yesterday morning we walked the 1 mile to the field. This is one of my favorite balloons.

Cynthia Seal.

Inflating a balloon

This circus themed one is neat because the owners wife and kids are painted on the carousel!

So pretty!

For some reason they loved this pumpkin!

So many fun angles to capture them at!

One from Page, AZ.

Some balloons took off from other places in town and had to attempt to get back to the field and drop a beanbag on a target. So cool to watch!

Last night 2 of the pilots our group is helping crew brought their baskets in and talked to us and answered questions. 

Most of the kids drew hot air balloons for decorations. They earn raffle tickets to enter into the drawings on the last day of the rally.

Some of the children got a turn running the flame.

This morning we had a lot float right over us.

Our current backyard.

Trying to take it all in!

They were about 15 feet in front of the balloon- they are huge!

We saw this one coming in and hoped he would land in the field near us.....

And he did! 

The pilot was so excited because he's always wanted to give kids tethered rides but never landed at a good spot to do it until today!

Ethan, Emily, and Michael are in this basket. They tied the ropes to trucks and went about 20 feet up. Ethan's face was priceless- he was so excited!

Makyala's turn!

It was scary to see Ethan way up there hanging on to the edge! I tried to tell him to look out the little window but instead he used it as a step stool.