Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Al-Ba-kirk-EEE– Day 1 Albuquerque BioPark

 

We just got back from our big vacation for the year- a week long trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. My Aunt Judy and Uncle Curtis celebrated 50 years together, and the whole family flew and drove in to celebrate.

I’ve visited Albuquerque about a half dozen times in my lifetime, so it was easy to make a list of all the things I wanted to do and see with my kids and husband. Every day we went to a different attraction or event in the area, and then came back to our hotel to swim, then went over to my aunt and uncle’s house for dinner and playtime.

Once we’d survived two plane rides with three kids, we set off an adventure to find food and our hotel…and then we just wanted to sit. Traveling is exhausting. For adults. Children=full of energy.

So on day 1 of our adventure, we went to the Bio Park. Zoo + Aquarium + Botanical Gardens

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The flamingos were the only thing I remember from this zoo from when I was a kid.

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Apparently fan boxes are toys for monkeys.

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Think my camera was obnoxious and big? Try having two! This is how the Ingrams roll.

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Carrie, Natalie and Sophia trying out the African throne.

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My brother as king (of the monkeys, hahaha). And Leo hanging out with the native drawings.

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Some awesome carved trees. And the sweetest smelling tree- Mimosa. So delicious.

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While waiting for the train we watched an animal trainer train the elephant. I took some notes to train Leo some new tricks. Hope he likes apples. And me waving a stick in his face.

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Here’s my sister Carrie. Reflective, scientific, good with kids….and mature. Real mature. After begging her parents to buy her dippin dots. Love you Seeeeester!

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Inside the aquarium. Love these tanks. And judging by my kids excitement, they are totally growing up to live by the ocean.

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In the Botanical gardens, we saw this dragon statue covered in plants, freaking amazing. And some dragons in training.

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From the back.

 

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We walked through mole tunnels and saw giant caterpillars, and found some giant carrots.

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And found ourselves inside a pumpkin not that unlike James and the Giant Peach.

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The trains that rode all along the creek were my favorite part- so many little scenes and trains running. And I’m not even into trains that much! I can only imagine what a 3 year old boy would think.

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We went by the Butterfly pavilion.

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In some ways Sophia is a natural at taking pictures.

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But she’s not good at faking it.

 

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We made sure to take some time to stop and smell the trees.

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And time to contemplate how awesome mosaics are.

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We walked all around the pretty gardens. Someday my backyard will look like that pavilion of leaves. And roses will bloom in all shades of pastels. Someday.

We tried to get a good shot with Grandma and the kids.

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And we decided that was good enough.

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The three little Ingrams. Together in a picture at last.

So that was the BioPark. We only saw 2/3 of the Zoo, the whole Aquarium (a medium sized one in my opinion) and half the Gardens. You should go if you ever visit Albuquerque. Good prices, a whole day’s worth of things to do. A train takes you between the zoo and the other attractions, but it’s 30 minutes long, so be prepared to chill out while you see everything around the whole bio park.

Monday, June 20, 2011

End of Kindergarten!

Here is Sophia on the last day. It was an Hawaiian party, so she spent some of her hard earned money at the dollar store for the lei and grass skirt. She was so excited to go in her crazy outfit.

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She’s loved her teacher Miss Bloomer, and the last week of school she’s been making piles of pictures to give her teacher. I suggested we make her something for her gift, so we went to Hobby Lobby, and Sophia picked out two strands of fashion beads to make a bracelet and necklace.

 

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Sophia is now officially a first grader- well, I’m not inclined to believe that yet, until she starts leaving me for 7 hours every day. I’m looking forward to her new adventures, but I’m so glad we have all summer before she spends so much time away from home! Hooray for kindergarten!

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