Albuquerque Day 3: Museums, Old Town, and Cake!

I am going to try to finish blogging about our trip to New Mexico! It really was a wonderful trip.

On Day 3, we started by going to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. One of their temporary exhibits was on nature journals. I really enjoyed looking at these and would like to start working on mine more often.

Our favorite room had reptiles, amphibians, and fish in it. We spent most of our time here. In this sandbox, Alex & her cousin, Hunter, are making animal tracks.We actually didn't care much for the rest of the museum and went through it really quickly. It was primarily about evolution and space travel.

After lunch, we went to Old Town Albuequerque. We went through the small, but interesting, American International Rattlesnake Museum. We were proud of Nana for joining us - and she actually liked it! 

There are artists who set up to sale along the street. We were told that they get their assigned spot and time in a weekly lottery. There is a lot of jewelry and pottery are for sale, but we didn't buy anything.

This is the San Felipe de Neri Parish, the oldest Catholic parish in New Mexico. It was built in 1793 and is still used for services today. We saw nuns and monks both in the church and walking around Old Town. 

That night, one of my husband's cousins met us at the house for his 30th birthday. We made cupcakes and here is a photo of Hunter (who turned 2 in May) enjoying his dessert! He really enjoyed blowing out the candles and singing Happy Birthday, too.

Albuquerque Day 2 - Explora Museum

On Day 2, we went to an amazing children's museum - Explora. As we were pulling up, I saw this road runner! My first! And, he had a lizard in his mouth! I pulled over quickly and grabbed my camera. Unfortuantely, he was running away so this is the quality of my photo. But, I was thrilled to see this road runner! 

This was my nephew's (Hunter) favorite part of the museum. It was a water feature where you could press and release buttons and make the water shoot out in different ways. We spent a lot of time here, and we all enjoyed it.

Here Alex is creating a stop-action movie! I love how it was set up to make this really easy.

This shows heat. They had an ice bag and we rubbed it on our hands and they turned black. Fun!

This is the largest elevator we've ever seen. It had several chairs, a couch and a table. In fact, we weren't even sure it was really an elevator, but it was!

Hunter LOVED playing with the water. There was a whole area of the museum devoted to water and he loved it.

Here's Alex in the "wind" area building a car. Then, you put the car in front of a fan and see how far and fast it will go. Her car was a lot better than mine!

That night, I went jogging in the park a few blocks from our house while Nana, Alex, and Hunter went for a walk. Alex shot this photo. I am in the white shirt and gray shorts near the left corner. Isn't this a beautiful place? And, as I mentioned, I'm really getting into exercise right now. This week I ran 3 times, swam 2 times, worked out with weights 4 times, did 1 exercise video, and more! I've now lost 5 pounds and I'm feeling great!

Albuquerque Day 1 - the house, biking, and prairie dogs

First of all, it is just hard to blog this summer so sorry for not doing much! Also, I have been working out a LOT and keeping a blog at SparkPeople about my exercise, diet, etc. So, that has taken over most of my computer time lately.

While in New Mexico, we spent the week at a house my sister-in-law was renting while she taught there. She bought a fairly big, blow up pool to use. The first day we were there, Alex, her cousin Hunter, and my sil went 'swimming.' The pool was in the shade and since it gets pretty cool in NW at night, the water was cold! But, they had fun.

There was an apricot tree in the backyard. They looked ripe, but were very hard. Too bad!

Alex and her Nana made dinner that night.

That evening, my sil taught me how to ride a bike... as a grown up. This is not the same as the 5 speed I rode as a teen. And, I've only been on a bike once in the past 20+ years! We went riding 4 miles this day. The scenery was beautiful - we were at the base of a mountain and we were overlooking Albuquerque with some extinct volcanos in the distance. We rode at sunset and I wish I would have had a camera with me on the ride!

While we were riding, Alex and her cousin and Nana fed the prairie dogs! They were so cute! Alex actually had them eating out of her hand, though I didn't catch it on 'film.' They were full, I guess, by the time we got back.

There were quite a few babies and we watched this mom nursing 2 babies! I thought it was pretty funny when she had a piece of our food, though. She was eating it and the babies were trying to get it and she'd just push them away with one hand while eating with the other!

My mil had done some research that said fruit was what we should feed them. This was my best photo and he/she has some kind of fruit. Aren't they cute?

And, here is a photo of one of the mountains. Oh, how I miss New Mexico!

I'm HOME!

Alex and I got back from our 8 day trip to New Mexico this afternoon. We had a wonderful time and it was hard to leave! But, we have a busy week ahead of us and needed to get back. Alex has her end of the summer swim team party tomorrow night and is doing a morning camp all week.

I was proud of the exercise I got in while gone: 2 bikes rides (5 miles and 7.4 miles) and 3 "runs" (doing week 2 of Couch to 5K). The scenery was amazing. The desert is beautiful and we were staying a few miles from this incredible mountain! Oh... it was so wonderful just being outside!

I have so much to show and tell and will try to post at least once a day until I'm done. I hope you are all well and enjoying your summer!

Hiking Up a Volcano Flow

Yesterday I hiked to the top of a volcano flow! It was hot (the weather not e flow!), but I was determined to reach the top. The view Was incredible! I could see the city of Albuquerque below me and Sandia Peak in the distance. What a view!

This morning I did my walk/run. I can always see the mountain while running. It is easier to get outside with such beautiful scenery.

Oh, and despite my great efforts at exercising, my eating hasn't been very healthy the past 2 days. Pizza, chocolate, candy... I will try to get back on track today!

"Hot Bottom!"

We'll be getting on a plane in a few weeks and heading to New Mexico! My sister-in-law will be teaching at a university in Albuquerque, so we'll be going out to spend a week with her, my nephew Hunter, and my mother-in-law. We're also planning on spending a little time in Santa Fe and Taos.

(closeup of a page from my scrapbook album)

My sister-in-law also taught there in 2002 when Alex was still 1. (Isn't she adorable???) This is our most memorable photo from the trip because of what happened when we took this photo. I thought this rock looked like a great spot to put my little darling. I plopped her down to take a photo, snapped the shot, and she said "Hot Bottom!" Yikes! I hadn't even checked. That rock was hot!! Oh... I felt so bad. And now, somehow, we still often find reasons to use that phrase, "hot bottom." (Silly us!)

Anyway, if you have any ideas of places to do, things to see, food to eat, etc, while we are in New Mexico, please let me know. And, we are "studying up" on petroglyphs and deserts, but I'd like to study a few more things before we go on our trip and am looking for ideas in that area, too. If you have resources for either of those topics or other things you think we might be interested in, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks!