Tonight I was so excited to go to the "River of Lights" at the Botanic Garden and use my new Canon camera that is supposed to take great "night" pictures. I was sadly disappointed when I got home and looked at the pictures. Every single one that was taken on the "night" setting was blurry which was exactly what is says it won't do! :( The camera is definitely going back to Best Buy tomorrow.
Anyway... The "River of Dreams" is a festival of lights that the New Mexico BioPark Society does every year as one of their fundraisers. There are millions of glowing, sparkling lights and over 140 dazzling light displays and animated sculptures. (Heehee, can you tell that I copied that last sentence from their website.)
If you have read any of my other blog posts on the Botanic Garden, then you might recognize this picture spot. It is the bamboo maze inside the castle. It was so cool!
The sculptures were so fun. There was a whole section of New Mexican themed sculptures. Like this cactus and scorpion.
This Yucca, the New Mexico state flower, was about 10 feet tall.
Even fake this thing gives me the heebie jeebies!
This is a beehive with flowers and animated bees that were flying around it. I guess Harris liked this one because he asked for his picture in front of it.
Who needs "World of Color" when you have the pond at the New Mexico Botanic Garden. ;)
This was the coolest of the animated displays. The shark is my favorite.
We probably could have stayed for another hour or two but we decided to call it a night and head home. We had a great time and look forward to next time.
This last weekend my sister and her family were able to come down and visit during their fall break. It was so much fun and I am so grateful that they would take the time to drive down here and be with us.
We spent the first day relaxing by the pool, since they drove through the night to get here they were all pretty sleepy.
The next day we went to the aquarium and the zoo. The kids were really excited for the aquarium so we went there first.
All the cousins outside the aquarium and botanic garden.
This was Aubry's first time to an aquarium and she wasn't quite sure what to think. She was scared and fascinated all at the same time. It's understandable though, since most of the fish were bigger than her. :)
Aubry with one hand on the tank and the other securely on Uncle Chet.
Everyone, except for Harris, watching the sharks. He wanted to sit by Uncle Don on the stair seats.
After the aquarium we headed to the zoo to see the polar bears get fed. I was so excited for everyone to see how cool it is when they throw the fish and the bears and dive to get them! Well the zookeeper that was feeding the bears that day was LAME! She was throwing the fish right to the bears so they hardly moved. I think there was only one dive. Oh well they are still super cute!
See? So cute!
We tried to find the new baby flamingo that was born last week but we were unsuccessful, so we just took pics of the cute kids instead.
The Littles.
The Bigs.
We stopped by the orangutans to see Reese, the baby. And then headed to 'Africa'.
All the kids on the "King's Chair" in the African section of the zoo.
This little guy is called a klipspringer and for some reason Chet just loves them. They are in the antelope family but they are tiny. He's only about 2 feet tall!
The cheetahs. Chet totally yawned when he saw this. You can't even say the word yawn without him yawning.
Taking a break.
After we finished the African section of the zoo we headed to the "Cat Walk" where all the big cats are. It was late in the afternoon and feeding time for most of the animals. When we got to the cougars they had finished their meat and just had the bones left. Now the cougar enclosure is very cool because there is a bridge over the path that the people walk on, so you walk right under the cougars. Well the cat on the bridge was happily gnawing on a giant bone. It was kinda gross because you could hear the bone crunching every time he took a bite and there was drool dripping down onto the ground.
Ironically that morning Jann was talking about how much she hates it when people chew loudly. She was totally grossed out! It was funny. ;)
Liv and Trev striking a pose at the end of the "Cat Walk". Ha, that's funny.
My favorite animal in the world, a burrowing owl. I want one!!!
We had so much fun at the aquarium and zoo but it was time to head home. When we got to the house we got the kids situated with dinner and a movie and then the adults took off for some dinner of their own. We went to Casa Vieja, Chet's favorite place. While we were there Aubry was in the silliest mood! And she was thoroughly enjoying all the attention she was getting and I thoroughly enjoyed all the hugs.
I'm pretty sure she is the cutest baby EVER!!!
We had a fabulous time at dinner. It was nice to be able to go out on a date and enjoy some excellent food, grown-up conversation, and great company.
When we got home from dinner we put the littles to bed and let the bigs go for a swim. It's always cooler to swim at night, right?
It's hard keeping the pool heated when it's down into the 40's at night so the kids would go from the hot tub to the waterfall to jump into the pool. Chet told them how the Russians do that because they believe it is good for their hearts.
Brrrrr! Look at their faces!
Just havin' fun.
The next morning we got up and hung out for a bit while Aubz took a nap everyone else went for a swim. When we were done swimming we got ready and headed to the botanic garden. The kids had fun trying to catch the fish in the ponds before we headed in to play in the castle. When we were in the castle we had to stop for a while and do the slide. Everyone took a turn. Chet even took Aubry down a couple times. :)
It was a tight squeeze.
Cam
Trev and Harris took a heads first approach.
Trev and Ry doing a train.
Aubry wondering why she got put down. ;)
Checking out the pond.
When Jann was here in August she really wanted to see the river. We ourselves had never actually been down to the river yet so we just took her to this little place that we knew would get us there. We had to walk under the freeway to get there and the mosquitoes were eating us alive! Needless to say it left us wanting to find a better place to see the river. Well last week Chet found a place called the Rio Grande Nature Preserve. So that's where we headed. It was much better! We took a trail through the bosque down to the river. When we got to the river the kids wanted to get in the water and play on the clay. So Chet forded the river first to check it out and then came back and got the kids one by one.
Chet fording the river and looking really hot while doing it. :)
Leading the troops across the Rio Grande.
They made it!
Yay! Mud!
While they were on the clay island Liv found something buried in the mud. At first she though it was shell with something in it. So of course all the kids had to check it out and poke at it. Well Chet actually dug it up and it was a doll head, a very unique doll head. On the back of the doll head was stamped the words; Made in Occupied Japan. We thought that was very strange so we Googled it. This is what it said: "Objects marked "Made in Occupied Japan" or "Occupied Japan" were made between the end of the Second World War and April 18, 1952, when the occupation by American troops ended." So who knows how long that doll head has been in the river. Awesome, right?!
It's actually very creepy. Chet kept torturing Cami with it all night long. Cam is convinced that it is possessed and looking for a body!
After the river we headed home so the Wakefields could pack up and head out. As a finale to the trip Liv and Cam did a dance for us with DJ Trevor manning the iPod for them.
Silly girls!
It was a wonderful weekend and I am so blessed to have such an amazing family! I can hardly wait for the next visit!
We went to the aquarium and the botanical gardens two Saturdays ago and had an amazing time! The weather was perfect and the crowds were minimal because the State Fair is going on right now.
We went to the aquarium first and as we were passing by the pond to the entrance we could see tons of baby fish swimming around. Harris was fascinated! He really wanted to catch one but I told him that the water was too dirty and the fish would probably dart away before he cold catch one. So he settled on sitting at the waters edge and just watching. There were also a lot of bigger fish swimming around under the waterlilies that were in bloom. It was so beautiful and relaxing to just sit and watch. Side note: waterlilies remind me of my mom, she loved them...
While we were there they had a new interactive area where you could "pet" sting rays and bamboo sharks. The kids were so excited! They both touched the rays but there was no way Harris would touch the shark even though I touched it and explained that this kind of shark didn't have teeth. I guess some people don't find sharks as cute and cuddly as I do. ;)
After we finished with the sharks and rays we made our way through the rest of the aquarium with Liv taking pictures along the way. She did an amazing job and got some great pics!
Here we have a sturgeon, a rock fish, a needle nose gar and the most terrifying fish ever; a barracuda... He's looking at me!!!
There are 2 of these seagulls that live inside the aquarium. They are rescue birds and can't fly. They have "seaside" habitat next to the stingrays. They are so noisy! We didn't get a video though, maybe next time...
The moray eels. Very creepy looking...
A remora, tomato clown fish, sea horse, unicorn fish, and an angel fish.
We finally made our way through all of the little tanks to the big tank at the end where there are sea turtles and sharks.
When we are looking at the big tank we like to sit on the floor right in front of it and just watch. This time we sat for about 45 minutes. It is so relaxing.
When we were done with the fish we headed next door to the gardens. When we walked through the gate to the garden we saw a group of people taking pictures of a giant spider web. Upon closer inspection they were taking a picture of a GIANT spider! And not just one. There were 5 separate webs each with its own giant spider attached...
That "little" guy is about 5 inches in diameter. He was beautiful!
When we were finished gawking at the giant spiders we went to the castle for the kids to play in.
Awwww- hugs inside the castle.
The kids love the slide and the mazes inside the castle. It is fun to watch them run around inside the castle. :)
The gardens are absolutely beautiful right now! There were a lot more flowers in bloom this time than last time so it was like a totally new experience.
The thing behind the kids is a flower fountain. The water drips down from the top through all the plants and collects in a pool at the bottom. It sounded like rain. So very cool...
This is the wedding pavilion. In the spring there is purple wisteria hanging down everywhere. So pretty!
During the summer they open an area of the gardens called the "Butterfly Pavilion". There are hundreds of exotic butterflies that they raise there. Some of them they can let go but the rest just live their short lives inside the pavilion. It was fun to see how many different kinds we could find...
Here are a few that we could get pictures of. There were some that just didn't want their pictures taken and would only land for a second and then they would fly away again.
Right outside the pavilion there is a mini village that has mini trains that run through it. The kids can push different buttons around the village that make different trains go. For some reason they only had one train set up that day so we didn't hang out there for very long.
There are little ponds all over the gardens and there is one right by the village that is filled with waterlillies has a little bridge and waterfall that the kids like to look at. While we were looking at it we noticed several frogs peeking out at us.
It was the perfect day and I am so glad that we were able to go. I can't wait to go again!
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