More Boulder

Today and yesterday we squeezed in all we could of Boulder. On Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market, visited the Dushanbe Tea House, ate lunch by the ampitheater, visited the library, walked the labyrinth by the stream. Then today we went to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster and walked around the Cochran's neighborhood and found bunnies and prairie dogs. We re-celebrated Oliver's 5th birthday with his friend Riley who turns 5 in two weeks. He is beaming in the picture with his new Cracken shirt! We are all looking forward to flying home tomorrow to our own beds and to our own kitties!

Tea Tour/NCAR

Friday we enjoyed taking a tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. The mint room cleared our sinuses and the gift shop took our money. :) We found a letterbox at the edge of the tea factory's parking lot, so we stamped in. Then we let the kids play at the Scott Carpenter Park, named after the famous astronaut. A family of 5 deer crossed the road when we drove up to NCAR - the National Center for Atmospheric Research. CD's friend Raj Pandya, an old friend from his high school in Rockford, works there and gave us a tour. We enjoyed the views of the Flatirons and Devil's Thumb and ended the big day with a dinner at Red Robin.

Denver Zoo

Thursday we spent the afternoon at the Denver Zoo. We enjoyed the Komodo Dragons, Polar Bears, and more. The weather was hailing in the morning, sunny at noon, cloudy and windy in the afternoon, so we mostly visited the animals in the buildings! Then at night we got to meet up with Geetha and Mark for dinner. Oops! We forgot to take their picture, so you can't meet them. We had just been at their wedding last Labor Day weekend and saw them again in San Diego last October. The kids enjoyed seeing their condo and meeting their cats , Chance and Prudence. Oliver especially enjoyed Mark's Godzilla toy!

Garden of the Gods

Wednesday we stopped by Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs while on our way north. We enjoyed the amazing geology and took a little hike. We saw some beautiful magpies nesting in the trees at the base of the rock formations. We were amazed by a lot of brave rock climbers attempting to scale the rocks that they were allowed on. At the Visitors Center, Oliver found some prehistoric squid painted on the mural above our heads. Then we drove up to Denver and met our friend Lyn Davies and her daughter Brynn at a restaurant in Englewood. Unfortunately, Jeff had to stay at home because he was sick. Then we drove to Superior, CO to stay with our Friends the Cochrans who moved here from Knoxville last summer.

Santa Fe Revisited

Monday we left ABQ and headed to Santa Fe again. Before leaving we took pictures of the kids Favorite Easter eggs before eating them for breakfast, in case you're wondering what those pictures are. Once in Santa Fe, we headed for the plaza. The kids enjoyed the Daffy Duck bench outside the Chuck Jones Gallery. We enjoyed the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. The kids used Daddy's sketchbook to try their hand at drawing a buffalo skull. Tuesday morning we went to Loretto Chapel to see the famous spiral staircase. We also enjoyed the Dancing St. Francis sculpture outside the Cathedral down the street. Natalie and I visited the Palace of the Governors which she had read about in her Josefina books. I stuck my head in the new state capitol building and enjoyed all of the amazing art, esp. the new art quilt exhibit. Then we all headed to the Museum Hill to take in the amazing International Folk Art Museum and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Both places had really fun children's areas and amazing exhibits. Note the fun adobe playhouse in the pictures. Then we found a playground for the kids in a remote area east of town near the Santa Fe National Forest. Even this remote play area had a St. Francis statue looking across the mountain toward a cemetery on the hill.

Last Days in ABQ

We've been packing in the experiences here on our last days in Albuquerque. We accidently found a new park while in route to another place. The kids loved the "spider web" climber made out of red rope. Check out the neat pictures. Friday we went to Casa San Ysidro, a beautiful authentic adobe home run by the Abq Museum. Natalie has been reading the American Girl Books, specifically the ones about Josefina who lived in the New Mexico territory in the 1800s, so this place was like the book came alive to her. I loved the family altar/shrine area and the amazing apricot trees, esp. the one in the picture that is growing sideways and needs a support to keep it up. Oliver and Natalie loved the ant hill that they found in the courtyard as much as anything. On the way home we saw some sheep taking a nap by the road. Saturday we finally made it to the Pueblo Cultural Center and enjoyed watching the Zuni Bear Dance group as well as a weaver weaving belts. On Saturday afternoon we revisited the Explora Children's Museum and said goodbye to our friend Joe Martinez, my Dad's buddy from his Air Force days. Today we enjoyed the Living Sea movie in the Dynatheater (IMAX) and a Planetarium show. Then we went Letterboxing in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. We had to hike through a desert trail and down an arroyo and find the box under some scrub oaks. We were excited to find it and there was a "hitchiker" inside to boot! Then we tried to go up the Sandia Tramway, but it was too windy and had to close for the day. On to a park close to our apartment where we found a letterbox easily by a cedar tree at a playground (hence the picture of Natalie in front of the tree). We made a point to take pictures of our last sunset of Albuquerque and I celebrated by trying to fly a kite in the crazy winds. The kids danced in the arroyo and we took pictures of all the tumbleweeds. Enjoy!

Oliver's 5th Birthday

We revisited the Aquarium and Botanic Gardens just before Oliver's Birthday. We got to eat lunch next to the shark tank and the sea turtle put on quite a show for us. Oliver picked himself out a shirt from the gift shop which says "There's a commotion in the ocean." He loves the fact that it has two giant squids on it. We had a Star Wars theme for his birthday this year. We bought gourmet cupcakes for the occasion from a local bakery called Cake Fetish. He also got a 3-headed dragon puppet from Natalie and the book Flotsam by David Weisner (which also has squid in it). But his favorite would have to be the light sabre or "life saver" as he sometimes calls it. He and Daddy have taken their light sabres into the arroyo to have "dance fight" time. If we had to pick a sport for Oliver at this point, I'd say he is headed for fencing in the 2020 Olympics. After opening gifts he chose to go putt-putt golfing for his special day. The next day was Easter. We had lots of big neat plans, but all of them got thrown aside as CD's cold/allergies got worse and both kids were struggling with congestion. We did an indoor egg hunt in the apartment and colored some real eggs as you can see in the pictures.