Home and Away: This and That and lots of random

This year, we spent some time at home over the summer. Usually, we fill summer up with as much travel and "getting out of Midland" as we can, but this year we wanted to enjoy our new home and relax a little.

We did take ourselves on a short trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque is one of those places you would never think of as a vacation destination, but there are lots of things to do and we didn't have time to do them all. Probably the best time to visit is early fall; sometime in October is the International Balloon Fiesta, when the skies fill with hundreds of hot air balloons.
Incidentally, Breaking Bad was filmed in Albuquerque.

Downtown Albuquerque was quite recently "revitalized". There are museums, a theatre, a convention center and main library. We were happy just to park the car and walk around.

Minutes from downtown is the ABQ Biopark; a very impressive collection of activities including a zoo, botanic garden, "Tingley Beach", and an aquarium. In a stroke of luck, we visited on the "two for one" day so our entrance fee was very reasonable. We only had time for one attraction, so we picked the zoo. You could probably spend an entire long weekend at the ABQ Biopark.

Finley enjoyed seeing pink flamingos for the first time. She saw lots of "firsts".

"But why can't I go in there?"

Zebras are funny looking

Woah, So are elephants.

Huh. Taking a bath. Interesting.

Mary spent much of the trip writing down new animals in her journal. She was disappointed that one of her favorites was on vacation.

The Sandia Peak Tramway can be very busy and lines are long, but the trip is definitely worth it. The tramway takes you on an almost three mile journey, up 10,000 feet through the Cibola National Forest, to Sandia Peak.
In the summer, you can hike or use the mountain bike trails and in the winter, you can ski the slopes.

From the tramway station at the top, you can either admire the views and return, or you can take a hike to the Kiwanis Cabin, a one room house built by the CCC in 1936. We had some time before sunset, so we opted for the hike.

The views were spectacular, and even the reluctant tween was glad she made the effort!

The Hinkle Family Fun Center is definitely worth a visit, especially if you are visiting with kids.

Or even if not. We bought a fun pass and enjoyed a good few hours here.

The course was too easy so we used Finley as an extra obstacle.

Mary is my thrill seeker and she is a fearless (dangerous) go-kart driver!

Finn enjoying the black light

Back home, we spent lots of time at the lake.

Andrew would like it if I posted this photo.

Half of the rents came to visit (Andrew's mom) and during her stay, we visited the fly-in at Pecan Plantation, near Granbury. A fly-in is a great day out if you have kids and are interested in them taking a free flight.

The EAA are set up at most (if not all) fly-ins, and they offer free flights to all kids, just like the EAA chapter in Midland. There were also crafts, food, and lots of planes to take a look at.

Mary was hoping to get this open-cockpit plane for her flight.

She got this one instead, but she got to fly with some teens, which was "cool".

Andrew drooled a little.

This open-everything-because-I-have-no-top-sides-or-bottom plane was a great sight to see in the air!

Nice prop

Nice engine
And by nice, I mean pretty. I know nothing about propellers or engines.

This is where we stole the idea for an EAA craft table.

We made a weekend of it and stayed in the Granbury area. We visited the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. Not quite as impressive as the Edinburgh gardens we visited earlier in the year, but certainly worth a visit.

Lots of weird and wonderful plant life. Andrew's mom writes a blog (Plants Amaze Me), and some of her amazing photos have been used for publication.

No one has ever approached me asking to use one of my photos. Weird.

BIG leaf

Hey, I just met you. And this is crazy. But you look funny. I want to eat you.

Pretty girl. Hey, where are your glasses?

On our last day, we visited Dinosaur Valley State Park at Glen Rose. This is a super cool place to visit with kids - real dino prints!!

Here is one sample of a dino print; the river bed is covered with them.

Mary found a sweet river turtle.

In other random news...

The July 4th event in town was very busy, so we hung out and watched the fireworks from our car. Bonus; we got to avoid the heavy traffic leaving the park.

We had lots of fun with the Concho crowd at Summer Mummers

I made a dog bed in a record 8 minutes. That's 7.5 dog beds an hour (round down to 7 for breaks and gathering materials), which, at $15 a bed, comes to $105 an hour.

Sounds like an Etsy shop to me.

On that same theme, we also made...

a photo frame using an old frame, some spray paint, and some wire

DIY Success

a decorative lighthouse using terracotta pots, spray paint and a black sharpie

DIY Fail

summer scrub using sugar, food coloring, and lemon essence

DIY Success

a mosquito trap using yeast, warm water, sugar and a coke bottle

DIY Fail

Andrew had a birthday and spent much time fishing his birthday drone out of trees.

We spent lots of time at the pool. Finn really enjoyed drinking the pool water.

It didn't take me long to figure out My Spot at the pool.

However, I only managed to read maybe 6 pages of my book the whole summer.

Fun at the new Doug Russell water park!

We went to the Commemorative Airforce Airsho and saw the USAF Thunderbirds and other very talented performers.

Now that the EAA has a professional sign, parents seem much more willing to sign their kids up for flights! (This is before the professional sign. I wouldn't trust us either).

This was my practice run.

Just kidding. That's not me.

More random news...

You never know who you might see at the St. Ann's fair!

Mary played hard at Bingo and Finn wished hard that we would win the inflatable 10 ft minion.

We took Finn on her first trip to the Children's Museum.

I don't care how old you are, or how may times you have visited the Children's museum, or which children's museum you visit - your favorite activity will ALWAYS be The Grocery Store.

Finn had fun with herself.

We decorated Mary's room to look more "tween". We also just had an urge to paint something. Luckily, this one wall was all it took to rid us of that urge and the rest of the house was spared.

I love to paint until I do it, and then I hate to paint, anything, ever again.