The rest of our vacation

There is a splash park near my parents house. The day we decided to go was overcast and cool- but that didn't stop the kids from having a good time. They would run in the water and then wrap up in their towels. It was pretty funny to watch. Even Timbo ran through the water.

The Albuquerque Zoo is AWESOME!!! We love to go there. It takes pretty much all day and they have tons of animals. The day we went was pretty special because we got to see lots of babies, and the Zebra was even born THAT day. It was pretty cool. There is also a play area for when kids get tired of just walking. And a little area that sprays water at random intervals-- Caleb loved it.

My little posers!

This little camel was only 3 months old. And the gecko was just weird!! Check him out hanging upside down.

The baby giraffe was 3 weeks old.

The baby Zebra was born that day, and how cute is he!! Isn't that cheetah beautiful?

We rode the train over to the aquarium to see sting rays, and sharks and all other kinds of fish. We actually got to pet a sting ray- it was SLIMY!!

One day we went to the National Atomic Museum. It had some pretty neat stuff.

Grandpa and Timbo (how appropriate- a rocket behind them)

A side note- My dad sent some RADAR up into space on the LRO June 17, 2009. Its pretty awesome to have something of yours orbiting the moon!!

Again with the posing!!

This was the worlds first nuclear powered passenger ship- I just thought it was cool that it was named Savannah!!

This is a replica of an atomic bomb!! WOW!!

This is the trinity flag!!

All in all we had a WONDERFUL vacation and we can't wait to go back next summer!

Walking with Grandpa and Grandma

Sunday afternoons are always a great time to take a walk, especially when our vacation was coming to a close. We all got out to walk the dogs, and play at the park. Tommy dared me to hang upside down from the monkey bars-- Ha, I can still "hang" with the little ones!! There were swings and rock climbing and it was HOT!! But at least it wasn't raining. We sure had a great time visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Gardner. The kids still haven't stopped talking about the pool, or the MAN CAVE or the KID CAVE!!! There were too many fun things to do while we were there and we wore ourselves out!! But thats what vacations are all about right?

Like Mother- Like Daughter

POOL PARTY

The greatest thing about visiting Grandma and Grandpa Gardner's is the POOL!!!
Its one of those endless pools, so it has this motor that creates a current that is awesome. The kids just hold onto the bar and then let themselves get pulled under and end up at the other end of the pool. (YES there is ALWAYS adult supervision). Its just too much fun to play in the pool.


My little Savana learning to swim WITHOUT floaties!!

Even Timbo was having a good time!!

Dad giving the kids swimming lessons-- Kicking is the best part!

Tommy is such a FISH!!

CLIFFS

June 12th-22nd... This will be the first of our New Mexico trip. I'm still waiting on other pictures. It might be out of order, but we want to share our fun with everyone.
I will describe our trek to NM in another post, it's an interesting story. This is June 13th- Cliffs amusement park. I lived in NM for 4 years and I had never been to cliffs- and I still had not been to Cliffs. This was a new adventure. There were crazy rides, kiddie rides, log rides, screaming, laughing, and also a little whining. The kids had a blast. They rode the Carousel, the teacups, frog jumper, planes, cars, bumper cars and balloons. Us BIG kids got to ride The RATTLER! Oh it was crazy. Tommy said it rattled his bones, Josh said "He wasn't lyin." Josh and Dad rode the Fireball- It was a circle. They went around and around in a vertical circle-- upside down 60 feet in the air and Dad loved it.... Then we all went on the Log ride- Siera said it "was totally awesome. We have to do it again!" Craig got Savana to go on an actual roller coaster. Apparently it was a little scary- she freaked out, but I was proud she was brave enough to try.
Anyways, we had a ton of fun, and it wore us out... I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Boise continued...

So on Saturday we met up with Jasmine and the boyz and went to the Boise Zoo!! I have to tell you my opinion, but it is only MY opinion. I wasn't too impressed with the zoo. But we did have a great time. We conquered the zoo, bought zoo slushies in a special keepsake cup (it should be for what they charge right?), then got lost trying to get to Bob so we could go to lunch. Then, after a yummy Mongolian BBQ lunch, (tommy had a bowl of pineapple-weird huh?) we hung out at the park and let the cousins play. They had so much fun together. It was great to see Bob and Jasmine- it's been awhile. I had fun guys. And thanks again for lunch!!
All the kiddos together at the beginning of the day...

An ALBINO cockroach.... YUCK!!

This is some kind of vulture, he kept flaring his wings and looking at me- so I figured WHY NOT?!?!

This KING OF THE JUNGLE I think was getting a kick out of scaring kids. All these kids were close to the glass and touching and knocking on the glass, he would just sit there and look bored and then out of nowhere he would slap the glass. Josiah was right in front of him when he did it. Jasmine grabbed him away and Josiah started crying. We both thought he was scared of the Lion,--not so much. He was crying because he wanted to go back to the Lion. But Josiah did say that the lion gave him a HIGH FIVE!!

Do you know what a long day it is when you take young kids to the zoo? Well, ALL the kids got in the stroller and Tommy started pushing. Nothing like kid labor!!

Once again- We had a great time!! Thanks.

The first of many vacation posts!!

May 29th-30th.... A trip to Boise!!! Josh went back to work, the kids were finished with school, so instead of sitting home doing nothing we decided to take a quick trip to BOISE!! A quick trip it was too. Friday we drove to Nampa to visit with Grandma Taylor- about 2 minutes after we got there the kids discovered her sprinkler system and within 10 minutes they were soaked to the bone. They were crazy and fun- and I hope Grandma Taylor had as much fun as we did. We sure loved to visit!!!
We LOVE you Grandma Taylor!!!!

Fishing and Roasting

A couple weekends ago, the perfect weather decided to come out. Plus Elyssa was visiting for the weekend. We decided to go fishing and roast hot dogs. Randy came to surprise Elyssa and we all had a great time!!!