Bunches of Fun with The Berry's

Yahoo! The Berry Family came up to see us last
weekend! We haven't seen them since Thanksgiving.
We were especially excited to see Evan, since his
now 7 months old. They got here LATE Thursday
night (like 1:30 am Fri morn) and played hard with
us until Sunday morning. We were privileged to get
to spend Amy's first Mother's Day with her. :) We
went to the zoo, the aquarium, Sandia Mountain and
one of the neighborhood parks. Amy, Allen and Evan,
thanks for making the drive and seeing our temporary
home! We had a great time! See you in a month!!




Ian and Jenna at the Albuquerque zoo. The coolest
feature of this zoo is that you are so close to the
animals. I took a million pictures (only posted a few)
because you could see the animals so well.


Aunt Amo took a tip from Jenna's
hiking techniques and got a piggy back
ride from Allen while we toured the zoo.

Ian and Jenna climbed into this throne

and immediately started shouting orders.

I told them the sign said, Do Not Feed The Animals,

but they are rebels and fed him any way. :)

Aren't eels creepy?

How cool are these jellyfish?

Scuba diving with the sharks, no thanks. I would

rather be on the dry side of the glass.

Despite the vast amount of things to

do and see at the zoo and aquarium,

Ian and Allen still took time to stop

and smell the roses.

Ian and Evan (with a little help from Allen),

we were riding on the train that connects the

aquarium and the zoo. It is about a 20 minute

ride and you get to go through two tunnels.

If I am not mistaken, this looks a little like John.

The seals and sea lions were Ian's favorite. Jenna

walked all around this exhibit barking like a seal

and was just sure they were answering her.

Saturday night, we went took The Berry Family

to the park where we were meeting The Gang for

a picnic/bbq. Despite the chilly winds, we all had

a good time.

We rocked the park with our cool kites. The plus

side to our windy days is that they are perfect

for flying kites. This one belongs to Noah.

Tori's kite

Lucas' kite

Ian's kite

Ian, master of the kite.

I just love this little man. I must have taken a

million pictures of just him. He was so tired from

the long drive from TX but was still so fun. He is a

sweet, sweet boy.

Jenna couldn't wait for baby Evan to

get here. She kept talking about helping

to feed him and take care of him.

We tried to ride the tram to the top of

Sandia Mountain but the winds were too

high. We found some cool trails and hiked

for an hour and a half or so instead.

I am pretty sure that is what Jenna really was

thinking.

Awww...they do love each other.

We found some wild animals while

hiking on the mountain.

Queen of the Really Small Rock

Thank goodness John was there to roll

that big boulder off the path.

What a nice lookin' family.

Poor Amo was pooped by the end

of our hike but Evan LOVED it. His

favorite part was when his Momma

lost her footing and did the 'gravel

slide'. He would swing his feet and

laugh out loud. If he liked that, he is

gonna love roller coasters when he is

bigger.

April Showers Bring Mother's Day Flowers

Happy Mother's Day!

God cannot be every where so he
created mothers. Arab Proverb




Look at all of my beautiful Mother's
Day flowers. Thank you Jennifer for the
lillies. (they smell wonderful!) Thank you
Jenna for the cala lily and the purple and
white daisies. Thank you Amo and Allen
for the rose and gerber daisy. Thank
you Ian for the super yummy smelling
candle.



She looks well to the ways of her household;
her children rise up and bless her, her
husband also. Proverbs 31:27-28




The kids working hard painting our flowers for
our gifts.


An example of one of our bouquets
that we sent to Grandma, Grammy
and the Aunts for Mother's Day.



A prayer for Moms:

Dear Lord,

Of all the tasks I will undertake in my lifetime,
there is none more important to me than being
a good mother. Please guide me every step of
the way. Remind me that my every word and
deed is being watched by my children. My life
must be a pattern for them to follow. No matter
what I achieve in my life it will not matter if I fail
as a mother. Please help me get it right.

Hiking Embundo Trailhead Canyon with Mel and The Girls

We spent one Sunday hiking the Embundo Trailhead Canyon Trails
with Mel and The Girls. The kids and I were planning a trip to the
trails and when we mentioned it to Mel, she was eager to join us. Mel
and I packed our backpacks full of water, food and first aid supplies,
our cell phones were charged. Our kids were slathered in sunscreen
and had jackets around their waists, just in case. As we hiked, we
started passing other hikers. One was just wearing her I Pod, one
older couple was out for their morning stroll and another was out
walking the dog. As we hiked to the top of a trail, we got a good look
at the surrounding area....and we were surrounded by neighborhoods.
I guess we weren't really hiking trails through the wilderness like we
thought we were.

Despite our over packed backpacks, we had an awesome hike. The
kids loved climbing up the different rock formations. After a few hours,
we headed to a nearby park for a picnic and some play time. It was yet
another fantastic adventure here in The Land on Enchantment.

If you would like more information on hiking on the Sandia Mountain,
here is a link to check out. http://www.cabq.gov/openspace/sandiafoothills.html

Thanks Mel, Tori and Maryssa for sharing it with us.

Our climbers in action

King of the Really Big Rock

Again, hiking is not one of Jenna's favorite

adventures. This is how Jenna would prefer

to hike these trails. Thankfully, Mel was

with us to help her out.

"Are we having fun yet?" What they were

really saying was "C'mon, we are SOOOO

hungry. Can we pleassseeee stop to eat???"

I think that we hadn't hiked 10 minutes before

our kids starting asking for lunch...at 10 am.

Maryssa enjoying the view.

Jenna, Ian and Tori with Albuquerque in the background.

Ahhhh, a chance to rest.

I about had a heart attack watching

Jenna slide down the pole. She thought

this was so fun that she did it over and

over again. She is so stinkin' brave.

What a great day for a hike and an even better

day for a picnic in a new park!

Cinco De Mayo

La mayoría de la gente celebrar el Cinco de Mayo
en honor del día de la independencia mexicana, pero
en realidad celerates una victoriosa batalla sobre
las fuerzas francés en 1862. Para mí, es un gran
motivo para apagar un banquete de comida mexicana
para la cena. Cualquier motivo para celebrar es
una razón suficiente para mí.


La comida. (the food)

For our appetizers we had guacamole with chips and
jalepeno chicken wrapts. For the entree, we had sw
steak enchilanda and taco rice. For dessert we had
churros. To drink, the kids had lime slushies and John
and I had Corona with limes. MMMM....Good!



¡Salud! (cheers)


Translation of the introduction paragraph:

You didn't think I would make you work for
the information, did ya??

Most people celebrate Cinco De Mayo in honor
of the Mexican independance day but it actually
celerates a victorious battle over the French forces
in 1862. To me, it is a great reason to put out a banquet
of Mexican food for dinner. Any reason to celebrate is a
good enough reason for me.

MAFED Awards Ceremony

Ian's martial arts class (Martial Arts for Education)
held their annual awards ceremony last night.
Each elementary school that participates in the
program did a demonstration of a basic skill
and then the higher kyu students showed an
advanced version of the same skill. Afterwards,
the Senseis handed out medals to all of the students
that earned their greenbelt along with certificates
for the Most Improved Student, Best New Student
and Best Overall Student for each school. Much to
our surprise, Ian was give the Best Student award
for the Colinas Del Norte program! YAHOO! We
were all so excited and proud of him. Great job Ian!



Pardon the end of the video. As you will see, I am
still practicing the video function of our camera.
This is a clip of Ian demonstrating one of the
very basic maneuvers on how to defend yourself.
(by getting out of the way!) This is called Open Door.


Ian is receiving his medal from
Sensei Dale.


This is most of the Colinas Del Norte students.
There were about 5 or 6 that did not attend
the ceremony. You can see that almost all of
them received their greenbelts this year. (This
was the first year that CDNE participated in the
martial arts program.)


Ian and Sensei Debbie

Volcanic Adventures

Ian had a 5 day weekend so we took advantage of
the time off for a new adventure. A few months
ago we hiked the petroglyphs so today we hiked
the volcanoes that created the rocks that the
petroglyphs were carved on. These volcanoes
are referred to as the Three Sisters or Albuquerque's
Volcanoes. These volcanoes are an example of a
fissure eruption. In most volcanoes, lava erupts
through a vertical vent. In fissure volcanoes, the
lava rises along thin cracks in the earth's crust and
seeps onto the surface. This particular fissure is over
5 miles long. There are three volcanoes in this park,
JA Volcano, Black Volcano and Vulcan Volcano. There
are a series of trails that take you along them. We
walked along all three of the volcanoes, probably
covering a little over 4 miles. It was a great afternoon!
http://www.nps.gov/petr/planyourvisit/vol.htm This
is a link to the park's website, where I took my
information. Check it out if you want to learn more!


You can see JA Volcano in the background.


All hiking adventures should start with a picnic.
And what better to have at a May family picnic
than peanut butter and jelly!


This is a close up of lava rock, called basalt. The
texture of the rock depends on how quickly the
lava cooled. If it cools quickly, it will be rough with
tiny gas bubbles. If it cools slowly, it will be smoother
and be a darker gray.



This is a large basalt rock with lichen
on it. Lichen is an organism composed of
fungi and either algae or cyanobacteria.
It can be in a variety of colors, ranging
from green, yellow, orange or rust.


This is at the top of JA Volcano. The views were
spectacular. While doing research for the blog,
I realized that the Native Indians believe climbing
to the top of the volcanic cones desecrates the land.
I would never have taken the kids to the top had
I realized this while we were there.


This is on the trail between Black
Volcano and Vulcan Volcano. How
sweet is this?


The largest of the three volcanoes is Vulcan Volcano.

Ian decided to take a side trail to go up a little

higher on the volcano. He made it about 3/4

of the way up to the top before he turned around.

This is from a ledge near the top of Vulcan. Those

are the Sandia's in the background.

This is a mini-volcanic valley on the north side

of the Vulcan Volcano.

We were walking into very strong winds and

the sand was irritating Jenna's eyes. Here she was

telling me that she had had enough and wasn't

walking any further. This was not one of her

favorite adventures and she kept telling me that

"her feet were killing her" and "this was a

really bad idea".

Much to Jenna's delight, we finally made it

back to the parking lot.