Pumpkin Patch

 Last weekend (my birthday weekend) we went to the Pumpkin Patch.  We decided to go to Chesters Party Barn.  We had wantedto go the the Barn on Friday but Mother Nature decided to send a rain storm so we had to change plans and go on Saturday.  I'm not going to lie-I may have had a small tantrum when I woke up on Friday and it was raining.  Apparently Avery woke up on the wrong side of the bed too because she was a little cranky Friday.  It was probably best we waited until Saturday. AND we got to talk up riding a pony.  Avery couldn't wait! 

 Avery LOVED the ponies!

 She wasn't scared one bit of getting on the ponies.

 In fact, she even gave it a few "Yee haws"! 

Next up was the Petting Zoo. We bought a bucket of food and went to town.  Again, Avery wasn't scared one bit of sticking her hands out with food to hungry animals.

R got in on the action to feed a cow.  The cow's tongue was huge!  I think R may be related!

 There wasnt' a hay ride but there was a tractor ride. That basically took you to this huge slide.  We did have to trek though a muddy maze but we finally made it!

 Avery couldn't wait to go down the slide.  Again, not scare one bit!

 This picture cracks me up. It looks like she is about to face plant in the mud but she didn't!  She stayed on her feet!  She's got ninja-like balance like her dad!  I have the balance of a pogo stick.  Pogo stick balance=not good.  Ninja balance=excellent!
We even caught a glimpse of this guy.  Pretty cool at a distance.  Not cool up close.

 Finally we got to the pumpkin picking!  About this time the wind picked up and the temperature dropped a little.  Rain was in the air.  Avery was taking her time.

 "This pumpkin is heaby!"

Finally!  A pumpkin.

Avery is in the stage that everything is an adventure and fun.  She's not too cool to do anything and we can really talk up an activity like riding a pony, and she can't wait to do them! It's so fun to see things through her eyes. I can't hardly stand it!

There's so much more to come and I can't wait!

More adventures to come!

Misc ABQ Adventures

On our vacation we did some misc "stuff" over the couple of days that I did get a chance to share.

First, if you see Avery wearing the same outfit or skirt it's probably because she wore the same skirt 3 times and the same dress twice.  My child is in a princess phase.  She has an aversion to pants and shirts that aren't pink.  The pink shirt thing is fairly new and luckily wasn't an issue during vacation however, it was quite a battle to get her to wear pants. 

Balloon Fiesta Park
Anyway, the first time we headed out to Balloon Fiesta park, we went for a Night Glow.  However, the wind was too high so no balloons got blown up.  We got to the park late afternoon/early evening so the girls had a chance to play before we found out the festivities were cancelled.

Hannah and Avery we brave enough to get their picture taken with the big cows. 

The girls had a grand time doing their gymnastic tricks on the big lawn.

Hannah tried to teach the girls to do cartwheels. 

I don't think Avery got the gist.

Chloe gave it her best shot.


Old Town
Have you been to Old Town in Sante Fe?  Well, the ABQ has their version too.  It's not as cool but its a great place to spend a few hours. 

Avery got to pick out a bracelet from a street vendor.  She's so stylish.

Silly bands and turquoise.  New fashion trend.  Watch for it on the runways next spring!

There's even an old Catholic church.  Don't you love the beauty of Catholic churches.  This church was built in the 1700's I think.  Someonegot for to charge their camera battery so this is the last picture she took in Old Town.  Vacation tip: Never, ever think that your battery doesn't need to be charged!

I love the color of this old truck. 

In front of one of the little shops, there was a big Noah's Ark blow up.  The girls had a grand time playing with all the animals.

I love this picture of Hannah.  First, i'm pretty sure Hannah took more pictures than me on this vacation.  She had her camera with her wherever we went!  Second, R pointed out the guy behind Hannah...see him?  We're pretty sure he's a zombie.  WATCH OUT HANNAH!

Balloon Museum
In front of Balloon Fiesta Park is the Hot Air Balloon museum.  We had some time to kill so we decided to check it out. 

Hannah was such a big helper on our trip.  Avery wanted to be doing anything that Hannah was doing and holding her hand at all times. 

Such a big girl!

My child's mouth and a hot air balloon basket. She's weird.

Up, up and Away!

The girls loved this "fire". I think it was the best thing about the museum.

I won't bore you with pictures of the hot air balloon museum exhibits.  I mean really, who cares unless you are there right? Well, if you are ever there, take some time and check it out.  It's pretty cool!

Kites!
The last night we were in the ABQ, we were going to the Glowdeo. Since we had some time to kill, we picked up a few kites and took advantage of the wind.

Balloons, Balloons everywhere!

So R called me out on my last post about not posting pictures of balloons.  My dear readers, I apologize if you have been anxiously awaiting pictures of ballons.  This post will be sure to quench your thirst.  If this isn't enough, call me...I have hundreds more where these came from!

Going to the Balloon Fiesta means early mornings.  Like before the sun  comes up early.  Like, 4:30 AM early.  I don't want to talk about it. But, you gotta get there early to get parking, get a good spot on the grounds and see the balloons up close and personal.

The first morning we saw the balloons was the Shapes Rodeo.  Although it was too windy to actually lift the balloons, they did all get blown up that morning.  The picture above is the start of the process of laying out the "big cow" balloon.  I was blown away at how big some of these hot air balloons were!

There were all kinds of shapes.  Avery kept calling this guy Mickey Mouse.

There were so typical hot air ballons on the Shapes rodeo day too. 

This is the start of blowing up the "big cow".  Huge i tell ya!

Udderly beautiful.  Ha, ha.  Get it.  Alright, i promise no more inappropriate cow comments.  See those little people?  Those aren't figurines, the hot air balloon is just that big!

One of my favorites. This gives the patriotic side of me goose bumps!

So many fun things to see!

Each of the balloon crews handed our trading cards.  We had to collect as many as possible. 

Avery liked to show her cards to the balloons.

Bye bye balloons!

Like I said, we had some early mornings!  This morning was a Mass Ascention.  This meant the round balloons would all lift off. 

The balloons were laid out and then blown up. 

After the national anthem was sung, balloons were released.  Pretty cool.

There wasn't a lot of time to fix hair.

Thousands of ballons in the sky!

The haunted house was one of Avery's favorite.

Darth Vader was one of R's favorite.

The evenings included a glowdeo.  What was supposed to happen were all the balloons were to be on the field and lit up.  However, the wind did not cooperate and only some of the balloons went ahead and blew up.  However, the ones that did were very lovely. 

The evening ended with a great fireworks show.  The best I've ever seen!  I'm no expert of photographing fireworks so there aren't a lot of pictures of the show.