Corn Maze

The Girl Scouts planned to go to the corn maze last weekend, so Jerry and I thought it would be fun to tag along.  Trina didn't want us along, so we split once we got there. But we got the reduced group rate and didn't have to wait in the insanely long line, so I was happy enough.

The boys wanted to play with the pumpkins as soon as we got there, so I told them to go for it. It made for great pictures.

The pumpkins were great, but they wanted a lot for them, so I told the boys that we would get some somewhere else. I thought they should have been included in the price of admission. But, I don't make the rules.

Things would be a lot different if I could just make the rules for everything!

Jerry just wanted to get started on the maze. There were two mazes, hard and easy. We let the boys choose which they wanted. Josh immediately chose the hard one. Jamie and I didn't didn't care, so into the jungle we went.

Josh and Jamie played, I took pictures, and Jerry guided.
I thought it was a great system. I wouldn't have been able to navigate it anyway, so I just followed, trusting my scout to get us out alive.

The maze was pretty intricate and we followed the map for a while, then we got turned around. So, after about 45 minutes, we walked towards the entrance and ended up going out through one side of the maze.

Jerry wasn't impressed with us. He wanted to follow the maze entirely, finding everything on the map.
The boys and I don't have that much testosterone.
We didn't care how we got out, just as long as we did. We all needed a potty break by that time. 

We only saw Trina once that whole time and she was running around with her friends so she wouldn't even let me get a picture. Teenage girls!



After we left the maze, the boys found the petting zoo. They feed the goats, petted the horses, and tried to catch the bunnies. They were in heaven.

 

The boys wanted to play in the mini maze made of hay bales. It was so funny to see them running around, jumping over the bales, while the little kids were having a hard time even navigating them.

The hay bales turned out to be alfalfa. Jerry is allergic.
You should have seen him run!


While the boys played around, and Jerry was nowhere to be found, I enjoyed the sunset.

I don't particularly care for living in the desert, but I do have to admit, the sunsets are usually spectacular.
Sunrise also, but I don't get to see that very often. I like my sleep.


When I finally found Jerry again, we let the boys play around some more, then headed out to pick up Trina.

All in all, it was a good day. Though, next time, we'll keep Jerry away from the hay.

Night Show

This is my last post about our weekend trip to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival! We had such a great time, and I took so many pictures, it was hard to narrow them down.

After the morning balloon launch, we toured Albuquerque to see what kind of trouble we could get into.


We found a pumpkin patch and corn maze that was going to open later in the afternoon, but we didn't stay around that long. Just took some pictures and headed out.

Someday, I want to have a pumpkin patch like this! Look at all those beautiful pumpkins. Makes me want pumpkin pie.

 

 Jamie is such a dork! In almost all the pictures of him, he was making some weird face.

Then we ran into a pen of buffalo. The kids were so excited. They had never seen buffalo so close. So we stopped and tried to get them to come close.

This one was curious, so he just came right up to the fence. Makes me wonder if he was expecting us to give him food.  Dream on, dude!

Josh wasn't too keen on the smell. I must say, I agreed with him!

Jamie didn't care at all. He just wanted to play with his new spear. So I made him act like an Indian at his fireplace. This is what he came up with.

Then, we headed to Old Town to see what was there. It was pretty cool.  A tourist trap mostly, but fun, nonetheless.

 The kids loved the cannons in the square. The wanted to keep climbing all over them.

A brief rest from the stores that were all over the place with anything imaginable for sale. 

The kids got to choose one thing from any store. Jamie choose an Indian spear, Josh, a bear claw necklace, and Trina found a beautiful peacock feather hair clip. I told her I liked her choice the best.

This table was set into a cute little alcove with dried chiles everywhere. And it was out of the sun. 

Bonus!

We headed back to the balloon field before the fireworks were supposed to start. The kids wanted to play in the huge field, like they had in the morning, but since it was getting dark, I told them no. So they settled for playing with their new toys while Jerry and I watched the spectacular sunset.

We all settled to watch the fireworks. I was all set to take pictures of it, but my camera's batteries had died! I was so bummed. Jerry took some with his phone, though. They aren't the best in the world, but they are alright. And, at least, I got some to share.

The firework show was amazing! It just kept going on and on. It was easily the longest firework show I have ever seen. And the Finale was just mesmerizing! 

I am so happy we got the chance to go this year. We had so much fun, I will probably go again next year. 

With or without Jerry.

I prefer with.

After the Balloons

After the family watched the balloons fill the sky Saturday morning, and the show was ending, we decided to chase some and see if we could find one landing.

And we did!

I pulled the van right up under this one and Jerry got the shot. Pretty cool, huh?

The boys were thrilled to be so close. 

 This one had just landed and reloaded passengers and launched again. We really wanted to ride in a balloon, but it was $350 per person! So we skipped that part and just enjoyed the show.

 The bee balloon was landing as we passed by and it looked so sad as it drooped. It looked like it just gave up on life.

This one was one of my favorites, so I was excited when we saw it coming down.

This one wasn't launching again, so we got to watch as the crew took it down.

When they were done, the rolled it up and put it in a very small trailer. Jerry and I saw the trailer before the balloon was down and debated whether it would fit inside. I said yes, Jerry said no. I was right! 

 We did other stuff over the weekend, too. I'll post about those adventures later!

Balloon Festival

We packed up the family last weekend and headed to Albuquerque for the world famous Balloon Festival. I have always wanted to go. It's been on my bucket list forever, but I have never been close enough to actually go. So, this year, I knew I would be going. With or without Jerry. (Being married to the military is quite unpredictable) But, hooray! The army freed him for the weekend!
We headed out after Jerry got off work Friday night cause the launch of the balloons is at dawn and there was NO WAY we were getting up that early to make the 4 hour drive. When we got to the hotel, we went straight to bed, knowing it was going to be a early and long day coming.
Up at 5am to head to the field. The traffic was insane! I expected the parking to be crazy, but the line to exit the highway was miles long! So, we found a gas station overlooking the field and settled in with hundreds of other to watch the show.

 

I told the kids to hurry, I wanted a picture with the balloons launching.

But I needn't have worried! Once they started launching...

It seemed like it would never stop...

 It continued until the sky was filled with beautiful, colorful balloons!

Then we started picking favorites.

 See that blue and silver one in the middle? That was Josh's pick.

Trina, of course, picked the butterfly!

 Jamie couldn't choose. There were just too many, but he finally decided it was between the flying bees and this pretty blue one.

These were my favorite.

No, wait! It was these. (See the elephant? Isn't it cute?)

Alright, definitely these.


Ok, fine, I couldn't choose either. They were all so pretty!
But, Jerry's favorite was the black one here. It is a POW MIA balloon, you just can't see that in this picture.



It was an early, cold morning

 But, I wouldn't have missed it for anything!




Even if I couldn't pick a favorite balloon, I can pick a favorite picture from the day. It was this one for sure!

I'm going to have this one blown up and framed for the wall. I absolutely LOVE it!

Even though I have to give Jerry credit for taking it. Good job, honey!


Bucket list...one down, many to go