Mary and boys visit - Botanical Garden

We also explored the Botanical Gardens, and they were really pretty!  I was expecting a lot of cacti, to be honest.  I mean, I do live in New Mexico.  But I was pleasantly surprised, both by the beauty and by the size of the gardens.  There was so much to see! 

 Even the entrance was gorgeous!  We couldn't bypass a photo opp like this!

Mary and her little men

 Mary and her little men...plus Aunt Sarah

 The boys liked the statue of the boy trying to get the cat.  They kept talking about Dolce. :)

 It was a remarkably warm day.  The boys had an awesome idea: to run through the sprinklers!  The lady spraying down the concrete was nice enough to spray the boys too (although she was really confused by my request to have her spray my nephews.  She was really hesitant at first, but I thanked her profusely!)

 Look at those smiles!  They LOVED it!

  Cute and happy little men. :)

  We even saw a ginormous roadrunner on our way in!  I've never seen one that close!

This beautiful pathway, lined with all sorts of colourful flowers and brightly tiled benches, led into the rose garden.

  I, surprisingly, think the roses were my favourite part of the whole Garden Park.

 But the boys weren't quite as impressed as I was.  So off we trekked, to the bug room.  BUGS!  Ewwwwww!!  Lord help me if I ever have a bug loving boy!

They petted the TARANTULA!  I had to walk away.  I even gave Mary the camera to capture this photo, because there was no way I could watch.  Mary, being the saint and SUPERMOM that she is, even pet it.  I don't know how she did it.

 My favourite part of the bug room...okay, the only part of the bug room I actually liked....was this cute little frog.  I realize it's a Blue Poison Dart Frog, and could probably kill me with it's toxins.  But at least it's pretty.  :)

 After the boys had finally had their fill of spiders, hissing cockroaches, horned beetles, and scorpions, we headed on our way.  Mary and I stopped for a quick photo of the pretty pavilion where they hold small concerts (like the Christmas band that play carols during the Christmas light shows).

 And we found the cacti.  I KNEW there was going to be a LARGE display of them.  :)

 I'm not a huge fan of cacti.  Last time I lived in New Mexico, when I was about 4, maybe 5, I saw a small potted cactus in the store.  I asked someone if it was real, and they said no.  So I touched it.  It was definitely real.  And it definitely made me cry.  And it definitely took about 15-20 minutes for my Mom to tweezer all of the tiny little pricklers out of my finger.  Mean lying man!  But now I can appreciate their unique beauty....from afar.

Then we made our way to the Asian section.  I was surprised they had one, but I liked it. :)  I kinda miss Japan.

Then off to the animal farm.  Found this bizarre three-horned goat.  Never seen one of those before.

After that, we made our way to the HUGE train display.   It really was an enormous exhibit. 

 Then the butterflies.  I'm also not a big fan of things that fly.  You can't tell which way they are going to go!  Butterflies included. But I do think that they are incredibly gorgeous. :)

I love these people!

Long, exhausting day for the boys.  hehe

I had SOOO much fun with them while they were here!  I hope they come back soon!  *hint, hint*

Mary and boys visit - Aquarium

One of the best parts about having nephews/niece is that you can see the world through their eyes.  I like to expose them to all sorts of new adventures.  They get so excited to learn and see new things.

While they were visiting, I took them to the Albuquerque Aquarium.  It was smaller than I had hoped, and the petting area was closed for cleaning that day (what luck, right?).  But it was still really fun.  And the boys really enjoyed themselves!

When you first walk in there is a little tank with fish in it.  I think it's a little bit of a teaser since there weren't many fish in it at all.  But Luc liked it.  And, while being very obedient about keeping his hands out of the water, he decided instead to kiss the fish.

Then we made our way to the sting/manna ray tank.  They were hilarious.  They would swim right out of the water and flap their "wings" at us, splashing us in the process.

It was cool that they had little climbing walls around the tanks for the boys to get their energy out.

On the way to the shark tank, we stopped for a photo opp in the fish hall.  The different shades of silky taffeta hanging from the ceiling was a great touch!

Shark tank!

Matty enjoyed his new little buddy, the albino sea turtle.  They played together for a while!

And Luc was mesmerized by the sharks.

Mary was having fun mocking the eels.

Freaky, creepy eels

Seahorses...the animal that bonds me and my sister. :)

The boys finding cute posing locations, all on their own. :)

I love how creative Marc-Andre is!  Luc starting steering, and Marc-Andre was the lookout.

I love my little men!

Enjoying our new kitchen

One part of our "getting settled in" has been testing out all of our new kitchen appliances.  We have actually used every single appliance now!  We love our new kitchen, and it's so much fun trying new recipes with everything.

Here are some of the things we've made:

Margharitas!  This is the best blender I've ever seen.  Seriously.

Shrimp curry

Steak branding

 Blair gave personalized steak branding irons to his groomsman.  He decided he had to have one for himself too.  It's so fun to have personalized steaks! 

Steak night = date night

Fancy pants espresso

 

 We've saved so much by not going to Starbucks all the time.  Granted, I'm the only one in my family who doesn't have the Starbucks Gold Card.  So I'm sort of an outcast.  But the money saved is totally worth it.  Plus, these are GOOD!  Now I just need to learn how to do the fancy foam designs. :)

 

 Bacon, Ranch and Chicken Macaroni

 Chocolate Creme Brulee.  Torches are fun. :)

Asian Beef Stew.  Our crock pot is FAB.U.LOUS!

Yummy Earl Grey tea.  We love our new pottery tea pot!

Margherita pizza.  This pizza stone is amazing.

 The pizza isn't pretty, but it might win an award in the taste category.

Strawberry shortcake and mimosas

Jambalaya

 I had to take a picture of what was left in the pan, because we were too excited to eat this that we totally forgot to take a pretty picture of it all nice in our bowl.  YUM!

Lemon meringue cupcakes

South Indian shrimp and mango curry with a side of spice-filled naan bread

Hawaiian sugar cookies.  I wanted to try my hand at piping icing.  I only had one tip, so it made it hard with all the different designs and colours, but it was a fun task.

Thanks, everyone, for your awesome generosity and support as we start our new lives as husband and wife.  We LOVE all the tools that make the mundane daily task of cooking fun!