Animal Kingdom

4:39 PM

In March, Spencer and I had some "Orbucks" expiring (built up reward money earned by booking flights/hotels through Orbitz.com that can be used on hotel stays), so we decided to use them to spend a weekend in Albuquerque.

We got up early, but it wasn't a smooth start. Spencer's car had been having trouble starting, and this day was no exception. He had just had it charged the day beforehand and cleaned it, though, so he was a bit perturbed. Luckily, we had a self jump-starting kit, which he has become all too familiar with, and we were on our way. We stopped for gas before leaving Roswell, and he had to jump it again. That did not stop us. Spencer got breakfast on the way, and I sipped on my chocolate berry smoothie made with our trusty Ninja blender.

Saturday we spent at the zoo & aquarium. We found a Groupon deal that got us in to both for around half the price. It included train rides that brought us from park to park. The lady at the ticket booth advised we take the train over to the Aquarium first, so we wouldn't have to rush to catch the last one back afterwards. We took her up on her advice, and made our way to the "train station," but were hard-pressed to keep walking and not stop to watch the animals. We decided we would only stay at the aquarium just long enough to catch the next ride back. That left us just enough time to see all the animals, without feeling rushed.

We were both impressed with the zoo's size, and the proximity you could get to the animals. It was the perfect time to go, too, as we were able to see baby animals throughout. The baby chimps and elephants were our favorite. I guarantee the videos of them will make your day. So precious!

After walking around the zoo all day, we stopped by out hotel to drop off our bags, before heading out to dinner. We went to a popular mexican restaurant and ordered one of their well-known cinnamon rolls. It was too buttery for me to have more than a coupel bites, but Spencer enjoyed it. I think the ones his mom taught him to make are far better.

We got back to the hotel, where we took a few minutes to call and congratulate Spencer's eldest brother, Andrew, on his engagement.

The following morning, we were wondering why we were so tired when our alarm went off, before we realized we had lost an hour of sleep due to daylight savings setting our cell phones' time forward while we slept. We packed up and drove to the Sandia mountains, this time, deciding we would try to climb La Luz trail. I will include that with the next post.

I will also mention that Spencer now has a new car battery, which is performing much better. He completed the makeover with new tires. The old ones were long overdue. He is also going to be getting it re-aligned. An update on my car: it currently has no known oil leaks (a first)! We only had to get the oil pump replaced twice (faulty part. Warning: do not buy from carparts.com), along with fixing other leaks. We aren't sure which car we want to trade up first.

Real men carry their lady's purse

Saw this on our train ride to the aquarium. Stuart Little anyone?

Spencer was enthralled with the jellyfish. He had never seen them before.

This was my favorite part of the aquarium. Big fish, sharks and stingrays.

Prehistoric-looking turtle. It looked fake.

Little joey

Waiting for his scheduled meal.

All the birds loved Spencer. They would talk to him and follow him.

We can't remember if this guy was 12' or 16'

Enjoy these videos:

Other photos from throughout the month:

Spence saw this while working. Looked like a snake.

Lineman life. Spence on the far left.

My mom sent me some of my stuff that she had found in their house. Including my old pine-wood derby car. She decided to protect it with candy... Way too much candy.