Discovering Albuquerque

The kids and I have started discovering Albuquerque. We spend a lot of time at the park. Manzano Mesa community center is a roughly ten minute walk from the Habanero house that we are "borrowing" and we've gone there nearly every day since Matthew started work. It has the best playground I have ever seen.

We also spend a lot of time at the little playground right behind our house. Mercy particularly likes the slide, as well as just walking the circumference of the little park. Abraham came to me the other day and said he wished he had a friend. Later, I overheard him holding a conversation with a rock he had found and showing his new "friend" all around the playground.

Besides playing, we've started doing everyday errands like proper grocery shopping. My two littlest and I visited Sprouts for the first time last week and I am smitten. I got bags of red apples and green apples, pears, peaches, grapes, tomatoes, onions, and carrots all for less than $10. It takes about 15 minutes to drive there, but I'm totally willing to make that trip once a week for such beautiful, reasonably priced produce. We also got library cards and discovered the magic of Dion's pizza, which is just across the street from Hyrum's bus stop.

My parents came down to visit over the long weekend, and Saturday we went to the Rio Grande Zoo. I was very impressed and look forward to exploring it more. The boys especially enjoyed feeding the ducks. That evening we ate at Sadie's, a locally renowned New Mexican restaurant. It's not my favorite genre, but it was good for what it was.

On Monday morning we went to the Aquarium and Botanical gardens. We were super impressed with both and I am really excited that we got the annual pass. I think the gardens particularly will be a place we visit often.

After exploring, we ate lunch in the Shark Reef Cafe. The food was good and nicely presented, and it was really fun to dine right next to the fish.