Trip photos (part two)

More pictures! We went to a park that was doing free lunches and a boy at the park loaned these to two of my nephieces.

E's at the age where she likes to jump a lot!

Time for a mani from K.

The other younger kids played with toys.

She likes a good, close look at the actors.

More bunny cuteness.

My sister heard of a rose garden in ABQ that she wanted to check out, so we took our nieces over for photos.

N always comes up with her poses.

Including this one.

I bought some smoke bombs at Target and the kids hadn't seen them before, so they were a big hit.

Then I brought out my bubble supplies.

Cousins

Later we did the glow bubbles my friend Dania had gotten for me. The bubbles themselves don't glow, but the kids were pretty impressed that the bottles were glowing.

Those weren't exactly portfolio pictures, but I thought you might enjoy seeing the cuteness. I hope you had a nice weekend (I can't really say I did :P) and that your week is better than you expect!

Trip photos (part uno)

Here is an assortment of photos from the first couple of days of my recent trip to NM. Most of these are nephieces and the 4th of July. I'm not feeling so great right now (I woke up sick and am better, but not 100%), so I don't think these will be very well-captioned.

There are lots of these bunnies around my sister's neighborhood.

The boys all into some racing game on my phone. J joined her brothers for a photo.

My sister and niece.

I brought some glow things for the kids.

I guess a neighborhood dog got out and all the kids were interested.

Okay, not ALL the kids.

My other sister and her boyfriend. We watched fireworks from a nearby park...did I already say that in another post?


More later!

ABQ

Today is my last full day in the Albuquerque area, and tomorrow I fly home. :( I will miss everyone, but I suppose it will be nice to get back to my own bed, car and town.

One of my wishlist items was to revisit the butterfly pavilion in Albuquerque's botanic garden. My sisters both have a membership there and can bring a guest on that pass. I wanted to test out my new lens on the butterflies. It was really fun and I could've probably stayed in there a couple more hours, but it was pretty hot and we had several kids with us. It was a semi-hectic day at various points, but I had fun and am really glad we were able to make it out. I have tons of photos (duh) that I'll show you sometime, but here are a couple now. Below is one of the freshly emerged butterflies in the cabinet where they have a bunch of chrysalises that are constantly hatching. It was really interesting! I got to watch a couple ooze right out. Man, I love butterflies!

Independence Day

Wow, I thought I would've posted from NM by now, but it's been busy! And though I brought my laptop, I don't always have a good place to settle in and blog. Anyway, just a couple of photos from my 4th for now. How was yours?


We watched fireworks from a park near my sister's house. There's a great view from there. I borrowed my sister's tripod and took several fireworks photos (and had some nieces help me click the shutter on a few, which was apparently super fun).


I also had the opportunity to practice lightning photos! It was going during the fireworks, and on into the night. Besides a coincidental picture I took from an airplane once, I think these were my first lightning photos. Oregon (or at least Salem) rarely has lightning, and it's so sporadic that it's hard to photograph. I've been enjoying all the lightning and thunder we've had since I got here. Yesterday a storm rolled in while my nephieces and I were shopping in Target, and you could hear it booming through the store (which caused lots of excited-but-slightly-scared squeals from a couple nieces).

Well, there's a ton more to say and show you, but it'll have to be another time. Have a great weekend!