Today we went to the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens. But, instead of looking at the flora and fauna, we went into the Children's Fantasy Garden and the Aquarium. Here are a few highlights from our day.

Samantha and Steve stand in awe of the dragon guarding the castle entrance...

The dragon is a docile beast, only eating when its prey is stupid enough to shake its hand...

As you walk through the maze, you look up, and just as you see it, a giant buzzing begins...

Mama (Athena) Christodoulou. She bought us this trip to fantasy land and served as our guide...

Hey, look ma! I'm helping water the garden...no, I can do it myself...no, really...

This ant was easily converted to my high-speed crotch-rocket...

Everything in the Garden is a hundred times larger than life, and helps bring the kid out in you...

I'm easily amused, and going down this log seemed like such a fun thing to do...

...unfortunately, I've grown a bit, and I don't slide as well as I used too...

Ever been inside a pumpkin? This is what it might look like.

Of course, hatching out of an egg is no easy trick, but somehow, we made it work. There are four eggs in the nest, all connected by different openings. I went in each one, just to see if I could fit through. It's tight, but I did it!

Contrary to popular belief, I did not eat my way through this carrot...

The castle walls provide shelter, while allowing us to rain arrows upon our enemies...

The dragon wasn't too pleased with our treatment of him when we first arrived, so we found it necessary to sneak behind him while he was distracted, in order to make our escape from the castle. It was touch and go...

As you can see, we did our very best to be quiet, and in the end, it payed off. We quickly made our way to the aquarium, where other dangerous, but slightly more contained, beasts lay.

This sting ray insisted on showing off his underside and blocked my view of the rest of the tank...

My favorite part of the aquarium was the big tank, with turtles and sharks and such. I have more video of feeding time, but no time to load it. Here, and at the bottom of the post, are a few clips to illustrate what I saw.








After the aquarium, we made our way through Old Town to the outside of the museum, where they have several sculptures. I made a fool of myself in public by posing with almost every one, as illustrated in these next few pictures. And everyone that knows me rolled their eyes...

This kind of illustrates our relationship with homestays, contacts, etc. I pretend we are best buds, and Steve remains unattached.

This wagon got stuck in the mud, so I threw off my coat and helped push...

...while I was pushing, a herd of wild cattle came through and upset the cart, carrying me with them. I barely escaped with my life...

...as fate would have it, I remembered a few wrestling moves I saw during the two seconds of NFR I watched one year. I took this steer to the ground, no problem.

After single-handedly vanquishing the stampede, I made sure the rest of the wagon party was safe, said goodbye to the baby, and moved on...

All that exploring and baby-saving made me hungry, so after rehearsal, Cristos Christodoulou and his two sons, Paulo and Marco, took us out to dinner at Zea's.

Paul is in eighth grade and loves everything musical. Mark is in fourth grade and is playing the part of Prince John this week. He wants to be a sports annoucer when he grows up.

Cristos is an electrical engineer and teaches at the local college. He and I both had the salmon, and he told jokes while we (at least, I) laughed. "So this preacher, priest, and rabbi all find this bag of gold. The preacher thinks it should be returned to its owner or given to the church. The priest think a circle should be drawn, and the gold thrown down. Whatever land in the circle is god's. The stuff on the outside, they should keep. The rabbi says, "No. Just throw it all in the air. Whatever doesn't come down is what God wants to keep, and whatever falls to the ground is ours!" (Hahahahaha) Paul decides he want to help. "There are three elephants that fall from the sky. Two fall on land, the third in water. Ba-dum, chhhhh". Only drummers, or serious musicians get that joke.

These videos are just some more samples of the marine life at the aquarium.

I don't know what kind of jellyfish this is...

But I know these are moon jellies...

And these are the kind that live well below the surface...I think...