Albuquerque Botanical Gardens

 

Last week my kidlets and I visited the Botanical Gardens..

Even though we don’t live in the city, it is the closest city to where we live and we do visit it every so often. I am very proud of Albuquerque Bio Park, which includes the Rio Grande Zoo, The Aquarium, Tingley Beach and the Tingley Beach Train, and the Botanical Gardens and Children’s Fantasy Garden.

 

The Bio Park Society has made it very affordable for anyone who enjoys visiting often, by offering memberships at a very low price. My family of five only pay $80 and that gets us into any of the, above mentioned, zoo or gardens, as well as reciprocal entrance into more than 130 other zoos or aquariums across the country. We try to visit one of our parks/zoo/aquarium at least once a month and more often during the summer.

My kidlets enjoy visiting the Aquarium on a rainy or cold day and we just sit and watch the fish. Sounds boring, but we find it a great way to spend a few hours together and we always come away with a new appreciation for the animals

And we love to bring friends along or meet them there to explore and play together. And I enjoy the photo opportunities that are always changing from season to season.

The Japanese Garden is one of my favorite places to stroll through.

It’s a place of quiet contemplation and peace and I’m always trying to encourage my kids to be silent and listen, and to look all around at the beauty while we’re there.

That strategy sometimes even works. Or not.

We were excited to see that the Botanic Gardens were being decorated for the Holiday River of Lights. We attend this event every year as a family and love to stroll throughout the gardens with cups of hot cocoa in hand.

 

Jenna’s favorite garden to visit is the Children’s Fantasy Garden.

Ants this size sure could do some damage to a picnic.

And yes, of course, I went down that slide. I never pass up and opportunity to go ‘whheeeeee!’ down a fun slide. Don’t you, too?

I think she’s wondering how to turn this tater’ into some French fries. Mmmm!

My mare’s eyes would pop out if she saw this carrot.

Anyone have some good radish recipes?

Sometimes as we’re walking around the gardens, the Tingley Beach Train chugs through. It carries passengers between the Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, Tingley Beach and the Zoo, making stops along the way. There is also a separate train that just travels through the Rio Grande Zoo, too.

No matter what we do we always end up at the old homestead farm. I love the old adobe home and could move right in, if they’d let me. The vegetables and fruit they grow in the farm gardens goes directly to feeding the animals at the farm and the zoo.

The barn is my favorite place to hang out in. For a long time, the chicken coop always caused to me to linger wistfully. And even now after we finally bought our little ranch and got chickens of our own, the sight of that chicken coop brings back those memories and makes me happy.

And of course, we always visit the other farm animals, too, especially, the horses.

 

Sometimes I think it would be wonderful to live farther away from the city and civilization, and probably one day I will. But for now, with my kidlets still at home, living close to such wonderful resources, to enrich our lives, seems like a great place to be.