ABQ Comic Con, Meet Cthulhu

Matt and some buddies recently attended the first (hopefully annual) Comic Convention here in Albuquerque. One of the blogs I read regularly (epbot.com) covers some of the REALLY big "cons" (as the cool people call them) in Orlando, so I've sort of gotten an idea of what they are all about.

Basically attendees dress up as "comic" or other characters, "stars" come out to sign autographs (ABQ hosted Stan Lee!), and there's a boat load of merchandise you can buy. There ya have it folks, in one simple sentence. I asked Matt to snap a few photos during the day so I could get a taste of the experience without having to pay the $40, or whatever ungodly amount it was. So here's what he came home with...

I'll start with a few pics of the merchandise - starting with a whole selection of goggles for the ever-popular "steampunk" costuming (google it, it's crazy cool):
Some disgusting hand-knitted zombie dolls:
And now, the costumes... I haven't a clue who most of these characters are, so if Matt decides to later edit this post, he can fill you in. I know these next guys are Storm Troopers (the white ones) with Darth Vadar:
Wonder Woman, with her kiddos, Hulk and Super Girl:
Batman and Superman, both of which are VERY muscular:
Some ninja-type folks:
Awww, Harry Potter represent!
Some gross looking guy with a magic wand (guess he's trying to also represent Harry Potter?):
This is Brett. Apparently he got shot with some laser thing right in the chest:
And finally, my favorite picture from the Albuquerque Convention Center. This woman (yes, it's a woman) makes me chuckle every time I pass it along the "sports" hall of fame row along the long hallway at the east wing of the convention center:
The fact that Matt took that picture makes me love him even more than I already do! :)

Matt also brought home a few gifts, including an adorable hat for Carter. Matt thought it was a squid, I thought it was an octopus:
Looks like it's Cthulhu, drooling for some lunch:
And Carter pretty much wore it all day (despite the near-100 degree temps) and looked absolutely adorable:
Rock on, Comic Con! Maybe I'll go next year and take more photos to show off my geek style!
~kerrie

Zebras! FIVE Zebras!

Yes, still catching up on the blog... I've made it to Memorial Day weekend, so I'm not THAT far behind :)

We'll start with the Saturday before Memorial Day, ok? Decided that since the weather was amazingly great (not windy!), we should have a picnic at the zoo. A group of pals joined us for lunch on the lawn. We met up with Shawn, Amelia, Liam, and Greta (Amelia's in my book club); Jennifer and Brett (Jennifer is also in my book club - and they've been around this blog many times); and Kristin and Justin (Kristin's in my book club too, plus they're our neighbors). Here we are chowing under the huge cottonwood trees:
(And I need to credit Jennifer and Brett for a few of these photos - I stole some from their camera since they're MUCH better photographers than Matt and I are...)

Just off the edge of the lawn is a stage with a little lake around it. They do concerts at the zoo (which is amazing to hear the animals singing along with the symphony!) and the fish/ducks in the lake are well fed during normal and concert hours. Carter LOVED feeding the fish and ducks and I'm actually surprised we were able to even see other exhibits that day. He's STILL talking about the fish ("Fish, swimming!")...
Shawn and Liam also feeding the fish:
And that's Greta on the left:
From there we took off to see the exhibits. Our favorite, the polar bears (they were sleeping - not playing, not swimming, not pacing, not doing anything cool...):
Family shot in front of the polar bear exhibit (and that's Kristin and Justin to our left):
The tigers (one behind me on the left):
The train AND the peacock (which was making all sorts of racket) - VERY cool!
The elephant exhibit (and that's Amelia, Shawn, Liam and Greta behind us):
One of the new zoo babies in Albuquerque - Daisy, the elephant:
And now, the best part of all. The zebras. FIVE zebras! They were eating grass! It was SOOOOO exciting! Can you believe it?! FIVE zebras! I think we stayed here for about 30 minutes and Carter was in zebra heaven!
And for fun, three short videos of Carter imitating the zebras (basically you just need to purse your lips together and blow):











Since we left the zoo about a month ago, Carter has been talking about the FIVE zebras pretty much every single day! Not just one zebra, folks, FIVE! Eating grass!

Hope you get the opportunity to see FIVE zebras too!
~kerrie

Wicked Girls Night Out!

Not so very long ago, the crazy Book Club girls and I had a "theater date." That's right, a group of us all went out to see my mostest favoritest musical of all:

If you have not read the book, nor seen the musical, I urge you immediately to run out and buy the book, then buy the tickets to see it. Wicked is FANTASTIC! (Link takes you to the official musical site - which is where I stole the above image.) I saw it a couple years ago in Phoenix with Matt and my pal Holly and I nearly peed my pants when I learned it was coming to my very own backyard! Whooo hoo! And IT. WAS. AMAZINGLY. GREAT!!!

So while I was at the theater, Matt was tending to the boy and fed him a delicious dinner consisting of mashed potatoes, green beans, raviolis, and some orange slices. Hey, whatever works, right? Well, Carter was clearly a fan:
In case you'd like to gauge just how much he can shove in that mouth of his:
The girls and I had a meal that was a TAD better. We dined at Seasons and even wore our fancy dresses. (L-R: Holly, Kristin, Myja, Beth, Amelia, and me) At this point in the night, we'd all had a drink or two and had some silly fun for sure (and note the program for Wicked being held up in the back by Beth):
We all agreed that we should make this a regular type of outing since it was so much fun. Thanks to everyone that came out and had a blast on our "theater date!"

Now go buy your tickets to Wicked!
~kerrie

Christmas Recital 2010

Today was Carter's very first Christmas Recital! His school (again, it's really a "learning center"...we're just teaching him early that it is fun to go to "school"!)... Anyway, the school organizes this splendid, annual event for all four of their locations around Albuquerque and this year's was held at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

All four schools have classes from infant to Pre-K to some after-school-care-only-aged kids. Each class (except the infant classes) performed a Christmas song, complete with fun, festive outfits. We were not told in advance what the kids in his class (the 1-to-2-year-olds) would be performing. Matt and I actually thought he'd be doing something with drums because he's been banging on EVERYTHING as of late. And when he's done banging, he'll tell himself "Bravo!"

Anyway, the event started out with the older, Pre-K-aged kids performing "Silent Night." It was very well organized, the teachers were on stage to help guide the kids through the performance, and all of the kids participated. It was entirely adorable (as well as hilarious)!

Carter's class was the lucky #2 performance. I won't lie, I had tears in my eyes (as did many in the audience). Our little elf was just so adorable on stage, I couldn't help myself... And well, the fact that as they performed "Jingle Bells," every single one of his classmates stood there in fear, stiff as a board. It. Was. Hilarious. But since they were just so dang adorable, the crowd loved it!

Matt and I were so proud of our little guy that we were indeed beaming with pride after the performance (the parents of the toddlers are asked to collect their children immediately after their performance so the teachers could continue to help corral the kiddos for the remaining performances). Once we got back to our seats, several of the families around us said, "He was so cute!" "Great job!" etc. etc.

Anyway, yes, I know you don't want to just read about it, you want to see it all for yourself.

So first, let me orient you - below is Carter's class of cute little elves on stage with his two teachers (Brenda - left; Diana - right). In the first photo (start of performance), Carter is third from left. In the third photo, Carter is fourth from left. If you're having trouble, the second/fourth photos are identical, but I've added a note in case you can't spot him - click to make pic bigger.

There photos are here to also help orient you for the videos that follow (and I'm still learning how to use the Flip, but I'm pretty sure I can edit them, add captioning, etc....I'm just too lazy to read the manual...).
And now, if you really want a laugh, Matt caught the entire performance on video. There are 6 parts, each no more than 40 seconds in length. As you can see, very little "performing" from our kiddo, but doesn't he look adorable? (And for the record, his teachers REALLY know the routine!)

Enjoy! (And you can make all of these full-screen but clicking on the 4 arrows in the bottom corner of each video.)

Christmas Recital - Part 1 (Carter's moved to 5th from right):



Christmas Recital - Part 2 (Carter's the tall one in the middle - and check out the kiddo on the left making a break for it!):



Christmas Recital - Part 3 (Carter's still in the middle - the tallest kid):



Christmas Recital - Part 4 (FINALLY, a kid is dancing...but not Carter....):



Christmas Recital - Part 5 (Carter's moved to the back of the pack):



Christmas Recital - Part 6 (Still 5th from right, behind the one kid that finally "dances"):



What'd ya think? Entirely adorable, eh? Next year, when he's in the "Two's" class, he should be a little more in to it. But we'll always have the memories of this one (and yes, we'll share with his future girlfriend...)!

Hope that you have a wonderful weekend!
~kerrie

PS Yes, I know I need to get some posts in from November, but these were too good to pass up tonight!

Look to the Sky!

And folks, this is my final post for the day (NINE in one day!). Might as well end on a high note, eh? And by high (no, I'm not talking about my cold meds), I mean high in the sky!!! That's right, the Greenies attending the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta this past weekend and Carter got up close and personal with some hot-air balloons! To summarize in just one word, the experience was: AWESOME!

Those that have been to the Fiesta know that it is nearly impossible to take anywhere less than 3 zillion photos. I've lived here for more than 10 years, I've been to the Fiesta three times, and I STILL took a zillion photos! It's just that cool! (PS I did reduce all of these photo sizes, so it you want to see any of them better, just click on them.)

So I chose my favorite 50 or so pics and thought I'd post them for all to see. Let's begin with arriving on the field - pre-5AM, no daylight just yet:
Carter was a little drowsy, but he soon got into the spirit (yes, these shots are taken directly from the launch field):
Let the "awe" begin!
Dawn breaking, Carter's already focused on the sky:
A kind woman from Kentucky took our family photo:
A few sit-and-watch shots (they were starting to inflate "Pencil Boy" right in front of us):
Another family shot - again, Carter focused on the sky:
Daddy and Carter:
"Look!"
Carter had a blast running around the launch field with Daddy:
A few more up in the sky:
This one was right in front of us. It was HUGE and we had a hard time guessing what it was going to be. Clearly it was in the "special shapes" category, but what the heck was it?!
I let Carter walk up and touch the balloon as they were inflating it. Needless to say, it was the highlight of his day:
The sky was filling fast (I think the paper said we had 500+ balloons this year):
The highlight of Matt's day - the "Darth Balloon" was being inflated right behind us. Awesome! They even have their own array of Storm Troopers that walk around the field and meet the guests.
The famous "Bees" were also being inflated right by us. This year they had three bees (and I'm pretty sure the owner is from Arizona, so luckily we get to see these each year!):
Even spotted a Jayhawk in the crowd! I know that it's an "international" event (we even saw a "Jordan" balloon), but it's always nice to see someone sporting the KU love in such a huge crowd!
About 30-minutes later we finally got to see what the giant balloon was... A chicken?
Carter watched it go up with glee:
And a few parting shots from the day:
I think it was perhaps one of the most fun days we've had as a family! Carter's excitement was contagious and I think we'll be cherishing these memories for years to come! It was especially fun to watch him point to the sky and say "boon!"

Hope you're enjoying the cooler weather and thanks for reading all of my ramblings!
~kerrie