My mom and I took the kids and traveled up to The Homeland last week. We left early Monday morning and got back Friday night. I was super nervous about such a long car ride with the kidlets because, let's face it, sometimes traveling 10 minutes down the street makes me want to pull my hair out. But they did swimmingly well. I was prepared and had plenty of toys/books/electronic devices/headphones/CDs/snacks to keep them entertained. Which is a good thing, because my rebel of a daughter was wide awake and cracked out for the whole 13 hour drive. Crazy girl. I purposely kept them up late Sunday night so they'd stay asleep for the first few hours of the drive...but nope. When I got her out of her crib at 5am she was ready to rock and roll.
Mommy, look! Dere's da moon! I don't know how she didn't take a nap but she was in a pretty good mood the entire time so I can't complain!
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| felt good to be back! |
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| you just think I'm fading fast... |
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| Suckas!!! |
We got to my grandparent's house in Bartlesville around 8pm. We caught up over a late dinner and then got all settled in. Which is basically a nice way of saying I invaded their space by unpacking my entire house into theirs. :)
The kids and I were back on the road by 8 the next morning to take a day trip to Stillwater to visit my dad, grandpa, & my BFF Tienna. It was another 5 hours of driving but definitely worth it. Wish I could see my Oklahoma peeps more often. We took the scenic route and thoroughly enjoyed looking at all of those beautiful rolling hills and prairies. We also drove by a lot of nostalgic landmarks. I don't know if it's just because I don't live there anymore but I think Stillwater is such a neat little town.
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| 1) Stillwater...where Oklahoma began; 2) where I was born; 3) church I went to as a child; 4) Stillwater National Bank -- my dad used to work right across the street and I loved to go over there and wander around; 5) red dirt road I grew up on; 6) house we lived in |
I'm really annoyed at myself for not getting a single picture while we were with my grandpa or Tienna. I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's because I was busy wrangling two toddlers who had been in the car for way too long by this point :) Regardless, I had a great time visiting with them and of course enjoyed hugging their necks as usual.
I haven't talked much about it on here, but my dad's health is in really bad shape. He's been battling
pancreatitis and it's gotten much more severe over the last year. He's been hospitalized twice in the last month because when he has attacks he can't eat or drink anything and it throws his blood pressure and lab work really out of whack. He's down to just 105 lbs and he's having a hard time gaining any weight back because with pancreatitis you are supposed to be on a very low-fat diet or it can make it worse. If you feel up to it, I would so appreciate prayers for him. It's hard to have a sick parent when you are so far away. I do have to say that this is the best mentally/emotionally I've seen him in a long time so I'm thankful for that.
After lunch and ice cream, my dad and I took the kids to a fountain that he used to take me to all the time. It was walking distance from his work and I loved to go stick my feet in the water. And despite the 100 degree weather, we stopped by a park before heading back to his house. And let's just say that my son was IN HEAVEN when he walked through the door and spotted an electric guitar plugged in to an amp.
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| mandatory trip to Braum's |
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| two ice cream cones in one day? Yes, please! |
We headed back to Bartlesville around 5:30 and the kids slept the entire drive. Which was great for me until bedtime :) Thanks to late naps we got to stay up late playing and horsing around. I had to laugh because puzzle time started off like this:
And ended like this:
I come by my control freak nature quite honestly.
Kids, you're doing it all wrong! MUST. DO. EDGE. PIECES. FIRST. Why don't you go play over there while I take over and do this the right way. K thanks bye. :)
Wednesday was a play day. We went to the Woolaroc Museum that was founded by Frank Phillips. I remember going there when I was a kid and it was neat seeing my two learning a little bit about Oklahoma history. They loved the Native American exhibits and Harrison kept saying he wanted weapons like theirs. Sorry, son. I don't think you're quite ready for a tomahawk.
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| 4 generations |
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| real shrunken heads...ca-reepy! |
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| striking a pose |
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| this little girl was eating up the attention from her great-grandparents |
And then that night? SO FUN! Bartlesville has this neat little Kiddie Park that has been around since my mom was a little girl. It was awesome reliving my own childhood memories with my kids. They had an absolute blast and so did I. They rode all the rides and we got snow cones and cotton candy and popcorn and root beer floats...pretty much the epitome of a perfect summer night.
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| their first roller coaster! |
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| PINK!!!! |
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| TRACTOR!!!!! |
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| a glimpse into the future |
Thursday we got back in the car and headed to Tulsa to visit my great aunt Jane. My grandparents had doctors appointments after our visit with her so my mom and I took the kids to a beautiful park and then to see Despicable Me 2. And later that night after dinner, we headed to Braums. Because we were on vacation and it's a rule that you must eat ice cream every single day while you're on vacation.
We headed home Friday and drove through downpour rain for the entire first half of the trip. Not good for my anxiety and boy were we happy to see the sun peek through the clouds when we finally made it to Dallas. Where, of course, we ate at none other than:
And these next two pictures were taken on Saturday. Not part of our Oklahoma trip but I wanted to document that we do clean up quite nicely when we have an opportunity to do so. :) One of our sweet friends got married and it was great to celebrate with them!
The kids actually laughed when they saw their daddy in a tie...I'm thinking we need to get him dressed up more often!
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