Fun Friday: Super Late Edition

 We really did have a fun Friday.  I made some new playdough--green with sparkles and chocolate (I added cocoa powder to the mix).

 

 We used it for Alice's school time and beyond.

 In the evening we went to my parents' to see the new TMNT episode and Return to Nim's Island.  Since we were going on a road trip early the next morning from their house, we went ahead and slept there.  That's where the fun ended.

The kids were asleep on the floor and I knew Alice would wake up at some point, so I was going to sleep on the couch.  Except I couldn't sleep.  When Alice woke up around 12:30, I was still awake and she wanted me to lie down next to her, so I did.  Except she couldn't sleep.  She needed her footie jammies, but they were at home.  She needed a chewie (Tylenol) for her legs, but I didn't have any.  She wanted to rock, so I rocked her.  She wanted me to sing to her, so I sang.  She wanted a fruit snack, but I didn't get her one.  It was just not the night for either of us.  I ended up getting about four hours of sleep on the floor, which was way less than I needed, but we ended up having a good day anyway and I was able to get to bed at 9:30 last night.

Pictures of our trip will be up soon, but first we have one more trip to take--and I have to reset the Kindle, which Alice somehow wiped out again!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Making Your Own Stamp Glue

 I just shared how we made our own stamp glue in my latest post at MetroFamily, so I thought I'd share some pictures here!

 We had all of the ingredients already--which doesn't often happen--so we mixed them up and painted them on the backs of the pages.

 

 I'm not the best photographer so I don't know if you can see it well here, but I was trying to get a shot of how it really does have the same shine as the back of a real stamp when it dries.

 Cutting out all the stamps ended up being great cutting practice for Alice!

 Silly boy!  He was sticking the stamp so far back on his tongue that it was setting off my gag reflex when I watched him!

 Alice used all of her stamps!

Pigeons

 We have been learning about pigeons and since I was pretty sure Jack didn't remember a whole lot from the Pigeon Days at our library when he was little, we took a field trip.  I came across the World of Wings Pigeon Center when I was zoomed in on Google maps looking for something else and when I contacted them I found out that they're not actually open right now because they are getting ready to move to a new building.  Laurie was nice enough to offer a private field trip for us, though, so we made the drive to Oklahoma City today.

 She told us about how pigeons were used by the military during World War I and World War II.

 This is one of the little containers that would be strapped to a pigeon's leg.

 Several pigeons would fit in the big container which would then be dropped from an airplane with a parachute.  The cone shaped thing is a container for one pigeon and the thing in front is called a corset and would go on the pigeon when it was being dropped from the plane.

 They also raise pigeons there.  We learned that pigeon breeding is a lot like dog breeding.  People want to buy from certain genetic lines to get the fastest pigeons for racing.

 We learned about pigeon anatomy and how you can check their feathers and tell if one has been sick or not.

Alice actually put her hand in the pigeon's mouth!  That's pretty brave for her!

We even got to take home a little message container and some pigeon bands!

Fun Friday: Greenleaf State Park

 We continued our state park trips with a day at Greenleaf State Park, which is just about an hour south of us.

 It kind of looks like Jack is in the water here, but he really wasn't.  I didn't want to go down and see how close he actually was!

 It was much colder than we thought it would be but the kids had a good time playing anyway.

 

 There is plenty of space to run, which is always a good thing.

 We got to take a wagon ride all around the park.

 Steve Evans, the naturalist at Greenleaf, gave us a tour while we were riding.

 All that green stuff in the tree is mistletoe, which is Oklahoma's state flower.

 

 We saw several deer, too!

 Back at the nature center we got to see some snakes.  While the naturalist was telling the kids about the snake, the snake started crawling through his belt loop!

 Alice was really not sure about it!

 Jack thought he really wanted to hold the snake until he held the snake.  I think he was about three seconds from throwing it across the room.

 Did I mention there was plenty of room to run?

 

 Alice and her walking stick.

 We also got to try out the mini-golf.

 Alice went with the raking technique.

 Checking out a lamp inside one of the mini-golf structures.

We finished up with some time on the walking trail.  It was cold and we came home completely worn out, but we had a great time!

Oklahoma State Parks

 When we got a new car a few months ago, my old car was still running but Jay thought I should have something more dependable for going out of town.  Road trip season is upon us now and I am really loving having a radio again!  Today we visited several state parks for an upcoming issue of MetroFamily Magazine.

 

 We started the day in Jay at the Delaware County Historical Society Museum.

 Half the stuff they showed us Jack would say, "My grandma has one of those!"  And he was usually right.

 Both of the kids remembered what this was from the museums last year on our Route 66 trips.  Even Alice is pretty good at identifying early 20th century household items.

 I was able to tell how this car started because I read about one like it last week.

 An old baby walker!

 The next stop was Disney State Park.

 

 It was cold!

 Then it was on to Cherokee State Park.

 We played for a bit to warm up.

 Our last stop was Bernice State Park.

 We walked on the trail.

 And checked out the observation towers.

 And spent quite a bit of time by the water.

 Alice found this fish skeleton!

Jack found what looks like some kind of fossil or imprint.

We had fun, but after almost ten hours on the road we were exhausted!  There's more to come!