Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Will Rogers

 Today we went another 106.6 miles (bringing this year's total to 2522) to see where Will Rogers was born (in Oologah) and to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum (in Claremore).

 The weather looked absolutely beautiful, but the wind made it horribly cold--especially for the last day of April!

 When we got there we spotted a peacock right away, which was neat because we are reading Will Rogers, A Boy's Life right now and there was a story about Will scaring another kid with a peacock.

 There isn't anyone that works at the ranch to talk with, but the house is open and you can look around downstairs.

 There are also some things to read and a video to watch.

 This is the room where he was born.

 Outside there are animals.  This donkey really liked Jack and would follow him if Jack tried to move.

 
 Alice loved this cat!

 The boys found some cool stuff in the shed.

 Group shot--Alice said, "This is like a high school picture!"

 
 It's only about a 15 minute drive from the ranch into Claremore, so we had lunch and then went to the museum.  We had gone a couple of years ago, but the kids didn't really remember it.
 
 You can download a scavenger hunt for the museum on their website, so I brought that and the volunteers were really helpful.

 
 Playing in the children's area

 We went outside and the kids rolled down this hill over and over until Alice finally said, "I think I'm going to puke!"  And then she started rolling again.

 
 This statue is by his tomb.

It was a long, chilly day (we still had to get back for art class after this), but we had a great time!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Land Run!

 Tuesday was the 125th anniversary of the first land run in Oklahoma so yesterday we had a land run day at our house to celebrate.  (The awesome picture above was taken by Danielle, who has many more great pictures on her blog!)

 The kids made their own flags to mark their claims.

 We had a lesson on the land run.  (Thanks to Rachel for this picture!)

 We lined up...

 ...and they were off!
(I hope this video will work for you...I am still figuring this kind of thing out!)

 And they kept on going and going and going!

 Alice on her claim!

 Jack with his land!

 Then we had lunch and cookies.

 And the kids played games like egg relays and Red Lion.

We had 13 kids and 5 moms and I think we all had a good time--even if we did get a little sunburned!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter!

 We dyed eggs on Friday--and yes, I still make them do it in the garage.  Much less artsy photos, but much less stress than working in a white kitchen!

 This morning the kids were up early!  Jack got up at 6:21 and we went ahead and woke Alice up then so we could get to the early service.

 We were running too late to get pictures before we left, so I snapped a few afterward.  They did wear shoes to church.

 We had lunch and hunted eggs at Jay's parents' house.


 Jack is so fast I didn't get as many pictures of him!

 Alice found a bunny!

The kids had a great time playing with cousins.  It was a terrific day!  Happy Easter!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

San Antonio (Part 2)

 We started off Tuesday at the San Antonio Zoo.

 It is probably comparable in size to the Tulsa Zoo.

 The aquarium building at the zoo.

 We spent the afternoon swimming and then went to dinner and to see the Alamo movie at the IMAX.  On our walk back to the hotel we stopped for a picture with San Antonio!

 Wednesday morning we went out to Sea World.  They're not open during the week right now, but we got to do some meet and greets with several different animals.  These flamingos loved messing with the kids' hair!

 Next we got to see some beluga whales.

 Alice said they kind of felt like hard boiled eggs and I think she was pretty accurate!

 The conservation center was a lot of fun because we got to see all kinds of animals.  This barred owl was really soft and fluffy.

 I'm pretty sure I need an armadillo for a pet.  This little guy was so cute!

 I definitely do not need a Burmese python.  They were actually going to get this one out of the habitat!  Unfortunately (ha!) he was right in the middle and too difficult to get out, so the kids just had to reach in and pet him.

 The fennec fox was also a lot of fun to watch and the kids got to try to feed him.

 Walrus tusk!

 Our next stop was the penguin habitat.  We got to go right up to the entrance--it's really cold in there!

 We also got to see one up close.


 Petting the sting rays

 Smile!

 In the afternoon we took a double decker bus tour around town.

 It was a hot and sunny day!

 We hopped off at HemisFair Park to visit the Tower of the Americas.


 We went up to the observation deck and then did the 4D ride.

 We finished our evening with ice cream (again)...

 ...and one last swim.

We left the hotel a little after 5:00 Thursday morning and pulled into our driveway just after 3:00 that afternoon.  We went 1135.2 miles, which brings our total for the year to 2415.4!