Camp Week!

 Last Monday we left for a week in Oklahoma City for the kids to go to zoo camp.  We didn't leave bright and early, but we got there in good time.

 We started at the Sam.

 We got to ride in the best elevator!

 Next we headed over to the playground and skate park to play a while.

 Cooling off at the splash pad!

 While we were downtown we saw the James Garner statue.

 After grocery shopping (I had to pack their lunches for camp each day), we checked in to the hotel and went swimming.

 Tuesday was the first day of camp!

 While the kids were in class, I went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

 This is a beautiful place.  If you've never been before, I wouldn't take your kids into the museum without seeing it first for yourself, though.

 After I picked the kids up, we went to Frontier City.  Alice started on the tea cups.

 Ready for the raft ride!

 In the ferris wheel

 They have a large water area now.

 Happy girl!

 Jack went on a ton of spinning rides and didn't feel very good by the time we left!

 He's somewhere on that loop!

 

 Alice was willing to try a lot of things, but she wasn't tall enough for some rides and some would have required me to ride with her, and that wasn't going to happen.  She did get to ride the Steel Lasso, though, and she loved it!

 She also loved this ball pit.  I think she would have stayed in there all night!

Wednesday was crazy rainy, so after camp we went to Andy Alligator's for half price games.  We came back with some real treasures.  That evening we went to see Earth to Echo, which we all liked.  

More on the rest of the week soon!

Par for the Course

We've started a week out of town, but the day began with a tetanus shot and a trip to the pharmacy.  When we got to the hotel, I found that a bottle of shampoo had leaked all over my bag, and when I went to wash the bag, I found that we have the slowest draining shower of all time.

It's kind of how things have been going lately; as soon as we decided to work like crazy to get the house ready to sell, Jay got sicker than he's been in the 22 years I've known him.  At the same time, the lawnmower broke (not a good thing when you have a 5 acre yard and the grass is still lush and green thanks to a cooler than normal summer), the bathroom sink clogged and backed up, and we had to get a new washer and dryer.  All this to explain why there still haven't been many blog posts!  

Thankfully, these are all minor problems in the grand scheme of things and although I may have to bring my bag home in a trash sack to wash there, we should have a fun week away--and I will post about it when we get back!

Happy Birthday, Ralph Blane!

 Yesterday was the 100th birthday of Ralph Blane, who was born in Broken Arrow and songwriter who wrote "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"--which we sing every year at the annual Christmas Eve party with Jay's old neighbors.

 There were people dressed up like famous citizens throughout the museum and they gave talks.

 Phenie Lou Ownby was the first female mayor in the state and only the sixth in the nation.

 When they got to 100 students, the teacher got an assistant!

 One of the first medical clinics was run by Dr. Franklin in the building where Jay had his first job--it was a pharmacy then.  Now it's a restaurant.

 Ernest Childers

 A local rancher, Mr. Robson--I think that's right, at least!

 And the birthday guest, Ralph Blane!

We even got to have birthday cake at the end of the tour!  If you are local and you haven't visited the musuem, you need to go.  It is really nicely done and a nice size for visiting with kids!

Mom & Son Luau

 Last night was the annual Mom & Son Luau.

 We went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, so Jack had to play the prize claw.

 He won!

 It has been really cool here lately--we had a couple of days where it only got into the 70s!--so the water was really chilly!  I had to go down the slide to get in.  If I had tried to inch my way in I never would have made it past my knees!  The cold never seems to bother Jack, though!

 The lifeguards are more relaxed at the luau, so they got to take beach balls down the slides, which Jack liked.

We finished up at Cherry Berry.  It was a great evening!

Lego Day

 Today was the day of our library's Lego Build-Off!

 More than 50 kids built things around the Fizz! Boom! Read! theme--it was supposed to be something sciency.

 Jack went with a fleet of space ships.  (My favorite is the one on the left.)

 Afterward we went to our favorite cupcake place for a treat.

And tonight he got a new Lego book for our geography box!

I love this boy so much and I'm so proud of him!

This Just Got Really Real

 As you may have noticed, I've had a little trouble getting to blogging lately.  I just finished up an extra six articles for MetroFamily and now I've started my latest project: packing up the house.

We've been theoretically ready to move for a while now, but we've actually gotten a storage unit and started packing up things in order to get our house ready to put on the market.  I'm in a constant state of simmering panic at the thought of our house selling quickly and/or our house taking a long time to sell.  This is way outside my comfort zone.

I hope to have things ready in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully after that I can get back to posting regularly!

Happy Fourth of July!

 We had a nice Fourth of July (except for Jay, who had strep).

 We stayed home during the day and made yummy food, like this dip--which actually isn't totally like the link because I couldn't find chocolate cream cheese so we used strawberry.

 We also had these scones, which didn't look as pretty as the Pinterest picture but were still very tasty!

 My cousin's daughter was selling fireworks for a fundraiser so I said I'd take a pack.  I think we got a deal!

 The first one of the night:  Mr. Turtle.

 For some reason they always have to walk through the smoke.

 Watching Uncle Erik light the snakes.

 Ice cream break!

Alice and Piers liked sitting at their desk.

 We set off quite a few of the ones from the pack but we also saved some for when Jay feels better--which will hopefully be soon!