Here we go, go, go, go, go!"
It's fairly fitting that the kids have enjoyed watching the
Cat in the Hat series on Netflix so much this month - the theme song fits us perfectly! We've had so many adventures this month!
September rolled in, and we rolled out - headed for Colorado! Charlie had a trip for work planned and I convinced him to let us tag along! The one condition was that I would drive so he could work away on his laptop in the backseat. Deal. We took a back-country way through the northwestern panhandle of Oklahoma and were able to traverse parts of our state that we had never seen before. Even through the rain it was clear to see, the Land we belong to is Grand. We spend so much of our vacation time traveling outside of Oklahoma, I often forget to make time to explore the areas right here around us - which are beautiful!
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sometimes I wish I could wear a sign saying, "we've been in the car for six hours - please don't judge me"
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We made it to Pueblo with no incidents, and not too late either. Not wanting to pay for additional hotel costs, we all stayed in one room together - and it was mostly successful. The first night was miserable, with little to no sleep - but the other three nights were golden. Abby continues to have an incredibly hard time settling in to sleep in new places, but usually by the second night she can relax and we all can get better sleep.
Charlie needed to be at the Colorado State Fair because his company is working with the Fairgrounds manager talking through possible improvements for the site. So, naturally, we decided to spend a day at the State Fair too! Being a Thursday morning, there weren't a whole lot of other people there - so Bruce and Abby were able to ride all the rides without having to wait in line, and ride them over and over again. There's only so many "different" ways to go around and around in different carriages on circle tracks, but the kids didn't ever seem to tire of it. Looking just at the expressions on their faces, you would have assumed they were miserable - but any time I went to get them off a ride, they begged for more. And more.
One more time. I think it was just hot, and they were tired. We spent some time looking at all of the animals, too. They had some beautiful pheasants, along with rows and rows of rabbits, that Bruce really wanted to bring home with us. The highlight of the fair though, was the wizard room. There were all kinds of hands-on science-y things to explore. We easily spent an hour there in the morning, and had to come back again at the end of the day, too.
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| so much silliness! |
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| master of electricity! |
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| we loved the giant cauldrons of bubble soap! |
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| Abby trying to put Bruce inside of a bubble |
We called it a day around dinner time, and after one more round of fair food, headed back to the hotel. After baths all around, the kids passed out quickly - and Charlie worked out of the hotel room so I could go play with my great friend, Zuki! She and I used to teach together, but this summer she moved far away to Colorado. She is so awesome though, and with no hesitation, drove several hours through Denver Friday Rush Hour traffic to come visit with me for a short while. We caught up over Chick-fil-a, and talked in her hotel room until I could hardly keep my eyes open. It's good to be with good friends who love you so well.
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| ice, ice baby... |
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| work perk! |
The next morning we dropped Charlie off at the fair again, and Zuki and I took the kids to McDonalds so they could run around and we could share space together for just a little while longer. When the possibly-homeless guy, who at first just needed help with his new cell phone, but then needed to discuss his alcoholic girlfriend problems, got a little too friendly - we decided to pack up and part ways. Being raised as a military brat sure has instilled the truth in my heart that goodbyes are not for long, but they still aren't any fun.
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Here I am mastering my craft of multi-tasking - it's the only picture I have of my time with Zuki -
on the phone making plans about when and where to meet up! |
It helped that saying goodbye to one friend, meant getting on the road North to meet up with another one! I just saw my great friend Susie this spring, but of course jumped at the chance of meeting up with her again! She was going to come with us to see the Royal Gorge on Sunday, but adjusted her schedule to make time for us on Saturday, too! It worked out so nicely, because with her help, I was back to one-on-one defense with the kiddos. We had some yummy BBQ at a local place in Colorado Springs, and then went to the Ghost Town Museum. It wasn't too elaborate, but the perfect scale for Bruce and Abby's interest level. I really wanted to take them there because we were getting ready to study gold and gems in school and I thought seeing some artifacts from the Colorado gold rush era would be a nice tie-in. There was even a place out back of the museum where you could try your hand at panning for gold.
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| Susie: expert holder of tiny "gold" pieces |
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there was real flakes of gold that you could actually find, but the kiddos weren't patient enough
to look for them - we found a lot of fools gold though! |
After that, we explored the Garden of the gods for a little while!
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| a difference in climbing plans |
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| girl's got skillz |
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| and determination! |
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| Bruce snapped this one! |
And last but not least, we capped off the afternoon in Manitou Springs at a park and arcade!
Have I mentioned already that it's so good to be with good friends who love you so well? And Susie and I have been doing this good-bye thing for nearly half our lives now, so it's no big deal and always more of an "until next time."
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| The Royal Gorge |
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| obligatory picture with the Oklahoma flag |
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| a think my kids lived off of trail mix for a week... |
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| there was a really neat kids play area! |
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waiting for the gondola to head back across the gorge
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it's probably a good thing Susie couldn't make it to the Gorge with us, because I'm almost certain
I could have convinced her to take the zip line back across with me instead of the gondola
and I don't know what my family would have thought about that... |
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just our luck, the wind picked up and the gusts shut down the gondolas for a little while.
At least it gave us ample time for a good photo op!
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| checking out the view |
Monday morning came, and it was time to head home. We got a late start leaving the hotel, and then had to stop by the fairgrounds one more time for Charlie to drop off some photographs, and then there's the time change - so I knew from the beginning that we were going to be home later than we ever had been before on a road trip and wasn't sure how the kids would handle that since they don't sleep well in cars... and then I saw the sign for the volcano. I asked Charlie if he wanted to stop, and we hemmed and hawed about it for awhile as we approached the exit, but then decided to just go for it! We only planned to stop for an hour, and have a trail mix lunch in the car afterwards - but it quickly turned into a two and a half hour adventure that was totally worth it.
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| checking out the "ladybug bush" |
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| we hiked to the rim, but didn't go all the way around |
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| the kids because Jr. Rangers and got another patch for their adventure bags! |
Yes, we got back incredibly late and the kids had various crying fits when they woke up at different intervals with cricks in their necks - but in the end we all have no regrets and I'm so thankful that my kids are finally old enough to be flexible and "road trip" properly.
Other Highlights and Kidbits of the month:
We went to a super fun birthday party for a sweet friend!
We had fun going to a health and wellness event our town hosted! And Bruce won the raffle drawing for the scooter!
We went to OU's Opening Day to celebrate the south end zone expansion that Populous designed!
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| we left the kids with a babysitter and enjoyed the football game together! |
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| Boomer and Sooner - work perk! |
Lego Club!
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| and the library had another Lego night, too! |
We went to the Oklahoma State Fair!
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no lines at the Colorado State Fair sure spoiled them -
here's Bruce withering away after waiting in the 5-minute line at the Oklahoma State Fair... |
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| It was super generous that the fair manager gave the kids ride bracelets - Abbs loved the pink dragons! |
We went camping at Robbers Cave State Park!
There's a large home school group based out of Norman that was having their Fall campout. We haven't been really involved with the group yet, and didn't know any of the families that were going, and weren't sure if our kiddos were up for the tent camping - but at the last minute decided we might as well give it a go!
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| some over the other tents from our group |
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| Bruce taking photos |
Bruce and Abby found a buddy quickly and the three were inseparable the whole weekend!
Sleeping in the tent was a total bust, with the kids taking hours to fall asleep, and then waking up by 5am, but every thing else was wonderful!
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| What do you do when your kids wake up at 5 am? Go on a hike to catch the sunrise, of course! |
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| watching the rattlesnake do his thing at the Nature Center |
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| We went on a hike around the wetlands |
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| sometimes I just feel like a pack mule... haha |
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| Abby found a pink mushroom! |
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| happy camper |
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| an old generator |
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| lots of tiny wildlife! |
While we were finishing packing up the van to go home, both kids passed out in their car seats. We still hadn't hiked up to Robber's Cave, but were hesitant about what might happen if we woke the kids up... Someone told me that there were several paths to the cave, but if we went left at the trailhead, it was an easy 15 minute hike. I checked it out, while Charlie stayed with the sleeping beauties, to see if the hike would be easy enough for them, and if the cave was worth it. It was! By the time I got back down to the van, Bruce was awake so Charlie took him while I stayed to let Abbs sleep a bit more.
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| here's Bruce and Charlie, not seeing the "left" path, and instead choosing to go straight... |
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| it was definitely a more adventurous path! |
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| STRAIGHT UP the rocks... |
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| and through tight spaces |
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| but they made it to the top! |
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| and then back down towards the cave |
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| meanwhile, Abbs woke up - we took the left trail, and beat them to the cave |
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| but eventually we all made it there! |
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| It's fun to think that Jesse James once hid away in there! |
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| yay for crying family pictures! |
Abby turned 3! Abby wanted to have a "farm" birthday party - so we got a couple of straw bales, made some pigs in a blanket, decorated some cupcakes, and sat around watching the kids enjoy each other!
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At first Abby said she wanted a hay bale cake, then she wanted a cat cake -
so here's my attempt at a cat sleeping on a hay bale cake
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| it's my party and I'll wear pants if I want to, wear pants if I want to, wear pants if I want to... |
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| dinos for days! |
We went to the International Bluegrass Festival! We met our friends from the campout there, and had a wonderful afternoon listening to music and wrestling in the grass!
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| Abby was hypnotized! |
When we're not out and about, or trying to "do school" Bruce and Abby are typically still "playing family" all the time. Bruce likes to pretend he's Lloyd, the Green Ninja from Ninjago, and Abby switches up her character from day to day. Sometimes she's Little Foot, other times it's one train or another, and she also enjoys making up characters. It's hard to keep it all straight, but she has no problem reminding you who she is...
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Abby as "Mr. Pennywig" - one of her new characters she made up
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In addition to playing family, the kids have discovered tape this month. And they love tape. And a day doesn't go by when there isn't some activity they've designed that requires tape. At first, it was just scotch tape. Then we moved on to clear packing tape. And then they realized how amazing colored electrical tape is. I have to say, the electrical tape really is pretty amazing for their age range - it doesn't twist up on itself as badly, and if it does, it's fairly easy to peel back to normal - and it's reusable (for awhile)! Does it get any better than that?
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| Bruce made a "jet pack" |
Bruce isn't playing with Legos as much these days - as in, he doesn't spend every moment from the time he wakes up to the moment he crawls in to bed - consumed with them. He still always has a minifig or two close at hand, and he does still enjoy Legos, but he's been interested in other things lately, too.
Surprisingly, he's really been enjoying writing letters for signs and scrolls. I have to fight him tooth and nail to practice writing his letters for school, but he'll spend tons of time on his own, creating signs, warning posters, and various notices to tape to the tornado shelter and other random walls and doors. I think he really gets a kick out of writing out a string of letters and then having Charlie or I "read" what he wrote. It's super silly sounding of course, but it has really made the connection for him that he can
actually create words using letters. He's often asking now how to spell words, or trying to figure out what words on different signs say. He also has taken an interest in drawing more. He's still just making crude caveman-esque pictures, but this is something he has
never been interested in doing before! It's been a fun shift for us - he's definitely growing up!
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we made another trip to the ER over this Home Depot building kit...
Long story short, I thought Bruce swallowed another nail, turns out he didn't... |
Abby is a force to be reckoned with! I adore the little person that she's becoming, but man - she's got some serious spunk! She has mastered the "I will NOT..." statements concerning everything from putting on pants to sharing toys with others... Lovely. She also has recently figured out that if she pulls tags off toys in the store, or tears the packaging - we *have* to buy the toy... She loves screaming near sleeping babies - on purpose - and has a super fun habit of shouting out in public places, "I will HURT that baby!" What???? She loves hollering, "mama, mama, mama..." but when you ask her what she wants, she gets real annoyed and says that she's "just getting her yawn out." I guess I should know that, because when she is talking to me, she usually refers to me as "Mother" now. Where do they get this stuff? When ever I'm getting on to her though, and she knows a consequence is coming, she breaks out the "I promise" statements. I don't even know where she heard that - it's not something Bruce says - but somehow she thinks that if she "promises" to not color on the carpet anymore, I'll give her the markers back...
She really is so much fun to be around though. She has a great imagination, and I love eavesdropping into her world. The other day she kept needing to wash her hands over and over again, and then I learned that she has magic hands like Elsa, and if she washes her hands, she can touch things without freezing them. We sort of watched Frozen. One time. Months ago. But those are the kinds of things that just pop into her head on random Wednesdays. She also is apparently having dreams now that she can remember, and talk about the next day. The problem comes in trying to explain to her that those memories didn't actually happen. I'm pretty sure we never went camping in the attic. But she's convinced otherwise. She's still the sweetest cuddle-bug while she's waking up, and is the best at remembering to say thank you for every little thing without prompting. Melts my heart.
We loaded up the cart at the grocery store this week with a variety of pumpkins and are excited to welcome Fall!
