The Crazy Days of Summer

It's so hard to believe that June is almost over. I am only "free" for another month and then I will officially be a "working mom". (Although, that term is hilarious, because EVERY mom is a working mom, no matter where they spend their days!!) I had big plans for all the things the kids and I would do this summer, and so far, we haven't done many of them. Time's a wastin'!

Actually, we have been fairly busy with our normal summer routine. There was VBS and all the additional excitement that I wrote about last time. Then we started swimming lessons last week, so every afternoon is taken up. We've also visited the aquarium with some friends, seen the free movie at the movie theater, and attemped the free lunches at the park (verdict...yuck!)

Then I ended up taking a last minute trip to Oklahoma with my mom and the kids. She was going to Ponca City, OK (yes, a real place, not from the Walton's or anything). There was a family reunion with my Grandma's side of the family, and she wanted to meet some of them, since Grandma passed away last year. She had planned to drive there with a friend. Well, her friend ended up not being able to go, and so she offered me and the kids an "all-expense paid trip" to Oklahoma with her. I was going to hold out and see if I could get an all-expense paid trip somewhere better, like, I don't know...Hawaii or something, but I decided to cut my losses and go along!

Even though Oklahoma is humid, hot, tornado-prone, and, did I mention humid?- we had a good time. It was a fast trip, with us driving out Thursday, sightseeing Friday, doing the reunion Saturday, and driving home on Sunday. Whew! The kids only cared about when we were going to reach the hotel swimming pools, so we got tired of hearing "When are we going to be at the hotel? Can we swim?" We also experienced the madness that lies in rural Oklahoma playgrounds. All of them that we stopped at had metal play equipment. Really? METAL? Are you aware of how HOT it is here? And how much blistering will result from sliding down that slide that is 2000 degrees? Perhaps their backsides are used to it, but our kids decided only to play in the shade!

We took a few little drives to see the farm where my Grandma grew up, and where several of her relatives lived. At the reunion, we met this nice older man who told us that the general store my Grandma's grandparents used to own was still on his property "only about 12 miles from here". So, after the luncheon, we placed my aunt in his car to hear all the old stories and mom and I followed him in her van. We may have only driven 12 miles, but it was ALL on country roads, and this man would drive 30 mph for 5 or 10 minutes, then zoom up to 50, then slooowwww back down. After 30 minutes in the car, Garrett yelled "Why are we following this old man around???" It occured to us that he could perhaps be someone from Psycho and be driving us all out into the woods to tie us up. But what could we do? He had Aunt Rozella captive in his car!! Thankfully, he turned out to be legitimate, and we got to see the teeny green shed that used to serve as the store for the whole area.

After our brush with the lives of our ancestors, we returned to the everyday life. I can't really even think of anything I can claim I've done over the past week. So, I'll leave you with a few pictures of our "little Oakies"...

Oklahoma