Neither live, nor on location

We're home. Live, on location, and in the moment is way more fun. Home, unpacking, and laundry is...blah.

We got home last night and Honey and I were exhausted. I've been fighting allergies all weekend and sleep was not abundant. Mary Tutu pulled a tooth in the van on the way home and when she woke up this morning she thought the Tooth Fairy had forgotten her because her tooth was still there and she couldn't find her dollar. Turns out, Bubba had to go in and help her "find" it. I think the Tooth Fairy is getting old, not to mention tired and on drugs that do not allow her to operate large machinery. Thank goodness Bubba knows what's up.

Friday was a really fun day in OKC. We started at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. It was peaceful and beautiful. We pulled the kids over to the side and talked about what happened and why there was a memorial and that even though we were outside, we had to use inside voices. And no running, or playing chase. And there was water inside as part of the memorial, so stay out of it.

My favorite quote was on the wall surrounding the survivor tree. It is original to the landscape and survived the explosion. "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us."

After the memorial, we headed to Bricktown. It's an area downtown that is similar to the river walk in San Antonio. We kept saying over and over how beautiful the weather was! and that we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather!

We rode the water taxi and the tour guide mentioned that the last time the Cubs won the World Series, Oklahoma wasn't a state. Which isn't right. According to the Google, Oklahoma became a state in 1907. The Cubs won consecutive titles in 1907 and 1908. The boat ride was still fun.

After the boats, we found a Mexican food place that let us sit outside for lunch. Because the weather! It was so beautiful!

They gave us our own salsa and queso bowls, for free, and I started wishing that I lived in Oklahoma. Because they charge for things like queso in Texas. Then the kids fed the ducks leftover flour tortillas. Actually, Bubba was the only one getting his tortilla in the water where the ducks were. Most of the time the girls missed and hit the people walking on the sidewalk below.

After Bricktown, the plan was the Zoo, but when we got there it was as crowded as Disney World on Christmas Day, so we went to plan B...The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. (Even with just a week's notice, I was able to come up with a Plan A and Plan B.) It was a fun museum, they had interactive things for the kids. And it was indoors. By that time, my allergies were screaming for something indoors.

Then we headed back to Bricktown for dinner and dessert. We picked up some cupcakes at Pinkitzel. It was the cutest bakery/candy shop/boutique. Bubba and Honey weren't as impressed as the girls and I, but the cupcakes won them over. Since it was close to dinner, we saved them for dessert.

Then, keeping with our "eat at at place we don't have at home" pact, we went to Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill. We liked it, the atmosphere was Hard Rock Cafe-ish, but with country music. There was tons of Toby Keith memorabilia, but that wasn't the reason we went. Bubba heard (from the boat tour guide) that they had fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He was dying to try one. He was disappointed when there wasn't one on the menu. He settled on a grilled chicken sandwich and declared it the best one he'd ever eaten.

And then we went back to the motel and let the kids swim. It was Honey's turn to sit at the pool while I enjoyed some peace and quiet and allergy medicine.

Saturday morning we took the long way home and went to Pops Soda Shop. It's on the old Rt. 66 and the opposite direction from home. Thanks to the turnpike, it only added 40 minutes to our drive. For a total of $4.60 we were able to avoid the Saturday, downtown OKC, State Fair weekend traffic. It was worth every penny.

Pops has something like 500 different kinds of sodas in bottles. We had fun looking at all the flavors and picking our favorites.

We got there in time for lunch. The food wasn't anything special, just your basic burger joint menu, but it did fit our food criteria for the weekend.

The windows were lined with bottles of soda and I was more than a little nervous to let the kids sit and eat lunch anywhere near them, but we made it out without any spills. When I wasn't worrying about the kids knocking over glass bottles, it was neat to look at all the colors.

If your place of business is on Rt66, you've got to have some sort of landmark. This giant soda bottle lets you know you've found Pops. I've heard it's really pretty at night.

It hasn't always been fun to take road trips with the kids. For so long they were too young to stand being in the car for very long. But they are the perfect age now. This trip is easily at the top of my list as one of my favorite trips ever. As long as we have a chance to stock up on Dramamine and allergy medicine, we're good to go. And I can't wait til it's time to go again. Where should we go next?