Of Splash Parks and Dinosaurs

In the middle of the week before last, our very pregnant daughter Heather called, to let us know they were going to come up for the Memorial Day weekend.  Wow...two and a half days with our little Noah.  We were very happy except for suddenly realizing we had not baby proofed the house since last December.  So off we went sweeping, dusting, washing linens and towels, stashing the clutter and removing the knickknacks to the spare bedroom behind closed doors.  

I decided to open up and dust off the piano to see what Noah would do with it.  He loved it!  Early Saturday morning he discovered it.  One note, then two, then whole fists and 10 fingers.  Up and down the keyboard he went.   Well needless to say, that got this Grandmother out of bed and up to see the tiny virtuoso pounding away. Skilled....not so much, but playing his heart out nevertheless with a huge smile on his face.  I pulled the bench out and sat down with him and played along which he just loved.  This went on all weekend.  At times we would have to pull the lid down over the keyboard if we wanted to watch a movie or hold a conversation.  

Their dog Sam and our fearsome three had a grand time and they all loved chasing Noah around the furniture.  He in turned chased them and then they would all collapse and Noah would lay on top of them pealing with laughter.  Fitz has this low rumble in his throat and the kids thought he was going to bite Noah, but Fitz would make the noise then open his jaws and gently gum Noah's arm all in play.  Lizzy however, would chase him and nip his butt.  She is a herding dog so we had to really keep an eye on her and remind her...GENTLE! She was a good girl and we made sure we let her know that.  Bear on the other hand was just the right size for Noah to terrorize.  Since he is a small dog, Noah would chase him down and try to pick him up and carry him around the living room.  But Bear was good and would play with him for awhile before finding a hiding spot. 

Noah enjoying his "Greek" lunch

Saturday was a day to rest up for the kids after the 7 hour drive up from East Texas.  The reason it takes so long is Heather is 7 1/2 months pregnant and had to stop ever so often, walk around the car then stop to eat...let the dog out to go to the bathroom etc. You know the drill.  The kids always have to make a lunch date for the "Greek House" every time they come up.  We love their food and gladly look forward to going there. They have the best Greek Gyros in Norman.   Later in the day Heather and I went shopping to pick up food for the next couple of days and in the process fixed some fantastic crock pot ribs. I entered the recipe into a program that lets you enter the recipe and then it figures the nutrition information for you. Go here to see the the recipe for Sweet and Saucy Ribs

Saturday night we watched the remake of Footloose.  They did a good job of bringing it up to date and the young man, Kenny Wormald, playing Ren is an exceptional dancer.  However the young man playing Willard, Miles Teller, did a great job. We had a fun time watching it and remembering all the songs from it.

My daughter has been going through courses to learn how to better prioritize and live frugally.  There are some great sites out there. http://www.parymoppins.net/ and http://frugalliving.about.com/ She brought up all of her information on couponing and shopping.  They are already noticing a difference in their grocery bill by meal planning from the circulars and couponing. She even gave me a recipe for making dry powdered soap and liquid soap for the laundry.  And for fabric softener...distilled white vinegar. It really works and does not leave your clothes smelling like vinegar.  She is now making her own dry soup mixes and baking  mixes and saving while she does it.  They have also been taking the Dave Ramsey "The Total Money Makeover" course and doing very well with it.

Told you I could squeeze through.

Ha, Ha! Gotcha!

So what do you call this thing?

Man the cannons maties!

It's a water bubble

I'm having too much fun!

Sunday afternoon after a lunch of homemade Hoagies, we headed to Andrew's Park which has an old kiddie swimming pool converted to a splash park with water cannons and fill and pouring buckets.  The buckets are up on a poll and are filled with water from up above then when they reach a certain point they tip and dump the water out  all over the kids below.  The kids just love it! There are misters in rainbow shapes, water jets shooting water out out the ground, just lots of fun things for the kids to do while running around the area.  Noah loved it.  His daddy said the water was cold, but did Noah mind?  Not at all, didn't complain once that the water was cold.  He was just a little water bug with a big smile on his face.  Matter of fact he got upset when we took him back to the car to put a dry diaper on him and get him dress, however that ceased when he learned that he was going to get to go to the "Big Toy" located in the park. 

Heading off to the "Big Toy" with Daddy

Look how strong I am!

Exploring the climbing rock

He loved climbing all over that and going down the slide and having his daddy chase him around the toy.  He sure is one active toddler.

Afterwards we we went to Five Guys Burgers.  The kids really enjoyed the  meal as they don't have a Five Guys place in Longview.
On Monday we were up and out the door at 1:00 p.m. as the  Sam Nobel Oklahoma Museum of Natural History opened for the day and the kids wanted to take Noah to see the Dinosaurs.  The  University based Natural History Museum is one of the world's largest.

Heading off to the museum

Noah checks out the exhibit

Look Up Noah, did you ever see so many bones?

The recently discovered Chinasaurus is on exhibition at the moment.  Noah had a grand time.  He loved looking at all the varied exhibits. 

Boy that is a big Mammoth

More dinosaurs...must be a gazillion of them!!!

I think his favorite place was the Discovery Room where children can dig for fossils and become explorers. There are all kinds of things to touch,see and feed.  Afterwards we had a bite to eat,  the kids then packed up their car, we took some quick family pictures and then they left to make the long drive back home.

Noah checking out Gma's daisies.

Dave, Susie, J, Noah & Heather

Once again the house was empty and quiet as the dust began to settle.  Boy we sure do miss that little whirlwind and his parents.  Until next time...

Happy trails...