The Spring Trip to Houston

Okay, so this time I have an actual reason for not posting for awhile. I was not here.

I was in HOUSTON!

The landscape: Not the same as it was before.

Due to the drought for all of last year, I never realized that there could be anything but dry grass from here to Texas. However that is simply not true. With all the wonderful rain we've been receiving the drive from Southern Oklahoma to Houston is simply gorgeous. Thousands of wildflowers along the banks of the road in all sorts of colors. Long, tall grasses. Huge, leafy trees. And on the drive down this wispy fog all throughout the Arbuckle Mountains in the early morning hours. So incredibly pretty. So many times I wanted pictures.

Hit that ball, what a game...

In order to travel with Will to his job at the Astros Stadium, I had to pick up the pace on 45 to make it to Houston by 3:30. (I was close: 3:40. But we still made it to the Stadium, thanks to Will who navigated me through all the chaotic traffic and suddenly clogged highways.)

Therefore I made it to my very first (professional) baseball game! The Houston Astros vs. the Atlanta Braves. Which I thought was pretty funny, since as a kid I loved the Braves. Or at least, as much as I ever loved a sports team as a kid. All that pretty much means is that I loved them one particular year they went to the World Series and my dad and I had this huge game about who would win. And he wanted the other team and I picked the Braves (they lost.)  So that's it.  Anyway, I was still amused I got to see the Braves. (Although, yes, in real life their fans seem to be pretty annoying.)

Root. Root. Root. This is the Astros slogan for the year. They take this very seriously, as you can see all over this pic.

The Astros lost, but I did get to hear the home run cannon go off, and I did enjoy the extreme classic/nostalgia feeling that seems to come over you while wandering through a ballpark and the first few innings of the game. Plus, the evening was perfect. Seriously, I kept looking up, seeing cityscape, and realizing I had forgotten I was outside. Absolutely beautiful, perfect for a game.

All I could hear was bits & pieces of "What a Game" from Ragtime.

The Boys

I had a lot of great chances to play with the kiddos, especially Robbie.  Who is four and can build things like this out of K'Nex:

Robbie's Robot. No instructions here, folks. Just his thoughts and K'nex prowess. Man, I wish had a picture when he had wings on it.

 

At one point Robbie actually convinced me to try and build an airplane for him out of K'nex from the instruction manual.

Oh, guys. Me with K'nex. Can you already see the utter failure?

But I was pretty pleased with how I had finally managed to get over halfway done and looking pretty good when he slid down beside me and stated "Um.... this part is upside down."
Which prompted me to ask the dumbest question I could have possibly asked at that moment.
"Are you sure, Robbie?"
"Yes. This is upside down." And before I could blubber out something about "being sure before we changed it" he had taken it from my hands, made quick eight snaps and handed it back to me before running off on his way. He had fixed it.  (For you curious, the plane eventually did get finished with Robbie's help.) 

Death to Dust Man

I really, really love The Mega's album featuring music from Mega Man 2. But I've never touched a Mega Man game and I was wondering what they were like and Will said we could play through them together.
Um.
That sounded great until I realized how hard some of the levels were to jump into for the first three games, and I pretty much just handed off the controller to him (once with one hit point left and no lives at the boss gate.)  I did however play more of Mega Man 4, right up until Dust Man who stressed me out so much I couldn't even watch him beat the level.
And then time ran out and no more Mega Man.
But I did get to meet Rush!

The Zooooooo!
And we went to the Zoo!

Robbie & Will spying on the...gorillas? Was it gorillas?

The Houston Zoo has a lot of cool animals, many different ones from OKC which was a nice change.  My favorite part was actually at the very end where we came across red pandas running around in their exhibit, being incredibly cute. While OKC does have one, she's usually sleeping or hidden. To see them so active was lovely. (No pictures there because they were in a dark tunnel behind glass.)

Also, there were otters, sprawled on top of each other, sleeping on their backs. Also very cute.

The giraffes were feeling up close & personal. Love the tongue sticking out.

Again, great weather, great company, great Zoo. 

Bouncing (on heads) here and there and everywhere....
Tarvis!
One evening (I can no longer remember what happened what day) I was able to run over to Travis' to catch up with him which was nice. And then I watched Will & Travis play Super Mario Wii which was hysterical. Seriously, bouncing off each others heads, falling into pits, crashing around in bubble form... there's a reason I love to watch people play video games.

The Return of the Confetti Eggs
If for any bizarre reason I wasn't sure before, I've now decided I absolutely love confetti eggs.

Shamelessly stealing these pics from Will.

Kim sweetly thought of and bought some confetti eggs for us to play with, but unfortunately the timing never quite worked out! So the day I left we managed to sneak them in after church.

Isaac seemed less concerned. Pic also stolen.

I tried to smash one on Robbie's head - instantly was afraid I was going to hurt him more than expected - and began breaking them open instead which worked just as well. But don't worry, he took great pleasure in busting them over mine, so there was definitely egg-head-smashing going on. :)

Stolen! Stolen!

I love the confetti! I don't know why. (Though maybe it harkins back to the days of the Fantasticks when I had great joy in playing with it after every performance to Philip's dismay.) I think it's all the colors. It makes everything look so cheery & bright. It's great stuff.  Next year I need to buy several packs and stock up!

One more since confetti pictures rock. Don't worry, we cleaned up the mess.

Thanks again, Kim! :)

Seven and a half hours to home.
It was a total blessing that I didn't hit any major traffic on the drive home since I left later than I originally intended. I guess Saturday night suddenly everything caught up with me and I was worn out by Sunday morning. So after the confetti eggs, I tried to lay down (and failed at sleeping.) But a fantastic lunch from Kim was enough and I was quite awake the rest of the drive home. After sailing five minutes through construction that caused me two hours of grief last spring, I was thrilled.

All in all....
It was an absolutely lovely trip. Friends, kiddos, a Zoo, games...how can you go wrong? It was perfect.

I should be their spokesperson. With free admission.

There are new additions to the OKC Zoo! A two-week old giraffe named Sergeant Peppers, as well as a two-month old okapi named Nia. Their pictures are really cute. (And so are the names! Sergeant Peppers? Nia? D'aaaaaaaaw.....! One has to wonder what inspired the Beatles reference.)

Zoo, I was already in withdrawal. This is not helping.

Pictures not mine - they were taken by the Zoo and posted to their Facebook.

Sergeant Peppers & Mom, Ellie

Nia with Mom, Caroli

D'awww.... Red Panda Cuteness.

Aww.... red pandas have been born at the Zoo!

Curious. I remember the red pandas being born last year, but I don't remember seeing them. Does anyone else remember them? I just remember the two adults. But it also sounds like they moved them pretty quickly. Sadly, the article doesn't mention whether we get to keep these or not and I guess its doubtful since we didn't keep the others. But with the new Asia exhibit next up to bat maybe someday we'll get to see the baby red pandas. 

Either Celeste or Yoda! OKC Zoo

Then I became curious what baby red pandas looked like.

Pic by the Edmonton Zoo

D'awww....! Too cute.

Awww......!!

Love the tail curl. 

Seriously, this last little one has such an awesome expression on his face. Okay, that's a good note to end on. Sweet dreams, everyone!

I have these amazing friends.

Alright, blogger,  first post in the new interface! Let's see how this goes. 

This Labor Day weekend consisted of an AWESOME trip to the OKC Zoo with AMAZING friends. (Worthy of the caps.) We're talking weather in the 70's, people. It was wonderful.

This, of course, added to the fun:

I think this was greedy giraffe.

I got to feed the giraffes again! Thanks to Eric, who had cash.

How much do my friends love me?  I mean, seriously, that's twice now someone's paid for me to feed giraffes.  Because they knew it would make my day (and it did).

I even got a "I fed the giraffes at the Zoo" button.

You guys rock.

Though I promise I'll bring my own money next time! I just didn't know OKC had this yet.

I'll probably post more about the Zoo later. But I'm going to bed early tonight and YOU CAN'T STOP ME. Bwahahaha.

(Okay, fine, if I can't sleep, I'll detail it out tonight. Rar.)

Roadtrip #3: Back to Houston!

This is why I went missing for a few days. :)

The Accident
Unfortunately, the Friday before I was supposed to head down to Houston my driver's sideview mirror was destroyed. All I really saw was the truck in front of me kick up a very long pipe and that pipe flying through the air. At the last second I threw my arm up to cover my face because it was headed straight for the windshield. But instead of a crash I heard a thud and to my joy glanced up to find absolutely no damage to my windshield.

And then I tried to change lanes with my sideview mirror.

Also, alas, the hood was scratched so deeply it had hit the metal and was eventually going to rust away. So suddenly my car was going into the shop and I had to find a replacement if I was still to go - barring I could still go with insurance/rental issues - but my insurance company was really awesome and I was thrilled. So the plan was still in place.

(I realize I'm really, really lucky that nothing worse happened, so this fix was not.a.big.deal. Sideview mirror? Doable.)

The Rental & Eight Hours, Going Once
I've never rented a car before. So when the lady asked me whether I would like a mid-size or full-size sedan, and explained that my Altima would essentially be a full-size and that I would probably get one, I decided to go with what I knew. However, in the back of my head there was this constant nagging doubt that I should've gone with the mid-size.

When the driver came to pick me up in a Mercury Sable, I suddenly felt all those doubts rise to the surface. It was an older model, so the thought of gas mileage alone scared me, and it certainly wasn't something I wanted to drive in Houston traffic. (I learned to drive in my grandfather's Buick, and I've just never been a fan of driving that size of car. I have trouble judging distances anyway - and once nearly backed into the fence early on - so I don't need any extra length added.)

Finally though, after being told that this was all they had, a nice lady popped up in the back and said there was a mid-size Ford Focus if I was interested.

Yes. Yes, please.

All that to say: go with your instincts.

The car was great and I managed to slide through all the big cities without traffic, so the drive down was perfect. I was really nervous about taking an unfamiliar car all that way, so I was really grateful this turned out so well. God is good.

Everything is all taken care of now, though, and my car is back in my possession looking great. If you ever need a body shop in the area, I have one to recommend.

Houston!
Yay! Houston!

Wednesday night Will had an unsuspecting Travis & Dave come over and I think everyone enjoyed hanging out the rest of the night.

And then on Thursday, poor Will got sick! Pretty sick, actually. :( Poor guy. (For those concerned, he seems to be doing fine now.) We did spend a lot of time catching up on various Nostalgic Critic episodes (who, by the way, is hysterical but very R-rated and language heavy, so be aware.) Also, I had the chance to see a taped rendition of his Pinocchio that I had been itching to watch and was glad to finally have the opportunity.

On Friday morning Kim graciously dropped Robbie & I off at the Zoo (where the OKC Zoo membership provides 1/2 off prices!) Although we did see lots of animals, I think if I totaled it up we spent about three of the five hours there in the children's zoo alone which was pretty funny. Robbie ran around in circles on the playground. Considering it was over 100, that's some pretty intense stamina! And he wasn't quite ready to go at the end either, but it was getting hot and late and he had to be getting tired, so we rode the carousel and headed home.

As for Issac, he is cuter than ever and has this grin that you can't help but return.

Travis and I actually got to catch up at Barry's Pizzeria which was nice and Kim & I were able to watch the latest Pride & Prejudice movie which I also enjoyed. Having never read or watched any of the movies, I went in without any idea of what it was really about and it was really funny.

Also, in the midst of all this, I did manage to finish reading Hunger Games, which I really enjoyed. For some reason, I kept fighting the first person point of view for the first part of the book, but was over it by the end and really enjoyed the bits that became more stream of conscious. And the story was great. Fast read, great story. Now I'm (probably) going to launch into Game of Thrones 2.

McKinney & Eight Hours, Going Twice
On the way back I arrived in McKinney at the perfect time for dinner with Philip & Kelly at Paoli's! Yum. World Market. Good time with more friends.

And then back on the road. A different route this time - up 1-77 to avoid the awful construction I ran into on 35 last time- buuut, 1-77 scared me a bit when I realized just how desolate it was. While I did like that it went straight into Shawnee, I didn't like that there were essentially no streetlights anywhere. And, although I knew it going in, no towns. So that meant no gas stations or ones in tiny towns that close way too early. That's potentially nervewracking.
So it's back to 35 for me.

And also bedtime for me.

But since I left Houston with this song stuck in my head, I now leave it with you:



It's a monkey!!

The Return of the Elephants!

The elephants have returned to the OKC Zoo!

Of course, they actually returned a few months ago. And Malee was born in the middle of April. But since this is the first time I've had a chance to visit, it was all new to me and I'm still excited. :)
Did you realize they had been gone is June 2008? That's a long time. And the Zoo has made the quite a big deal over the Return of the Elephants!

As they should, really. Their new exhibit is really gorgeous and deservedly lauded over. I was avoiding viewing a lot pictures of it for the most part because I was wanting to be surprised. But truthfully, I shouldn't have worried. I don't think you could snap a photo that would spoil the overall appearance of the area. (if you're interested, and haven't already seen them, official pictures are here.)
And having spent so many years watching these large lovely creatures in a very small, concrete slabbed area, I am really loving all the space and activities they have now. While they currently only have two females, plus the calf, they have room for two more ladies and two bulls and are making breeding, education and conservation a priority. Which is awesome.

And its designed so that there's not a bad viewing spot in the place. Whether you're on the ground or on the ramps, you should be able to have full viewing access at all times.

While the Zoo has made renovations in the past (The Great EscApe & Cat Forest come most prominently to mind) this one is really above and beyond and makes me super excited to see what will be coming down the pipeline. (Okay, I'm less excited about the new Herpetarium.)
And I know its eight years away, but Aquaticus is desperate for a renovation and it sounds like they're giving themselves plenty of time to design and work on it. (While I doubt that the dolphins will be making their return, I still hold out a flutter of hope. When I was a kid, they were my favorite. Its still sad to go to the Zoo and walk past their showroom and know they're not coming back.)

And a new Giraffe exhibit? Yes, please. Don't stash these pretty creatures in the back of the zoo in a field. Soon they'll have a whole new area as well as a giraffe feeding platform, similiar to Dallas.
Though I'm curious as to what they new African-styled events center is going to be for exactly. Any thoughts? (Don't say events.)

Anyway, I'm thrilled at the return of the elephants and I'm glad they're getting lots of love and (finally) a brand new facility. Malee is way too cute to ignore so be sure to go see her sweet face soon.

(Do I sound like an advertisement? I meant every word! Zoo, you should hire me.)

Easter weekend.

Last night I tried to write a post about how awesome I thought it was that the drought was finally broken over Easter weekend. But the words weren't coming out right and I eventually gave up. Nonetheless, I still think that's pretty cool. Listening to the rolling thunder and pounding rain during Sunday morning services wrapped it all up together for me. A shadow, a mirror, a reminder of the resurrection in a sense. New life. New growth. Things that were once dying, or struggling along, salvaged. A double blessing: the celebration of life, the celebration for rain. Jubilation for both falling hand in hand. And in the back of my mind the whisper:
I feel the thunder in the sky, I see the sky about to rain, and I hear the prairies calling out Your Name...

I had a beautiful Easter playing with my kids. The Kime's & McBrides came down Saturday and Sunday and I soaked up some lovely family time. Unfortunately, the storm cut the time short, but I still had a chance to spend time with all of them. They enjoyed their Easter baskets. It was really nice.

The next two weeks at work are potentially heavy. This week is Administrative Professionals week, but that's been slow these past few years so I'm not expecting much there. The local prom is this weekend. Two weddings this weekend, one major and one minor. The following week is Mother's Day week. Caskets are beginning to stack.
I'm actually pumped about the weddings. One of them is going to be quite different from anything we've done before, with lots of fun tropicals and unusual touches. Also, its a setup, which we haven't had in awhile. I may not be a part of that particular team, but I should be flying out there anyway to take pics. It'll be a nice change of pace. Any pretty pics, I'll be sure to share.

Did you know the baby elephant was born at the Zoo? (Thanks Travis!) I'm so excited! (Go to the link, you can vote for her name.) They won't be on display for awhile, but once they are I'm so ready to finally see their new home and see the new calf. In the meantime, there's a live elephant cam, but I haven't been able to catch them on that yet either. I love elephants!

The Labor Day Holiday

How to Create the Perfect Saturday:

Lunch with grandma? Check.
Going to Brad & Regina's? Check.
Out of town friends in town? Check.
ZOO!? Check.
COLDSTONE?! Check. (Birthday Cake Remix, baby!)
Holly & Sam arrive? Check.
Bohemian Rhapsody sung by everyone in the car? Double check.

And thus started off my Labor Day holiday. :) I've tried hard to use three-day weekends for major projects and I've completed a lot through that. (The mass purge of the filing cabinet and closet come to mind as recent accomplishments...) But this weekend was all play. Harvest Moon every night. Staying home Sunday and Monday. Completing small tasks on larger projects. McAlisters Deli. It was so nice.

Of course, the Zoo is always a personal favorite, but this was such a strange trip. I thought a lot of the exhibits would be lively due to being the last major summer holiday and the parking lot was packed. (Seriously, we finally sat for several minutes waiting for a family to deal with strollers and iceboxes just for the spot). But we mostly saw...exhibits? Very few animals. Mostly just their exhibits. :) We did get some fun interaction with the gorillas, and the giraffes are always lovely (elephants still in Tulsa, but next year!). Even the Sea Lions were off somewhere else. No chimps. Few wild dogs. Can't find the otters again.
However, price of admission was all worth it just for Philip & Eric filling in the meerkats inner monologues. I wish I had direct quotes, but I don't, and no amount of attemping to reprise it will do it justice.

I haven't had Coldstone since Vegas when I tracked it down in the Excalibur. It was wonderful.

And then everyone sat on the patio of Coldstone for, um, two hours? reminiscing.

Of course, everything that was on hold over the summer comes back into full swing this week. My boss told me to rest over the holiday and that we would have to come back ready to go on Tuesday. Now we'll start our holiday work -- preparing for our annual open house, Thanksgiving, Christmas silks, etc. Wednesday night Bible Study returns this week at 5:30. Drama will start back up this coming Sunday. There are no less than four birthdays this week alone and several more in the coming weeks. I'm excited for all of them.

Hello fall! Let's begin again. How are you?

Flyin' in the sky with you today!

Humboldt Penguins chasing a butterfly! (and all I can wonder is if they're anything like humboldt squids.)

Enjoy!



(Note: After the :40 mark, nothing else happens, except for watching cute penguins.)

Happy Ledesma Day!

Zoo? Chick-Fil-A? Lots of friends including the Ledesma's? Could there be a better day?

Holly & I spent the early morning running around the zoo with the Will, Kim & Robbie admiring the new children's zoo, the lions, the sea lions, the meerkats (okay, maybe that last one was just me). Robbie was able to ride the kiddie train (which he loved) and can apparently pronounce rhinoceros (which is awesome).
Then someone missed her exit entirely (who would do that?) which led to a momentary detour back through the city which may or may not have led to a freakout session in the car (I'm so sorry Holly) and may or may not have led to a panicked phone call to Brad (I'm so sorry Brad).
I promise you. When I'm by myself, I never panic like that. Never.

Anyway. I love our zoo!

Then there was Chic-Fil-A. And Rock Band. And park-time with Robbie who bulldozed me over several times. And then dinner in the city at Mackie's with (get ready for the list): Will, Kim, Robbie, Julie, Holly, Philip, Kelly, Jenna, Blake, Tarvis, Eric...

It was crazy fun. And then after spending several hours at Kelly's house I somehow managed to stay awake enough to drive Will to Coyle and return to my house.

Can we do it again? :) Maybe minus the detour this time.