Spring Break in OKC

For the second half of Spring Break we took a road trip to Oklahoma City. We just stayed the one night before heading down to Dallas to celebrate the kids' birthdays with grandparents. It was very much a that's good/that's bad trip, and in the end I still don't know if we came out on top, or wish we'd never gone. 

Highs: we found a fun urban garden downtown, near the basketball arena, our first night there. It had paths and fountains and a children's play area. We also were able to visit the Science Museum on our ASTC pass, which is hands down one of the coolest ones we've ever been too. The kids had been looking forward to a return trip ever since we first went back in 2019.

Lows: Davey was sick on our drive out. He threw up once in the car into a bag and once in a dumpster as we drove through Shamrock, TX, a funny little town I'll probably never have reason to visit again. He spent our first day in a stupor. During the night Davey bounced back, but Griffin went down. He never threw up, but was the most feverish, miserable little guy our the whole next day at the museum. The traffic from OKC to Dallas was also awful once we wrapped up our little trip. We ended up detouring several times for construction or other random backups. Finally, our AirBnB host also left us bad reviews. First for not locking up properly, even though there were no instructions on how to set the alarm. There was a full instruction sheet for getting in, but nothing for leaving. Second, for bringing an extra guest. They were upset we had 6 instead of the listed 5. But I never reported Griffin because the terms only asked for guests over the age of 2 and he was still 1 and slept in a pack n play, which we brought from home. Third, for leaving dirty coffee cups, which is ridiculous because we of course didn't make coffee. We didn't use any dishes as our dinner was from KFC and our breakfast was donuts. Oh well. Can you tell I was bitter about it?

Happy faces at our Air BnB before we had negative feelings towards the host

Exploring the Myriad Botanical Gardens, pretty even in winter

Poor sick Davey just took it all in from a bench

Griffin went down and ended up spending the night on the couch with me

Ready for a fun day at the Science Museum!

We rode these Segways during our last trip and were so glad to see the course was still there! 

Miserable Griffin, and Davey got to keep the balloon from the science demonstration

Water and erosion

Climbing wall at the fitness exhibit

The shooting gallery

And this had to be documented because it was Griffin's first ever time INSIDE a Chick fil A! They had been closed for covid his entire life. We ate here for lunch and, even though feeling lowsy, he loved it!

Fall Break Daytrip to Lubbock

The kids had no school on Friday for Columbus day weekend so we drove down to Lubbock for some fun. It’s a 2 hour trip and not something I would normally do by myself, but my friend and her kids went with us so I had backup incase something went wrong. We stopped at Costco first for some shopping. We have a Sam’s Club here in Amarillo, which takes care of most things we want or need, but some things are best from Costco, like bacon and grapefruit! I brought 2 coolers so we could stock up on all our favorite things to bring back home. 

After Costco we picked up some lunch and then went to eat/play at a park before heading to the Science Spectrum. We were able to get free admission using our museum pass from home. It had all sorts of fun exhibits that the kids loved. They played for almost 3 hours before I had to call it quits, since I still needed some energy for our drive back home.

 A souvenir from Costco - Kelly, the giant Squishmallow Caticorn that Sophie convinced me to gift her as an early Christmas present

This giant marble run was a favorite. The kids sat here forever watching the balls work their way through the course, cheering whenever something exciting would happen!

Griffin loved this virtual fish tank in the baby play area

Busy Bee Charlie

Video clips from our day at the Science Spectrum

Soaking up the Last of Summer in Dallas

After the beach trip ended, we flew back to Dallas and had one week to spend before it was time to return to Amarillo for Sophie to start school. The Howes were actually not around (they did a DC trip with Tim's family instead of coming home) so we mostly played with friends and found fun things around town to do. It was very, very hot while we were there (106+), so naturally all our time was spent either indoors or at the pool!

Grandma has a neighborhood pool just around the corner. Dave was tossing the kids in the air one day and Davey didn't always have the most graceful landings. 

Little lifeguard on duty

We always make a Costco run to stock up on essentials when we're near one since there isn't one in Amarillo. The kids loved the mini muffins on sample that day. 

PEROT MUSEUM & LEGO EXHIBIT - we spent a day at the Perot while we were in town, another museum on our ASTC pass. It's huge a museum spanning 5 floors so we only ever see a fraction of what's there, but hit all our favorite places - the dinosaurs, the kid town, and this time we were able to go through the special Lego exhibit, thanks to our member friends who could get discount passes.

It was really amazing to see all the creations that were entirely made from Legos. Some of them were huge and contained hundreds of thousands of bricks. I cannot even imagine how tired the builder must have been after looking at only grey for so long while completing the Easter Island head. 

Davey thought this T-Rex skeleton was so cool

CRAYOLA EXPERIENCE - this was a new place that we had been wanting to try since it opened a few years ago. We actually ended up buying a family membership, since it would pay off after just two visits and we know we will be back at least 2-3 times over the next year. There were so many fun, hand-on things to do and the kids (and adults) had a fun time. We are excited to go through again when we visit in December for Christmas!

Each kid got to make a couple crayons - choose the color, choose a name, and then wrap it to take home. We made Davey Doodle Dandy Blue, Purr-ple, and Char-treuse. 

We also got a new scribble srubbie pet (you decorate it with marker however you want and then it washed back to white in hot water), melt down crayons into fun shapes, and melt down crayons to create spin art. 

JACK CARTER POOL - the Jack Carter pool was another new destination for us, and one we will definitely return to when we visit next summer. It has all the excitement of a water park for younger kids, without the lines or high prices. Entry was just $7 a person, but they had a lazy river, water slides, cliff jumping, a wave simulator, and a kiddie splash zone. Plus there were plenty of shaded tables and you were allowed to bring in outside food!

We met our friends the Palmers there and Sophie had fun on the water slides with Hazel

Charlie loves a good fountain and Davey was not quite tall enough for the slides, but he did have fun in the lazy river. 

Sophie was brave enough to try the Flo Rider. She only lasted a short time before the wave swept her back and off to the side, but she did great for her first try!

The high dive was more to her liking. She went off several times!