Lions, Tigers, Bears...Fur Real!

Today Andrew's class went to the Tiger Safari near Oklahoma City.  It was a wonderful adventure! 

Two buses of 4 and 5 year-olds, exotic animals so close you almost literally could reach out and touch them, and two bathrooms...need I say more! 

The "safari" started out with tortoise rides, a petting and educational talk session with several different animals, and a guided tour to see the other animals. 

They have some of the biggest, most majestic tigers I have ever seen.  However, I haven't seen tigers so up close and personal either.  They had kangaroos, llamas and a huge grizzly bear.  The kiddos were able to feed several of the animals, and Andrew's favorite moment was feeding the wart hog.  The wart hog - that's my son!

At the end of the guided tour, we went inside the educational center.  And there were more animals!

A huge iguana, an albino python, a joey (baby kangaroo), and a baby spider monkey were passed around to pet.  Shrieks and rolling laughter were a constant  The kids were going WILD!  It was a lot of fun!

We then ate lunch, and prepared for the hayride.  It was a short ride, but just right for the age group.

Once we left the Tiger Safari, we went over to the town we used to live in for Ryan's two year-old check up (finally!).  He received a clean bill of health and a shot (boo hoo!).  He was NOT a happy camper.

On our way home, we stopped at our favorite fast food restaurant, Chick-fil-a.  I decided to get just a sandwich, no fries, but added the yummy banana pudding milkshake.  I thought I was doing a good job by limiting the intake of fatty foods, subtracting one to have the other.

I actually have come up with a new weight loss tip, especially for those of you who are like me - sporting a sweet tooth and the will power of a robust kid in a candy store in Disneyland.

While driving down the highway on our way out of town, I picked up the shake for a scrumptious slurp.  And then dropped the cup in my lap along with half of the yummy goodness.  Stunned, shocked and COLD, I wasn't quite sure what to do (the effects of the cold!).  I finally realized I needed to pull over (HELLO! Genius!), and I made my way to the next exit and pulled off into a medical business park.

Not really sure what to do as I stared at the melting mess making its way around my posterior, so I decided to use the napkins (three total) I had to scoop up enough for me to get out of the car without a landslide of ice cream following me out.

I then climbed out of the car and began wiping myself off, realizing that this was not just ordinary ice cream but had small bits of cookie crumbs in it.  Nice.

Not only did it look like I had efficiently wet my pants, but also might have had another type of problem.

At this point I had not even thought of anyone seeing me wipe myself off...until I realized that there was a gentleman who seemed to be trying to figure out if I needed help or not.  Nice again.

I decided that I had cleaned it up enough and it was time to GO!

So this is my new weight loss strategy.  I don't necessarily like it, but it certainly cut my intake in half.  I could have had the fries!

Great ending to a very "I Love Lucy" day!

We're going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

With all the fun we had last weekend visiting two zoos, we are all - or at least I am - looking forward to a wonderful weekend of nothing.  Yes, nothing at all sounds SO good!

Here are some memories from The Weekend Full of Zoo.

Dallas Zoo (Dallas, TX)

The Alligator

He is lining the waters edge.  Big guy.

Ryan's favorite animals were the elephants.

Andrew's favorite animals were the camels.

We even got to ride one!

Oklahoma City Zoo (Oklahoma City, OK)

Andrew and his BFF, Sarah.

Yes, the one who makes his heart beeps faster!

(If you missed this story, click here.)

Couldn't tell you what they were looking at, but aren't they so cute!

Ryan and Sarah held hands the entire time he wasn't in his stroller.

The bears were very playful and so much fun to watch.

Everyone loves watching the baby elephant.

Another great day at the zoo!

Hawkeye Fun!

Andrew's First Iowa Hawkeye Tailgate and Football Game: Saturday, November 5, 2011

Iowa vs Michigan State

Grandpa and Grandma Hansen and Andrew



Daddy and Andrew - Best Buds!

Andrew playing cornhole at the Hawkeye Tailgate!



The Boys at the Game... Go Hawks!!



Trains, Texas, & Stampedes: Day Three

"Ride 'em, Cowboy!  Oh, wait, Mom! We forgot my cowboy boots!"

Our third day in Ft. Worth, TX ended Andrew's birthday excursion. 

We got up and around and then let Andrew decide what adventures our day would behold.  We asked him if he wanted to go see a real live cattle drive.  Of course that little face of his just lit up with excitement and anticipation! 

We were cutting it close trying to get breakfast and catch the bus at the right time.  We ended up walking across the street to Starbucks and grabbing some donuts, scones, muffins, juice and coffee to go.  We then walked to the curb and sat on the bus stop bench to wait for the next ride back to the main station downtown.  Well, since we were cutting it so close, I just knew we had already missed the bus.  And sure enough, we watched the bus go by in the opposite direction.

Thankfully, the driver was running ahead of schedule and had an empty bus, so he stopped at the convenience store across the street.  Wonderful, it was fate!  The only problem was crossing before he took off again and the street kept getting busier and busier...on a Sunday morning!  The driver came out and we were still waiting on the light to change to let us cross over safely.  Mike whistled and got his attention.  As luck would have it, he heard us and waited!

We rode back to the main station to find our next link to the Historic Ft Worth Stockyards. 

We had to take a taxi when we realized we had missed the bus down by just 5 minutes.  The taxi driver dropped us off just in time for the longhorn cattle drive!  Boy, was Andrew excited!

A real, live cowboy and his horse, Charlie

After watching the "real, live cowboys" drive the "real, live longhorn cattle" down the street, we took off down the cobble street to find some more adventures. And we found this...

After looking up at the sky and seeing some threatening thunder clouds appear, we decided to find somewhere to eat quickly and then head back to downtown Ft. Worth.  Mike suggested that we catch a movie in-between lunch and the trains departure back to Oklahoma.  We all thought that was a great idea since The Lion King was playing in 3-D!

But first, we had the distinct pleasure of eating at the friendliest little burger joint you have step foot in.  Andrew hit it off with the staff and they treated him like a celebrity!  We're talking Charlie Brown coloring book, tub full of crayons, fish singin' (you know the one that is mounted and sings), soda slurpin' treatment...

After our lunch stop with our cow town celebrity (he returned his borrowed 10-gallon hat!), we headed to the bus stop to catch our last bus in Ft. Worth.  Upon entering the bus, Andrew scoped out a gentleman sitting by himself and plopped down right next to him making the grand announcement, "Mom, Dad, you can sit right over there.  I am going to sit by him."  "Well, did you ask this nice gentleman if it was okay with him if you sit by him?" I asked.  Andrew turned eagerly to the man and asked "Is it okay, sir?"  The man shook his head in agreement and mumbled a kind yes.  Andrew talked his ear off until he was at his stop... or we think it was truly his stop! Ha!

We caught "The Lion King" in 3-D at the movie theater in downtown Ft. Worth.  It was SO good in 3-D.  Hands down the best 3-D movie I have seen.  Andrew has now snagged the Simba stuffed animal that my parents had at their house.  He has been taking it with him to school every day to sleep with it during rest time.  Needless to say, he loved the movie.

Following the movie, we speed walked the three blocks back to the train station just in time to pick up our held baggage and board the train.  We met a wonderful lady who lives in Edmond on the trip back.  Really, everyone was so friendly on the train.  One.Big.Family.

It was a wonderful trip.  Andrew keeps talking about taking the train again... "Next weekend, right, mom? Right?" 

It ended well too... Papa Bear and Cub were tuckered out... "Shhh....sweet dreams of a Texas stampede..."

Trains, Texas, & Stampedes: Day Two

Yeehaw! Day Two in Texas!

This really was a great day!  Everyone woke up nice and refreshed - especially Andrew after 13 hours of sleep! - and ready to see what adventures would unfold.

We packed Mike's backpack for the day and walked across the street to partake in one of the great American establishments - IHOP.  Andrew was certainly feeling the Halloween spirit!

After our yummy breakfast, we walked through a beautiful park to make our way to the zoo which was about 1 1/2 miles walking distance away from where we were staying because we had to cross a bridge over some water that separated our hotel from the park and zoo.

The Ft. Worth Zoo was a wonderful place.  The recreations of the animals' habitats were gorgeous!  We had the opportunity to see some very playful monkeys.

We caught a feeding of the penguins - which by the way, only 5 of the 17 species of penguins live in the cold!  Never knew that little fact.  I guess all the penguins that live in the cold get all the good movie deals!

We enjoyed watching the elephants (they have so many!), giraffes, hippos, zebras, and rhinos!  And really enjoyed walking into the turn of the century Texas in the Texas Wild! exhibit that featured animals of Texas right along with architecture and great BBQ!

But the most impressive exhibit by far that I have ever experienced at a zoo was the Museum of Living Art.  This Herpetarium was an impressive facility all on its own, but the reptiles, amphibians and other creatures that live there were out of this world.  Each habitat was very well lit and at just the right heights for viewing, which means it was extremely kid-friendly.  We were able to be nose to nose with a Komodo dragon, have our skin crawl while watching an enormous python and cobra, and be absolutely entranced with the swimming 15 ft. alligators.

We also took in the Halloween festivities at their "Boo at the Zoo" event, which cost $3 to participate.  It was very nicely laid out with 5 tickets for candy stations, one ticket for a pumpkin decorating station, many unique carnival type games, and a main stage where they had two "acts" running every 30 minutes.  We were able to catch both of them.  One was a "meet the animals" type of show (very fun!) and the other was just a fun costume parading and boogie-ing time.

After helping close the gates of the zoo, we started our journey back to the hotel.  This time going a way that Mike thought would be a little faster.  He had spotted a bridge on the opposite side of the park and we made our way to it.  Well, it was not exactly a bridge for humans to cross over - there was a recreational-sized train that chugged through the park and this bridge just happened to be one of the bridges for it to cross over the water.

Mike carried Andrew across.  And I'm not going to lie to you, this was NOT a good idea.  This picture looks like the railroad ties were close together - oh no!  I am glad that there was water underneath us to break our 20 foot fall...  And my heart just about beat right out of my chest when I heard a little whistle blow and looked up to see the train coming out of the tree line on the opposite side!  If we had just been a minute later...but it sure added to the adventure of the day...riiiiiight!

We successfully made the rest of the trek back to the hotel to relax a little bit before walking over to Chili's for dinner (Andrew's favorite restaurant).

We ended the day by walking over to an old car show.  Andrew was on cloud nine!  Especially when he was invited to sit in the "most awesomest, fastest car there"!

How could Day Three get any better than this!?

Trains, Texas, & Stampedes: Day One

For Andrew's 5th birthday, Mike and I put together a weekend of fun! 

Andrew has been asking over and over again when he will be able to ride a train or an airplane.  So we bought tickets to ride the train (Heartland Flyer) from downtown Oklahoma City, OK to downtown Ft. Worth, TX. 

Andrew was very excited, but a little upset that his brother was not going too... I put his anxiety to rest when I told him that Ryan wouldn't make it on a four hour train ride.  Only five year-olds were big enough to ride that far on the train!  He repeated this new found realization to several folks during the two weeks before our departure.

Boy! was it an adventure! 

It began with my parents making the trip to pick up Ryan on Thursday night.  I took Ryan to the doctor that afternoon and, sure enough, he had an ear infection and a little rattle in his lungs. (We have fought ear infections constantly and he always has a constant drip from his poor little nose.  Last December we had tubes put in his ears, and of course after one month one had already fallen out!)

For three hours I was in search of a medication that was prescribed before I gave up and called Mike to tag him  for back-up searching so I could tap out to do some last minute laundry and packing (nothing like it!).  Wouldn't you know it would be his good fortune that the first pharmacy he called would have it!  Seriously.  (Might I stress I went to three pharmacies and spent three hours searching...)  Ryan was packed up and ready to spend the weekend with Grandma and Papa.  He was ready to go too!

The next morning, Mike, Andrew and I head to the train station.  It is amazing to see some of the history and beautiful architecture that you miss when you live so close to something that you don't take the time to really slow down and look around.  The train station was amazing!

I had purchased our tickets several weeks ahead of time, and it was a good thing that I did.  The train was completely full and they were turning people away!  I had no idea this form of travel was so popular.  And now I know why!  Everyone is SO friendly when you ride on a train together.  I don't know if it is the feeling of being transported back into time or the laid back atmosphere that I don't feel you find on an airplane.  We had some great conversations with passengers and the conductors alike (as Andrew loving called everyone with the official uniform on).  Just some good ole' fashioned camaraderie on the rails.

I packed Andrew's tag reader and books, games, mini-puzzles (from Dollar Tree or the dollar bins at Target), and snacks.  There was a dining car - the lady in charge of it was a hoot!  She would come over the intercom every once in a while and tell all the kids to keep their eyes peeled for hawks and dinosaurs!  I have never seen Andrew so focused staring out the windows!  I will have to say that I was a tab bit disappointed with the dining car.  I had this grand image of the dining car from the movie White Christmas in mind.  A long bar and cozy booth-style seating... it was neither of those, but still very cool and we didn't frequent it on a couple of occasions.

The chairs and personal space that you have on the train is unbelievable.  Mike kept commenting on the glorious chairs. They really were impress, along with ALL the room you have.

Once we made it to Ft. Worth, we set out to find something to eat and to figure out our transportation needs to travel to our hotel.  We ate some yummy sandwiches in a small cafe downtown on 9th and Houston (I can't remember the name, but their turkey club was to die for!) 

It was just a little noisy!

After about 30 minutes of looking at maps on our phones and a particular bus map, we decided to head back to the train station that also served as the main bus terminal too.  Once we reached the train station again, it was not too hard to figure out we needed to catch Route 7 to find our hotel.  The hotel we stayed out was a little over 3 miles away from downtown Ft. Worth.  It was less than a 10 minute drive on the bus.  Perfect!

There is something very liberating about not having a car and only having your legs and others to rely on!  It was also a great bonding experience for all of us. 

Our hotel was right across the street from a great shopping center with stores like Williams-Sonoma, The Container Store, and, my all time favorite!, Anthropologie.  Let's just say I got some Christmas shopping out of the way.  And since we were riding the train without luggage restrictions, I could shop away... oh wait! Mike was with me...scratch that!

We ended up putting Andrew to bed just after 7pm.  Poor guy was tuckered out from staying up a little later than normal the two nights before and then waking up on Friday morning at 5:30am to get ready for the train ride.  He was snoring and talking in his sleep by 7:23!  Mike went out for a little stroll and I was asleep by 8:57!

The day was a perfect start to the weekend that followed!

California Dreamin'

Today was a great day.  I feel a huge sense of accomplishment with the overall outcome of today's busyness and blessings.  Andrew and Ryan had good days at Big School/little school.  I crossed everything off of my to-do list at work for today.  I took the boys to their makeup class for karate (Andrew) and mommy/me gymnastics (Ryan) due to Labor Day. 

Ryan did an amazing job this week.  It was awesome to observe him watchiing his teacher and then running up to try to do exactly what she did by himself.  He is getting a little more independent.  He was even saying "peasz" and "tank ouh" without prompting.  (We are back to being my precious cutie-pa-tootie!) 

I do feel bad because Andrew was used to Mike and I watching him during his karate, and now that I am taking them by myself and have to be with Ryan, I know he is missing the satisfaction of having a loving eye on his ninja turtle moves.  I had to promise him that I would come and watch him for a little bit next week.  How could I tell those big blue eyes anything but "of course!"

Andrew and I ended the day (or at this point, his day) by watching Cinderella cuddled up in bed with a big bowl of popcorn on our laps (Mike forget you read this!).  Now Andrew is passed out curled up beside me (occasional special treat for a great week is getting to sleep in the BIG bed).

And I am left thinking about my hubby.  I don't know why, but my mind drifted to the great time that we spent in Oceanside, CA at the end of April.  It was a wonderful time just the two of us.  (He is very good about carving time out of our busy lives to get away and spend some quality time together.) 

We spent a perfect afternoon at the San Diego Zoo, walked along the beach, and then the next night took a drive along the coast line on our way to dinner at a great restaurant. 

We also played in the ocean one afternoon.  After emerging our big toes in the ocean water, we were bewildered at first by all the little kids who were splashing about and weren't freezing to death in the sharp chill of the water.  That is a cherished, fun memory.

However, it is the trip to the restuarant that will be the most memorable.  We are crusing along and Mike asks "If we could move tomorrow, where would you prefer to live?  Here or Boston?"  "Well, I do love Boston and its antiquity, history, charm, but I would have to say Oceanside.  People 'get me' here."  As I replied we had stopped at a light and a gentleman (yes, I'll say gentleman) started to cross in front of us.  His hair was dishevled and long, no shirt and he had a surf board tucked under his arm. 

"You would pick here" Mike stated.  "I mean, just look at that guy.  He has never been any where on time in his life."  "That does not mean that you aren't important to him." I say in defense.  "You are very important to him, and he will show up when he promised he would!  He is just running a few minutes behind because he was soaking up life in the moment and he knows how to relax, take it easy and have a little fun..." 

My southern CA peeps enjoying life...

You can imagine what Mike's response to that comment was...  I do believe I won this discussion by pointing out that this laid back, surfer dude's life expectany was going to be at least 10 years longer than all the uptight, on time Boston-lovers!

Mike and I in Boston soaking up a little local color in the shade of green!