Oklahoma- A Mini Series- Part 3

Adventures at Woolaroc

We took a trip with Mike and Sara's family to Woolaroc.  Woolaroc is a museum and wild life preserve in Bartlesville.  We picked a good day to go because when we got there the staff told us it was the first time in weeks the buffalo had been seen.  You drive through the wildlife preserve in your car and good thing because some of those buffalo were close enough to touch!

We also saw a few other animals including an emu, deer and a Texas longhorn.

After the wildlife preserve we hit up the theater to watch a video that Brian and Mike said had been the same video that was playing there when they were kids.  I can't really say it was that interesting.  In fact the only part I liked was the dancing Indian.

On our way to the petting zoo we stopped for a few minutes to play at the playground.  The kids really enjoyed that!

I love these faces!  I really wish we could see them more then once a year.
Brian and I also got in on a little of the action.

We tried to get Mike to get a picture on the deer also, but he turned us down and said "the best we were going to get was him leaning up against the wagon wheel"  And that's exactly what we got!

Once we got to the petting zoo all I could think about was how much it stunk in there.  And how I would hate to have the job of sitting in there all day.  But the kids loved it so that's all that matters.

It was a fun day out with family!

Oklahoma- A Mini Series- Part 2

At the end of July we took a vacation to Oklahoma. It was wonderful. I thought that i was Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz. I went on the yellow brick road and found a muffin. I love bluebarry muffins because you can count how many bluebarries are in each one. Sometimes I count how many times I can say the word catfish. I like to eat catfish cause they swim in water and have great personalities. Sometimes they sleep. I love to sleep. Sleeping is fun because you need it to survive. There was a name of a song that talks about I will survive. This was my trip to oklahoma.

Oklahoma- A Mini Series- Part 1

This last week we took our annual trip to Oklahoma.  We started out by taking a day trip to Oklahoma City.  We visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.  I was fascinated by the all the information and I could have stopped to read everything they had at the museum.  But Brian got bored after about an hour so I was rushed through most of it.  It was sad to hear the individual stories of those who were involved.  Most of the people who died, died because of the injuries through the shrapnel and flying glass or falling through the floor several storeys.

Here are the chairs that represent each of the people that died in the bombing.  It is especially heartbreaking to see the little chairs that represent the children that died.

This picture is of Brian with the Survivor Tree.  This tree should have been destroyed in the blast, but it survived.  Hence the name- Survivor Tree!  It was pretty ugly looking after the bombing but has now grown back some of its branches and looks beautiful.

I could go on and on about all of the interesting stuff I learned at the museum but for all 3 of you who read this blog I will refrain from writing a small novel.

Next stop in OKC was Bricktown and the water taxi tour. 

We both really enjoyed the tour as it had alot of interesting information.  Again, will try not to bore you with too much detail and just highlight a few fun facts!

For this mural 70,000 tiles were individually hand painted.  So as you can imagine it took quite a bit of time to complete!

These bronze statues represent the Oklahoma land run.  Once they get all the statues it will be the largest bronze statue collection in the world.  The OKC population went from 0-10,000 over night thanks to this land run.  The man who made these statues mad a tribute to himself by making a replica of himself driving the horse carriage below.  The other people in the 2nd picture on the horses are those of his family. 

Last but not least on our list of things to do in OKC was the segway tour!  As soon as the segways were brought out I was immediately nervous.  I didn't think about it before hand but it looked as if riding segways require balance- something I lack greatly.  It is the reason I don't rollerskate, iceskate and sometimes have trouble walking.  Brian got the hang of it instantly, which just made me feel more retarded during the training session.  As soon as our guide thought I was good enough to start the tour we were on our way.  It was supposed to be a tour of the downtown area but I have to admit I didn't hear much of what he was saying because I was so far behind him and Brian.  The next two hours consisted of the guide yelling back at me "Are you ok back there?"  "Still doing ok?"  "Are you still with us?" "Can you hear me all the way back there?"  Brian had a chance to hear it all but when I asked him after the tour what he learned he couldn't remember anything.  He looked like he was having a blast on the segway weaving and zipping around every which way and he was  so good the guide felt comfortable enough putting him of the faster speed.  He was born to segway!

End of Day 1 in Oklahoma City!

Angie's Easter Plant Redux

For those of you who didn't see Brian's orginal post here is my Easter Plant the day I got it.

Here it is a few short months later.

This is why I should not own plants.  I have never been good with them.  Maybe Brian had a right to be concerned about how much water it was getting.  I am hoping to get a 4th of July plant to try again.  I'm thinking of starting with something low matience that doesn't need a lot of water.  Like a cactus.

Anniversary

Of course we started our anniversary by going to our favorite restaurant Texas Roadhouse.  We always overeat there because we are stuffed before we even get our meals because their rolls are so good.  And this time was no exception.  Here we are pre-stuffed.

 (I have been terrible at taking pictures to document our lives since we have been married.  That is something I have been trying to work on.  So lucky readers you get the pleasure of viewing several boring pictures of us waiting for stuff.  Something for you to look forward to!)

For the past few years I have really wanted to take the Venice on the Cherry Creek tour here in Denver.  This year for our anniversary we finally did it!

It was a little different then I expected because it is basically ran by highschoolers.  They are called River Rangers and they teach elementary school students about the environment during the day and run the Venice on the Creek on Friday and Saturday nights.

Us before we boarded our gondola.  I posed first and then Brian imitated my pose.

We learned lots of interesting things about the history of Denver on the tour.  People first came to settle Denver because they believed there was gold to be mined in the Cherry Creek.  Turns out there wasn't much to be mined- but two settlements had already been made, one on either side of the creek.  Because the two settlements were competing the first newspaper of the area actually made the newspaper under the bridge of the creek as not to upset either settlement and alienate one side.  Eventually the two sides merged and that's when it was named Denver.

Also- to those who have not been to down town Denver, it is set up kind of funny.  Some of the roads run diagonally etc.  Well I found out that is because they made the roads to fun parallel to the creek.  And since the creek doesn't just run in one strait line neither do the roads.

Here are a few random pictures of our ride:

In this picture you can see that the creek ahead is raised.  It is kind of interesting how they get us up to the next level.  They put us in what they call a lock.

Once in the lock they start to pour the water in so it raises the boat up.  This is us in the lock waiting to be raised to the top.
The funniest thing about this experience is how many bystanders stop and stare. While in this lock we gathered an audience on the bridge above.  The gate to get  us out of the lock is really heavy so once the River Ranger got us out he got a standing ovation by the bridge crowd.  Also everyone we passed that were also taking gondola rides felt the need to waive at us as we passed each other.  I guess we are automatically friends.  There was a gondola full of smaller children that our guide actually crashed into as they were waiting to get into the lock and they all wanted to give us high fives.  As we were close enough to touch them we obliged.

Our Guide

Happy 4 years Brian!

Awards we get

There are several types of awards we get throughtout life. Some of the seem to really mean something while others we are stuck looking at ourselves and saying really?? I can think of a couple of awards that I have got over the years. When I was a young one, I got a second place trophy for a baseball team that I was on. It was red and quite tall. I was proud of that one and put it on my shelf. Jeff or Craig must have got jealous since I came home one day and it was on the floor broken. I don't think either of them ever confessed. I also received many soccer trophies, but they didn't seem to mean much. Getting trophies for last place never quite does the job. In 8th grade my photo appeared in the yearbook for being the most talented boy in the school. I was kinda embarrassed since I thought most talented in my mind meant most  dorky. Why couldn't I get the award for most popular or best dressed? Those were the cool awards. I guess my 3 tshirts that I always wore and my two pair of tight jeans disqualified me from the best dressed award and I guess you have to talk to girls more to get most popular. I guess I was a little shy sometimes. I also remember that I got an award for the boy scout pine wood derby race. It wasn't for first place or coolest car. I think it was for the most unique or special car. I guess some awards in life are given to those who make a great accomplishment and some are just given to try to make others feel good.

Groupon

I recently discovered Groupon. I thought it was a pretty cool website until they gave my wife 20 free dollars to spend and I got nothing. They must know that girls say " look at this great deal" and guys say " do you really need that".