I Can Wait To Get On The Road Again

I just returned from a great trip to Oklahoma to see my sister. I was able to spend 3 days with her and her family before we loaded up in the car to head back to Utah. It was great being able to spend time with her and the kids. We got to do a lot of fun things! On our first day we went to Leonardo's, which is a children's museum/playplace and we were able to pretend like we were in space. We also got to sit in the cockpit of a jet and fly! Jack loved this part, probably because that is what his dad does. Elli was mostly a fan of the helmets.
The next day we packed up the car and a picnic and headed to the Oklahoma City Zoo. It was a very spread out place and I think I sweat off about 3 lbs just walking around. Jack ate all his peanut butter sandwich for lunch and was rewarded with a train ride. He needed an adult to join him so I also got to ride the train. It was a small track and we probably went around about 35 times, but we had a great time. We could ring the bell anytime we wanted because we sat in the front car. Jack yelled out "All Aboard" before we started and it was really cute. He LOVES trains. Later that night we also rode another train at a park in Enid that was deluxe. My experience with trains has been greatly expanded in a short period of time.

Miss Elli really isn't into trains, but she is into turtles. She really enjoyed looking at these giant turtles and just kept pointing and saying "Tur-tull". She threw a fit when we left, but it didn't last too long because she was also fascinated with bats, anything that looked even remotely like a dog (bears, rhinos, wolves, you name it) or any kind of fish.
Next, we headed to downtown Oklahoma City to see the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building Memorial site. It was a neat place to visit and it was a very beautiful memorial. On a side note, Oklahoma can be very warm and moist and there are some luxuriously air conditioned bathrooms next to the museum. I wanted to sit in the bathroom for like an hour, but alas the sweating continued. The next day of our trip we didn't take any pictures. We laid around in our PJ's until 11am and then we made a donut run to Winchell's. It is probably for the best that we don't have these establishments near my home. Delicious!

We loaded up and headed out on Saturday morning. The first day was fairly uneventful. We did make some fun stops, one of which was at McDonalds (my favorite place!) where we let the kids work out some energy in the play area.

Then, we stopped at Prairie Dog Land, which is located in Oakley, Kansas - home of the world's largest prairie dog!! Below is a picture of Jack, Elli, and I in front of said prairie dog. I have wanted to do a road trip with Kelly and travel around to a bunch of "the world's largest" attractions - this stop has made me have second thoughts about such a trip.

Prairie dog land was basically a big area of dirt that was covered with prairie dog holes and the little "diggy doggies", as Elli calls them, would pop in and out of the holes ("prairie doggin' it"). There was also a "zoo" with goats, pigs, turkeys, chickens, coyotes, buffalo, bunnies, a miniature donkey, and some of the scariest cows I have ever seen.
This is not the best picture, but this cow has 6 legs. The cow never stood up, but it did roll and move around and it looked like it was pooping out a calf. There were 2 small legs and what looked like a partial torso coming out of its butt. It was sick. There were 2 more of these freak shows, but they were less disgusting than the brown one.
Needless to say, I almost ralphed. The cows were the last thing we saw and I was thinking that is was a good break from riding in the car, until I saw the cows. Oh, I forgot to mention that we were allowed to feed any or all of the animals with milkbones. Very weird. All I can say is that if I don't make it back to Kansas, I won't feel too bad about it.

The next day we drove all day and we had some melt downs, both from children and adults. We finally made it to Grandma's house at about 7 that night. I almost cried when I had to get back into the car to drive to my house later that night. It was a great trip and we had tons of fun. I also learned that the 30 cents I spent on tootsie pops at the gas station was the best money I have spent in a long time. There aren't too many things that suckers can't fix!