Never Take A Kid Who Is Allergic to Blackberries To A Blackberry Farm

I think the title pretty much sums it up.

Truth be told, I wasn’t really sure he had a blackberry allergy.   This little outing confirmed it, though.   He literally ate his weight in berries, so the welts and rash could have been a constricted wind pipe or swollen tongue (thank goodness that did not happen!).  

Poor dude.   He LOVES fruit, particularly berries, but they do not love him or his bum.

This berry farm is literally down the road from our house, and the kids had the best time picking their own haul.   We will go back, but I will definitely be more cautious and probably carry an epi-pen just to keep us out to of the ER.

Wichita Mountains

Another beautiful wonder of nature close to our home.    They weren’t so much “mountains” like those I was raised upon, but they were gorgeous nonetheless.   We hiked around a lovely lake and enjoyed a Italian style picnic with a blanket and fresh grapes and olives and…..okay, we had Italian subs from Subway.   I did have some fresh fruit I nabbed from the local grocery store, but this was not a wine and cheese kind of day.  Our lunch was the perfect kind of picnic for a family with two kids not wanting to spend too much time eating, and chomping at the bit  to get out and explore.

          

Prairie Dog Town was a hit.   Thousands of little rascals running around an underground city of tunnels, stopping to pop out periodically.   The kids stood in awe watching them for over half an hour.   Then, Seth could stand it no longer, and he jumped the fence and took off running towards the mounds, ready to slip into the rabbit hole and disappear into his wonderland of prairie dogs.   It was funny to watch the creatures all scatter at first, and then stop to watch him in wonder.  It is not often that they get to see a crazed two year old trying to fit down a 2 inch wide hole, I bet.

Yep.   Here he is prejump.   Plotting.  Planning.  Finding the perfect hole……

There was also a neat Bible Town area where they have live  Nativity shows at Christmas.   Very cool.   There was a replica of many of the sites from The Bible.    We threw our nap-needing toddler into the manger and prayed for a baby Jesus sized miracle.  Later, after a 2 hour nap on the drive home, we received that blessing in the form of  the demon that possessed our sweet boy prenap was cast away!   Can I get a Hallelujah???

 

We finished off the day with a scenic drive up to the highest point (crazy to say that about a 3,000 foot peak).  

It actually did seem quite steep and high.   In fact, I joked that the air seemed thin…..

 

Wichita Mountains got two thumbs up.   While I prefer my hometown mountains that stand tall at 10,000 feet, these “mountains” were a great day trip away for an awesome hike and beautiful views.

Oklahoma-It’s not all waving wheat and wind

We are coming up on nearly a year in Oklahoma, which seems so strange.  I literally feel like the moving truck just left our driveway (so do those boxes still in my garage! Yak, yak!).   In one year, we have survived being struck by lightning (both our house and our bodies), earthquakes, a few whirly twirlies (look how I talk like the natives now), a few or ten trips to the ER with our little man, a nasty car accident and broken shoulder, AND countless other adventures.  Now I am excused for absentee blogging, right?   It has been quite an exciting whirlwind (no tornado pun intended) of a year.  

Something that always strikes me as funny, is how surprised people who come to visit us are by how pretty and green Oklahoma looks.    Granted, there are some ugly and flat parts to this state, but our little pocket in Edmond is actually very lovely.   We live out in the rolling hills which is very similar to hill country in Texas……except less mesquite trees and much greener, and less scorpions!   We do actually get a small taste of all seasons, which I LOVE!   I am really digging going out and exploring some of the cool places around us.   Most times, I am also shocked at all Oklahoma has to offer.   Take this, for instance:

This little pocket of wonderful is called Arbuckle Mountains.   We stumbled upon this area while traveling home from Dallas.   We decided to veer off the interstate and explore a pretty area for future outdoor expeditions. Our initial plan was to stay in  car and just scout some places, but once we saw some of the falls, we had to get out and look around.    We can’t wait to go back and actually go hiking up in that area.   It doesn’t hurt that the absolute best (and worst for the arteries) fried pies are just down the road from this place.   My plan is to just fill a a camelbak  with pies and water and head off into those woods like Survivor Man. 

Here was another VERY happy find for me here in Oklahoma:

Bluebonnets!!!!

My heart just fluttered at the sight of these.    We were actually planning a trip to Austin just so I could get my yearly bluebonnet pictures of the kids, but once I spotted this  patch, I was set!   And stoked!

There are more pictures and stories of our Oklahoma adventures to come.  Promise! We have experienced so much in this first year, but we have only touched the tip of iceberg on all there is to offer.  

Happy One Year of McBrayer  Residing  Awesomeness, Oklahoma!

Picture Distraction

Listen.   I will address the whole lack of blogging thing later.   For now, I am just going to pull a little number I use often around here when the questions get a kind of hairy.   Distraction.

Mommy, I understand the baby grows in the mom’s belly, but how did it get in there?

Is that the ice cream truck I hear?   Distraction.

Mom, my friend Lila told me she has two dads, but no moms.   Who grew the baby in their belly?

I recorded your favorite show, wanna watch it now?   Distraction.

Mommy, can I wear this brawl (bra)?   That one came from Seth, by the way.

I am going to water the plants outside.  I know you love to soak yourself.  Let’s go.  Distraction.

So, why have I been absent from blogging???

Oh, look!   Pretty pictures from a trip to Dallas!   Look at those adorable kids!

Dallas World Aquarium

We love going to this place anytime we are in the Dallas area.   It is not just your usual aquarium setting, it also houses several exotic animals, and the rainforest trail is super cool.  

 

 

This shark dive bombing Kaelan was all fun and games until he really started banging the glass.    I really think he wanted to taste my child.   You can see the game was over for Kaelan after a few hard whacks.   We pretty much cleared the shark tunnel by freaking out all the other visitors.  We also chose to get going and not test that reinforced glass.

Like I said, all fun and games until someone gets eaten by a shark in a freak tank shattering incident.

I am guessing word of my savory child passed quickly through the aquarium, because this jaguar woke from his nap and made his way over to the glass to stalk Kaelan.  

Seth got to visit his favorite tall pink birds, the flamingos.

We hit the Rainforest Café (duh) for lunch, where coincidently, my boy who tried many times to hurl himself into the alligator pit  and piranha tank at the aquarium, was deathly afraid of the robotic animals in the restaurant.  Go figure.

 

Rangers Game

If we are in a town during ball season that has a pro team, chances are we will be attending a game.   Doug is well on his way to meeting  his goal of seeing  ALL the parks in ten years, so we plan to hit the east coast parks next year.  Yes, we have seen Rangers Ballpark a bazillion times, and yes, we are NOT big Ranger fans, but when in Ft. Worth……

Pregame, I decided to let the kids run their wiggles and jiggles out on the front lawn of the stadium.   They had a blast, but I found they still snuck some wiggles and  jiggles into the game in their pockets.  

 

 

 

 

This is a sweet moment.   They were telling each other endearing little secrets behind Seth’s hat.

Actually,  I think they were plotting who was going to beg for what treat in the park.

Seth you cry for funnel cake and snow cones, and I will whine for frozen lemonade and cotton candy. 

Got it?

 

 

We never make it through a full 9 innings in our seats, so long about the 3rd inning, we ventured out to hit the kid area. The kids and I spent most of the remainder of the game in there (minus our trips our for cotton candy, funnel cakes and snow cones….they won) while dad went out to catch some of the game. Couldn’t tell you what the score was. Can’t even remember who the Rangers played, but we had fun and dad got baseball fix, so it was all good.