Pilot [wife] in training: Ringing in 2012: Bricktown adventure

For NYE we traveled to OKC for the day to have some fun with the kids, repair Matt’s guitar, and pick up some crab for New Year’s dinner the next evening. It was great returning to our old stomping grounds and we had a fun-filled day of lunch with friends, botanical and children’s gardens in Bricktown, and a trip to the mall. What seems like such a busy day now was a fairly normal weekend for us back in the day. It is sooo nice to be more laid back now and to see the kids better able to enjoy time at home and with the family as opposed to always having something scheduled or official to do. When Matt and I first met (in northern Japan), we never really took advantage of the travel and cultural opportunities our surroundings offered us. I don’t think we really started maximizing our surroundings until about 1/2way through our tour at Travis AFB, where our oldest daughter was born. Now I have the tendency to want to experience everything everywhere we go (a pursuit that makes our moves so much easier and more exciting), but something has to be said for pacing ourselves. Particularly with Matt’s schedule nowadays and with me working, we have become more homebodies, but I am still hoping to get in a weekend in Tulsa and in Wichita before our tour here is up. Also high on my list: Hot Springs, Arkansas. This was supposed to be a major highlight of our road trip move from TN to OK back in 2009, but most of the fun was cut out of that trip when our car broke down 3 hours into it.

Now that that tangent is out of the way, here are some highlights of our weekend OKC trip:

Since our last trip to the Myriad Botanical Gardens, a gorgeous and exercise-friendly children’s garden was added. Much more fun, creative, and educational than the standard playground—and we probably spent a good 90 minutes playing there. It was also great to see that there since normally we spend a lot longer in the Botanical Gardens crystal walk around this time of year—as in the past it has been decorated to look like a storybook wonderland. This year, the decorations were limited to lights and some attractions around the exits (a sleigh for posing for pix, etc.)--however, it was still gorgeous--and the children’s garden more than made up for it in terms of activity level for the kids!

Botanical Gardens:

Children's Garden:

Picked up these cute shoes from the Disney store. My youngest loooves princess-style shoes that are durable and comfortable enough for regular wear. These were on clearance, but one size too big (plus the slip-ons never stay put on her chubby little toes). We went ahead and bought them. When I got home, I took pink Velcro straps off of one of her old pairs of sneakers and sewed them onto these. Now they fit and stay on like a charm…although now I think I like them even more than she does, lol.

New Year’s dinner surf ‘n turf spread:

We did a second trip to OKC this Monday (just me and the girls) for their best bud’s 5^th birthday party—at Chuck E Cheese! What a blast! We hadn’t been to this particular Chuck’s in about years and they had a lot of great new attractions (like a carousel-themed rocking horse ride that both girls adored).