Spring Break in OKC

For the second half of Spring Break we took a road trip to Oklahoma City. We just stayed the one night before heading down to Dallas to celebrate the kids' birthdays with grandparents. It was very much a that's good/that's bad trip, and in the end I still don't know if we came out on top, or wish we'd never gone. 

Highs: we found a fun urban garden downtown, near the basketball arena, our first night there. It had paths and fountains and a children's play area. We also were able to visit the Science Museum on our ASTC pass, which is hands down one of the coolest ones we've ever been too. The kids had been looking forward to a return trip ever since we first went back in 2019.

Lows: Davey was sick on our drive out. He threw up once in the car into a bag and once in a dumpster as we drove through Shamrock, TX, a funny little town I'll probably never have reason to visit again. He spent our first day in a stupor. During the night Davey bounced back, but Griffin went down. He never threw up, but was the most feverish, miserable little guy our the whole next day at the museum. The traffic from OKC to Dallas was also awful once we wrapped up our little trip. We ended up detouring several times for construction or other random backups. Finally, our AirBnB host also left us bad reviews. First for not locking up properly, even though there were no instructions on how to set the alarm. There was a full instruction sheet for getting in, but nothing for leaving. Second, for bringing an extra guest. They were upset we had 6 instead of the listed 5. But I never reported Griffin because the terms only asked for guests over the age of 2 and he was still 1 and slept in a pack n play, which we brought from home. Third, for leaving dirty coffee cups, which is ridiculous because we of course didn't make coffee. We didn't use any dishes as our dinner was from KFC and our breakfast was donuts. Oh well. Can you tell I was bitter about it?

Happy faces at our Air BnB before we had negative feelings towards the host

Exploring the Myriad Botanical Gardens, pretty even in winter

Poor sick Davey just took it all in from a bench

Griffin went down and ended up spending the night on the couch with me

Ready for a fun day at the Science Museum!

We rode these Segways during our last trip and were so glad to see the course was still there! 

Miserable Griffin, and Davey got to keep the balloon from the science demonstration

Water and erosion

Climbing wall at the fitness exhibit

The shooting gallery

And this had to be documented because it was Griffin's first ever time INSIDE a Chick fil A! They had been closed for covid his entire life. We ate here for lunch and, even though feeling lowsy, he loved it!

Spring Break 2019 - Oklahoma Zoo

On our second day in Oklahoma we took the kids to the zoo. Our visit was two days before Davey turned 3 so we didn't have to pay admission for him (so sad those days are ending - these trips are going to start getting more expensive the older our family gets). The zoo was nice, big, and most of the animals were out and active, trying to soak up the sun. We were able to see everything on our hit list, except giraffes, which made for happy kids. It was a fun day!

I packed hats and gloves for the kids in case it was chilly, but it turned out to be even colder than expected. Luckily it was nothing a few layers couldn't fix, and we were able to keep everyone warm by putting pajamas either over or under their clothes for a little extra warmth.  

The herpetarium was the first stop for my reptile lover!

We showed the kids a map and asked them which animal they wanted to see the most. Sophie chose the reptiles, and Davey picked a white crane (???) We are still not sure why he chose a crane, but we made sure to track one down and take a photo. 

We stopped for a snack break by some sort of weasel creature that was fun to watch. 

Making friends with an orangutan 

Getting a break from the stroller with mom

Charlie loved these otters

And of course the kids loved the animal statues, maybe as much as the real animals. We had to stop and take a picture on every single one. This is just a few of the many that we took. 

Tired zoo crew at the end of the day. They were troopers and did awesome during our four hour adventure.

We had promised the kids a ride on the carousel at the end of the day, only to find it was closed. So instead we each gave them a few dollars to pick out a souvenir from the gift shop. Davey picked a crocodile that he named "Herbie" and Sophie chose a flip sequin snake. 

Oklahoma Zoo Video Clips

Spring Break 2019 - Oklahoma Science Museum

We had only two days in OKC, and our first activity was the Science Museum. I had heard really great things about it from friends and we were able to visit for free with our museum pass! The place was huge and did not disappoint! There were so many different hands-on activities to try for both kids and adults. We were there for almost 5 hours, but could have easily spent two days there playing. The only let down from the whole day was the planetarium show, which we ended up leaving part way through. We will have to come back again for another visit!

They had a Segway course you could try for free! Sophie, Davey, and I each took a turn and it was really fun. I would like to try a Segway tour sometime. 

Shadow wall, and our only family photo from the day

There was a glow, mirror maze that was actually pretty tricky. Davey kept running into walls trying to figure out where to walk. 

Chomp, chomp!

Making a tall tower with daddy's help

Piloting a mars robot

Sophie and I doing some climbing

Bed of nails!!

Tightrope conga line

Video clips from our visit

Spring Break 2019 - Oklahoma Here We Come!

The drive from Amarillo to Oklahoma City takes 4 hours. I took the kids to the trampoline park in the morning to burn off energy, and then we hit the road right after lunch. The day of our drive was EXTREMELY windy. The news reports later called it a "land hurricane." Amarillo saw sustained winds of 60+ mph, with gusts up to 84 mph - yikes!!

Back home power lines, trees, light poles, signs and fences all went down. We had people in our ward who lost power for a couple days, and I had several friends lose their trampolines (luckily there was no damage at our house). There were several reports of overturned semis, and we saw a pickup towing a trailer get flipped on our drive. Dave said his arms got tired trying to keep the van straight and it made me nervous every time we had to pass a semi, but we made it!

The drive along I-40 is pretty boring, but there were two fun landmarks that we passed - a giant cross and the "Leaning Tower of Texas."  

I was able to find a great deal on a two-bedroom condo through Groupon for our stay. It was perfect for our family, and also came with a free breakfast and dinner buffet! The swimming pool was unfortunately closed during our stay, but we were pretty busy with other activities and didn't really miss it. Look up Isola Bella if you ever need a place to stay in OKC!

We had a full kitchen and eating area

The kids bedroom (the chairs are there to keep Davey from rolling off the bed)

Our bedroom

The laundry closet had enough room for a pack-n-play for Charlie

The living area - out balcony looked out over a duck pond, which was super fun for the kids. 

The entire trip Davey kept telling us he wanted to go to Oklahoma, even though we were already there. We kept telling him "this is Oklahoma - you're here!" but he didn't seem to get it.

The first night there was some contention at bedtime and we ended up putting Sophie in our bed and transferring her back after Davey was asleep, but the second night everyone slept just fine.