Madeline Discovers the Wichita Mts. (and buffalo!)

It has been so nice outside recently that Matt and I thought it would be fun to take Madeline to the Wichita Mountains. That is one of our favorite places to go on a day-adventure and we knew she'd love it too! While we were driving, we saw several buffalo lying in a meadow near the road. We saw MANY types of wildlife on our adventure.....

Here is a Texas Longhorn standing right next to the road. We drove right up to him and took his picture and he never even flinched :) He looks much more intimidating than he was!

We even saw a tarantula crossing the road!! I made Matt stop the car so I could take this picture. I've never seen a tarantula outside of a display (or on the Brady Bunch goes to Hawaii :) So I thought it was pretty cool to see this. They are REALLY big! I really don't like them much.

And of course we stopped so that we could feed the prairie dogs. Madeline really enjoyed this (and so did we!) We forgot to pack any bread or anything for them, so we made do with some of Madeline's Gerber fruit-puffs. The prairie dogs got an apple-strawberry crunchy treat and the really seemed to like them!

Madeline really enjoyed feeding them with her daddy's help. She'd feed them one of her snacks, then she'd eat one, then feed another one. It was very cute!

One even ate from my hand...I was a little nervous, though, b/c I didn't want it to get spooked and bite me or something...I just kept thinking..."I don't want to get a rabies shot!"

Madeline was a natural at climbing the rocks. She wanted out of the pack and wanted to climb on her own. She did great! No falls or bruises...her only injury was from walking into a cactus!

Our day is coming to a close....

And this is how Madeline spent her drive home....

A Walk Through History...

Over the Labor Day Holiday we went with my brother and his family and my dad to the Sam Noble Museum of History in Norman. We really had a lot of fun. There are many interesting exhibits and theories to learn about. Even if you don't believe or agree with everything they are presenting as "fact" it still offers up topics for good conversation. The museum also has a section dedicated to Oklahoma, it's different types of wildlife, environments and history (including Native Americans.) It's definitely worth the $5.00 admission for adults (but since my brother was with us, we got the "military" discount and paid only $4.00! :)

Here we are posing in front of the wild buffalo display.

This fossil was interesting...there was a sign near the display that said this had been stored under Owen Field since the 1930s until recently when the museum was built. It's one of the largest fossils ever found.

Two very fascinated little kids....

The museum had a room with several "hands-on" displays and activities for kids. Madeline and Dylan put on some eye gear, grabbed a shovel and went on a dig to find some fossils :) They really enjoyed this display. The kids area had several different things to touch and feel. It even had a little area for younger kids and Susanna had fun too!

These two are debating on whether or not dinosaurs really did even exist...Mike says no...



Here we are...all of us together....

Mall Fun!!!

My little girl already loves to go to the mall! Especially if her best friend, Libby, is going to be there! (Mommy enjoys going too! :) About once a week we meet up with mommy's friend, Stefanie, and her two kiddos (Libby - 3 years old and Colt - 4 months old). We love to eat at Chick-fil-a and then go to the play area. It is much more fun now that school has started and it's only little kids in the play area! Then, after a good dose of playing, we all go visit our favorite stores (The Children's Place, Baby Gap, Gymboree and The Disney Store) to see if we can find any bargains!



Here are these two crazy girls playing in the little dog house in the play area. Silly girls!



Even Susanna is having fun. She's just now learning to crawl and climb and stand on things so she loves the play area. But, she has to be careful of the bigger kids!