PHOTOSTORY FRIDAY: FALL FUN AND PAIN AT THE ZOO

Hosted by Cecily and Kelli   Last week the kids were out of school for three days.  Besides pumpkin painting....that's a whole other story.....we went to the zoo with my friend Tammy and her son John plus I also took Avani and Addison along. 
Am I crazy?

I believe so after this!

 Of course, I took plenty pictures of animals but I got some really good kid shots then I played on Picnik so that is what you are going to get!! 

 
 
 
 Except for this cute little guy....I didn't play with this picture but I like this picture because he kept checking me out through the corner of his eye as if to say, "Are you lookin' at me?"
 
 
 
 Our usual "Monkey see, monkey do!" picture at the zoo.  I don't know why I always take so many of these or why I love them so but I just do!
 Sweet little Addison!  I love this picture!  It appears that she is looking at something but I think she was getting bored since we stayed by the otters for awhile!  Then after I shot this she did......

What a beautiful two teeth smile!!I swear her eyes just light up!
 Then came the funniest part of the day.  The kids were looking through the children's petting zoo when Tammy and I said, "Oh kids look over here!  You will have to look really hard for this one!"  They looked, searched and pointed out non-existent animals when they asked what exactly they were looking for to which John reads the sign beside them, "It is a temporarily vacant!"  They didn't have a clue what that meant so they kept looking while Tammy & I snapped pictures and laughed!!

Then came the traumatic portion of the trip!  The zoo was full of bees.  By full I mean they were overtaking the place!  Everywhere you walked there were bees especially if you walked near a patch of flowers or a trash can.  They would just land on us like they were welcome.  This made me extrememly nervous since Avani is allergic and we forgot her epipen and by we I mean her mother!  I could see it now either her struggling to breath or a scene out of Pure Luck with Martin Short but only Avani's face swelling like a balloon.  I took lunches and sat down at a table without bees swarming around......or so I thought.  I get the kids all arranged then sit down to feed Addy when I hear screams.  Then Isaiah screamed like I don't think I've ever heard him scream.
 Picture this:  Isaiah screaming while Avani, John and Elijah scream and run in all different directions.  I am trying to figure out what just happened and Addison with the rest of the zoo guests look at us like we have totally lost our minds!  All of this while Tammy is inside buying food for her and John.
 I figure out a bee stung Isaiah on his ear!  Poor kid and those ears!  I try my best to calm and organize with absolutely NO luck!  Bees still swarming, kids still screaming, Isaiah wailing, Addy and the zoo guests are still looking at me like we've lost our minds.  At this point, I think I did!  I scream at the kids to get their food and go inside while grabbing a screaming Zay and trying to push Addy in the stroller. 
 Did anyone ask me if I needed help? 
 NO!Nope not one single heartless person!  Jerks!Let's see you be calm with 3 scared kids, 1 wailing in pain and 1 in a stroller still looking at us like we are nuts.....five count them FIVE KIDS and one me!  I was totally outnumbered and should really think of this BEFORE an outing!  I WILL REMEMBER THIS....SURE HOPE YOU HEARTLESS JERKS DON'T GET STUNG TOO BECAUSE I AM TAKING THE LAST TWO TABLES INDOORS!
 Finally once inside a worker asks me about the commotion and calls security and medical over to check on the bee sting boy!  He cried and cried and just when I thought he would be ok he would let out a scream then cry some more!  I seriously wondered if he would even let me put him down long enough to get to the car if needed.  Finally after 30-45 minutes, we coaxed him back outside with...."When a bee stings you, it dies.  All the other bees see this and will never sting you while you are here because they don't want to die too!"  Total crap but it worked!   "Please Lord, don't let him get stung again or I will never hear the end of it!"  Yep I prayed right after lying to my son!
 He wore a light jacket with a hood and let me tell you this.....that kid wore the hood the entire rest of our trip at the zoo and held it with his hands so NO bees could get in!  I didn't tell him they don't always sting ears and could very well just stink him in the face because remember "all the other bees aren't going to sting him"!  Just when I thought he was over it and would let go of the hood.....he would grab it again 2 seconds later....poor guy!  Still cute though....
 
 Don't you think so?If you don't, then don't answer!!
 Finally time for pics with the turtle....
 The boys were a little uncooperative but Avani my little model posed and posed..and of course I played around on Picnik again....
 They even have a "Go pink!" effect for Breast Cancer Awareness month! 
Cute!
We had a good time and the weather was absolutely PERFECT! 
Hosted by Cecily and Kelli

A THOUSAND WORDS THURSDAY

What happens when you go to the zoo in the spring?

WAIT

First to totally understand this post, you must read #1 of THIS POST .

Go ahead I'll wait while you go read!

WAITING

WAITING

Now Sunday we took the boys to the zoo where this occurred

Mating season is in full swing at the black bear exhibit in the Tulsa Zoo.

Isaiah said, "Wook Mommy the bears are fighting!"

Elijah says, "Nooooo Isaiah they are just lazy like my ladybugs and that one needs a piggy back ride!"

My thoughts exactly!!

They just would not stop and we moved on as many adult onlookers covered the eyes of their children who didn't even realize what was happening. So we go into another building. When you come out of the building, you end up walking passed the other side of the black bear cage. Needless to say like most males this black bear was NOT giving up and now they were only a few feet from us.

Elijah says, "Look Mom that bear is still trying to ride the other bear! That is one really lazy bear!"

Yep! Now moving on.....

WORDFUL WEDNESDAY ~ MOTHER'S DAY

My Grandmother, two Uncles and my Aunt were supposed to come from Missouri on Saturday for a big Mother's Day celebration with my entire family plus my Uncle and cousins who live here. However, we received a call Thursday morning that changed the plans. A bad storm hit their town and on the way back from the shelter the wind blew into my Grandmother's umbrella and threw her to the ground breaking her pelvic bone. We went ahead with the Saturday plans for all of us here then my parents and Uncle drove there Sunday morning to visit my Grandmother in the hospital. Pray she recovers quickly!

Sunday was a GREAT day!

The boys and Martez bought me flowers and a pretty cake (more about the "top secret" cake ordeal in another post). Then we got ready and went to the zoo. The weather was PERFECT! The best weather for a visit to the zoo.....much better than summer weather. It sprinkled a bit but we just went into the buildings. Weird for Oklahoma in May but it was actually chilly. Fine by me! We had a great time then went to eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant where the unusual bad service didn't even damper my day!

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A THOUSAND WORDS THURSDAY

JUNE '08 ~ Some people only take "look at the camera and smile" pictures but some of my most favorite pictures are of children staring off in wonder with no clue you are taking a picture. This sweet, handsome, playful boy turns 7 today and I am saddened with each day that he is one step closer to not being my little boy. I still call him "baby" and he is fine with that as long as it is only ME calling him baby. I told him he will always be my baby! Wow how time flies! (I will write more about all that later in a separate post!)

This picture was taken at the OKC Zoo in June of last year. Elijah loves all things dealing with nature. He loves to learn about wildlife and spends plenty of time watching Animal Planet, National Geographic and TLC. His favorites are gorillas, cheetahs and rhinos but he loves all animals. He was in awe just starring at this big 'ol male gorilla while I took pictures and wondered if the gorilla could break through the glass separating him from my little boy. In the beginning, the gorilla was SO close to the glass and sat SO still that he almost looked fake but rest assured he was real (imagine that - in a zoo!). He sat there quite awhile until the gorilla suddenly moved and scared the crap out of me!

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ROAD TRIP TO OKC

After discussing the cancellation of our Branson trip and the whole MIL situation my friend Shandolynne said well lets just go to Dallas or KC this weekend instead. I said, "Well if we went to Dallas I would want to stay longer than a day and a half and what are we going to do OKC?" Of course she named off several things and at this point it didn't even matter where we went as long as we just went somewhere, anywhere to get away from our busy lives even if only for a day or two. Martez said, "lets go!" Off to planning I went BUT we had one little hitch......the fence that fell the weekend before HAD to be fixed before we could leave town so the dogs wouldn't get lost! We fixed the fence the night before we left. It took much longer than we had anticipated because it rained and rained and then you guessed it....it rained on us off and on the entire time we were fixing or maybe I should say attempting to fix it until we get a NEW fence. I was standing in mud over my ankles and my flip flops (YES I was wearing flip flops!) kept getting stuck in the mud. I wasn't about to get my pretty tennis shoes all muddy! Did we give up? NO! We obviously REALLY wanted to go out of town! Of course we then find out that his Grandmother who I just adore was having a birthday party the next day (heaven forbid they invite us ANYWHERE with more than 24 hr notice) and Martez said, "we need to get away so we are only going to one event.....the birthday party or the family reunion?" I said, "You make the decision I don't care either way but we either go to OKC this weekend or Branson next weekend. I NEED to get away and I am tired of rescheduling everything b/c your family always invites us at the VERY last minute!" He decided to call and talk to his Grandma who said, "she'd rather us go to the family reunion and just bring her a nice present there!" lol Yeah for Willie Mae! Then I make a dumb comment to Shandolynne about our early departure Saturday morning something to this effect............"Are we going to be able to get up in the morning and by "WE" I mean "YOU"? We laughed b/c well neither one of us could be described as punctual esp. her!!! hehe! Love you Shan! Bad comment on my part b/c she arrived at our house ready to go and we weren't even awake yet! Oops! Can I say open mouth, insert foot!! We got off a little later than planned but who cares b/c WE WERE OFF! So we are driving along and who calls but my MIL all "hurt and offended" that we weren't going to his Grandmother's birthday party THEN she has the balls to talk about my family AGAIN and how we "always" do stuff with my family and never attend their family gatherings. He then asks her to name a family gathering THAT WE WERE INVITED TO and did NOT attend and of course she couldn't name one! He told her it had nothing to do with my family and they weren't even involved in this and half the time his own family doesn't invite him to stuff and when they do it is always at the very last minute and he didn't want to be around a bunch of fake people anyway! Woohoo! He explains that we just need to get away for a few days and do something fun. She then says she didn't feel comfortable at Isaiah's birthday party and basically my family is stuck up! (You have got to be kidding me! Shoot the horse!) He got ticked and said she had no reason to feel that way b/c they try to talk to her but she just secludes herself and she had no reason to be hurt b/c it was GRANDMA's birthday party and he had already asked her about it and she was fine! Needless to say he ended the conversation and was not in a good mood which apparently turn his foot into lead and well........................

First of all I must say you could drive a truck between the officer's two front teeth! Not kidding! We'd never seen anything like it! That was beyond gap it was like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon in his mouth! Second of all when my husband gets nervous and all police officers make him nervous, he gets a severe case of diarrhea of the mouth. He proceeded to argue with the cop over the acceptable amount of speeding! He kept saying, "well how fast can I go?" The highway patrolman said, "the speed LIMIT is 75." Martez would ask again, "yes but how fast can I go?" They went back and forth and I was saying, "Dear stop please!" He would then say, "but how fast can I go?" I was like HELLO the speed LIMIT is 75 quit asking how fast can I go?!?!?!?! Good grief what part of speed LIMIT don't you understand! He then said, "I thought I could go 5 over the limit and not get a ticket." The officer said, "WELL you were going 8 over and I can give a ticket to anyone going at least one mile OVER 75 mph! Do you really want to argue about this?" This entire time I am listening and secretly panicking BECAUSE I forgot to put the new insurance verification in the car! Crap! I had just got my tags about a month before and I had put the second verification into my purse which would've been fine IF I hadn't switched purses to come on this trip! I gave him the old verification promising over my husband's angry mumbling that we really were insured I just didn't put the new verification in the car after I got my new tags! This whole time the kids are saying, "hi officer!" and he is saying "hi guys!" The patrolman returns to his car and we all sit talking about the officer's teeth and fingernails trying to keep Martez calm which didn't work too well! I kept saying well the insurance ticket can be dismissed after we get home and send in the right verification! The officer returns and tells Martez to slow down, explains the LIMIT situation again and to get the 5 mph over thought out of his head............THEN proceeds to give him a freaking warning! YES BUT are you kidding me! No tickets for speeding or no insurance! I thought for sure with all the arguing, this pit stop in our trip was not going to end nicely but I guess our children's looks and great personalities wiled the patrolmen and he went soft and gave us a break! Thank you Elijah, Isaiah and Quinlynne!



FINALLY we arrive and went to see the Oklahoma Capitol and of course took some pictures!

NEXT was the Omniplex - Oklahoma Science Museum! I must say I loved the Omniplex!!!! Totally hands on learning for children of all ages including 32 yr old kids! We went to the Planetarium where Martez fell asleep and started snoring several times, the little kids play area, the giant tree house exhibit, weather exhibits, dinosaurs, space, rock walls, sound, electricity, energy, puzzles, gymnastics museum......................you name it..they have it and we ALL loved it!!! EVERYONE should take there! Another plus is it really isn't expensive either.....I think it was just $10 or maybe $13 dollars for everything and the little kids were free! Who doesn't love free! Don't we all cringe a little when our wee ones pass the free stage! Ha!

He's got the whole world in his hands!

What a smile!

The Planetarium was not as exciting as we thought!

Shandolynne loves a nice John Deere!

Shandolynne loves the different earthquake wave demonstrators but this one is WAY more "EXCITING" than the others! I think it's at the "focal point"!

Somebody find my girl a man, please!!

AKA A sleeping child will remain sleeping until awakened by another loud child!

Never wake a sleeping child!

A child running in my house will stop once they are stopped by an unbalanced force which would be MOM!!

Now time for some more fun at the gymnastics museum:

That night we went to eat, took the kids swimming at the hotel then me and Shan left the kids with Martez and went for our usual trips to Sonic (I think she is addicted to Sonic! No Seriously!) and Wal-mart. We get back and the kids are asleep.....woohoo Baby! He is so good!

Now that is just too cute!

Next morning off to breakfast at Crackerbarrel which I must say was a VERY long wait and then the service was terrible!!!! Off to the OKC Zoo.............where we got to see the elephants with the trainers. I think I was more excited than anyone b/c I LOVE elephants. They are so cute and HUGE!! You know I took pics right?!?!?

This girl needs some serious "support"!!

True case of "Monkey see, Monkey do"!

Feeding the ducks and fish

Elijah loves the gorillas, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes.......................I don't know if there is an animal he doesn't love! Among the 50 professions Elijah has in mind for his future, Zookeeper is one he actually stuck with for a long time along with a trainer at Sea World and to be the next Steve Irwin!!

I love this picture! True admiration!

He said, "Mommy take a picture so it looks like I am IN the aquarium!"

I said, "Okay but don't forget to hold your breathe."

He's too funny!



We left hot and tired and came home! Not a long trip but fun and very needed! Thanks Shan! I realized after getting home and looking on the internet that we missed a whole entire side of the zoo ................................ guess we have a reason to go back now. How we missed it I don't know but we had fun regardless!