Here it goes....keeping my promise of getting caught up. Will take at least two posts to cover our trip to Oklahoma and Arkansas and possibly more.
Let's start from DAY 1!!
EARLY Monday morning January 10 we headed to the airport to board a plane with the final destination being Little Rock, Arkansas. We rode that plane to Albuquerque, NM where people got off and on and we stayed put. That plane then stopped in Dallas, TX where more people got off and on and we again stayed put. Finally we did make it to Little Rock on the very same plane we boarded early that morning. It was nice to to worry about making connections but boy was Ryne getting cabin fever. He was not at all happy about having to stay in his seat and wear his seat belt. And he made it known on several occasions!
I have to admit that I had to VERY easy part of the trip. Because we had to have four seats this trip (that's what happens when your kiddo turns two, they have to have their own plane ticket) so we had to split up two and two. Leg 1 of the trip I had Kade. He was getting over being sick so he was more than happy to lay down and take a nap. I asked him if he thought he and I could sleep all the way to Albuquerque and he said, "yep, I think we can." He woke up in NM and said, "Mom, we did it!"
Leg 2, I traded Kyle and took Ryne. He was fussy until we got in the air and then guess what...he napped the entire way to Dallas. Kade was good for Kyle but was ready to play so I think Daddy had to do some entertaining. Not sure about all that because I was mostly napping with Ryne. Leg 3, we traded back and I got Kade. I asked him if he wanted to do several different things and he just looked at me and said, "Mom, I think I just might need to rest a little more before we get there." Little guy laid his head down and took another nap. No complaints from me. We landed safely in Little Rock Monday afternoon.
C.G. was waiting at the airport for us!
Come to find out, C.G. should not have even attempted a trip to the airport.
Why?
There had been quite the winter storm in AR and the roads were terribly icy and treacherous between their house in South Arkansas and Little Rock. And we weren't even going to their house yet. She was just bringing us a vehicle to travel to OK in and eventually get us back to them the next week. We took the icy roads slowly to Monk's apartment where she and Grandaddy were waiting. Had a quick little family reunion and had to make a call on whether or not we should attempt to drive on to Oklahoma that night or wait until morning. It was supposed to get super cold that night and possibly have more snow so we went ahead and hit the road in hopes that traffic that day had cleared much of the interstate. I prayed hard!
The roads cleared up just outside of Little Rock and we had clear roads all the way. Snow started falling about twenty minutes before we made it to our destination, Spiro, Oklahoma!
Well, that was a long intro just to get to the actual happenings of the week. Now, let's get on with the Spiro Show....
I had told you before that Granna and Paw were waiting to have Christmas with us in January.
On Tuesday, we had Christmas!
See these guys....they are anxiously waiting.....
To get at this:
It was seriously still Christmas there.
Even the lights outside were all lit up for us when we got there Monday night!
So, they busied themselves until gift time.....
Ryne ate popcorn.
There was a coloring extravaganza.
Can't you see how hard he is concentrating.
Trying to keep his mind off all those presents under the tree.
A little wrestling with Uncle B to pass the time.
Finally it was time to begin.
Granna had a special treat for her helpers...
Santa's Little Helper aprons.
I think it is funny that both Brandon and Kade had their hands on their hips when I took their picture. Too cute!
Ryne didn't have an apron this year but we let him help, too.
He helped Granna with her present.
And Paw with his.
Then he got a present of his own.
Roller skates!
Roller Skates for Kade, too!
Ryne shows Kade his big bag of jungle animals and Kade shows Ryne his Toy Story 2 DVD.
Side note: We ended up with all three Toy Story movies and Ryne is totally addicted. He wakes up every morning since this day asking to watch Toy Story. I cannot even count the number of times he has seen those three movies.
In keeping with the theme...
Kade got a Buzz Lightyear Operation Game
And I absolutely LOVE this picture....
Taylor on her new tricycle!
Is that not the cutest face?
Brandon seems quite intrigued by his "claw"
One of MANY books the boys unwrapped.
Which reminds me, I've got to get back to a scheduled daily reading time with the boys.
A CARS computer for Kade!
Once Kade saw Brandon's "claw" at work he was completely beside himself when he got to unwrap one for himself. Is that the face of a boy looking to use his "claw" for mischief???
Ryne had to check out Taylor's girlie present.
It was good to see pink and purple and dolls for a change.
What in the world could he be so excited about?
I honestly cannot remember...but it might have been about this:
Ryne got a "claw" just like his.
Excited because he won't have to share....excited because he has a partner in claw crime?
Maybe both!
Kyle got his final season of the Dukes of Hazard.
Yes, he is now the proud owner of every episode of the Dukes!
These pictures don't even come close to showing how many presents these kiddos racked up.
But here is a shot of the aftermath:
Notice Kade and his "claw"
We tried our best to get a picture of the four grandkids all together but they were honestly more interested in their new toys than the camera. Can't say that I blame them.
And I was totally cracked up at Kade trying to ride on the back of Taylor's tricycle.
And just when we were starting to think "how in the world are we going to take all of this back to Washington with us" out came the stockings!
More goodies!
Kade pulled out this nutcracker and his face lit up as he exclaimed, "Wow, my very own real nutcracker!!" What??? I didn't even know he knew what a nutcracker was much less did I know he would be so super excited to have one of his own.
Ryne got a nutcracker of his very own as well. But the look on his face says he is trying to figure out just why Kade was so excited to have one.
Taylor making sure someone is watching her unload her stocking.
Crazy eye-popping cow came out of the stocking.
And since everything wouldn't fit in the actual stocking there were extra bags of stocking stuffers. Yes, yes, all of that on the floor around Kade and Ryne was a result of stocking unloading!
And then we were crazy enough to try and settle my boys down enough to take the traditional Christmas family pictures.
Yeah, my boys were not so cooperative.
I just kept reminding myself, they are 2 and almost 4....you can't expect too much.
Almost cooperated for our family shot.
Brian and Kimberly's kiddos are much more cooperative for picture time.
I know they were all just itching to get to those toys.
Brandon and Kade didn't waste much time....
They hid away in Paw's office and put together the giant Toy Story puzzle.
Can't you tell they are proud of their work?
Brandon is in Kindergarten this year so he had school every day that we were there.
Aunt Kim was kind enough to let Kade come spend the night with them and go to school with her for Brandon's awards ceremony one morning.
I think Kade was super excited to be at Brandon's school!
Kyle, Ryne and I met them at school and picked up Kade so that we could go someplace very special for breakfast.
CHICK-FIL-A!!!!
Of course the boys were more excited about having play time than they were about the food.
But for me it was all about the food and it was YUMMY!!!
I do miss Chick-Fil-A and am just holding on to hope that one day soon someone will wise up and realize that we NEED good chicken sandwiches in the Pacific Northwest.
Granna set aside Thursday as Birthday shopping day. She decided that she and Paw would give the boys money for their birthdays and take them to Toys R' Us to pick out what they wanted.
They have never gotten to do that before so I figured they would just be thrilled.
We left early Thursday morning heading to town, too early....Toys R' Us wasn't open yet.
We went to Kohl's to shop while we waiting for the toy store to open.
This is how the boys felt about being at Kohl's instead of the toy store.
But we did make it to the toy store and the boys did have a great time!
They picked out what they wanted and played with everything possible.
Then on the way out they had to stop and hop in all of the little mechanical rides at the front of the store...
I have no idea why they love these things so much. I am pretty sure we have not more than once or twice dropped coins in to make them "go" in all of Kade's lifetime. But even still. They love to go for pretend rides.
Guess where we went for lunch after this??
CHICK-FIL-A!!!
Again?
Yes!
It was breakfast the first time...this was for lunch...TOTALLY different!
And just as YUMMY!
I actually ran into an old college friend there. He used to coach my intramural football team. Hadn't seen him in probably 13 years. Crazy, huh?
We got home and took big naps after a busy day of shopping and playing.
Then out came the birthday toys!
I know you can't believe the Kade picked something PIRATE for one of his gifts.
He and Brandon had a great time playing pirates.
Ryne picked a Diego Rescue Center and he had a great time playing with it.
He has become quite the Diego fan. I love watching him watch the Diego shows because he totally interacts with them. It is super cute.
A sweet lady named Mrs. Laura had us over for dinner while we were there.
Cool story about Mrs. Laura....her grandson Jacob goes to college near us and has been a big part of helping us with Life Church. Our boys just love Jacob and couldn't quite figure out how it was that Jacob's "Nanny" lived in Oklahoma where Granna and Paw lived.
We had a good time at Mrs. Laura's.
Ryne liked that she let him play the piano.
And she even had building blocks for the boys to play with!
On Friday morning we took a little road trip.
Where?
Razorback Country!
Many of you probably know that I lived in Northwest Arkansas for a couple of years.
I LOVED it there. And still have some amazing friends there. It has been a long time since we have been able to go there and visit. We had a few free hours on Friday morning so we drove up. I told Kade on the way that I used to live there and he with awe in his voice said, "Mom, you were a Razorback???" I had to explain that technically I wasn't a Razorback...just a Razorback fan.
We met these fabulous ladies for lunch...
Mom #2 and Billye!!
Or as Kade and Ryne call them MawMaw Frances and Aunt Bib!
What a great time it was to get to see them.
We hung out in the back room of one of my favorite pizza joints (Jim's Razorback Pizza) and just let the boys play while we visited.
There were lots of other people I wish we had had time to visit with but our time was limited.
We did drive through U of A campus and show Kade where the Razorbacks play and that made him pretty happy.
Friday afternoon was a very special afternoon.
We had a big surprise in store for Kade. All thanks to Aunt Kim's suggestion...Kade got to go to his very first movie in a theater!
We left Ryne and Taylor with Granna and Paw, picked Brandon up after school and took off for the movies.
Can you even tell just how excited Kade was?!
Brandon doesn't look so excited because he was not happy about the movie choice.
Tangled!
He said that was a girl movie and he didn't want to see it.
A big bucket of popcorn made it all better.
Kade watched the entire movie without ever getting up from his seat. He laughed and commented and really enjoyed himself. I cannot wait for Ryne to be old enough to take to the movies. I think he will love it, too.
After the movies Granna and Paw and the little ones met us for dinner.
At the other "must eat here while we are home" spot.
The Market Place!!
One of my most favorite restaurants. The food is super yummy!
And just look what the boys got for their birthday desert...
Peanut butter chocolate mess with a candle on top.
Yep, Ryne got one, too!
And then we shared those two messes between all 9 of us.
It was plenty, I promise!
Friday was our last night in Spiro so Kade stayed with Brandon again.
He loves staying at Aunt Kim and Uncle B's house.
This might be why...
This is where we found him when we showed up Saturday morning.
Every bath is like a trip to the swimming pool for him!
We had brunch and birthday parties at Brian and Kimberly's house for our last day in Spiro.
Ryne found a tractor and a flashlight to play with.
I'm thinking he wishes he could go stay with Aunt Kim and Uncle B sometime, too.
Birthday cakes...
Since we were celebrating birthdays we let the boys go ahead and give Aunt Kim her gift.
Her birthday isn't until February but we figured since we wouldn't be there in February early would be okay. Can you tell Kade is smiling? It makes my heart happy that he likes giving gifts so much. I hope that never changes!
Kade found one of Taylor's dolls to play with.
I asked him if he was practicing for our babies to get here and he assured me that is exactly what he was doing.
Ryne of course found Taylor's kitchen.
I think it made him realize how much he was missing his kitchen at home.
Then, believe it or not.....MORE presents!
I hope our boys realize just how much they are loved!!
Presents opened....now bring on the cake!
Party blowers are always a big hit!
Taylor was looking cute in her party hat.
Blowing out the candles.
Chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream.
Just what Kade ordered!
Ryne doesn't care chocolate or vanilla....if it's sweet just give it to me is his motto!
See? He can take care of some sweets.
We got them all sugared up and it was time to go.
Birthday parties made for a fabulous ending to our fun-filled week with our family in Oklahoma.
There were people in Arkansas waiting for us next.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story....
Let's start from DAY 1!!
EARLY Monday morning January 10 we headed to the airport to board a plane with the final destination being Little Rock, Arkansas. We rode that plane to Albuquerque, NM where people got off and on and we stayed put. That plane then stopped in Dallas, TX where more people got off and on and we again stayed put. Finally we did make it to Little Rock on the very same plane we boarded early that morning. It was nice to to worry about making connections but boy was Ryne getting cabin fever. He was not at all happy about having to stay in his seat and wear his seat belt. And he made it known on several occasions!
I have to admit that I had to VERY easy part of the trip. Because we had to have four seats this trip (that's what happens when your kiddo turns two, they have to have their own plane ticket) so we had to split up two and two. Leg 1 of the trip I had Kade. He was getting over being sick so he was more than happy to lay down and take a nap. I asked him if he thought he and I could sleep all the way to Albuquerque and he said, "yep, I think we can." He woke up in NM and said, "Mom, we did it!"
Leg 2, I traded Kyle and took Ryne. He was fussy until we got in the air and then guess what...he napped the entire way to Dallas. Kade was good for Kyle but was ready to play so I think Daddy had to do some entertaining. Not sure about all that because I was mostly napping with Ryne. Leg 3, we traded back and I got Kade. I asked him if he wanted to do several different things and he just looked at me and said, "Mom, I think I just might need to rest a little more before we get there." Little guy laid his head down and took another nap. No complaints from me. We landed safely in Little Rock Monday afternoon.
C.G. was waiting at the airport for us!
Come to find out, C.G. should not have even attempted a trip to the airport.
Why?
There had been quite the winter storm in AR and the roads were terribly icy and treacherous between their house in South Arkansas and Little Rock. And we weren't even going to their house yet. She was just bringing us a vehicle to travel to OK in and eventually get us back to them the next week. We took the icy roads slowly to Monk's apartment where she and Grandaddy were waiting. Had a quick little family reunion and had to make a call on whether or not we should attempt to drive on to Oklahoma that night or wait until morning. It was supposed to get super cold that night and possibly have more snow so we went ahead and hit the road in hopes that traffic that day had cleared much of the interstate. I prayed hard!
The roads cleared up just outside of Little Rock and we had clear roads all the way. Snow started falling about twenty minutes before we made it to our destination, Spiro, Oklahoma!
Well, that was a long intro just to get to the actual happenings of the week. Now, let's get on with the Spiro Show....
I had told you before that Granna and Paw were waiting to have Christmas with us in January.
On Tuesday, we had Christmas!
See these guys....they are anxiously waiting.....
To get at this:
It was seriously still Christmas there.
Even the lights outside were all lit up for us when we got there Monday night!
So, they busied themselves until gift time.....
Ryne ate popcorn.
There was a coloring extravaganza.
Can't you see how hard he is concentrating.
Trying to keep his mind off all those presents under the tree.
A little wrestling with Uncle B to pass the time.
Finally it was time to begin.
Granna had a special treat for her helpers...
Santa's Little Helper aprons.
I think it is funny that both Brandon and Kade had their hands on their hips when I took their picture. Too cute!
Ryne didn't have an apron this year but we let him help, too.
He helped Granna with her present.
And Paw with his.
Then he got a present of his own.
Roller skates!
Roller Skates for Kade, too!
Ryne shows Kade his big bag of jungle animals and Kade shows Ryne his Toy Story 2 DVD.
Side note: We ended up with all three Toy Story movies and Ryne is totally addicted. He wakes up every morning since this day asking to watch Toy Story. I cannot even count the number of times he has seen those three movies.
In keeping with the theme...
Kade got a Buzz Lightyear Operation Game
And I absolutely LOVE this picture....
Taylor on her new tricycle!
Is that not the cutest face?
Brandon seems quite intrigued by his "claw"
One of MANY books the boys unwrapped.
Which reminds me, I've got to get back to a scheduled daily reading time with the boys.
A CARS computer for Kade!
Once Kade saw Brandon's "claw" at work he was completely beside himself when he got to unwrap one for himself. Is that the face of a boy looking to use his "claw" for mischief???
Ryne had to check out Taylor's girlie present.
It was good to see pink and purple and dolls for a change.
What in the world could he be so excited about?
I honestly cannot remember...but it might have been about this:
Ryne got a "claw" just like his.
Excited because he won't have to share....excited because he has a partner in claw crime?
Maybe both!
Kyle got his final season of the Dukes of Hazard.
Yes, he is now the proud owner of every episode of the Dukes!
These pictures don't even come close to showing how many presents these kiddos racked up.
But here is a shot of the aftermath:
Notice Kade and his "claw"
We tried our best to get a picture of the four grandkids all together but they were honestly more interested in their new toys than the camera. Can't say that I blame them.
And I was totally cracked up at Kade trying to ride on the back of Taylor's tricycle.
And just when we were starting to think "how in the world are we going to take all of this back to Washington with us" out came the stockings!
More goodies!
Kade pulled out this nutcracker and his face lit up as he exclaimed, "Wow, my very own real nutcracker!!" What??? I didn't even know he knew what a nutcracker was much less did I know he would be so super excited to have one of his own.
Ryne got a nutcracker of his very own as well. But the look on his face says he is trying to figure out just why Kade was so excited to have one.
Taylor making sure someone is watching her unload her stocking.
Crazy eye-popping cow came out of the stocking.
And since everything wouldn't fit in the actual stocking there were extra bags of stocking stuffers. Yes, yes, all of that on the floor around Kade and Ryne was a result of stocking unloading!
And then we were crazy enough to try and settle my boys down enough to take the traditional Christmas family pictures.
Yeah, my boys were not so cooperative.
I just kept reminding myself, they are 2 and almost 4....you can't expect too much.
Almost cooperated for our family shot.
Brian and Kimberly's kiddos are much more cooperative for picture time.
I know they were all just itching to get to those toys.
Brandon and Kade didn't waste much time....
They hid away in Paw's office and put together the giant Toy Story puzzle.
Can't you tell they are proud of their work?
Brandon is in Kindergarten this year so he had school every day that we were there.
Aunt Kim was kind enough to let Kade come spend the night with them and go to school with her for Brandon's awards ceremony one morning.
I think Kade was super excited to be at Brandon's school!
Kyle, Ryne and I met them at school and picked up Kade so that we could go someplace very special for breakfast.
CHICK-FIL-A!!!!
Of course the boys were more excited about having play time than they were about the food.
But for me it was all about the food and it was YUMMY!!!
I do miss Chick-Fil-A and am just holding on to hope that one day soon someone will wise up and realize that we NEED good chicken sandwiches in the Pacific Northwest.
Granna set aside Thursday as Birthday shopping day. She decided that she and Paw would give the boys money for their birthdays and take them to Toys R' Us to pick out what they wanted.
They have never gotten to do that before so I figured they would just be thrilled.
We left early Thursday morning heading to town, too early....Toys R' Us wasn't open yet.
We went to Kohl's to shop while we waiting for the toy store to open.
This is how the boys felt about being at Kohl's instead of the toy store.
But we did make it to the toy store and the boys did have a great time!
They picked out what they wanted and played with everything possible.
Then on the way out they had to stop and hop in all of the little mechanical rides at the front of the store...
I have no idea why they love these things so much. I am pretty sure we have not more than once or twice dropped coins in to make them "go" in all of Kade's lifetime. But even still. They love to go for pretend rides.
Guess where we went for lunch after this??
CHICK-FIL-A!!!
Again?
Yes!
It was breakfast the first time...this was for lunch...TOTALLY different!
And just as YUMMY!
I actually ran into an old college friend there. He used to coach my intramural football team. Hadn't seen him in probably 13 years. Crazy, huh?
We got home and took big naps after a busy day of shopping and playing.
Then out came the birthday toys!
I know you can't believe the Kade picked something PIRATE for one of his gifts.
He and Brandon had a great time playing pirates.
Ryne picked a Diego Rescue Center and he had a great time playing with it.
He has become quite the Diego fan. I love watching him watch the Diego shows because he totally interacts with them. It is super cute.
A sweet lady named Mrs. Laura had us over for dinner while we were there.
Cool story about Mrs. Laura....her grandson Jacob goes to college near us and has been a big part of helping us with Life Church. Our boys just love Jacob and couldn't quite figure out how it was that Jacob's "Nanny" lived in Oklahoma where Granna and Paw lived.
We had a good time at Mrs. Laura's.
Ryne liked that she let him play the piano.
And she even had building blocks for the boys to play with!
On Friday morning we took a little road trip.
Where?
Razorback Country!
Many of you probably know that I lived in Northwest Arkansas for a couple of years.
I LOVED it there. And still have some amazing friends there. It has been a long time since we have been able to go there and visit. We had a few free hours on Friday morning so we drove up. I told Kade on the way that I used to live there and he with awe in his voice said, "Mom, you were a Razorback???" I had to explain that technically I wasn't a Razorback...just a Razorback fan.
We met these fabulous ladies for lunch...
Mom #2 and Billye!!
Or as Kade and Ryne call them MawMaw Frances and Aunt Bib!
What a great time it was to get to see them.
We hung out in the back room of one of my favorite pizza joints (Jim's Razorback Pizza) and just let the boys play while we visited.
There were lots of other people I wish we had had time to visit with but our time was limited.
We did drive through U of A campus and show Kade where the Razorbacks play and that made him pretty happy.
Friday afternoon was a very special afternoon.
We had a big surprise in store for Kade. All thanks to Aunt Kim's suggestion...Kade got to go to his very first movie in a theater!
We left Ryne and Taylor with Granna and Paw, picked Brandon up after school and took off for the movies.
Can you even tell just how excited Kade was?!
Brandon doesn't look so excited because he was not happy about the movie choice.
Tangled!
He said that was a girl movie and he didn't want to see it.
A big bucket of popcorn made it all better.
Kade watched the entire movie without ever getting up from his seat. He laughed and commented and really enjoyed himself. I cannot wait for Ryne to be old enough to take to the movies. I think he will love it, too.
After the movies Granna and Paw and the little ones met us for dinner.
At the other "must eat here while we are home" spot.
The Market Place!!
One of my most favorite restaurants. The food is super yummy!
And just look what the boys got for their birthday desert...
Peanut butter chocolate mess with a candle on top.
Yep, Ryne got one, too!
And then we shared those two messes between all 9 of us.
It was plenty, I promise!
Friday was our last night in Spiro so Kade stayed with Brandon again.
He loves staying at Aunt Kim and Uncle B's house.
This might be why...
This is where we found him when we showed up Saturday morning.
Every bath is like a trip to the swimming pool for him!
We had brunch and birthday parties at Brian and Kimberly's house for our last day in Spiro.
Ryne found a tractor and a flashlight to play with.
I'm thinking he wishes he could go stay with Aunt Kim and Uncle B sometime, too.
Birthday cakes...
Since we were celebrating birthdays we let the boys go ahead and give Aunt Kim her gift.
Her birthday isn't until February but we figured since we wouldn't be there in February early would be okay. Can you tell Kade is smiling? It makes my heart happy that he likes giving gifts so much. I hope that never changes!
Kade found one of Taylor's dolls to play with.
I asked him if he was practicing for our babies to get here and he assured me that is exactly what he was doing.
Ryne of course found Taylor's kitchen.
I think it made him realize how much he was missing his kitchen at home.
Then, believe it or not.....MORE presents!
I hope our boys realize just how much they are loved!!
Presents opened....now bring on the cake!
Party blowers are always a big hit!
Taylor was looking cute in her party hat.
Blowing out the candles.
Chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream.
Just what Kade ordered!
Ryne doesn't care chocolate or vanilla....if it's sweet just give it to me is his motto!
See? He can take care of some sweets.
We got them all sugared up and it was time to go.
Birthday parties made for a fabulous ending to our fun-filled week with our family in Oklahoma.
There were people in Arkansas waiting for us next.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story....
