Weekend Trip Part Deux

On Saturday after we finished playing at the children's museum, we went back to the hotel and attempted to watch the Hog game on tv. I say attempted, because as Jason and I laid in the bed completely exhausted the kids cried, whined and asked if we could go to the pool at least a hundred times. We finally told them if they could be quiet and lay still for a while, we'd go. After a few failed attempts, they did it and the Hog game was but a distant memory at that point. It was ok because it was almost too painful to watch anyway. We got the kids changed and headed to the pool. Jason and I sat out and watched since it's almost completely a shallow kiddie pool and Gracie has no desire to go to the deeper end anyway. She just played with her toys by the edge the whole time. We both fought off sleep by taking turns playing games on our cell phones while the other watched the kids.

After almost 2 hours, we got the kids out of the pool, went back up to the room, changed and went out to dinner. It was one of the best dinners we've ever had as a family. We went to The Cheesecake Factory. It was our first time there. We loved it!

We took some pics before our food came. And let me tell ya, we put the "Cheese" in the "Cheesecake"! Take a look!

Here's Rhett's $5 pizza. Wow! That's a lot of food!

The kids really wanted to go swimming when we got back to the hotel, but to say Mamma and Daddy were tired was another understatement... so, in an effort to get out of it, on a whim Jason pulls into the Toys R Us parking lot and proclaims that moment "Christmas in September". We split up: Me with Gracie and Jason with the boys and they each got a certain dollar amount to spend in whichever way they wanted to. We had so much fun! The exchange was that we wouldn't be going to the pool when we got back and we would be going to bed instead.

Instead of being at the pool till 10, we were in bed by 10! Yay!

We all went to sleep quickly and slept like rocks until 4am when we heard this blaring out the speakers in the room by the fire alarm over and over and over:

"Attention! A fire has been reported in the building! Please proceed to the stairway and exit the building! Do not use the elevator!"

Talk about a rude awakening! I don't think my heart has ever beat so fast. Rhett woke up immediately and started crying. Braden and Gracie would've slept thru the whole thing. I was gathering jackets and shoes while Jason was trying to get dressed and get Braden up. Gracie was sleeping in nothing but a diaper, so I scooped her up with her blanket around her and we started out the door. I did manage to grab a cell phone, Jason's wallet and the car keys. Things that I thought were super important because I didn't know if we'd make it back into the room or not. The rest was left to chance. I didn't even grab my wedding ring or my diamond earrings out of the bathroom. I didn't think they were as important as our lives. We were on the 7th floor so we had quite a ways to go to get out of the building.

Jason was trying to get his shoes on when me and the kids stepped out into the hallway and I was totally shocked to see the hallway covered with smoke. I couldn't even see past the next few doors down from us. I panicked and told Jason that I saw smoke and he needed to hurry up. He was alarmed at that point and totally ditched his shoes. I wasn't able to get the door to the stairway open because it was stuck. My heart instantly sunk into my toes and I had an immediate thought that we were going to be stuck in that hallway 7 floors up and we were going to die right there. That only lasted about 5 seconds because Jason got there to push on the door and a guy on the other side pulled on it and we got out. The boys cried all the way down the stairs because they were confused and scared and Gracie just kept saying, "Where we at?" and "What we doing?" Keep in mind that that LOUD and alarming sounding message kept blaring out at us on the speakers the entire time. It served to make us all nervous more than anything!

We got out to the parking lot and it was very chilly outside. I was thankful I grabbed my jacket and that my kids were dressed and had jackets and blankets. Also, I was so glad that I grabbed the car keys! We put the kids in the car and put a movie on for them to watch and they were as cozy as could be. We stood outside the car gathered with several other guests as we tried to figure out what was going on. Poor Jason was in his bare feet!

After about 30 minutes, we all started to realize that the fire department still hadn't shown up. One couple called them and they asked if they were hotel employees or guests. No one had even called them yet, including the hotel! All of us parents decided that we did not feel comfortable going back into the building until the fire department came and cleared it. We heard sirens within about 3 minutes of calling them and they arrived promptly.

After about another 30 minutes, they cleared us to go in. We didn't have our room key, so Jason had to go stand in line to get one and then we headed back in. We found out that someone had gotten the fire extinguisher on our floor and sprayed the entire can into one of the elevators and in the hallway. That was the smoke we saw. Jason had mentioned when we were outside that the smoke was white, so that was strange. It should've been a clue that it wasn't an actual fire. BUT, I've never been in a fire before and didn't know the difference, so I was still nervous!

We went back up to the room, got back in bed as fast as we could. At this point it was about 5:20am. Gracie fell asleep right away and just as the rest of us were starting the drift off, the alarms started going off again! You've got to be kidding me?!?! Jason jumped up and told us to stay put. Of course, we were too curious, so me and the boys met him in the hallway and we met up with the other 15 rooms or so of people on our side of the hallway, all just standing in their doorways peering out into the hallway trying to figure out what to do. Finally, Jason was able to reach an employee at the front desk and we were told it was ok, but there was a problem with the system and they couldn't get it turned off. Later, Jason went looking for information and talked to a security guard. Apparently, it was a drunk 23 yr old male looking for trouble that had done all of it. When he set it off the 2nd time, they caught him, arrested him and took him to jail.

We finally got back in bed after 6am and we had a full day planned for the next day, including room service delivery at 7:30. So, needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. Breakfast was wonderful and then Jason took the kids to the pool while I packed up the room.
Upon checking out, Jason talked them out of a refund of 1/2 of 1 nights stay. It amounted to about $50, which was better than nothing for our trouble.

After checking out, we went to the Oklahoma Aquarium. It was our first time there and we were pleasantly surprised by both the size and the quality of it. We had a wonderful time there and plan to visit it again.

Here's a picture of Gracie with Nemo and Dory. She was so excited!!

Sissy touching a horseshoe crab. We had the opportunity to touch these in Key West, but she was scared. It's amazing what a couple months will do for you. She was all about touching them this day! The boys wouldn't do it, but she wasn't scared!
Braden with the Bahamas Star. We just had to take a picture with it, seeing that not a day goes by that we don't wish we were still in the Bahamas!
This was some kind of sea biscuit. I swear, it looked exactly like the loaf of bread we ate at The Cheesecake Factory the night before! Gracie even thought so!

The racoons were play fighting pretty aggressively, which was very fun to watch. Poor Rhett didn't trust that glass, I guess. He was a little hesitant to take his eyes off of them for too long. But he still smiled for the camera anyway!

The Shark tunnel was SOOOO cool! We really enjoyed this part.

Gracie wasn't much for pictures at this point...

Daddy and the kids at the touch tank. We got to touch stingrays and sharks. We had touched them in Key West also, but it's so cool, we'll do it every chance we get. I just can't get over what the sharks feel like. It's nothing like you think it would be. It almost feels like short, coarse fur.
Rhett took this picture of me at the touch tank. Yes, I broke my camera rule and let him hold it. Praise the Lord he didn't drop it in the water or drop it. I would've been in some serious trouble.

Gracie was pooped out about 1/2 way through. She was starting the fuss and whine loudly. Laying on the floor is not only unsanitary, but doing it in a dress is also just not proper. I'm sure the, ahem, lack of sleep the night before didn't have anything to do with it.... We rented this at that point and it really helped. This was a $3 rental investment. Well worth it.

Coolest animal ever. The Octopus. I could've watched it all day.
Two Words: Mesmerizing. Gorgeous.

Oh no! The boys are being attacked by a crocodile! Gracie is so not amused.

Hammin' it up.

Here's to another fun weekend trip. Life is too short not to enjoy it-- I try to tell myself that often. I think we're making wonderful memories for our kids too, so I guess I'll have to embrace the motto, "We can sleep when we're dead!" and keep on havin' fun!

Weekend Trip

Saying that we were feeling burnt out and in need of a little break would be an understatement. We hide it pretty well for the sake of each other and our kids, (well, Jas hides it well. Me, not so well. He knew I needed OUT!) but it was still true. So, totally last minute, Jason calls me on Friday morning and asked if I wanted to go to Tulsa for the weekend. I said Yes before he even got the whole question out. So, I worked my tail off getting all my work done and getting everything packed. I had the car loaded down to the last detail and as soon as Jason got home from work around 5, he showered and shaved and we were on the road.

We got kind of a late start, so we went straight to Joe's Crab Shack to eat dinner. Yumm-O, as usual! They had the music LOUD and Gracie had a ball dancing next to her seat at the table while we waited quite a while for our food.

When we got back to the hotel Jason worked on the room, getting everything unpacked and sorted while I took the munchkins to the indoor water park until it closed at 10pm.

The kids fell asleep fairly quickly and they all slept all night. Jason and I did not. We were up about every hour just staring at each other. We were SOOOOO exhausted, but just couldn't sleep. It's like that every time we go somewhere. We never sleep much on the first night.

Saturday morning, we ate McDonald's for breakfast and headed to the Zoo. We had a wonderful time, as usual. The day was absolutely perfect. We started the day with jackets but shed them quickly and we enjoyed a sunny, breezy, mid 70's day. GORGEOUS!

After lunch, we rode the train a few times then worked our way back to the exit. After a brief stop at the gift shop, we got in the car and headed to The Kaleidoscope Children's Museum. We've never been there- I found them online. It was a little hard to find, but once we found it, the kids had a great time. They were running a $5 special too, so it was hard to beat that for a few hours worth of entertainment for the kiddos.

They had all kinds of little rooms set up with different make believe themes.

Here's Gracie and Rhett bowling.

Gracie rolling Rhett in a tube

Braden painting

Here's what he painted. A picture of me with our initials and a sunflower for me. Someone else painted the star. He was so proud of his work, he couldn't wait to show me!

I caught Braden in the hair salon area. I asked him if he was styling his friend Jesus.

I got in on some of that action!


The kids all loved the Post Office part more than anything. They played in there for the longest time!

Thank you for this picture, Jason. I'm sure the caption should say something like, "It's time to put that up. We need to go NOW!" Or at least that's what it looks like!

I'll save the rest of the weekend fun for another post!

Gracie's Surgery

Last week Gracie had her dental surgery. We are so thankful that it went so well and she did so great. Our fabulous dentist was able to save all of her teeth and he didn't have to pull any of them!

Here's some before pics, taken the night before her surgery.

This is the front teeth, the front 4 all had to have crowns.

The back 2 teeth on the bottom also had to have crowns.

She also needed several other fillings.

Here she is with her hospital gown on. We were in a patient room waiting for them to come and get her for surgery.

Shortly after this picture was taken, the anestesiologist came in and gave us some "Kool-aide". She didn't want to take it, so they put it in a syringe and left the room. I had to hold her tightly in my arms and hold her head still using my arm to get her to take it, but we got it down. She was a little mad at me after that. It didn't last long though, because within 5 minutes, she couldn't hold her head up anymore and was just laying dead weight in my arms staring at me with her mouth hanging wide open. It was kinda scary and funny at the same time.

Every now and then, she would start giggling and say, "You have 2 moufs" and then she'd giggle some more. I guess she was seeing double. It was too cute. And the other thing she kept saying was, "I love you" over and over again. It warmed my heart that even when she was half anesthetised, she was still expressing her love for her mamma!

When they came to get her for surgery, she was so far out of it, that she didn't care who was taking her. They came to give me a report just a few minutes later that she had gone right to sleep perfectly and the iv and the nose tube had been easily placed.

The next update was halfway through the surgery and the dr sent word that he was going to be able to save all of her teeth and we wouldn't have to pull any of them. Praise the Lord!

The surgery took a little over an hour and as soon as it was over, the anethesiologist came to get me and said they needed me because she was extremely irritable and she just kept screaming for me. So, I got to go back there and sit on the bed and hold her while she screamed and the nurse got her iv out.

We were in the car heading home within 15 minutes and we were home about 5 minutes after that. What a blessing for it to be close. She was extremely fussy for about an hour afterwards, but once the anestesia wore off, she was fine. We kept her on tylenol the rest of the day and she was on a soft food diet for that day and the next day.

Here's the after! Look at that beautiful smile!!

She has done really great. She's having to learn to bite harder things with her back teeth because those sweet little porcelain crowns can pop off rather easily if she bites down on something hard. We certainly don't want to have to have them put back on, so I'm trying to teach her what's ok and what's not ok. She has been asking me if she can bite it with her new teeth before she eats something.

We are so thankful that we were able to have her teeth fixed. And that we were able to do it at the surgery center under anesthesia instead of spread out over 5 visits to the dentists office with her in a straight jacket. The thought of doing that to her just makes my stomach turn. For us, going this way was worth it. The only other alternative to doing the surgery was pulling all of them, and that was not a good idea for several reasons, so I'm glad we didn't have to do that.

Please, Dear Lord, let her enamel grow strong so we don't have to go through all this again. Amen.

Grandparents Day and some Sudsy Fun

Last Monday was Grandparents day at the boys' school. Me Me was able to come over for it and Gracie and I went with her to eat lunch with them.

Here's MeMe with Rhett and Gracie

When we were waiting in line to have MeMe and Braden's picture made, Gracie wanted Braden to hold her. She kept kissing him and saying, "I love you", "I love my shrudder(brother)" It was so cute! And Braden's poor arms were all tingly after she finally let him put her down. But don't let him fool you, he loved every minute of it!

I can't leave you without posting this cute pic of sissy and Rhett-man having a bubble bath in Mamma's tub. Daddy put bubbles in there and started the jets and they were about to overflow. The little ones thought it was the coolest thing ever, though!

Weekend Fun

Once again, we had a KRAZY weekend! It's almost the next weekend and I'm still trying to recouperate!

Friday, I began working on my nephew Tre's birthday cake. I started late in the afternoon, so when the boys got home from school they wanted to help.

Rhett especially likes to put on his apron and help Mamma in the kitchen.

After I got the cakes baked, I put the famed chicken in the beloved roasting pan and into the oven.

I stuffed the chicken with lemons, whole garlic cloves and red onions.

As the chicken was in the oven, the doorbell rang. I answered the door and it was our next door neighbor offering us free tickets to the evening's Naturals game. They weren't just regular tickets either, but tickets for a suite. We definately couldn't say no to that! Jason was on a little business golfing trip, but had texted me to say he was on his way home. So, we put it into high gear to get ready for the game, which started in just 1 hour.


But what about the chicken?!? Jason and the kids headed to the game and I waited until the chicken was done and then met them there.


After, taken with my cell phone b/c I was in a big hurry to get to the game!
Oh my, was it yummy!!
If you know anything about cooking, you'll notice the stinkin' bird is upside down. I never realized it until after I cooked it. The breast was on the bottom instead of the top. It was my first time, I'll learn!

I met up with Jason and the kids at the game after I got to chicken all put away and the kitchen cleaned. We had a GREAT time!

We won the game and were named Conference Champs, so there was lots of celebrating afterwards. Then a 10 minute fireworks show, which was great. But, all of that plus fighting all the traffic getting out of there made for a late night.

Saturday morning was an early morning. We were all signed up to participate in the school's 5k and 1 mile fun run. Jason was going to run the 5k, but after the late night and the fact that he didn't sleep well made him changed his mind in the morning. So, we all did the 1 mile fun run together. I pushed Gracie in the stroller while she watched a movie on the Zune, so she did great.

Here we are with our ribbons after the race.

Here's Rhett and his sweet teacher, whom we all love already!

We went back home after the race to rest for a while and I worked on Tre's cake some more. Then, the boys participated in a bike race that was being held in our neighborhood that afternoon.

Here's Braden crossing the finish line. He got 2nd place.

Here's Rhett crossing the finish line. You'd think this was the Tour de France... they were going for that finish line! Poor Rhett-- he was totally fine though. I think the picture looks worse than it actually was!

Sunday, we went to Tre's birthday party at their house. Here's his birthday cake that I made for him.

He loved it! He tried to attack it as soon as he saw it! Here he is licking his finger after he snuck some icing!

What a fun weekend we had! We are looking forward to this weekend being a bit more relaxing, but it's always fun to have lots of memory making experiences packed into a few days!