My Sweet Boys

Thank goodness for sweet moments like this or I might go crazy raising a two year old. Joseph usually stays pretty wound up until the moment the lights go off so our story times can be 'interesting' to say the least. Every now and again he'll settle in to our laps or find a nice cuddly place to listen from.


He found a nice cuddly place right on top of daddy this night. There is nothing like a good naked baby snuggle once in a while. And there is really nothing like it when he actually listens and gives us his full attention. I don't mind the nights when it seems like Josh's only audience is me, but these quiet nights are a treasure for us.

Love that little monkey.

Joseph has been so crafty lately! He's always enjoyed coloring and dabbling in play dough but good grief...I had no idea his very first pair of safety scissors would be the gateway to picture after picture of colorful abstracts.


He's always loved cutting with the 'big' scissors on a special occasion but I was hesitant to get him his own pair of scissors, as the mother of any two year old should be. But I guess hours of cutting funny little shapes calls out to his creativeness like perfectly ripe avocados call out 'guacamole' to me.


So we sit and cut, and paint, and draw, and glue until our little fingers can't take it anymore. I need more refrigerator magnets.

How many chapsticks does one household need?


Not too sure. But if you need to keep a toddler busy for a few minutes, we've hit the jackpot.

"Take My Picture!"

That is what I hear many times when I pull out the camera. But most of the time, he runs to the camera and sticks his big ol mischievous face right in the lens and it's all an out of focus blur. This day, I got some pretty good cheese out of him....albeit up close and personal.

Here is Joseph's new fun thing! I LOVED tents when I was little. I remember making them in the dinning room with all the chairs and big table. See the thing is, if you can utilize something like a table and incorporate that into the blanket engineering, then you can maximize on the scale and top out on the coolness factor. But I'm sure you remember all this from your tent making days.

This little guy will make a tent out of anything. One of his favorites is stacking a few pillows on the couch as the support devices and draping the living room couch blanket over them. It's about a foot and a half high and only as deep as the couch and he'll lay in there and pop his head out at us over and over.

The other day he made one with his itty bitty rocking chair as one support, couple of boxes with toys in them as another support and a couch pillow as a third support. It was a funny little shape, his legs stuck out, and he couldn't really sit up in it, but man did he have fun.

He of course has to take his favorite things in his tents with him....monkey, blankey, baby, juice and perhaps a book or little plastic animal. You know, the important stuff.

Lately, he discovered some cardboard boxes that I keep on hand and loves to use them as tunnels. I think I feel a combo tent with tunnel coming on. It's only a matter of time now.

Oklahoma: The Trip! Day Four...

On our last day in Oklahoma we headed back to the national park for some swimming and relaxing. We walked some trails and splashed around in the water. Joseph was really into having us hold him and walk in the shallow areas, but not too into getting in by himself. That was ok...we got some good exercise, I guess.


This area is called Little Niagara and had several small water falls. Everyone was jumping in off of the falls and the water was ICE COLD. I didn't go in past my knees cause it just wasn't pleasant at all. After awhile, Josh figured he better jump in since that's what all the cool kids were doing. ;)


Does everyone else also wonder if he is thinking maybe this is a bad idea? Joseph was excited and that's all that counts, right?

Well, that and Josh making through ok, and without frost bite.

So we counted down for him...

...and although I would have loved to see a graceful swan dive, I didn't.


...maybe a swan flapping??


And there you have it folks! A not so graceful entry into a refreshing pool of spring water! A good time was had by all!

We got to see the wonderful sites, gaze at a bajillion stars (and even see a satellite wiz by in the night sky), listen to the deafening symphony of the tree frogs, read a little, play dominoes, and have our first Carl's Jr burger (it was soo good!).

I hope Joseph will have some memories of his first real family vacation. All in all, we give it two (or four....or six even) enthusiastic thumbs up!

Oklahoma: The Trip! Day Three...

I could have snapped pictures the whole time. And thanks to photoshop I can fix 'em up real good to make them look as beautiful as in person. Check out this scenery. It was amazing.

Day three arrived and we packed up and headed to Turner Falls. At this point I'm getting real good at this daily packing business. Got it down to two bags! One big ol bag for all the water toys and other fun necessities and one bag for snacks and diapers, etc.


The park was a lot smaller than I imagined. I thought it was going to be really overwhelming and figured we'd want to go back to see it all. When you pay at the gate there is a big swimming area with a water slide and such by the front, then a beautiful winding stream back through the park from the big falls, then the swimming area at the big water fall. And that was it. Simple enough!

We parked and walked back to see the falls but didn't take stuff to set up camp yet. After we walked back to the water fall area we decided to just set up closer to the car so we wouldn't have to haul as much. There is parking all along the stream and it ended up being the perfect spot.





The falls were beautiful, but the so-called "sandy beach" that they boasted of was nothing more than a hill of red dirt. I don't think it could sustain a sand castle nor could I sustain the mess I imagined it would make, so we poked around there for a bit more, stopped off at a playground, then headed back to set up along the stream.

*This photo was borrowed from the following website as I surfed the web trying to find more information on the castle once we got back home; http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/collings.htm

We past a castle along the way back from the falls and checked it out. It was super cool! Joseph was a bit weary of the steepness of it all.....it was built into the side of a really steep hill and as a result there were many different levels to accommodate the grade. Joseph and Josh were ready to get back on solid ground so we didn't stay long, but I can't wait to get back and look around some more. And take more pictures!

There were stairs everywhere to get up and down in it and we found this one itty bitty stair well in one part of the castle. "There are stairs and doors to every rooftop." (Quoted from the afore mentioned website.)


*This photo was borrowed from the following website as I surfed the web trying to find more information on the castle once we got back home; http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/collings.htm


The castle was built by Ellsworth Collings in the early 1930's who was dean of the University of Oklahoma. The castle is now owned by the government who is slowly, but perhaps dragging their feet, trying to preserve this awesome building. It's actually two separate buildings but I'm not sure if one was the main home and one was guest house or what. There is also what is speculated to be two bath house and also stables all arranged around each other and plunked in to the hillside. Sounds like there isn't much information on the castle and it makes it so intriguing!


Super cool but not exactly two year old-friendly!


This was just funny! These guys were dipping their heads in a ritual to benefit from the healing powers of the water. Or maybe they were just workers maintaining the grounds and they were really hot.




Later that day after nap time, we ventured to the springs in the Chickasaw National Recreation Area.






And here is one of the springs. Pretty anti-climatic huh? But there you go. This one was super stinky too from all the minerals. It smelled like the intersection by our Walmart. I've always wondered why our Walmart smells so bad. Maybe it was built right by a secret medicinal mineral spring?




Another perfect moment in time caught on camera. The trip just kept getting better but I was also ready to get back home. One day left to enjoy our vacation then back to reality...and internet and satellite television.

Oklahoma: The Trip! Day Two...

Day Two has arrived! We woke up and decided today was the day to head to Arbuckle Wilderness to visit some relatives. (see above picture)

Ha. See what I did there?! I said our family was a bunch of camels! Big, sloppy, in-your-face, drooling, snotty camels! Ha!

Not sure why I thought that was so funny though because doesn't that mean I'm calling myself a camel? Or at least part camel.

Anyway....

...see!! Here's Josh posing with the in-laws! Ok, enough camel jokes.

We still have camel snot/slime on our windows. It's pretty yucky.


Joseph really wanted to see some zebras and giraffes, so I'm glad they had some. These guys were so cool! I've always enjoyed checking out the zebras.

The drive around the park was really nice. I've heard it's not much compared to Fossil Rim in Glen Rose, but it's been so long since I've been there that this seemed fantastic. We were a little nervous starting out because they run for your car, hoping to get fed, and walk any which direction when trying to drive off....especially right in front of the truck.

No animals were harmed in the Arbuckle Wilderness adventure. And, by the way, we drove with our windows rolled up the whole way. I've seen those America's Funniest Home Videos where an ostrich wreaks havoc on the passengers whose window was down. No thank you. I would like my child to grow up with all 10 fingers, eyes and ears intact.

And this sweet little guy was too cute for words. There were a few of them and I really wanted to take one home. Doesn't he just make you want to dig out your pancho and go for a ride?!


Most of the scenery was beautiful and although I know this isn't the wilds of Africa...it was still super cool to see the animals in a natural habitat. Those horns were pretty darn impressive too.


I wish they had more signs along the way telling us what we were seeing. Sometimes there would be a sign but it might be rusted or faded and wasn't readable. Looks like they might be having a problem with funding.


These guys are Josh's favorite. He says if he were a rancher he would raise buffalo. We could train up Joseph to be a buffalo wrangler!




And of course we had to act a fool with the animal cut-outs! That ostrich is pretty darn funny with that grin smeared on his face. The monkey looks pretty funny too. But that gal petting the ostrich is darn crazy!


Ha! It looks like the monkey is getting Joseph!

Run, son!! That monkey is up to no good!


Arbuckle Wilderness also has a small walk-through zoo area. See, here's the deal with Arbuckle Wilderness; it's like the land that time forgot. It's a really cool place, but only because of the animals. The rest of it is kinda dilapidated-looking. It kinda makes me feel like everything is hanging on with one screw. It's dirty, warped, and most of the light bulbs were flickering or turned off. It was kinda creepy...but in a good way! Hahaha...this might be the first time I've ever said "creepy in a good way". Still, we had a nice time and I'm guessing that it's backwoods appearance is what allowed the three of us to be the only crowd. We had the place to ourselves!

We wandered around for a bit and checked out a huge tortoise, some birds, the reptile house, peacocks and some lemur type looking guys (again, would have loved some signage here). With nap time quickly approaching we headed back to the cabin.


After Joseph woke up we went to check out the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. Originally known as Sulphur Springs Reservation, and later renamed Platt National Park, the park was established in 1902 through an agreement with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations and the federal government. The Chickasaw Nation sold the land to the government in order to protect the unique freshwater and mineral springs along Travertine and Rock Creeks.


It was incredibly beautiful and by far our favorite place of the trip. The park was meticulously maintained and small enough that we could hit all the hot spots before we had to leave Friday.

The geography and history is amazing. This area is in the Arbuckle Mountains which are an ancient mountain range. At their biggest they are thought to have been larger than any present day mountain range (including the Rockies and Mount Everest, etc). That is incredible! Now these mountains have been eroded to 300-500 feet at the highest! We are now seeing deep into the heart of the range and some say this area is one of three true gateways into our geological history, along with the Grand Canyon. Josh and I are really into checking out rock formations and this was a super cool treat for us!

We couldn't wait to get back to hang out longer, but planned to hit Turner Falls the next morning. But it was dinner time and time to get back to the cabin.

Josh even had a little friend that wanted to join us, but we figured in that position he probably wouldn't make it past the car ride...

Trash Truck Crib

This has got to be one of my favorite videos of the Crazy Twos. One of Joseph's latest things is his love of the garbage truck. He started riding on the side of my shopping cart like the sanitation workers and helps throw "trash" in the basket.

Now, lately he has a new trash truck and although it's equally cute it's a real pain to clean up after this little game. You'll see for yourself. After a while of not seeing him one morning I went to pay him a visit...

Oklahoma: The Trip! Day One...

We really roughed it, guys. We decided to pack up and head to Oklahoma to see the sites. "Oklahoma?" you say? Why yes, Oklahoma. Not exactly California, I know. And most certainly not Florida. But it's a close short trip concerning a two year old strapped in a car seat and the price is right. So...we headed to Sulphur, 30ish minutes east of I-35 and about an hour south of Oklahoma City.

Sulphur is a pretty small town. Not much to do there except be one with nature, and that was the plan. Our cabin was in the Chickasaw National Recreation Area on Lake of the Arbuckles. It was small, but clean and actually really cutely decorated! My only complaint at that point (and not a big one) was that I had to pack everything but the kitchen sink since we wanted to cook our own meals, and of course take all the necessities that a hotel would normally provide (like towels, linens, etc.).

Like I said before, we really roughed it. Once we got there we had no cell phone signals, no land line, no broadcast TV and no internet. Talk about a panic attack. I mean what cabin in the woods has no wi-fi?! So I got my books all laid out and ready to go and embraced our situation. Although I have to admit I was really looking forward to a little day-by-day blogging of the trip. And a phone would have been good in case of emergency. But luckily there were no emergencies, and if we needed to call someone badly enough perhaps we could find a kind Chickasaw fellow to show us how to use smoke signals. Dang, was that really non p.c.?! Forget I said that...

We pulled out on Monday (the drive is about 2.5 hours), grabbed groceries on the way in, tucked Joseph in for a quick nap, cozied up on the deck while he slept (check- beautiful just like we hoped), unpacked and headed down to the lake.

The water was wonderful and we all had really high hopes for the rest of the trip. Oklahoma delivered!


Yikes! Josh couldn't even see out the back window! So maybe we over packed, but at least we were prepared!


Joseph kept entertained on the drive in with a little peek a boo. I don't know how long he had that blanket over his head before we noticed, but I have a feeling it was awhile.


I mean, look at that smile. He was really happy that we finally noticed he had been hiding...


Lake of the Arbuckles was really pretty. I am NOT a lake gal...what with all the fishes and unknown under the surface of the water. This lake was fairly clear and had a great rock bottom. Fishes with big teeth can't hide in clear water without a sandy bottom as easily, you know.




Then the boys sat down and had a real heart to heart. Josh had Joseph's full attention on the subject....


....you could really see the concentration on his face...


...as his Daddy taught him all about skipping rocks. Every boy must know how to skip rocks and especially how to pick the perfect ones.

I could have sat and watched them fish for rocks all day. And take pictures of it, of course. ;)

(the obligatory dragon-fly-on-rock-in-water picture!)

Day One came to a close right as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud. I was able to capture those sweet, sweet hands highlighted by the suns rays holding a big rock. Talk about a metaphor for life. I wonder what those hands will do in life. So much potential. Too bad he can't help with dinner yet because a couple extra hands in the kitchen would be great. Ha.