The Lavender

The lavender is always fun to photograph.  It's fun to try to come up with new angles, to play with the lighting, and to try to capture a honey bee hard at work.  Gabriel even got in on the fun this year as well, bringing along his little point and shoot camera capturing everything from a kid's perspective.  

The Chickens

The chickens were definitely the highlight of the trip for the kids.  Yelling out "Chicken on the deck!", chasing them down, holding them, driving them around in the golf cart, singing to them, and checking for eggs in the morning are all memories they will treasure forever.

Navarre Farm 2017

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Yesterday we returned from another trip up to Michigan, and boy oh boy are there a lot of pictures.  I'm still culling through them and editing, and figuring out how to share them.  I thought it might be fun to share them in groupings of related activities/locations rather than chronologically.  This year was our first year to spend a good bit of time down and Rod and Dorothy's home, which Grandpa and Grandma have moved into.  We played with the chickens (pictures of them to come soon), drove Mr. Green Jeans (the golf cart), ate, and ate some more, and then we'd head back to the cottage to watch some TV, hang out at the fire pit, drive Mr. Green Jeans some more, craft, play, and sleep.

The Whiteleys

Yesterday we drove up to Stillwater to visit with amazing family friends, the Whiteley Family.  You know those friends...the ones you can pick up right where you left off with?  The best kinds of friends. I finally got to meet their darling son, Ben, who found a great friend in Lorelai as they played with stickers galore.  He has a darling little laugh, a sweet little voice, and one of the best toddler runs I've ever witnessed.  Gabriel was over the moon playing board games with Uncle Steve all day, and we all just enjoyed getting to visit and catch up with each other.  There isn't much I miss about living in Texas, but the Whiteley family is definitely one of them.

Oklahoma History Center

Each week of summer the kids and I are trying to do something we haven't done before.  This week we visited the Oklahoma History Center.  It was a fascinating museum housing exhibits from when Native Americans were the soul peoples living in Oklahoma all of the way up through modern times.  Most of the areas had something interactive for the kids to do.  Pretending to be on an old airplane in flight, ordering food from an old Sonic drive-in, working for an oil company, walking through a house from the times of the Dust Bowl, cooking on a chuck wagon on the trail, looking through a periscope to see enemy military and talking on a WWII walkie, watching an old  "Duck and Cover" video for children about atomic bombs, and even writing messages for a new century box to be opened in 100 years.  Lorelai's message was very straight forward, "Hi I am Lorelai and I am in Kindergarten."  Gabriel basically said the same thing, but added the very positive "I think you're cool."  And he also mentioned that he enjoys Pokemon.  It was four hours of learning and interacting and they are eager to go back again sometime.  We didn't even touch the outside portion...at 102 degrees we decided that could wait for a cooler day.

Hatchimal

Rabbits, Rabbits...Chasing Rabbits!

Summer seems like a never ending mission to save the rabbits, who are very excited about our "new" landscaping and continue to attempt to take up residence despite the recent excitement we had when Gilbert caught yet another one.  The kids are the official bunny chasers...the first wave of rabbit murder prevention if you will.  Of course the dogs eagerly await their turn to get out there as they whine, drool, and paw at the windows.

Mommy + Son Night

Gabriel and I went out for a little dinner together tonight at Red Robin and had a good time talking about all things Pokemon.  I am currently taking a little online course in videography and decided to just switch over to video for a hot second on my X-T2 to see how it went...so the video is just a little bit of nonsense and difficult to hear, but it was still fun to play with.

Hot Tub

Tonight I promised the kids they could stay up late in the hot tub to play with the fancy color changing lights.  Gabriel got tired of the playing in the water after an hour leading up to sunset, and opted for grabbing his camera.  But, Lorelai stuck it out the entire time and had a blast splashing, floating, dancing, diving, and playing with water "glasses."

Gabriel - Photographer

Today Gabriel decided he wanted to learn more about photography.  He's been watching me edit my images a good bit, and asking me questions.  The other day he came on errands with his little point and shoot that my dad gave him at the ready.  He wants to know how to compose the shot, and he was super excited today when he learned how to turn off the flash.  He's also considering starting a blog of his own (or he can pick a few pictures to share here on occasion).  Either way I'm super excited that he is showing an interest in learning and he definitely already has an eye for it.  

Express Clydesdales

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The kids and I took a little trip out to the Express Clydesdales barn in Yukon, OK this morning for the first time.  They have a beautiful facility about a 30 minute drive from NW Edmond that is free to the public.  There is an Amish barn with gorgeous wood and lanterns and of course the amazing champion Clydesdales.  All in all we spent about 45 minutes walking around the barns and pastures petting the horses, barn cat, and barn dog.  Definitely a fun little morning trip for a pleasant summer morning.

Stomach Bug

Summer has not been super kind to us this year since our return from vacation.  I ended up with a cold that after two weeks turned into a sinus infection, and then as soon as I felt like I was recovering I caught a stomach bug.  I am finally feeling on the upside of everything only to wake up to poor Gabriel having caught the stomach bug as well.  It would be really nice if the rest of the family could avoid it and we could actually get on with having some more fun this summer.

Disney World 2017

The first week of Summer Break was spent hanging out with the Wood Family in Disney World!  We had a great time enjoying the attractions, parades, characters, shows, dessert party, parks, pools, and all of the super fun activities there are to do there.  The icing on the cake was that we were able to do all of it together!

The kids met loads of characters and for the most part I just let the Disney PhotoPass photographers capture those moments as I wanted to be able to sit back and just enjoy the memory making and not be constantly behind a camera.  So, I only have a small number of our encounters with Disney characters.

Grandma booked us a table at Cinderella's castle and the girls attended in their gowns complete with character appropriate hair and makeup.  It was really special being able to meet some of the princesses actually in the Castle.

Of course there was loads of just fun times in all of the parks, on the buses, and around the hotel.

Even rain couldn't get us down.  We may have missed one of our planned fireworks viewings, but I think our evening of pin trading, running through a down pour, and a good movie were just as special, if not more so.  Thanks for a GREAT time Grandma Wood!!!  It definitely was the trip of a lifetime.

Mother's Day 2017

For Mother's Day the kids made me cards, Lorelai made me pizzas in her Easy Bake Oven, we played int he hot tub, Brian cooked us a yummy dinner, and the family sat down with me to watch the Season Finale of Once Upon a Time.  A perfect day!