a trip to the zoo

Yesterday was a perfect day to spend at the Oklahoma City Zoo.  School is back in session which means a quiet zoo day.  Just the way we like it.  We love that zoo.  It's a beautiful, clean, safe zoo.  We think a membership might be in order next year.

I took lots of pictures.  Here are a handful (maybe a few handfuls) of my favorites.

At the petting zoo.

One landed on my head.  I might have been just a little shocked/freaked out/grossed out.

I didn't have to put a bird on it.  The bird put itself on it.

Mesmerized by the sea lions.

We fed the ducks.

A picnic lunch.

When did he get so big?!  Can you believe he'll be TWO in just over 2 months?!!

Pygmy hippo.

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...

These are beauty berries.

I think they live up to their name.

Travis' favorite part of the zoo.

The nocturnal exhibit.

Grizzly bears, keeping cool.

First time we got to actually see the otters enjoying their little corner of the zoo!

I might want an otter for Christmas, too.

The gorillas were quite active (it was feeding time).

They put on a show.  Gorilla quarrel and all.

It was a wonderful, family day.  The only way the day could have been better is if it was about 15 degrees cooler and we were wearing sweaters.  

See ya in November, zoo!  With sweaters on.

from the weekend

On Saturday, we had some "business" to take care of down in the city at a favorite pawn shop of Travis'.  It's always gun related, so I could really care less; I'm just along for the ride.  But because I tolerate this lovely place (Callan and I actually sit in the car), on, at least, a monthly basis, I always talk him into taking me somewhere I want to go.  After all, it's only fair.  On this particular weekend, it was ReStore. 

We don't have one in our neck of the woods, so it's a nice treat, every few months, to browse through their stash of building scrap and supplies. I had a list of items that I was hoping to find, but I didn't find a single thing on my list.  Figures.  I did pick up a few rolls of brown packing paper, however, for $0.99 a piece, some packing tape, and a pack of AAA batteries we needed for our label maker (which I put to use for the first time this weekend - woo!).

While shopping around, a few items caught our eyes.  We seriously considered this wooden desk, but it needed a lot of love and there's really no where to put it in our house.  But with the $19 price tag, we really almost tried to shove it in the back of the van.  A chair crush reared it's head when I spotted these metal + wood folding chairs.  But again, not quite sure what I'd do with them.  They're not exactly what I'm looking for to replace my current dining room chairs, so they got left behind with the desks.

After ReStore, we checked out a burger joint that Travis' co-workers suggested.  That's Travis' monster burger.  It was nearly the size of Callan's head, no joke!  I, on the other hand, had a grilled chicken sandwich, while Callan enjoyed his first corn dog.

Happy to be at our favorite store.  Target, duh.

Target had some great stuff going on in the rug isle.  I loved all the textures!  And that clearance lampshade almost made it's way into the cart.

I'm pretty sure you've probably eyed these sweet little berry baskets from Anthropologie before.  If you're like me, you probably have considered one or two of these little baskets for your kitchen.  How cute would your berries look all piled up in one when you open your fridge?  But the $20 price tag dissuades me every time.

(source)

But check out what Target has!  Way cute plastic ware...including berry baskets!  A pack of 2 (a large and a small) for $4.99.  I snagged a set.  If I had the one from Anthro, I'd be fearful of dropping it and watching it shatter before my eyes (and I'd likely sob a pathetic, little sob), but I won't have to worry about that with these!  Now, mind you, I may be way behind here and you've already seen these, but I only get to Target once a month, if I'm lucky (the closest one is 1.5 hrs away), so this was a pretty exciting discovery.  Currently, grape tomatoes are in one, mini bell peppers are in the other.

We made a quick stop at a Walmart on our way home, and Callan got to ride on one of these fun carts for the first time (I've never seen these carts at "our" Walmart).  Such a big boy!  He wore the biggest grin and waved at people as if he were cruising around on a float in the Thanksgiving day parade.  But why do they make those suckers so hard to steer?!

Of course we found some new cars for him at the store.
And of course he fell asleep with them, in hand, on the way home.

Aside from some yardwork yesterday, this was the excitement of our weekend.

Hope yours was enjoyable!

an unpredicted day

Today was unpredicted.  We left our place a little after 1pm to head to a pumpkin patch just a little ways outside of Enid.  We pulled into the "pumpkin patch" and were a little disappointed.  We saw a giant corn maze, a maze made out of hay bales, and a petting zoo.  It looked like it could have been fun...if we had kids.  (Maybe next year.)  But there was no pumpkin patch in sight.  The whole point of driving out there was to pick a pumpkin.  Preferably a mid-sized, squat one to sit in the middle of the coffee table.  Oh well.  Moving on.  We decided to head down the road a little bit further to check out Stillwater, OK.  There's some shopping there, so we'd walk around for a few hours and then head home.  But then again, maybe the road would take us to Oklahoma City...which it did.  Well, Travis took us there, but still... 

Once we got into the city, our first stop was at Bass Pro Shop.  What a cool store!  Aside from all the taxidermy.  You could say I have taxidermy-phobia, or whatever the technical term for it is, if there is one.  But I'm getting better.  At least I'm trying.  There was a department for everything outdoors - hunting (guns and archery), camping, boating, fishing, clothing...I'm sure if you're looking for something that has to do with the outdoors, this place has it.  I'd almost be willing to bet on it.  (That is, if I were a betting woman.)  While we were walking through the fishing department, we checked out some of the flies that they had.  This one was my favorite. 

he's cute!

After we left the Bass Pro Shop, we headed over to Bricktown to do some walking around and exploring.  We heard that they have a river walk down there, so we wanted to check it out.  We parked the car (for $5, in a lot) and took off on foot.  (I was secretly hoping that the walking would help to induce labor, but no such luck.)  As we were walking through the Bricktown area, along the river, we discovered a cute little shop in which individual sellers had booths set up where they could sell their products.  One booth, in particular, caught my eye.  Samantha Lamb is a photographer from Oklahoma who has an amazing eye for capturing soft natural light as it gently caresses all that is beautiful.  If you're into photography, I encourage you to check out her site (by clicking on her name above).  Below are two postcards that I picked up today.  I'm in love with her work. 

Once we paid for my postcards (only $1 each), we headed next door to a little wine tasting corner called "Put a Cork in it".  Really cute, really friendly.  Travis tasted (for free) a sweet wine, called "Red Dirt Road".  It's description is as follows: "a special combination of wild field berries is blended with a delicious big red shiraz to create a wonderfully fruity treat".   He enjoyed it so much, he picked up a bottle for $13.95.  We'll be saving it to celebrate with later. 

a little wine conversation area - those "grapes" hanging above are actually lights!

After we left "Put a Cork in it", we walked around for a little longer.  We strolled river-side for a bit. 

After walking back up to street level, we stopped in at a candy store where Travis picked up a Boylan's creamy red birch beer in a glass bottle.  He enjoyed sipping it as we made our way back around the block to where the car was parked.  At this point, we were ready to get on the road and head back in the direction of home.  We decided to stop and grab some dinner on the way.  Joe's Crab Shack was on the way home and we had been wanting to try it out - dinner location, agreed upon.

how cute is he :)

Travis enjoyed a "shark bite" with his dinner

Travis had a big 'ol pot of seafood goodness for dinner

I had coconut shrimp with a very yummy pineapple sauce and onion strings

he really enjoyed his meal

Once our bellies were full, it was time to roll ourselves out of the booth and head out.  Next stop - Target.  We needed our fix.  And toilet paper.  Amongst other things.  

After checking out, and hitting the bathroom one last time before our hour + drive home, we were ready to hit the road.  (And at this point, ready to be home.)  On our drive home, we had front row seats to a simply breath-taking sunset.

We had a wonderfully unpredictable day.  We enjoyed each others company.  We laughed.  We held hands.  We enjoyed what could have possibly been our last little day trip before we add another member to our little family.  We'll miss these days as a couple and being able to take off on a whim, but we are incredibly excited for what the future holds for us as a family of three.  God's got a whole new kind of adventure in store for us.  We're saddled up.