Merry Christmas!

Santa

We made a trip to Bass Pro Shop...
Hold your breathe!
Well, did we trick you?
Does he look like he's swimming in a big fish tank?
That's the effect he was going for when he MADE me take his picture.

Bowen, on the other hand found a boat to float in...

There were crafts...

" You'll put your eye out!"

This is the real reason we were there:

Everyone's looking, no tears...we'll call it a success.

Rudolph

You know Dasher and Dancer,
and Prancer and Vixen...
Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen.

But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

Tree is up and decorated!
Bowen thought he was getting lots of little toys...
(note to self: buy more boring ornaments)

Ben said "I made this (gingerbread boy)? Man, it's horrible"
Oh, what a difference 2 years makes!
But I still think it's wonderful.

Gingerbread house survived.
Stockings are hung.
Cards are sent.
Presents are hidden.
Clark is watching.

And we are counting...

All I want for Christmas...

Star Student

I'm a little behind but happy to report we had a Star Student in our house last week!
She has been looking forward to her turn all year.
Of course, she only made it to school 2 days due to strep....but I'm sure she shined.

Parade of Lights

A parade at night - fun to watch, hard to photograph.
But I tried anyway.

I wanted to catch the glow of the lights, which means I couldn't use the "auto" setting on my fancy little camera, but things that glow and move are particularly frustrating to catch.

So I gave in and decided pictures like these are actually pretty neat!

Santa was there!
It was a beautiful night...

And it wasn't windy, which in Oklahoma is a Christmas miracle.

He's Ba-ack!

Oklahoma History Center

In my quest to keep the kids from getting bored (aka - making me crazy) we found yet another freebie, the relatively new OK History Center.oh, I wish.

What we found most interesting was some fun stuff not in most museums...
like Oklahoma's contribution to Rock n' Roll.

Ben, apparently has an inner rocker I never knew about!

Did YOU know these 90's bands were all from Oklahoma?

I'm sure many of you already knew Sonic started in OK.
It was only given a little display and deserves more, in my opinion :)

And who knew the creator of Dick Tracy was an Oklahoman?

It turns out there were several players, back in the comic heyday, that were from Oklahoma!

My little Supers!

And this "Iron Lung" is just for Pawpaw....

2 thumbs up for the OK History Center.

Bricktown tree lighting

My favorite zoo day, free day!

The OKC zoo is always free the day before Thanksgiving (I'm sure I've blogged about this before) and since Bryce is working the entire holiday, it was a great way to get out & run around.

We even had snow!
Okay, not really...just some picnik fun to kick off the season :)

But we did have an unusual experience at the Lion exhibit - they growled at us! Whoa, just reinforced my healthy fear of large cats.

Bowen's favorite was the Galapagos Tortoises.
I think he would have stood here all day.

Brinley's favorite - the flamingos "because they're pi-ink".

Ben's favorites were the wolves & the bears.

The first time we ever actually seen the bears walking around!

The Great Cheeto Meltdown, 2010

We had happier times too.
And I had a collage<here> to prove it...
but accidentally deleted it.

We're thankful...
for free zoo days, for cheetos, for each other.

A Bright Night with Harry Potter

As if the Oklahoma Museum of Science weren't neat enough, they have a series called "Bright Nights" where they open up the museum for an all-night experience. Last Friday it was Harry Potter night in honor of the opening of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1". I knew it was something Ben would love and luckily Nece & Bryson were able to join us, making the trip from Texas!

When we arrived at the museum, they spotted the death eaters right away. Ben go the biggest kick out of chasing them, shouting "Expecto Patronum"!

They opened with a show of spells & potions, closing with a big explosion of ping pong balls & golden snitches, which the boys eagerly tracked down.

The boys made pouches for their snitches and new wands, then played a game of quidditch!

And battled a dragon...

made a polyjuice potion...

and then we took the "night bus" to the theater for the movie!

Finally, bedtime around 3am.
These are some tired boys!