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More Vids

Sharon — Wed, 05 May 2010 04:24:02 +0000

Here are some recent videos of the kiddos. The first two are Tyler’s first T-Ball game. The opposing team was not really clear on where they were supposed to go when Tyler’s team hit the ball. Very cute. The last video is a bit long but it really captures Molly at a happy, talkative moment. She is a lot of fun! Enjoy!

Video #1: Watch the kids in the field.

Video #2: Tyler is the second at bat. He’s number 42. Go Broncos!

Video #3: Chatting with Molly.

A thank you message

Sharon — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:39:11 +0000

Here are some video ‘thank you’ messages for Papa & Grandma C for the cool stuff for Molly’s birthday. Please do enjoy.

Video #1: Molly says “Thank you Papa & Grandma” very sweetly but we can’t see the dress. So we try again in clip #2.

Video #2: Okay, Molly is now tired of this and REALLY wants to see herself on camera. Welcome to the terrible 2s!

Video #3: Crazy Legs! This is Tyler being Tyler. I love this goofy kid. (Note: you can see our new flooring really well in this clip.)

(He says, “I’m happy about the book thank yooou.” “I love it. It’s cool. Bye.”)

Tyler’s new cast

Sharon — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:58:14 +0000

Here is a photo for the grandparents of Tyler’s cast. Complete with his custom paint job. He’s a dangerous man, better watch yourself.

TEN HUT!

Sharon — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:36:08 +0000

Tyler’s Soldier Birthday was this last weekend and he had so much fun! We had a combined birthday with his good friend Liam. Both boys are turning 5 this month. He was so excited to have the joint party with his friend. There may be more of these in our future.

He got lots of great gifts (mostly soldier themed), and he’s been playing with them non-stop since then. At the party we had face painting (camo), army twister, a flour bomb war, and they got to decorate their own homemade cake (by Kaycee). It was great!

Mom and memory

Brian — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:51:03 +0000

Many years back, when I was still in high school, I bought my mom a copy of Simon and Garfunkel’s Concert In Central Park. She was a fan, and is the reason I love their music so much now. I only knew some of the songs then, but we’d both sing along with it.

One day, in a moment of uncharacteristic crassness, my mom turned up the volume on one of these songs as it began, and told me, “You’ll appreciate this song!”

Paul Simon began singing,

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school
It’s a wonder I can think at all
And though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

She was right, I did appreciate the song, and the smile it brought to her face as she commiserated. Mom was always the understanding one, the one you believed used to be a Real Life Teenager, Way Back When. She was the one who enjoyed rock music- even though it mostly consisted of Barry Manilow, but strayed as far as Journey.

She would do cartwheels with us until a slipped disk began her life of back pain. Regardless, she always laughed, and was obsessed with keeping everyone happy and having fun.

Her last ten years have not been happy. She has been battling cancer which pops up here and there, travelling all over her body, and most recently in her brain. This time, it will win. It’s already destroyed her memory. It keeps her in pain. It confuses her and keeps her lost, even sitting on her own couch. It’s exactly what you don’t want to have happen to you before you die.

I left the midwest to live in Oklahoma in 1992, and aside from a few summers, have lived mostly there for 16 years, the longest I’ve ever lived in any place, and so far away from home. I’ve spent so much time away from my family that every visit back seems to age everyone considerably. My mom’s changes have been most dramatic, thank you cancer. She has often been tired and sick. When her hair grew back after chemo, it was thinner and fully gray. She fought cancer like the Boxer that Paul Simon sings about. After changes upon changes, she was more or less the same. She was still witty and lively – as long as she had the energy. But when I saw her in June, she was losing that as well. Shortly afterwards, my sister Amie told me, she really lost that spark, and she wasn’t mom as much anymore.

I guess we see our own mortality in our parents. When you get old enough, you recognize that your parents were once like you, and eventually they became like them, and that you, too, will become like your future self as your kids become like you are now. The path is laid out ahead of you, like it or not.

With every visit over the last several years, as everyone aged and I just keep being me (on the inside, anyway), there grew a distance between reality and memory. I still see myself, as Sharon said recently, continuously age 25 – I’m old enough to drink, young enough not to be “sir,” no matter what kids these days think of me. My mom should still be the way she was when I went off to college – gardening, reading, laughing, and certainly not old, sick, or hospitalized.

My sisters (one living close to mom, the other several hours away) have had more time with mom while she went through this. They could see the changes, although they were no easier to watch up close. For me, it was like watching a movie where you kept skipping ahead. You get to the next scene, and suddenly you realize how much you passed up. My memory seemed more true, and the pictures in my mind held the real Mom for me. The nice bright colors, the greens of summers, makes you think all the world’s a sunny day – momma don’t take my Kodachrome away.

But the truth is what it is, regardless of whether you wish it were different. Mom is fading. Her chemo will stop, and the focus will be on making her comfortable, whatever that means. There’s no telling what will happen now, other than the eventual conclusion of it all. We all know that she’ll never be “herself” again. No one gets a schedule for these things. Even anticipated death comes as a surprise. And what do you wish for – that it come quickly, or that it wait a while longer?

There’s no difference between today and yesterday, except just admitting and accepting the way things are today. My mom still lives in my memory different than the way she lives in Ohio. Absence helps the myth live on. She should still be the one who listens to music with me, and not the one who gets confused about whether the TV show is her real life. You can’t choose which pictures you get to keep. They all stay with you until you get no more. The oldest ones fade in the presence of the newest.

Reality can never match my sweet imagination. Everything looks better in black and white.

Free* Fun

Sharon — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:08:12 +0000

*I use the term “free” lightly. Some of these may have a small fee but nothing too outrageous.

For some reason I like to have themed posts. I’ve decided to title all posts related to fun activities for the kids “free fun”. So here is our free stuff for today (courtesy MetroFamily Magazine).

I also feel another TASID (see here, here, and here) post coming on so be ready for that!

• Oklahoma Railway Museum

3400 NW Grand Blvd., OKC
Thursday, Friday, Saturday 9am-5pm
424-8222, http://oklahomarailwaymuseum.org
Freight cars, passenger cars and real steam engine. Train rides available for a fee.

• Martin Park Nature Center

5000 W Memorial Rd, OKC
Wednesday-Sunday 9am-6pm
755-0676, http://OKC.gov/Parks/Martin_Park/index.html
You can wade in the nearby creek, take a hike on the trails and visit the hands-on museum.

• Park concerts

Midwest City’s Twilight Concert Series at Joe B. Barnes Regional Park. Held every Thursday, 7pm through July. For more information http://www.midwestcityok.org/concerts-in-the-park.

Summer Concerts held at Hafer Park in Edmond, 7:15pm. Every Thursday through July. For more information http://VisitEdmond.com.

Summer Breeze Concert Series held every other Sunday through September 27 at Andrews Park and Lions Park in Norman, 7:30pm. For more information go to http://ThePAS.org

Sunday Twilight Concerts at the Myriad Gardens in Downtown OKC, 7-8:30pm. Held every Sunday through August 24. For concert line up visit http://ArtsCouncilOKC.com/Twilight-Concerts1

Concerts in the Park are held at Yukon’s Chisholm Trail Park Gazebo every Thursday through August 20 from 7-9pm. The park is located at 500 W Vandament. http://yukoncc.com (event calendar).

• Express Clydesdale Ranch

12701 W. Wilshire, Yukon
Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm
Sunday 12:30-5pm
closed on Monday
350-6404, ExpressClydesdales.com
At this ranch, you can see and pet the unique (and huge) Clydesdale horses. Also available is a zebra and other ponies. Located 4 miles north of Interstate 40 off of Exit 136 (Garth Brooks Blvd)

• 45th Infantry Division

2145 N.E. 36th Street, OKC
Tuesday-Friday 9am-4:15pm
Saturday 10am-4:15pm
Sunday 1-4:15pm
424-5313, http://45thdivisionmuseum.com
Museum houses exhibits like the Bill Mauldin Cartoon Collection, Reaves Military Weapons, World War II and Korean War artifacts, and Thunderbird Park, a 15-acre area that features tanks, artillery, aircraft and the Thunderbird Monument

• State Capital Tours

Tours of the capitol can be self-guided or guided tours (available Monday-Friday 9am-3pm hourly but closed at noon). Schedule your group tour (10 or more) by calling 521-3356.

• Guthrie Gunfighters Inc.

http://Guthriegunfighters-inc.org http://Guthriegunfighters-inc.org
This group performs their Old West reenactments on Saturdays,1-5pm hourly at 2nd and Harrison.

• Edmond Historical Museum

431 S. Boulevard
Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm
Saturday 1-4pm.
340-0078, http://EdmondHistory.org
The permanent collection is arranged in chronological order from the early days when Edmond was a coal and water stop for the Santa Fe Railroad, through the Run of 1889, the building years in the early 1900′s, up through the present. Most important to the kids in your family is the Children’s Learning Center which provides hands-on learning fun about Edmond’s history.

Bored

Sharon — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:32:03 +0000

I have too much free time I guess.
The original video is in the previous post.

Mom & Dad, this one is for you.

Sharon — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:05:42 +0000

This video was just taken today.

One more!

Sharon — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:09:45 +0000

I forgot to add Chitwood Park in Edmond to the list. They have a new play structure there that is a big rocketship. I know Tyler and Molly would get a kick out of it. I plan on going up there soon. http://edmondok.com/parks/cityparks/chitwood

Free (or cheap) stuff to do!

Sharon — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:36:27 +0000

Lately I’ve been compiling a list of stuff that I think my kids would enjoy that is free (or very inexpensive) around the OKC area. I’ve been sending it on to some via email but I decided that it’d be much easier to start posting my finds on our blog. Then I can remember them as well! The info is taken from the corresponding websites – you can click on the name to be redirected to the site.

So here we go.

These are only for a limited time (see dates):

Little Sprouts Day Out is planned for Wednesday, July 15 and again Saturday, July 18 at the Norman Farmers Market. Kids ages 2-7 & parent will learn about farm fresh food, take a special garden tour, learn about growing your own garden and receive a packet of starter seeds. The little ones will also get a reusable children’s market bag to decorate and then fill with healthy and fresh produce and much more! Cost is $5 per child. Pre-registration is required. For details call 440-8802.

Summer Movie Fun - May through July
Harkins Theatres has brought back some of Hollywood’s best family films to keep kids entertained and cool during the summer. Kids can enjoy a movie a week for 10 weeks, for less than $1 per film. Cinemark & Regal cinemas are offering similar programs as well.

Hooked on Fishing” FREE Kids Fishing Clinic – May through August
Kids 5-15 can learn casting, knot-tying, fish ID and more in this FREE clinic hosted by OKC Parks, the Police Athletic League and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Permits not needed during class times. Equipment provided. Hours: 8:00 – 10:30 a.m. Registration required. Call 316-FISH to register.

These are taking place all summer:

Free Kids Workshop at The Home Depot
This is available all year on the first Saturday of every month from 10am to Noon at all Home Depot stores. We did this with Tyler this month and he LOVED it.

Kids Bowl Free
Two free games of bowling (shoe rental required) all summer long. Check here to find a participating bowling alley near you.

Play in the Park
It is not a substitute for daycare, but provides a place where kids can participate in adult-supervised, structured activities during summer break. Sports, crafts, educational games and performing arts are a few of the activities offered by trained staff. Free breakfast and lunch are available for participants at selected sites – provided by the Oklahoma City Public School District’s Child Nutrition Summer Food Program.

Spraygrounds
Spraygrounds are open daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. These interactive water play parks are a great way to take a break from the summertime heat. Kids of all ages will love to spray, spritz and slosh their way through these fun water play environments. Take a turn on the water cannon, get drenched with a downpour from the tilting water bucket, or stand under mushroom water curtain. Whatever you prefer, spraygrounds are the playground for summertime cool. Click here for a map of where they are located in the city.

Summer Reading Programs
Borders, Half Price Books, Chuck E Cheese, and Barnes and Noble all have summer reading programs offering incentives to your kiddos who read. The bookstores also have regular story times and activities for the kiddos on the weekends. Click the links above for more info.

Drive-In Movies
The Beacon Drive-In in Guthrie is open every night and the cost is $4 for adults and $2 for kids. Here in OKC we have the Winchester Drive-In. At the Winchester, children 3 to 10 years old pay $2 and 11 through adult pays $5. Much more inexpensive than going to the theater and you get to sit outside! Bring snacks in a cooler! It’s lots of fun. Click the respective links for movie schedules.

Fun at the Library
There is stuff going on almost everyday at the metro library branches this summer. Too many to list, so for a calendar click here.

Okay, well, that is all I have for now. I’m always on the hunt for more so I may post more stuff to do as I find it. Now you see how we stay so busy!!

One last thing, I highly recommend picking up the membership to the science museum and paying the little extra for the Oklahoma Museum Network. We’ve already been enough times that it has paid for itself several times over. The OK Museum Network covers admission for any 5 people to the Jasmine Moran Children’s Muesum in Seminole; Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse in Enid; the Museum of the Great Plains in Lawton; and the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. Road trips!