DAY TRIP

Our family loves to take day trips. So I thought I would list and link some of the places we have been over the past few years that we would recommend. They are all driveable from OKC, sorry all you non Okies. We are always looking for new places to hit so please let us know of any we should check out.

ANIMAL ADVENTURES
These are outside of your normal trip to the OKC or Tulsa zoo.

Safari's Interactive Animal Sanctuary
This exotic animal park in Broken Arrow has it all. You get to feed everything. Lots of fun for everyone.

G W Exotic Animal Park
Tons of big cats in Wynnewood. If you hit it at the right time of year you might get to bottle feed an animal or 2.

Tiger Safari
Tuttle is much closer than the other 2 exotic parks but not quite as big. Good for a quick trip.

Little River Zoo
This zoo outside of Norman is a bit more for eduction with guided tours. Still a good time.

Oklahoma Aquarium
Jenks gets us Okies as close as we can get to sharks without leaving the state.

OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

Red Rock Canyon State Park
Very cool scenic hike just West of OKC in Hinton. Bring a picnic lunch and make it a day

Alabaster Caverns State Park
One of my favorites. Fairly long drive to Freedom, but the tour of the cavern is well worth it and the hiking is great. If you head this way make plans to go between Weds-Sat and drop by Cafe Bahnhof in Waynoka for dinner it is the best German food this side of the pond. they are only open for dinner and only from Weds- Sat.

MUSEUM ADVENTURES

Jasmine Moran Children's Museum
Just a short drive to Seminole and great for younger kids. Lots of interactive educational items to play with.

Leonardo's
Another great interactive learning museum in Enid. Go on a cool day and play outside in the huge castle.

Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
Dinosaurs in Norman. What more can I say

If you haven't taken you kids on an adventure lately, try one of these and I am sure you won't be disappointed.

FRIDAY UNSCRIPTED

Figured we could use another round of demotivation posters. They just crack me up. Have a good weekend.

OVERLY NEEDY (R)

Since I have 5 or 6 readers now I thought I would rewrite and replay one of my first posts to get some additional comments on it.

Roll mental camera…

A now ex-employee of mine was always broke and one day away from having their utilities shut off. I felt sorry for her because she had young children so anytime she asked for help I gave her money.

After many hand outs I finally started looking deeper. I noticed that she would eat fast food everyday for lunch and always had money for cigarettes. I also learned that her husband was a painter but rarely worked.

So I decided to stop giving the hand out and gave her a hand up. I told her that I could hook her husband up with a solid painting job and that I would give her money until then if she would bring lunch from home and stop buying cigarettes.

I never heard from her husband and she kept buying cigarettes and never asked for money again. But even after giving her that hand up, that she didn’t take, I still felt guilty. The Difficult People series really showed me that sometimes it is better to let someone fall and stop enabling.

Is it time to let someone fall in your life so they can learn how to stand?

Are you the one that needs to be let go of?

And the question that is hardest for me to answer

When do you know that someone has crossed the line from real need to freeloader status?

GET OUT OF MY WAY

9 year old, kid pitch baseball, is a game that is dominated by a bunch of walks. But not last night

Roll mental camera...

Connor came up to bat and was very tense right at first. Standing very straight legged and stiff, he had taken a few balls from the pitcher but had also swung at a few. So he was now if a full count of 3 balls and 2 strikes.

Since I am his coach I called out to him "calm down and bend your knees and just relax. Stop thinking about it and just let it happen."


The next pitch was down the middle and he cranked it to the outfield for an in the park homerun.

Funny what you can do when you get your brain out of the way

DOG KIND OF LOVE

Yea the title is odd but bear with me.

Roll mental camera...

Just sitting here petting one of my dogs named Bruno. He is 1 of 3 basset beagle mixes that are part of our family, and the only boy. I was thinking what his view of us could be.

We have done so many things to him that he doesn't enjoy. We have bathed him, put a collar on him, stuffed pills down his throat, put ointment in his ears, taken him to the vet for all kinds of shots and last but not least cut off his "tenders" as Cade would call them.

But Bruno still loves us unconditionally and will show you by tongue bathing your face if you get too close.

Strange, because if someone cut off my "tenders" I am not sure we would be on speaking terms. Most people have never wronged me but I still find it hard to give unconditional love. God gives it to us so I need to learn to give it back.

I THINK MY ONE PRAYER WOULD BE "MAKE ME UNCONDITIONAL"

Are you good at giving unconditional love?

Who, besides God, unconditionally loves you?

How does your favorite pet show affection?

See you in 24 after my blog fast has ended

CHANNEL SURFING

The power of the remote control, it is how I imagine a jedi night feels holding a light saber. Now if I could just learn the force enough to change the channels with my mind when the batteries go dead.

Roll mental camera…

The other night I was lying in bed with the remote and Shelly was frustrated by the sheer velocity of channel surfing I was doing. When I did stop on something it only lasted until a commercial and then I was gone. That really drives Shelly nuts, but hey I might miss something on the other channels.

Women, as I have come to understand, like to view a program in its entirety. Men on the other hand want to watch 43 programs at the same time in small chunks. We may not see much of any of them but we can’t ignore the fact that God blessed us with ninja like remote abilities. I digress…

I think the true case of our flipping is our lack of patience. If the show doesn’t grab us right away we are gone. We have no time to let it develop.

Sounds like my walk with Christ 90% of the time. The worship song didn’t grab me so I detach. The sermon didn’t have a cool catch phrase so it is in one ear and out the other. This part of the bible is boring so I skip it.

I have just wanted it all to talk to me and draw me in. I didn’t want to have to make it mean something. I need to work on putting down my mental remote, try staying on the channel until the program ends, and finding the meaning for myself.

Do you find yourself detaching when things don’t draw you in?

Do you need to put down your remote?

Watch a whole show or show hop like crazy?

FRIDAY UNSCRIPTED

Since my madlib went over so well (ha ha) I thought I would bring back another round of The Far Side. Enjoy and have a great weekend

BAD WORDS 2

The post yesterday reminded me of a post Robin had a while back (check it out here). I thought I might put the "sassy spray" to use in more than one way.

Roll mental camera...

I went to the store and bought the vinegar and the spray bottle. This for a Wal-mart novice like myself took way to long. But I thought I heard two white girls speaking Chinese in the next Isle over so I kept getting sidetracked. I think it was these two. Just kidding ladies.

I figured I would use it on myself as well as the kids but when I sprayed myself I rather enjoyed it and if I would have had some veggies it would have made a salad. So I guess I will keep looking for a "sassy spray" for me.

The boys on the other hand got a taste test so they would know what they were getting into if they let their mouthes get the best of them.

Watching them get the shivers and start drooling was so worth it. I needed a video of it. I know I am a little sick in the head but I think we found our cure for them at least.

Anyone want to try the sassy sauce with me to cure your foul mouth?

BAD WORDS

My parents were fairly conservative except when I would really hack them off. Then it was a different story (see this post). My mother was fairly naive about cuss words and slang in general. So you were never quite sure when she would use a word that she didn’t quite understand. My case in point…

Roll mental camera…

I was in 8^th grade and my mother taught at the same school I attended. One day I ran by her class between classes to borrow a few bucks. As I started to leave my mom kept talking and I kept walking. I wasn’t really paying attention until I was about 10 feet down the crowded hall and I heard my mother yell,

“Roger, you queer bait, get back here and talk to me.”

She had no idea what the term queer bait meant. Needless to say I took some ridicule over that for a while. I actually had to explain it to her that day after school. She didn’t mean to use a derogatory word, she just thought it meant goof ball or something.

My point is I can’t say I am naive to my kids. I know better. But even when I don’t cuss in front of them I find myself replacing it with a word like “Freaking”. Connor repeated it the other night after I said it and asked me what I meant by it.

Regardless of how harmless the actual word is the way we say it can make it a cuss word just the same. I need to work on that.

Do you have any “replacement” cuss words that you use that don’t sound any less vulgar coming out of your kid’s mouth?

Aren’t we still just as guilty replacing the cuss word but using its replacement in the same way?

Did your parents ever embarrass you with something they said?

The Tuesday Fast

Shelly has already taken the scissors to the boys hair in hopes of improving upon my masterpieces. Definitely not as cool as when I was finished with them and she is still not happy. I think I will be stuck paying for hair cuts in the future.

The lightning storm tonight was awesome. I love to just sit and watch them, especially when you don't have to worry about tornadoes. Oklahoma really needs to find a way to harness that electricity.

I will be blog fasting again tomorrow so I will check in 24 hours from now. I will be praying for all of you other fasters as well.

SHAVED

Well maybe not shaved but pretty close.

Roll mental camera...

I talked Shelly into allowing me to cut the boys hair this weekend. My mother used to cut mine all the time when I was young so I figured I would give it a shot. I think the only reason Shelly let me is because it is summer break and dad's day.

I put the #4 guard on the clippers and pretty much buzzed Connor's whole head. Cade got a cool faux hawk to complement his, lets just say ornery ways. I am not sure Shelly was impressed. Sorry honey but it is a bit funny watching you squirm every time you look at them.

It will grow out soon I promise...

Did your parents ever cut your hair?

Was the outcome good or bad?

I think Cade likes his more than Connor does.

FRIDAY UNSCRIPTED

You remember Madlibs? Those fill in the word, funny stories? Well if you don’t you missed out. So take a trip back to your childhood with my attempt at a madlib. If you don’t like it you can go (adjective) in a lake.

Write down your answers before you move on to the story because it just won’t be funny without them.

Favorite type of pet?

Favorite large animal?

Clown name?

Favorite veggie?

Favorite fast food spot?

Favorite vacation city?

Type of reptile?

Favorite body part?

Favorite website?

Favorite sport?

Favorite gem stones?

Favorite sweet?

Now once you have written down your answers you can fill them in as you read the story. Read it like a suspenseful private eye drama. Not sure how this will work for you feed readers so you might have to actually log on to see it. To see the story, move your cursor over the 1^st # sign and then left click and hold and drag to the 2^nd # sign.

I didn’t want you cheating before you answered the questions.

#

I rubbed my lucky (pet)’s foot before climbing out of my (large animal). I was searching for that (clown name) that owed me (veggie), lots of (veggie). I had tracked him to a seedy (fast food) in (vacation city). It was filled with every type of (reptile) known to man.

I walked up to him and grabbed him by his (body part). He screamed “(website)” at me as he tried to escape my grasp. Not sure what he meant by that and frankly didn’t care.

As I dragged him to the door he spun and kicked me square in my (sport). My knees buckled and I dropped to the floor holding my bruised (gem stones).

With a high pitched voice a yelled “I will give 100 (sweet) to whoever stops than man.” My offer failed and he got away. Who knew they were all diabetic.

#

Shelly is a diabetic and gave me permission to use that punch line. Have a good weekend

BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they say “I tried my hardest” but that only goes so far. I might have been born at night (which I wasn’t), but it wasn’t last night.

Roll mental camera…

2 weeks after one of my typists came back from a 3 week medical leave her production was still only 20% of the standard. She said she was trying as hard as she could but… but… but… I had given her almost 2 full weeks so I couldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt any longer.

From my desk I can view any employee’s computer so the next day I logged into hers. Out of the next 3 hours I watched her spend over an hour looking at a photographer’s website, over an hour on myspace.com and the rest of the time reading and responding to joke emails on her personal email account.

Now if she would have been looking at my wife’s photography website I would have forgiven her, but she wasn’t (kidding of course).

I confronted her with that the next morning and low and behold she hit the standard with no problem. Amazing how getting called out like that can miraculously cure what ails you.

I hear myself pray all the time, “God I am trying so hard but…” Could you imagine if God whipped out his bull horn and called us out every time we weren’t hitting the standard? I think His bull horn for me would only be silent when I slept.

How far are you away from the standard you think God has for you?

Ever been busted with your “hand in the cookie jar” so to speak?

What is your favorite “can’t pull the wool over my eyes” saying?

COMIC RELIEF

I was and still am what they call in the business, “the comic relief”. Not sure who they are or what business they are in but it just sounded good.

Roll mental camera…

When I was in high school I was always one to lead the homecoming skits, roasts or any other adventure that was humorous. I played many characters from Saturday Night Live including the “pathological liar”, “landshark”, “Hans and Frans”, “guy on the news desk”, and “Samurai Deli”.

I also spent homecoming week my senior year playing the role of Elwood Blues along side my female counterpart who played Jake Blues. These characters were of course from one of the funniest movies of all times, “The Blues Brothers”.

We actually lip synced (with all of the dancing and the flip) “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” from the movie during the homecoming pep rally. We of course won the competition against the other classes. I actually have a video of most of these characters and skits and if I can figure out how to get it from VHS to my computer I will post them

I have always felt that laughter is the best medicine. I have usually always been the first to try and bring levity into any depressed situation.

But until recently I always thought that I had to leave the humor out of the conversation when I was talking about faith and God. I thought you had to talk serious to get someone to listen or I might offend them. I am actually finding that I can talk to people and touch them far deeper when I can bring some humor and smiles into the conversation.

This blog and the comments have really helped me be able to tie in a good message with humorous stories. So thanks

What is your style for talking about your faith?

Do you worry your style might scare someone off that needs Christ?

NOT GOOD

I am so not good at fasting. I can eat lunch and not eat again until lunch the next day when I am busy and don't think about it. But when I know I am fasting my belly starts rumbling the minute my feet hit the floor in the morning. Then all I do is dream about food all day and can't focus on anything, let alone God.

So with the OnePrayer fast starting today I have been dreading the fast. But I have come to the conclusion that fasting doesn't have to be from food. Please fill me in if that conclusion is flawed or if anything that would usually occupy your time can be fasted from.

So I have decided to fast from reading blogs for the day. That eats up time that I can spend in prayer. So I wrote this last night and will check back in 24 hours from now. But please comment so I will have something to read when I log back in.

For those of you fasting in all sorts of different ways good luck.

What do you fast from, is it always food related?

What is your hardest fast?

Are you able to really use that time to connect with God?

GRADUATION DAY

Going to a graduation always makes me think of my own, both in high school and college. They were lightyears apart in every way.

Roll mental camera...

I graduated from a small high school with a class of 59 students in 1990. I graduated from Oklahoma State in 1995 (yes I was on the 5 year plan) with a class big enough to fill the bottom of Gallaghr-Iba Arena.

High school consisted of small classes with no more than 10 or 15 students in them. College I was lucky to have less than 200 in a class.

Teachers were there to help if you needed in high school. In college you are pretty much on your own because those office hours the professors kept were strangly hard to schedule.

But really today is just a get to know you day. Now that you know a little about me it is your turn if you are brave enough to tell us when you graduated. If not then just answer the others.

What year did you garduate high school or college or both?

How many students did you graduate with?

How different were high school and college for you?

FRIDAY UNSCRIPTED

I hope you guys like "The Far Side" comics as much as I do. I thought I would bring back some of my favorites for all to enjoy. If you are too young to remember these I am truly sorry and you should go pick up one of the books. Have a great weekend

SUM IT ALL UP

Today we are headed out to Frisco Texas to see my nephew graduate from high school. But before I go I wanted to share a picture Shelly took out at Lifestock that just summed up what an incredible evening that was. To see hundreds of people all get baptized at the same time while listening to awesome worship was very powerful.

I hope you get the same feeling from this picture that we did.

MMMMM TASTY

Don’t you hate it when what you thought was a cute little fluffy sheep turns out the be the wolf.

Roll metal camera…

Before our group met Monday night at Freedom Farm the guys walk us around the farm. A few weeks ago they had gotten rid of their dogs because they were afraid they would eat the chickens they had just acquired. So I was surprised to see a new puppy in with the chickens.

The puppy was living in the fence where the chicken and now 2 young turkeys were kept. They said they wanted the puppy to grow up around the birds so it wouldn’t eat them when it got older.

We went inside and came back out an hour or so later to find only one turkey. There was still a wing and some feathers left of the other one but not a whole turkey. The rest of that turkey was now causing the new puppy’s belly to bloat. Man that puppy sure looked happy and pleasantly full. May have been his last meal at the farm so I hope he enjoyed it.

I have had lots of cute little "puppies" in my life that have turned wolf on me the minute I turned my back. Finances have been that wolf for Shelly and I lately. We have been budgeting ourselves so tightly so we can give to the church and to many other causes we feel strongly about. But the budget has been so tight it has kept Shelly and I from spending anything on us. So we need a date, or a weekend, to spend some time together and just be husband and wife. Sometimes the budget will just have to make room for some spiritual, husband to wife, healing.

What is your wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Give us some ideas of a cheap but enjoyable get away that is drivable from OKC?

Hey Natalie since you are down one dog do you want to adopt the cute puppy from the farm?

THE BIG DIPPER

Stomach up in your throat, legs a bit wobbly, heart pounding out of your chest, why we love roller coasters I will never know.

Roll mental camera…

If you grew up around Oklahoma and are in your mid 30s or older you probably remember Springlake Amusement Park and the ultimate of rides for that time THE BIG DIPPER.

I remember gripping my dad’s hand as we climbed into the seats for the first time. Looking at him and asking him if we were going to be OK. I was scared to death but dad was there to comfort me.

Same thing was true on Sunday with my son, but this time the ride was to a whole new level. The old wood ride wouldn’t have even gotten my son’s blood flowing let alone got him scared. No, we had to ride on THE ERUPTION. This beast of a ride is nothing more than huge wires and poles that launches the big metal cage you are strapped into about 300 feet in the air a couple of time.

The ride was different but the look and the questions were the same. I was just glad I was there to calm him down and be his strength. I think I need that to help remind me who my strength is in now.

Do you know where your strength is?

Did you have a favorite ride that scared you as a kid?

LIFE STOCK

Spent all Sunday at Lifestock and got to watch more people get baptized than I have ever seen before. It was amazing but I am worn out. I will catch up tomorrow