A Manly Man Birthday...

Last week was my husband's birthday and I, being an occasional great wife, let him pick what he wanted to do.  Well, surprise surprise, he wanted to go have breakfast at Cattleman's Steakhouse.  You know, 'cuz nothing says "breakfast" like a big, bleedin' T-Bone if you are an Oklahoma guy!  If you've never been to Cattleman's (which I hadn't) it is actually a pretty cool experience.

This place has been here for about 100 years (literally) and has been visited by movie stars, food critics, and a few presidents.  I don't know if they have EVER changed the decor so be prepared for tan-ish/green-ish vinyl and big-haired waitresses who call you "honey" and treat their jobs as an absolute art.  I could barely let my coffee cup touch the table before Lisa was there to "warm it up" for me.  I will admit that there was alot of eye-rolling on my part at his insistence on going to a steakhouse at 8 a.m. but I ended up really enjoying it.  Hubby got the corned beef hash and I got the breakfast burrito.  Both were humongous and came with pretty much every breakfast carb. offering that you can think of.  The biscuits and gravy were particularly amazing.  The kids split a bacon and eggs type meal and ate it all plus some of those amazing biscuits with gravy.  I'm pretty sure they ate more than any pre-schooler should!  Your doctor probably wouldn't reccommend going there on a regular basis but it was definitely worth the trip for some amazing down home cookin' and a slice of Western history.

After our 4,000 calorie breakfast, we went to one of Hubby's favorite places, the Myriad Botanical Gardens.  He particuarly likes going there in the dead of winter.  Sort of like a faux tropical vacation.  The property features acres of outdoor gardens and water features, which have recently been beautifully renovated.  Unfortunately, they "renovated" right over the parking lot so we had to circle the block several times trying to park, but that's really my only complaint.  The centerpiece of the gardens (and why you go there in February) is the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, basically a mini indoor rainforest in the middle of the city.  It's just beautiful in there with waterfalls, orchids, and an amazing array of tropical plants and butterflies.  What is really great is the way they have made each level of the rainforest accessible, from the ground floor to the tops of the tall palms.  Hubby has been taking me here since we were dating and I still find something different every time.  You can print off a coupon here.  You can also leave it on your kitchen counter like I did.  And they want the paper coupon, they haven't bought into the whole mobile coupons convenience yet.  Oh well, it's only a dollar.

Back outside, they have added a separate children's garden with lots of play areas, mosiacs and really beautiful gardens.  The best part is that it is entirely fenced so you can let you guard down a bit.  It's sort of a modern take on a playground, everything is very geometric and simple.  The kids loved it and could have cared less that it was February.  We had such a good time running and climbing (all of us).  I can't imagine how beatiful it will be when things are actually growing and blooming in there!

As if that wasn't enough, I cooked his favorite dinner, Shepherd's Pie.  I even let him talk me into using actual white potatoes instead of sweet potatoes.  Seriously, I think I should earn Wife of the Year credit, don't you? Or maybe just a gym membership after that day of eating!

A Christmas Tradition

We buy real trees.  Always have.  In many ways, it's completely ridiculous, not to mention messy.  For a logical list of reasons why, you can check here.   But the "real" reason is just because I love it.  One of my favorite Christmas activities has always been heading out into the forest (actually a "choose and cut" farm, we're not that rustic), picking our tree, and sawing the thing down.

When I was a child, my dad and I would go in his completely-restored, green 1954 Chevrolet pickup truck.  I loved feeling once a year like I was in a Norman Rockwell painting.  Now we just take Hubby's regular old truck, but it's still a fun family activity.




So last weekend, we headed to Goddard Tree Farm to find our tree and bring it home.  It's a good thing last year's hats and mittens still fit because it was cold outside.  We saw a few "Charlie Brown trees" and a few "monster tall" trees.  The kids chased each other around and around the trees while Hubby and I haggled over size and shape.  You see, he's concerned with things like "How heavy is this thing?  How straight is the trunk?  Living room or dining room?" and so on while I just want the "perfect" tree.  Finally we settled on the right one to bring home and sawed him down.  My son seems to have acquired the innate need all men have to stand and observe other men doing work.  Sigh...  My daughter was right there hitching up her sleeves to help a guy out though.  Push, sister!

Once the tree was hauled home, it turns out that he was too big for our dining room, a good spot for the kids because they tend to leave it alone there.  Soooo, we set him up right in the living room and hoped for the best.  So far, the "best" is a semi-permanent ornament triage in which Hubby the super glue ninja must repair 2-3 ornaments a day!  Praying for my own sanity to get me through the next month.

Merry Christmas from my crazy to yours!

Just Us Grown-Ups

Hubby and I, B.C. (before children) had a pretty good hobby visiting local wineries.  If you don't live in Oklahoma, you probably didn't know it but we have a pretty great climate for grape growing and a nice selection of wineries all over the state.  Here is a site with a little more information about wine producers in the state.  We have a couple of favorites and one happens to be just a few miles down the road from us.  So, when my mom unexpectedly showed up at our door over the weekend (she lives 100 miles away but these random pop-ins are not unusual) we decided to take her up on the offer of "couple time."

The fall leaves are beautiful here right now (it's like some sort of rainbow of promise after the crazy drought/heat wave/tornado/blizzard/earthquake kind of  year we've been having).  So off we went down a lovely country highway to Native Spirits Winery.  Beautiful fall leaves, warm and breezy air, the vines in the background, perfect!  We settled in and readied our palates for some lip-smacking yummy wine.  This winery offers a pretty large variety, you will see the usual players like chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot, and reisling (they make one of my favorites).  In addition, they like to experiment with some more unusal fruit and grape blends.  This time, he had a merlot blended with blueberry flavor to create an interesting dessert type wine.  Sweet wines are just not my thing, but they do sell around here very well and he has several quite popular ones.  After some sipping and sampling we settled on a few of our favorites and headed back into the fall leaves.

Sweet and simple, but it's these little trips that seem to renew the spirit, in a world where you often refer to your husband as "Daddy" and not in a fun way!  It has taken me a little while to come out of the fog of babyhood (hey, I had two babies in less than two years) but I am starting to remember lots of the fun stuff Hubby and I used to do.  Today a wine tour, tomorrow maybe we'll make it back to the symphony!

A Day at the Museum

Today was the grand opening celebration of the Stuart Wing of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.  I've been pretty excited about going and the heavens actually aligned for all of us to be free on this beautiful Fall day!  Off we went to the OU campus to search for a parking space with all of the other alumni families wanting to relive their college days (or something like that).  On the way across campus we came across a favorite statue and had to stop and tickle some enormous toes.  Luckily they didn't wake him up!

Once inside the museum, we had to take a quick tour through some old favorites before checking out the new stuff.  Truly, the new wing is a work of art itself.  It is simple, modern and soothing with large wooden stairways with hand-carved details and a three-story wall of slim cables reminiscent of a waterfall.  A short video we watched explained the architect's vision of tying in elements from the earth such as wood, sky, water and air.  And it absolutely works!  One of my favorite parts is the glass wall of pottery through which you can see classrooms in the art school.  It is an important reminder of the true purpose of this wonderful university.

The museum houses an extensive and diverse collection, including modern, Native, and ancient art along with an astounding impressionist collection and many sculptures.  In the Stuart wing, there is space to showcase some of the museum's extensive Native art and artifacts collection.  My daughter loved the stained glass on the wall and I hear that it is truly something to see driving by at night.  Between that and the crazy-eyed mustang, it's a wonder there aren't more wrecks on Boyd!  

You must see these colors in person!

For extra fun, there was a professor playing native flute music and a visiting artist in one of the galleries demonstrating pottery staining.  I'll have to admit that my little ones had the occasional crying, "falling on the floor" moment at being asked to just wonder around and look with eyeballs instead of hands but overall they did really well.  This is a museum I highly recommend.  If you are slightly attention-span-deprived like me this museum works because each gallery houses something completely different than the last.  Whatever your particular art tastes may be, you will find something representative of it here.  Plus, admission is only $5 most days and is free every Tuesday and on many other days throughout the year (like today).  Get out and check out your local museum!

Sculpture Walk

The weather this week has been so lovely that I really wanted to do something fun outside.  We are lucky enough to live very close to an awesome and beautiful university campus, the University of Oklahoma.  For those of you not in Oklahoma, you may be used to hearing the word "football" after that particular title but I assure you that there is a lot of other great stuff about OU, which is saying a lot considering I am an alum of Oklahoma State University!

Annnnnyyyyway, one of my favorite things about OU is the amazing public art, including a huge variety of sculptures, intricate gardens, fountains, ect.  Some of it is beautiful in that classical sense.  Some of it is very modern and abstract.  Some of it is even controversial, but the mix is what makes it all the more interesting.  So I gathered up cameras, snacks, friends, and off we headed for our very own self-guided "sculpture tour."  We started with the ballerina sculpture, 'cuz we had two four year old princesses in tow!  Pirouette, girls, pirouette!

Next up, we headed down the road to check out a sculpture of a Native American woman, then did a tour of the rose garden outside of the library.  Of course, we couldn't just go past the library!  Ahhhh, the lovely smell of books, books, books!  Nerd, you say?  Yeah, I came to grips with that long ago.  The "old section" of Bizzell Library is, in my opinion, the most beautiful building on campus.  There's all sorts of crazy stuff going on with that building; it's a work of art itself!  We visited with my former professor/boss from when I was in library school (yes, there is such thing) and then headed back out to explore.

Peek a Boo!

All in all, we probably ran across about 20 sculptures and hidden little gardens, not to mention just checking out the cool architecture.  The kids ran around outside and see some cool stuff, the mommies strolled and chatted (with a bit of kiddo chasing thrown in) and we all had a fun time.  This is one activity that is definitely going into the regular rotation!

A Walk In the Woods

Yesterday was gorgeous here in OK.  And considering the "heat dome" that we have been living under lately, it basically feels like we have been released from prison!  Needless to say, we were ready to get out and enjoy the lovely weather.  Hubby is more outdoorsy than me and he suggested going on a hike around the lake.  So, I packed us a picnic lunch and off we went.

We were on the road about 15 minutes before my daughter started whining for lunch and wondering aloud why we had been driving for "hours and hours"  but we were not about to let that deter us.  Hubby even stopped at the ranger station and got us a map so that we did not get lost in the woods.  We had been cruising around the lake area for a while at that point trying to figure out where the dang hiking trails were but still, props to the man for stopping for directions!  We actually ended up finding a pretty great trail.  Great at least for people dragging a wagon full of kids.  And off we went into the woods!

Bugs aside, it was a fun little adventure.  We saw two deer, several prickly bear cacti, and lots and lots of spider webs.  At one point, we came upon a dead tree that had fallen completely over the trail.  The kids had fun watching Daddy heave and haul the thing out of the way enough for us to pass.  I could have offered to help, but then who would  have kept an eye on the children?

After about an hour, the kids were officially done and we headed off to find a good picnic spot.  The lake is super low right now so we were able to find a nice flat section of beach (typically under water) to spread out our blanket and have lunch.   I don't know about your kids, but mine love to eat outside!  My daughter even insisted that we eat on a blanket on the ground rather than at a picnic table like civilized people. 

After lunch we walked along the beach looking at sailboats and shells and enjoying the breeze while I tried to not think about the many germs they were probably touching and tracking onto their shoes.  Germs or not, it was fun to get out and enjoy some fresh air on a beautiful day, and not worry about heat stroke!  I'm learning that if the weather is moderate, I'd better be enjoying every second!

Speaking of fun kids' outings at the lake, Hubby took the kids to the Lake Thunderbird Nature Center last weekend while I was at work.  Apparently they have lots of cool displays of local flora and fauna along with occasional children's activities, classes and crafts.  Worth checking out if you are in the area and looking for something different to do!  

Garden Tour

Last week on our visit to the farmer's market, my daughter insisted that we visit the Cleveland County Demonstration Garden.  It is on the West side of the parking lot from the farmer's market.  The last time we visited they were sadly recovering from the crazy hail storm that damaged so much of Norman in the Spring.  I couldn't believe how lush and beautiful it is now!  Clearly, they are better gardeners than me, but then again, most people are.  My daughter ran straight for the "tepee," a cone of string beans with a tiny bench inside.  She even allowed her brother to sit with her this time.

This garden is a great place to take children and teach them about agriculture, giving back, and sustainable living.  There is always a gardener there who is happy to show you around, provide information, and even a fresh snack or two.  All of the food grown here is donated to Food and Shelter for Friends and the gardeners are all volunteers.  They have a "worm hotel" which my kids find fascinating.  Apparently worm poop is some prized stuff for gardeners!  On this tour, we sampled purple okra, lemon basil, fresh peanuts (who knew they grew in the ground?) and of course, water straight from a garden hose.  Ah, the childhood bliss of it all!
For now, the demonstration garden is only open on Saturdays (8-12) but after the County Fair it will start being open on Wednesdays again.  Check it out, it truly is a "hidden gem."

PS-It goes without saying that you should check out the farmer's market while you are there.  Check out this carrot that my daughter picked out:

This bad boy weighed in at approximately 1.5 lbs!  And Mr. Farmer threw in a couple of little guys too just in case "that big one ain't sweet enough for you."  There is something about my rosy-cheeked girl, she loves those farmers and they love her!