Pour Jons

This coffee shop isn't just any old coffee shop, folks!

Talk about combining great food and atmosphere!

She's so talented, friends. And she happens to be my Dad's girlfriend's daughter. (Mouthful, yes.)

Seeing as I have ZERO- ZIP- NADA musical talent, I greatly appreciate those who do.

Especially impressive to watch someone play guitar, harmonica, and sing.

Love Pour Jon's new vinyl shop, too! They even have the little 45s! And, believe it or not, I actually own a record player, and bought a few (including a record from the Rocky soundtrack, for my Man.)

Also. I want a brick wall like that in my home.

How fun are these two?! Makes me want to go dye my hair all mermaid-like!

And, of course, my sister, feigning a fall out the open two-story window. Niiiiice, Julie.

 If you live in my area, and haven't been to Pour Jons yet, you have to go!!

I highly recommend the French Toast Coffee. //drool

Leaf Rubbings and Jump!Zone

We've started on our standard fall leaf rubbings around here, to add to our Nature Notebooks.
Leaf rubbings just never get old. :)


And here are a few pics from Jump!Zone a few weeks ago, for my nephew's birthday:

My sister and I were pretty freaked out by the huge shark!

Hobbs State Park

On Labor Day we spent the day at Hobbs State Park with Papaw. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day!

We even made it just in time for the snake talk! YAY!

Look at the picture below. Which snake is venomous?

Here's a trick to help you remember:

If red touches yellow, it can kill a fellow,

but if red touches black, it's a friend of Jack.

So, you see, the one on the right is venomous.

Other things to look for:

A non-venomous snake has a head shaped like your thumb, but a venomous snake has a more pointed end, and poofier "cheeks" (which is where they store their venom apparently .)

You can also tell by their eyes. Venomous snakes have slitted eyes...although I'd never want to get that close to tell the difference!

Here are my three little guys who got in line to pet the king snake. :D Good times!

half-done journaling Tulsa Zoo

Last week, we also went to the Tulsa Zoo. And it was only 105 degrees that day. Sheesh.
In spite of the heat warnings, we had a really great time. We arrived right when they opened, at 9am, and looked around at the animals outside until sweat began pouring down our backs. Then we hit all the air conditioned buildings. It worked out well, the place wasn't at all crowded (imagine that) and we brought plenty of water with us.
On the way home I started another Family Day journal page to capture my thoughts and memories. These eventually will be added to our photo album (when I get pictures developed again!)



I have a thing for birds...especially birds who look like they've dunked their heads in paint.

And guess what the Arctic building has now! A grizzly bear! Yeah, it totally doesn't make sense, and I'm sure they're in the process (always in the process) of redoing that building.

The bear climbed right up to the window, much to the boys' delight.

I'm trying to be more creative in my memory-storing. The kids have treasure boxes, for their dedication outfits, hospital bracelets, etc. And we've made vacation jars, complete with sand and pictures, when we actually took vacations. When we traveled to the beach last year, we even gathered our own shells to make jewelry. But journaling pages are so easy. For everyone. I'm encouraging the kids to at least draw one picture of their day, and I'll add that to our photo albums, too. They don't need much encouragement, and I've received at least 5 beautiful drawings from each of them, about our days last week. :) They've been coloring theirs with crayons and colored pencils, and I plan to use watercolor on mine. Btw, if you plan to do the same, make sure to draw with Sharpie pens, so the ink won't bleed.

Field Trip pages

So, my Hubs was on vacation this week (plant shutdown, really, without pay, so it wasn't exactly a vacation,) sooo we tried to pack in a lot of (cheap) family activities. Hence the belatedness of my posting. On the 7th, we headed out to Devil's Den.



We had planned to hike the trail until we got all sweaty, and then head to the water.


The picture below was taken about 10 minutes before NatureMan (9-yellow shorts) fell, running downhill, and cut his knees, elbow, and hands.

I couldn't tell how badly he was hurt, with all the blood blocking my view, so we rushed him to the visitor's center for first aid. I only carry a few band-aids in my backpack, and that just wasn't going to cut it.
We had some excellent help, rangers that got him cleaned up, doctored, and bandaged. Poor kid.
Creek play was out for him. And out for all of us, seeing as how the water is SO low, there was no creek. ;/
So Fred took the kids out on the lookout...and then we drove all the way back home.



But I'm thankful for...
time spent in the van, talking to my Man...
peaceful time traveling with all of the kids, while they played games and drew pictures...
the time I had to do artwork, with no pressure for anything else...
a way to hold these memories in ways I know how...
special treats when we got home, for good behaviour...
decent attitudes in spite of the circumstances...
help for my NatureMan when he needed it...
a chance to show the kids that memories can be built and a good time had, even when things don't go as planned.

Special Guests

Guess who came to stay with me?? My dear friend Suzanne, from The Joyful Chaos!!
Her family arrived on Wednesday, and stayed until early Saturday morning. I need to write more about the visit, but afraid I'll get all teary right now.

I miss her already.


Some of my kids, Julie's, some of Suzanne's, and Marietta's daughter

The children all got along flawlessly. If you read her blog for parenting tips/ advice, keep it up. :) I {love} her kids, and how they interact with others. The law of the land is Kindness.

Overcoming fears one Wendy Adler event at a time. Suzanne ventured forward on the LookOut at Natural Falls State Park, over a 77-foot waterfall. She braved the tree-top bridge through the trail. She squashed the urge to bolt when a leech appeared at the creek. I'm proud of you, girl! :D

This baby stole my heart. They all did.

More later.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
— Dr. Seuss

Inside Hobbs Visitors' Center

Just a sneak peak, inside Hobbs Visitors' Center. The link will lead you to more information, a map, pictures, and trail guides. The visitors' center isn't huge, but it's very well done! They pack a lot into a fairly small building, and it's certainly worth a visit. My fellow Nature Notebookers, we're going to visit these trails in a few weeks!

Honeysuckle

When we went to Lake Fayetteville a week or so ago, my middle boys got interested in the honeysuckle that was covering every tree and fence on the trail. (Never mind that it's also growing all over our back fence at home.) For the first time, they wanted to try it. YAY! Another thing I can share with my kids, from my childhood.
After showing them several times how to pinch at the bottom of the flower, and slowly pull the "thread" through to the end, pushing the nectar out the bottom, they got the hang of it... And stopped every five seconds or so to eat more honeysuckle.

May we never stop enjoying the "little things" that really aren't so little.

“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.”
Walt Streightiff

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson