Spandex Free Zone

I was able to use my birthday present for the first time today.  It's a bike rack that will hold up to four bicycles.  The officer attached it to his car last night so the kids and I could meet some friends at Lake Hefner..  The officer put one bike inside the car and mounted my bike and my daughter's bike on the rack.  It works perfectly.  I do not even have to take off the rack to raise the back door.  There is only 1/4 of an inch space between the rack and door.  It's tight, but completely doable. 

I have always wanted to ride bikes with the kids at Lake Hefner.  It's just under 10 miles all the way around the lake.  We couldn't do it because we had no way to transport all our bicycles, so the officer bought me a bike rack for my birthday.  

We met Mrs. Courtney and her kids this morning at Lake Hefner.  After the kids played on the playground for a while, we took a bike ride.  Except for Mrs. Courtney, who pushed a stroller.   All the kids did great.  They moved over for the runners and other riders.  They pulled over to the side when they got to a curve or couldn't see us.

After bicycling, we went to Freddy's for lunch and ice cream.  

I had to get a picture with the Freddy's concrete because.... well you know how I like unusually large (or small) things. 

Mrs. Courtney had to head back home after lunch.  The kids and I went back to Lake Hefner and rode another four miles.  I think we could have make it further, but there were some bottoms that were getting sore.  Not mine though because I have a big mamma-jamma gel seat on my bike.  This momma don't play!

The bike rack was very easy to use.  My daughter helped me load the bikes back on the rack.  Easy, cheesy lemon squeezy.  Until that is, I realized we loaded son's bike into the back of the car and our bikes on the rack but forgot to shut the back door of the car.  It won't go down with the bikes on the rack (remember that 1/4 of an inch space?)  So we had to unload the bikes on the rack, shut the door, and reload them.  Not too bad.  I see much more bicycle riding at Lake Hefner in our future. No spandex though.  There will be no spandex.

Fall Is In The Air

Have I told you  I really love fall?  It's my favorite season.  Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Flag Football.  Cool weather.  Leaving changing colors.  Sweatshirts.  Did I hit all the wonderful fall things? 

This is the second season my son has played flag football.  He has really enjoyed it.  He is a tad smaller than most of the other guys, but he's pretty quick.  So far his team has only lost one game.

Okay, this has nothing to do with fall, but it happened yesterday.  A while ago, my daughter purchased a Disney John Smith and Pocahontas doll.  While she was playing with them, John's leg snapped off.  She put it away and hasn't played with it since.  The officer decided to try to screw the leg on so she could play with it.  Out came the power tools.  This is where my son enters the story. 

"Hey dad, why don't we put a Bionicle leg on John?  I think I can build one!", my son exclaims.  The officer replies, "Can you build one the same size as his leg?  Try it!" 

Viola....

Back in 2004, the officer, his dad and our friend, Matt, built an awesome two-phase playground in the backyard.  The kids played on that playground for many years.  This year, we got a trampoline.  We didn't have room for both in our backyard, so the decision was made to tear down the playground so we could put up the trampoline.

They have not regretted the decision.  The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the trampoline.  They've been working on perfecting the front flip.  Last night, my son finally landed it.  Then he landed again and again.

Sunday night when we put the trampoline up, the kids really wanted to sleep on it.  However, possible Oklahoma storms put the kibosh on that idea.  We had to move the trampoline again the fence and put sandbags on the legs.  With winds up to 60 miles an hour, we were really hoping we had a trampoline in the morning.  Fortunately, it was still there and intact the next morning.  Last night, the weather was perfect with lows only in the 50s.  The kids got their mummy sleeping bags out and put their sweats on.

I wasn't sure if they would make it all night long.  I wasn't sure if Jetta would try to hop onto the trampoline.  I was nervous because they were out there all night long by themselves.  The officer was nervous because the back door was unlocked.  So I opened the windows in my bedroom and opened the blinds so I could see them.  I did not sleep well.  I kept waking up and checking on them.  

However, they were fine.  I tried to not be all "GO TO SLEEP!" mom because I was so tired.  I heard a lot of giggling.  I saw someone running around the yard.  I saw glowsticks being thrown around.  I saw a headlamp continuously sweeping across the yard and shine into our bedroom.  I heard the springs of the trampoline squeaking.  I heard lots of talking. I heard some crying.  I heard the dogs walking back and forth and their tag jingling because the kids were in the backyard.  I know memories of a fun fall evening sleeping on their trampoline under the stars was being made, so I relaxed and enjoyed all the sights and sounds.  They slept outside all night long.  They got cold, but they made it.  My son woke up at 6:40 a.m. to come use the restroom, but then went back outside and laid there until sister woke up.  They came in around 7:20 a.m.

Lastly, a couple of days ago when I was jogging, I started to notice all the leaves that are starting to fall onto the ground.  They are starting to change colors.  On my last lap, I was wondering how many shades there were so I picked some up.  I found all the wonderful, brilliant colors of fall.  

And then I was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise.  In a couple of weeks, daylight savings will happen and I won't see too many of these sunrises so I'm enjoying them now. 

So many reasons fall is my favorite time of the year!

Jetta, a.k.a. Sgt. Slaughter

Friday evening was such a beautiful evening.  It was pleasantly cool, perfect weather for a family walk around the neighborhood.  We put the dogs on leashes and began our walk.  We didn't get very far because we saw our new neighbors working in their yard.  The officer had met the husband and wife several times and the kids had played with their boys, but I hadn't met any of them.  We officially introduced our families.  They moved from Colorado and have only lived here for just under a month.  Their kids were playing in the yard while the parents worked and their two dogs watched.  

After we chatted with them for a couple of minutes, we continued our walk.  I am not sure who was walking who. 

Our daughter's new dog, Jetta, was very, very excited to walk somewhere new in the neighborhood.  She ran everywhere, pulling my daughter along. 

As we came back to our street, the officer stopped to talk to another neighbor about a motorcycle. The kids, dogs and I continued to walk home.  My daughter took Jetta through the house to the backyard.  I took our other dog, Hobbs, through the side gate.  Can you guess what happened when I opened the side gate?  

Jetta, shot out of the gate and ran straight across the street to our new neighbor's yard.  I stood there in shock, as Jetta proceeded to start barking, chasing, and nipping their small male dog.  Immediately, there was pandemonium.  I ran across the street with Hobbs in tow, as did my son and daughter.  In mere seconds, there were two dogs viciously barking and nipping at each other, four kids screaming, and three adults running around cars, the yard and the patio.  Our dog, Hobbs, and their other dog were standing idly by watching the mayhem.  The chaos only lasted minutes, but it seemed to go on forever.  The husband eventually trapped the barking dogs by the front door and was able to separate them.  I started to walk Jetta back across the street to our house and the wrestled free and ran back to the small dog.  

This time; however, Jetta, a.k.a. Sgt. Slaughter meant business.  Jetta grabbed the small dog by it's hind end, picked it up, flipped it over, and slammed it on the ground.  It seemed to be the very picture of a k-9 version of WWF Wrestlemania.  There was a loud yelp from the small dog and it ran onto the porch again.  Sgt. Slaughter ran after him, but we managed to separate them very quickly.  As I leashed Jetta and ran her back home, my daughter ran across the street sobbing.  We got our dogs situated and I went back across the street to check on our neighbors.

As I walked across the street, the officer came walking down the street.  We told him he missed the big event.  I apologized profusely to the husband.  The wife came out with their dog.  He had one puncture wound on his hind end.  They were very, very gracious telling us everything was okay.  We offered to pay any vet bill if they took the dog in.  I felt horrible.  Their kids seemed to be a big shaken up, but okay.  My daughter was laid out on her bed upset and crying.  After I calmed her down and talked to her for a few minutes, she walked across the street to apologized to the neighbors.  

Last night, as I was leaving to go eat with a friend, I walked checked on the dog.  The husband told me his wife found four to five more puncture wounds on their dog.  :(  This really was not the way I wanted to meet the new neighbors.  I made them some "I'm sorry our dog WWF-ed your dog chocolate chip cookie bars."

I walked the cookie bars over to the neighbors.  She gave me another update on the dog.  He is doing good.  So overall, not feeling like a great neighbor.  Then.... two minutes after I walked back in the door, another neighbor rang my door bell.  In her hand she had this:

twice baked potatoes, smoked ribs, and smoked bologna.  Yum.  

Small blessings.  Having sweet neighbors bless you when you feel like a bad neighbor.  God knows what you need when you need it.  And he cares about even the small things in your life.

FREEbie Friday

Today was a good day.  Not only was today Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day, but there were a few other perks today too.  You might be wondering why I was excited about Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day.  If you dress in a complete cow costume, you will receive a FREE Chick-Fil-A meal!  If you come in with say just cow spots on your shirt, you could get a FREE entree like a chicken sandwich.  Can't go wrong.  So the kids and I dressed up in our cow ears, cow spots, cow tails, and a cow cape and headed to our local Chick-Fil-A to meet my friend, Mrs. V and her family for some FREE food.

Don't worry.  If you missed this year's Cow Appreciation Day, you can participate next year.  Chick-Fil-A has already posted the date for next year, July 10, 2015.  And yes, we'll be there with our cow bells on.

After lunch, we headed to a local park so the kids could work on their American Ninja Warrior training.  It's a competition show where contestants try to complete an obstacle course in a quickest time possible. This is a show we watch every single week as a family.  We watched it last season and really enjoyed it.  This year the kids have decided they'd like to do some American Ninja Warrior training.  I think my son would like to go on the show some day.  So... we went to the park today so they could train in the:

Body Prop

 

 

American Ninja Warrior Body Prop

 

Jumping over things

 

Swinging from rings to improve grip strength

 

 

American Ninja Warrior Rings

 

More climbing and hanging to improve grip strength

 

American Ninja Warrior Upside-Down Rock Climb

 

Walking and balancing on fences

 

American Ninja Warrior Balance Bridge

 

Jumping through swings

 

American Ninja Warrior Red Ball

 

After working up a sweat, the perfect solution for cooling off is a FREE slurpee at 7-Eleven in honor of 7-Eleven Day. 

 

And to top it all off today was Kripy Kreme's 77th birthday.  Krispy Kreme had a great special going on today.  Buy one dozen, get a second dozen for only .77.  My son is leaving for a week long camping trip in Colorado very, very early in the morning.  I invited one of my friends to go along to Krispy Kreme at 9 p.m. to pickup some donuts for the camping boys.  I figured if we go late, they will be fresher and it won't be crowded.  One out of two ain't bad.  It was crowded, but not crazy crowded.  As we waited in line, we were given a FREE hot donut. 

 

The four dozen donuts I purchased were hot off the line.  Hopefully all four dozen makes it to all the boys before they are picked over. 

And that's the end to my day.  FREE Chick-Fil-A food.  FREE 7-Eleven Slurpee.  Yummy donuts.  Not bad.  :)

Flags and Parades

My son started flag football on Thursday.  This is his first time in any kind of team sport.  I've always been interested to see how he would do in a team sport.  We just had a practice.  He was nervous going to practice because he's never played football or flag football.  He has no idea how to play, but he can catch a football.  

He has seven other boys on the team.  Three of them are homeschoolers.  Three of the boys have played football or flag football before but no one else has.  That made my son feel better.  He wouldn't be the only one out there learning the rules of the game.  One of this friends signed up to play on the same team and he found out another boy used to do tae kwon do with him.  He's the smallest on the team, but he's quick.  I told him it was an advantage.  His coach was great.  My son had a lot of fun practicing. 

On Saturday morning, we went to a Founder's Day parade with my sister, Mistie, and her kids to watch her girls in the parade.  One of her daughters was marching in the high school band and the other is a cheerleader.  We arrived early to get a good spot along the road.  We saw my niece marching in the band, but when the cheerleaders came by they were walking with the football team and there was just so many of them that we didn't get to see her.

My kids said they'd never been to a parade.  Throughout the week they kept asking me, "When is the march?",  "When is the band?", and "Now, why do they throw candy at you?"  I knew they would have a good time.  My niece and nephews especially loved picking up the candy. 

We saw old cars, Boy Scouts, fire trucks, horses and a green slugbug!  I got it.

After the parade, my sister had to leave.  The kids and I walked around their Founder's Day festival.  A woman was doing balloon animals.  My son got a sword and my daughter got a wiener dog.  This is what was left of the wiener dog.

Of course, free snocones put smiles back on their faces when their balloon animals popped. 

As we walked around, they got free tote bags, juices and more candy.  Not sure they needed more candy.  :)  They had a lot of fun at their first parade.