Okie-la-homa!

We left Friday morning for Oklahoma. We got up there and checked into our hotel, grabbed some lunch at Denny's and then went to Chickasaw National Park for the rest of the day. The water was polar bear ice cold, but the kids had fun playing in the water. Mom and I sat on the edge and put our legs in. Once our legs were numb we didn't feel them and didn't mind anymore. lol. Andy was walking around being the photographer. We got some dinner at IHOP and the kids scarfed their food down. We headed back to the hotel and got the kids ready for bed. I went across the hall and talked with Deidra and Mom before bed and then headed to bed myself. Mom mentioned to me that she noticed that Josiah has gotten a lot better with his screeching in the car. She had been nervous about riding up there with us, because of the headache that he gave her last year when she rode with us somewhere. I told her that he's definitely gotten better about his screeching and I noticed that he's finally stopped trying to rock his chair in the kitchen when he's upset or he wants something that I told him no about. He is making progress. :-)

Saturday morning at the lovely time of 3:50 am, Little E woke up and I heard her whispering but I was still kinda sleeping so I didn't really get what was going on until she sat up. I told her to lay back down and she proceeded to wake up Josiah. Once he's up, he's up. So, we were all up by 4 am and nothing we tried got them to go back to sleep. We got some rain and so we decided to spend the morning thrift shopping for our ebay business and the kids got to pick out a toy. Then, we went and ate at the Soda Pop Shop...reuben...Mmmm! The kids were picking at their food, so we packed it up to go. We headed for Turner Falls to spend the day. The only parking spots we could find was up top, so we had to take a bus shuttle to the bottom of the hill. Little E flipped out...I put her on my lap and she started gagging herself she was crying so badly. I told her there wasn't anything to be scared of...it was just like riding in a car. I couldn't figure out whether the bus was scaring her or whether it was the bus driver. She gets that way around some people sometimes. Anyway, once the bus started moving, she got over it. We went down and staked out a spot and the kids played in the water, Andy went and explored a cave behind the waterfall, and my Mom took Deidra on a little walk. Little E kept throwing temper tantrum after temper tantrum and she didn't want to listen to anything, she was throwing rocks and when I told her not to and she continued to do it and she saw that I was getting up to put her in time out, she chucked a rock at me. She threw a caniption fit when I made her stand up in time out where she couldn't get her hands on any rocks. People were just staring at her and I just smiled at them. Finally, she settled down and went back to having fun. The rest of the day went much better. Andy told me that once we got back to the hotel for the night, he wanted me to sleep in my Mom's room so that I could get some sleep that night. I was starting to drag as I was so tired. We left Turner Falls to go grab some dinner and Little E did much better on the bus shuttle back up the hill and giggled all the way up. We went to Braum's for dinner and then headed back to the hotel. Got the kids bathed and I took a shower and Andy put them to bed. I headed over to my Mom and Deidra's room and my Mom said I looked like I was ready to drop. We were talking and I promptly fell asleep. The next morning she said she was talking to me and when I didn't answer, she realized I had fallen asleep.

Sunday, we got up around 8 and poor Andy had been awake since 4 with the littles. We were trying to get our stuff all together so we could check out...all the kids were melting down and were into everything. I confiscated the room key from Baby T and asked her to sit down while we finished packing. Josiah was screaming and kicking and throwing a fit. Everytime we tried to redirect Little E she'd scream and then laugh. I finally took them down to get some breakfast while Andy finished up. We realized we were missing a room key and had no idea where it went. One of the kids must have picked it up without us noticing as one minute we had 2 keys and the next we could only find one. Anyway, they were throwing fits in the lobby and throwing their food all over, so I threw their breakfast away and took them back upstairs. We checked out and told the guy we only had one room key. We decided to drive around and decide what we wanted to do and let the kids sleep for awhile. Mom found out that the Shrine of the Holy Infant of Prague was in Oklahoma. We decided to go up there (Prague, OK). We stopped at McDonalds for some breakfast on the way. We got up there and found out it was their 60th anniversary. God draws you to places that's for sure.... Anyway, it was nice to see and I said some prayers for our family and for the girls and for my parents. We went to the gift shop and got a few things and then headed for home. Little E was being VERY defiant the whole day, so she really was difficult to handle that day. My Mom was a bit shocked at how she was acting. I told her she finally got to see the real Little E lately. Once we got up by my Mom's we stopped for dinner at On the Border, dropped my Mom off at home, and then headed for home. It was so nice to finally be home and get to sleep in our own comfy beds. I had a really upset stomach when we got home, although I think it was from not sleeping all that well. It was fun to get away though. Everybody had a good time!