Price Check?

.

Did you play?

This past December on an unexpected trip to OKC we visited the Omniplex. Excuse me … that’s what it was called back when I was a kid. Recently they’ve gussied up the place and now it’s the Science Museum Oklahoma. Sounds respectable and imposing doesn’t it? Well, it’s not. Imposing, that is. They have all sorts of hands on exhibits, a planetarium and one of those big 3D movie domes in addition to all the traditional museum-y stuff. Oh and they have a three-story indoor “tree” house. Pretty cool.

Even with all the changes one thing remains exactly the same. It’s an exhibit of metal wires looped and twisted and intermingled with a series of buckets and pulleys and trip lines. Inside this maze of metal run ten or twelve or twenty ball bearings looping, twisting. The paths of each are constantly changing as the metal tracks arrange and re-arrange themselves as if by magic. Eventually one lucky ball achieves the goal. Ding! A bell rings and the show begins again.

I remember watching mesmerized as a 5th grader. Will remembers it from high school when he and a bunch of other math geeks spent way too much time calculating the minutes between bell rings and predicting which ball would get the honor. So we shared a passing of the torch moment as Brother placing his hands on the glass gazed in wonderment at the display.

Did you play?

Technorati Tags: photo hunt

That’s hubby in the middle - from which you may rightly assume I did not take this picture. I love it though because of the light pink tones that lend an air of nostalgia…. and because hubby is so darn cute!

Did You Play?

Between the activity of moving and the everyday-ness of life we missed Aunt K’s birthday.  Will realized this a couple of days ago and asked if I would make a card for her.  He even had an idea for the project.

I don’t draw worth a flip so I scoured the interet for images and finally ended up in MS Word’s clip art section creating my own.  This, the final product, is the complilation of multiple images printed out then cut then glued in place.

The interior says:  ”Holy cow, this card is late!”  Here’s some ”moo”-lah to make up for it.”

Did You Play?

Here’s Brother disguised as Captain Bluebeard.

Last night we went to Kiddie Park and as an end of season treat Will got snowcones for each of the children…. blue snowcones.  They weren’t in sturdy styrofoam cups either.  They were in environmentally friendly (read: extremely drippy) paper cones.  Even this morning Brother has remnants of the sticky stain on his chin and drip lines down his arm.  The price of a good time I guess.

Kiddie Park is one of the coolest young family spots in our small town.  Created by the City in 1947 and continually supported by the community, it boasts a number of pint-sized carnival rides including a train, bumper cars and a mini roller coaster.  The best part though is the price.  Admission is free and most of the rides are only 25 cents each.  Can’t beat that!  Though they don’t quite fit the theme here are some pics from a previous visit. (Click on the images for a larger view.)

I’m loading the dishwasher the other day and out of the corner of my eye I see my floor smiling at me.  Strange but true…. see?

I’m not certain what makes a floor as happy as mine apparently is.  I know I don’t like being walked on.  To each his its own, I guess.

Did you play?

Last Christmas Grandma gifted us with a butterfly kit. It came with everything you’d need to raise butterflies … except the butterflies. For that there was a coupon which we saved until the spring. Early in March our caterpillars arrived and over the next few weeks we watched them grow and grow and grow and finally make their way to the top of the cup they came in and attach themselves to its ceiling. The transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis was amazing to watch but nothing compared to the day pictured above. The day they emerged as the lovely winged creatures they were destined to be.

Did you play?

Technorati tags: Photo Hunt

Here’s a picture of Brother from September 2005.  He had just recently started walking so I ordered a pair of Bobux.

I cannot say enough good things about these shoes.  People seemed to constantly remark on how well he walked in these.  But when he wore “regular” shoes the comments ranged from nothing at all to “just learning how to walk, huh?”

There are a lot of knock-offs available now for much less but they all have one major benefit in common:  they stay on.  If you have a toddler - you need these shoes.

Did you play?

*updated 5-6-08:  Link to more Gate pics removed because it led to my private photo album.

Around here this is what passes for art… and we love it.

And speaking of tall masterpieces here are some pictures from Gate, OK. Will’s hometown is so small that you’ll miss it if you blink which would be unfortunate because a couple of ladies out there went to a lot of trouble to make keeping your eyes open worthwhile.

Click here if you’d like to view more.

Did you play?

A man and his grill in the softly fading spring light.

A goofy man and his grill.

My father has been the designated griller in the family for many years but this summer is supposed to be different.  He and my mother recently purchased a brand new fancy, shmancy grill as a “gift” for Will and my brother-in-law.  “Just in case” they thought they “might” want to do “some” (pronounced “all”) of the summer grilling for our family gatherings.  Keeping in mind that any family event of ours includes a minimum of 14 warm bodies, Will figured he should get in a little practice on the new grill before such an occasion arose.  Two outstanding T-bones and a few sausage links later I think he was satisfied… I know I was.

Did you play?