Oklahoma City Looks Oh So Pretty Hot

This morning we went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. I didn't take a bunch of pictures, because this wasn't a touristy activity where I needed to document every moment. It wasn't about that. It was about paying respect to the 168 men, women and children who were killed in this senseless act of terrorism.

When the bombing occurred in 1995, and I was too young to fully understand the gravity of the situation. So today's visit was very educational and very sad. The Memorial and Museum are very well done and although this wasn't the most "fun" activity of our road trip, it very well could have been the most important, so I am glad we went.

By the time we were done at the Memorial, it was starting to get pretty hot!! This is my first time (and CJ's too) ever being in this part of the country, and I now understand what people mean when they say it is a "dry heat". In South Carolina, I don't think there's ever been a single hot day without humidity so I didn't "get it" until today!

We grabbed a quick lunch to go, and then headed back to the hotel so that CJ could take his nap. I got to take a short one too, which was great! :) When we got up, we went to the hotel pool! We had it all to ourselves, which was fun!

They even had some beach-balls that we could play with!!

A new favorite picture of me and my little man!!

Working on moving those arms and kicking those legs!! CJ did great "swimming"!!

We brought CJ's little chair with us on the trip. We thought it would give him a sense of "home" everywhere we went. And when we bring it into the different hotel rooms, he knows it's his spot and immediately sits down on it. (And he is the only one that is "allowed" to sit on his chair...whenever me, JT or any of the grandparents try to sit on it, he pushes you out. Funny!)

And last but not least, because this could be a new favorite picture of CJ...he LOVES running up and down the halls of the hotels!! He likes the way they echo too because he makes a loud "aaaach" noise over and over while he roams the halls. (sometimes with only one shoe on, because he enjoys taking off the right shoe for whatever reason!)

Tonight JT watched the Gamecocks play (and win!!) in the College World Series, and I did some laundry here at the hotel. CJ had a TOUGH time falling asleep tonight. Please pray for those darn teeth to come in soon!!!

Tomorrow we are headed to Amarillo, Texas and have a few iconic Route 66 stops planned!

We're Not in Kansas (or Missouri) Anymore

This morning we started out in Branson, MO. JT and I could immediately tell it was going to be a HOT day!!! Both of us being born and raised in SC have had our fair share of heat, but living in MI for the last 3 years, we really aren't used to weather like this anymore!

We decided to go ahead and do our Branson activity as soon as we could get packed up and going. We thought that Ride the Ducks was an activity that our whole family would enjoy, and we were right!! (especially since CJ's favorite "man-i-mal" is a "kak kak"). A Duck is a vehicle that goes from land and drives into the water to become a boat; very cool!

When you board the Duck, they give everyone a "quacker". CJ really thought they were funny! He couldn't figure out how to blow into his to make it quack (he would kinda hum into it like a kazoo), so he kept shoving JT's and mine into our mouths so that we would do it!!

Here we are out on the lake!!

Every kid on the Duck got a chance to be an "honorary captain" and drive the boat, including CJ. He loved it!!

Having fun riding in the boat!!

Our Duck tour took us over this dam, into the lake, and then down to the other side to show us a fish hatchery. The scenery was very nice, and the ride was relaxing, but hot!

After a quick lunch at Cracker Barrel, we hit the road again! We said "bye bye" to Missouri...

And hello briefly to Kansas...

And then we arrived in Oklahoma!

(NOTE: CJ not pictured because he was napping when we stopped to take the pictures and we were not about to wake a sleeping CJ just for a picture!!)

When we arrived at the hotel, CJ was excited to get to play on his mobile jungle gym again! Ha ha! We are spending the night in Oklahoma City, OK tonight and tomorrow night, and will see some of OKC tomorrow! Good night!!

Getting Kicks on Route 66

This morning we packed up the car (after we managed to get CJ off his newly discovered jungle gym on wheels) and headed to the St. Louis Zoo on the other side of town.

This is also where we officially began our Route 66 portion of the trip!!

The St. Louis Zoo is free, which is neat, but they do charge you for parking, the train, and the children's zoo...so it wasn't completely free! Ha ha!

CJ LOVES animals "man-a-mal", and birds especially "tweet tweet"s & "kak kak"s. He would have given this bird a hug if JT wouldn't have been holding him back!! Our son is not afraid of anything, which is a great quality at times, but can also be a dangerous one.

He really enjoyed the train ride, and kept saying "choo choo" as we rode!! :)

CJ is 33 inches tall according to his last Dr's appointment, but when we tried to get him to stand next to this sign, he couldn't manage to stay still long enough to get an accurate picture! Ha ha!

After leaving the zoo, CJ took a really good nap in the car, for about 2 hours. Then we made a pit stop for gas, bathroom & The World's Largest Gift Store! The three of us are in the picture under the "ES" just for an idea of how big it is!!

Our car made an important milestone during this portion of the trip, and I was SOO mad that I missed the picture! GRRR. 100,000 miles...Happy 100K Bonnie Blue (the name we gave our car on her last road trip across this fine country!)

We'd seen about 2500 signs for Fantastic Caverns (no lie!! This place advertises a LOT, but apparently it paid off in our case...) so we decided to stop and check it out. It is America's Only Ride Through Cave, which was perfect for us with CJ. (We had wanted to stop and see Meremac Caverns, but they didn't allow strollers, and we knew that walking for 75 minutes with a toddler in a cave would have been a nightmare!)

CJ was curious about his first cave experience!

We weren't sure how he would do riding for about an hour in a dark cave, but he did great!! The funniest part was every time the tour guide would stop the jeep to tell us about something, CJ would do the sign for and say "more". He wanted to ride more, so at least we knew he was enjoying it!! This is the only part of the cave that you are allowed to touch!

Bacon formations (because they look kinda like bacon).

Family picture in the cave! Note the one shoe on, one shoe off style of riding! ;)

Fantastic Caverns were just that: Fantastic! Ha ha!
We drove down to Branson, MO to spend the night, and the sunset was just gorgeous!!
More fun planned for tomorrow!

Meet Me in St. Louis

CJ slept much better last night (therefore JT and I also got to sleep better!) Today we got to spend all day in St. Louis. Our hotel is right downtown, so we were able to walk to both of our "activities" today which was so nice!!!

This morning we went to the Gateway Arch. We weren't sure if we'd be able to go up to the top or not, but we were able to get tickets, and we are so glad we did!

The ride up was interesting...the tram consists of little egg shaped "pods". If you have any hint of claustrophobia you better not ride them because they are tight!

The view of the city from the top was amazing!!

And I thought the view straight down was neat too since you could see the shadow of the arch!

CJ enjoyed getting to peek out!

And we made time for some tickling at the top too!!

It just so happens that this week is "Marine Week" in St. Louis, so they had lots of displays of military equipment for people to check out.

My favorite was getting to see my "big boy" with a BIG gun!!

So glad we got to see the Gateway Arch, inside and out! It was really cool!

We came back to the hotel so that CJ could take his nap. The hotel lobby has some statues with a water fountain, and CJ was loving the "woof woof". He ended up sleeping for about 2.5 hours, which was good because we knew he was going to have a later evening than usual!

One thing that JT and I really enjoy doing when we travel, is going to MLB games when we can. It is so fun getting to experience all the different ballparks (and their foods!). So tonight we went to the St. Louis Cardinals game versus the Toronto Blue Jays.

We didn't want to bring the stroller, so I wore CJ in my ERGObaby when we walked the two blocks over. Considering he weighs about 25lbs, it is very supportive and comfortable to wear!

It was a nice park, and CJ really enjoyed all the sights, sounds and snacks!

He also had fun trying on Dada's hat!

We made it about 4 innings, and then we knew it was "time". Today was a really good day, and we very much enjoyed St. Louis so far. Tomorrow we plan to go to the zoo (it's free!) before leaving town, continuing our westward trek!