Spring Break Trip

We had an amazing spring break. Monday we went to the park with my friend Niki and her girls. Her older daughter is Carter's age and her younger daughter is Elise's age and her best friend. They're special friends in that Elise enjoys playing with both girls and so does Carter. Then Tuesday we got doughnuts and went on a clover hunt at a different park with Niki and the girls. Wednesday Ty was home and went with us to the zoo for storytime and Niki and the girls came too. Then Thursday was Elise's birthday and we planned a little trip. She wanted to stay in a hotel but didn't care where we went. I came up with a few different options and asked the kids what they wanted to do. Elise didn't care and Carter initially picked to go to Roman Nose State Park to camp in a teepee and then drive from there out to a couple other state parks we haven't been too. Once I looked into it more I realized the teepees weren't available until April so he went with his second choice, The Science Museum in OKC and then going from there out to Red Rock Canyon State Park. Thursday we stopped off for birthday doughnuts and then drove to OKC which was only about an hour and a half. We hung out at the science museum all morning, ate lunch in the car, and then went back inside. We spent 5 hours at the museum before calling it a day and heading to the hotel. More about our time there in Elise's birthday post here. It was so much fun seeing Ty at the science museum. He was really in his element and loved it. Typically I'm the one nerding out at kid stuff like the zoo, aquarium, children's books, coloring, playing at the park, really anything meant for kids. But here Ty was having so much fun interacting with the kids and playing with the exhibits. In moments like that he really is at his best as a dad, those engineering and science-related moments. I know I mentioned this before but I just have to say it again, we got into the science museum totally free, thanks to our membership to the Children's Museum here! It was ah-mazing!

Drawing with sidewalk chalk outside the science museum.

We made it to the hotel around 3:30. Ty checked in and found out we had to pay to park in the parking garage. We didn't want to have to pay to park more than once so we decided we'd walk anywhere we went that evening. We went straight to the pool once we changed into swimsuits in our room. The water was really cold and I was not happy being in the water but once I got a little more used to it, I had some fun playing with the kids. The pool was perfect because it wasn't very deep and it had a beach walk-in so Carter felt really comfortable and actually wanted to swim without floaties. Elise swam without hers some too. There was a little slide in the shallow area and Elise had a blast on it. She pretty much went down it and turned around and went back up to go down again. After swimming we took baths and Elise opened her birthday presents. More on Elise opening her presents in her birthday post here. Elise wanted Easy Mac for dinner instead of eating out so she and Carter had Easy Mac and fruit at the hotel before Ty and I went to dinner. We decided to do something we've never done before and let the kids take their tablets with them to dinner. It was actually pretty nice because it was like having a date with Ty. The kids were really tired from swimming so them sitting, watching us eat wouldn't have gone very well otherwise. Getting her tablet was also great incentive to Elise to walk rather than ask to be carried. I was surprised that even after swimming and skipping her nap she didn't ask to be carried at all on our walk! After dinner we walked to a candy store as a special birthday treat. The kids loved it!

The next morning I was hopeful the kids might sleep in a little but they were up before 7am. They wanted to go straight down to breakfast and both enjoyed some waffles, fruit, and yogurt. Then it was off to swim. When we first got there it wasn't very busy but it filled up pretty quickly. Elise was so sweet and told me, "Since you were cold yesterday, you don't need to get in today." I sat and watched them and even read a little bit. While the kids swam, Ty loaded the car. After he finished he came and watched the kids so I could take a breather. It got really hot and humid in there! I wasn't thinking and wore regular clothes. I should have gone ahead and worn my swim gear down to the pool even though I wasn't getting in so I wouldn't have been so hot. Both the kids had an absolute blast. After 2 hours Carter was ready to go but Elise wasn't so he kept swimming. Eventually we decided it was time to go because Carter was really done and Elise was super tired. She was so tired she didn't even want to walk to the car. Ty let her ride on the cooler for a little bit. The line for the elevator to the parking garage was super long so we decided to walk outside and around. Ty accidentally bumped the cooler into his heel and tipped it over. I laughed because I thought it just hit a bump and tipped, I didn't realize he got hurt. He just shrugged it off and didn't even mind I laughed although I felt bad for laughing when he got hurt. The drive to Red Rock Canyon was only about an hour. I was wishing it was a little longer because Elise fell asleep on the way there and I knew she needed a longer nap.

When we arrived at Red Rock Canyon we found out it is no longer a state park anymore. It was sold and is now privately owned but it's still free to get in and they charge the same amount for everything that the state used to, I was impressed. It was absolutely beautiful! We got there a little before lunchtime. The kids played at the park for a little bit and then we ate lunch. After lunch we headed off for a hike. Carter really wanted to do some rock climbing so when I saw a place where he could climb down and then climb back up we took a break from our hike and let him play around. Watching him climb was my favorite part of our hike. Ty found a spot to take some pictures with our nice camera and got some good shots. We tried to follow the map with the hiking trails labeled but some sections were much longer than it showed and both the kids started to peter out. It was way hotter than we are used to and the sun was beating down. They were both sweating and uncomfortable. We let them take their shirts off and they felt better after that but they both cycled through Ty carrying them for sections. I had an 8 mile tempo the following day that I wanted to nail so Ty didn't want me carrying the kids and I appreciated that! I ended up nailing the tempo with a 6:43 average pace so I'm glad he was willing to carry the kids more so I wouldn't have to. Once we got Elise distracted with the map and she "navigated" us on the trail she did better walking. Carter was just absolutely exhausted after swimming all morning on less sleep the night before than usual so he was getting pretty tired and fussy. We were all super glad to be done when we made it to the end of the hike.

On our drive home we decided it would be nice to break the drive up by stopping at a playground in OKC. I looked on my maps and found one that looked really cool and we stopped off there. At one point Carter found a boy on the playground who spoke Spanish and they were talking to each other in a mix of English and Spanish, it was really cool! There was a guy with an ice cream cart at the playground. Elise saw people eating ice cream and wanted some. I asked if she wanted to buy some with her birthday money and she got really excited. She ran to get Carter and told him she was buying them ice cream. Then she really didn't eat much of hers. They had a blast at the playground and it made the drive the rest of the way home really enjoyable. We stopped at Thomas' house to pick Tesla up and the kids enjoyed telling him about our trip. We had such a great time! The trip was so nice. We did minimal driving and spent hardly any money. The Science Museum Oklahoma admittance was free, getting into Red Rock Canyon was free, we didn't use much gas, and the kids ate Easy Mac for dinner (rather than paying $4-5 for a kids meal at a restaurant for them to likely eat the same crappy mac and cheese). It was such an affordable trip.