Tulsa 2004

Davey and I went on day trips to the attractions around Tulsa. We had visited the Tulsa zoo, and the Aquarium. Then we decided to head up to Bartlesville and visit Woolaroc.

The Woolaroc Museum has a large display of Western art and artifacts, Indian stuff, and a large collection of Colt firearms.

Woolaroc was a 3700 acre ranch owned by oilman Frank Phillips. There are lots of sculptures in the museum by western artists (like Remington).

The grounds were lovely as well.

There was a lodge on the grounds. This is the view from the front.

Some of the animal heads inside the lodge.

This teepee looked so intriguing from afar. But when we walked to it, we discovered it wasn't something we could walk into! It's just decoration.

Dave took some photos as we were driving on the grounds. There is a 5 mile drive through a wildlife preserve.

It's hard to see the ostrich in this photo. We couldn't figure out how to turn off the flash on this camera.

A bunch of cows just hangin' out.

These prairie dogs were just on the road. We wondered what would happen if we didn't see them and smashed them under our wheels.

This was a very interesting animal. A brown zebra.

After we had such a good time in Tulsa and Bartlesville, we decided to head out for day trips to Oklahoma City. We "borrowed" two extra boys, Joshua and Sam Black, to join in our fun. We went to the Science Museum.

There was also a "Grossology" exhibit -- the science of the gross things in the human body. The boys are climbing on a huge model of your skin, complete with zits, moles, pores and cuts.

Only Sam was small enough to slide through the GI tract.

Remember the game "Operation" where you had to remove body parts with metal tweezers without touching the sides and making the buzzer sound? This is a large version.

We carried two digital cameras with us. I let the boys have the freedom of just taking whatever photos they wanted. It's simply electrons after all. Some of the photos were quite... er...interesting.

We were walking by these airplanes, and Davey had a nosebleed. The boys were very patient while we took care of Dave.

Sam and Josh came running to me and told me that they needed an adult in order to go on a ride. When I looked at it, I wasn't sure it was such a good idea. These are not my own children, after all. What would Xan say if I killed her kids?!? But I let them go on it anyway.

Sam wanted to go first. We didn't mind. We wanted to see if he was gonna throw up.

Before turning on the machine, the operator gave me an opportunity to take a photo. Perhaps the last photo of Sam smiling, I suppose...

When Sam came off the ride without any ill effects -- he wasn't crying, he didn't throw up -- Josh had his turn.

After Josh got off the ride, the operator looked at me, Joe and Dave. We told him we were not nuts like those Black boys, and walked away.

The Omniplex has a lot of hands-on activities for children. We put our hands on them all.

By the time we got through the museum and were driving home, we decided that we had to take another day trip to OKC to visit the zoo!

We drove to the zoo, and again purposed in our minds to map out our activities. We wanted to be sure that we had time to hit the highlights, such as riding on the swan paddle boats!

At the OKC zoo, there are these plastic molding machines. You slip in a dollar, and the machine injects molten plastic into an animal shaped mold. In a minute or so, you get a molded animal! It was great!

We liked the gorillas because they seem so familiar to us. Especially when you have a lot of boys in the family....

Throughout the zoo, there are animal statues. The boys had to climb on every one of them.

Remember the gorillas that were so familiar?

This is my favorite photo. Sam started off the day with droopy pants. I asked him if he needed a belt, but he insisted that he was fine.

There was a tram that ran around the zoo.

Josh and Joey rode on one swan, while Dave, Sam and I were on another.

This is a simulator ride. You enter it, sit in bench seats, and watch a movie. Because the entire cabin shakes around, you feel like you're on a roller coaster! We were the only group in the ride at the time, so we were free to talk and scream as much as we liked!

What a great day we had! There is nothing better than seeing children running around, free and happy.