Memorial Day Weekend

We took off and went camping for the weekend. Afterall, it's been over 3 years since we last got to enjoy the great outdoors in this manner. We were all very excited and looking forward to the adventure. Camping in Oklahoma isn't like it is in Utah, there are no mountains to drive to and enjoy the cool refreshing spring air. We went to a place called Tenkiller State Park. It was a lake with a couple different marinas on it and a kids fishing pond. Once again nothing like we are used to. But it was very beautiful, green and lush with trees and foliage (and bugs)! I wish I would have taken more pictures of the surroundings.

Jordan wanted to fish the old fashioned way with just a hook and worm. The kids pond was stocked with trout and catfish.

The first catch of the day! The girls were mezmerized by the catfish. I honestly don't know if they have ever seen one or not.
Morgan made the big catch, but wasn't about to hold the line with that fish flopping every where on the other end.
Tori snagged the next and last fish for the day. A pan size trout! We hung out fishing until the rain chased us away.
Our friends The Abel's (whom we knew Sammi) from St. Kitts) came out to join us for the weekend. They have a 5 month old son, Zachary; the girls can't get enough of him. There was a small creek that ran just behind our camping spot that the girls loved playing in. They also had a fun time chasing the frogs and lizards that were in the water along with whatever bugs they found.
Chad our mighty camper, went to retrieve some water and came back soaking wet! Good thing it was warm outside.
Morgan only wished the water was a little deeper so she could actually get some swimming time in.

Since we got rained out on Saturday night camping and mom's a whimp at this point in the pregnancy game. We came home Sunday afternoon and got up early to head to the water park in Oklahoma City. Chad and the girls had a blast running from one ride to the next all day long!

I got to lounge around pool side and catch some sun here and there. Listening to the girls tell me about the last ride they went on and will I go on it with them once the baby is born. I have alot of rides to hit come July!

Oklahoma!

We have been here for 2 weeks now and so I thought I would fill everyone on in the things we have found to do since getting here.

It was freezing cold when we hit the border of Oklahoma, but the girls were troopers and endured the few minutes out of the car. Since we had driven nearly the entire trip on Route 66 (known in today's world as Interstate 40, it goes from Santa Monica, California to Chicago, Illinois) we decided a stop at the museum was necessary.
We had alot of fun exploring the farm portion of the museum. The girls learned all about shucking corn and then grinding it for corn meal.
We thought we left the giant ant hills behind in St. Kitts, but NOPE we were wrong! The ants build these mushroom looking hills. So far we haven't encountered stepping on one these hills.

Tori tried out her driving skills along the historic Route 66. Luckily she had help staying on the road, since she could barely see over the steering wheel.
Chad, Morgan and Jordan enjoyed the drive in movie "Creature from the black lagoon".
The weekend came after our arrival to Stillwater and we ventured back into Oklahoma City, without a trailer in tow. After doing some shopping we found an amusement park (Frontier City) . We splurged and bought season tickets for 2 parks. The girls can't wait for it to warm up so we can go check out the water park next.
Morgan wanted to ride EVERY single rollercoaster! She has absolutlely NO fear of the things and comes off with a huge grin every time!
A view of OKC from the ferris wheel. This and the carousel are about the only rides I can go on for another month or so. I'm looking forward to taking Morgan on those rollercoasters though come July!
Another view of the landscape from the ferris wheel.
Morgan didn't enjoy having to wait while her sisters got to ride the bumper cars. She was devastated that she could go also. Maybe we need to invest in some platform tennis shoes to get her a little taller :)

Moving up to 6th Grade

This week Jordan's 5th grade class held a promotion to 6th grade celebration. It was a little hard for her to go through because she of course hasn't been here all year and later told me that if she would have been she probably would have gotten some of the awards that were handed out. I told her we were proud of what she has done in school and there was alot of others who think she is the #1, A+ student!
Jordan wasn't to sure about this song, she told me she learned it about 10 mins before they started the program. She didn't do to bad with the words and can still remember the chorus line :)
Morgan and I were happy to go and watch Jordan recieve her certificate stating she has passed elementary and gets to move onto middle school next year. I remember when she started kindergarten just a few months after Chad started his undergrad work and we were expecting Morgan to join our family. Funny how life is coming full circle. This fall Morgan will start kindergarten, Chad will finish up with his DVM and Kordale will have joined our family.
Jordan, I'm sorry my camera was acting up that day and I wasn't able to get a picture at the moment you went across the stage. Your dad and I are both VERY pleased with your school efforts and look forward to seeing you achieve and accomlish all your goals. Thank you for being a good example to your younger sisters. We love you very much!

New babies

We decided that some fresh eggs and a chore to keep the girls busy was needed. Last night, we brought home 10 little chicks for the girls to tend to. For now they are residents of the garage but if the weather stays nice and we get that much needed lawn mowed they should be outside in a new home by the end of next week.
Morgan is more then happy to love them and play with them all day long.

For all of you that know my extreme fear of birds. I have held these little guys for a few seconds at a time and hopefully by me handling them as they grow I won't be petrified of them when they get bigger! We will see how that goes in the months to come.

Our new house

I know many of you have been waiting since the day we arrived in Stillwater to see pictures of where we are living. Well, here it is 2 weeks later; but I'm finally unpacked and somewhat organized enough to feel like doing a little blogging and posting.
We are in desperate need of a lawn mower to come along and mow down the grass in the front and back of the house. The kids want to go play out in the back yard, but I'm afraid Morgan might get lost out there. Hopefully next week we will get that feat accomplished.

The girls bedroom is the one that you can see blankets on the floor, there is a bathroom to the right of their door. The next open door will be Kordale's naptime room and Chad's study room. Then to the right down a short hallway is another bedroom for ANY AND ALL guests who should come for a visit!
The living room is a work in progress, but for now the girls love the open space to run and chase each other. The air matress serves as a couch in the morning when they watch cartoons and a back stop at night when dad plays wiffle ball with them. We do have a couch, it just hasn't made it in the house yet. Chad can't bring it in himself and well...we all know I'm just no help at all right now :) So for now we are enjoying the big empty room.
The kitchen is wonderful, I don't even have something in every cupboard yet! We all like that we can gather in the kitchen and not walk on top of one another. Now that the refrigerator is working better we like it even better because we can have milk with our cereal :)
It's a work in progress, but slowly we are making it home for the next 8 months.
We hope all of you will come visit us since we have PLENTY of room for everyone!!!! The airport isn't to far away either to run and pick you up from...so take your pick of Oklahoma City or Tulsa!

We are here

Well, actually we have been in Stillwater for 1 week now. However, we have been busy running and cleaning. The girls got back into school yesterday (yes, for the last 8 days of class) but we felt they needed to meet some new friends. Chad started back today, so it's just me and Morgan enjoying a quiet morning at home. Trying to get some laundry done and more stuff put away.
I will try and get some pictures up of the house and our surroundings by the weekend.
So far it's rained more days then we have seen sunshine. In fact this morning when I woke up Jordan that was the first thing she noticed was that it was sunny. Hopefully, some of this mud will start to dry up and the girls can enjoy the yard.

Will we ever get there?

Our trip became adventurous on Sunday afternoon just before we decided to pull off the freeway for some lunch. That is when we discovered we lost the tension pulley on the suburban that runs the serpentine belt which in turn runs all the other gadgets and gizmos under the hood.

After the girls and I spent most of the afternoon sitting with our stuff (we had unloaded the trailer in an effort to unload the van so Chad could drive to another town when some people came along and offered him a ride). However, in the end the van came off the trailer and we have been greatful to have it to drive around for the past 2 days.

To fill some of our free time we stopped at the fireworks stand and bought some poppers and snappers for everyone to enjoy.

Even I got to have a little fun and try to hit Tori with my confetti filled weapon! Those lasted about 15 mins.

then we moved onto a serious game of wiffle ball in the wind! When we got tired of the wind we were happy to retreat to the indoor swimming pool

Notice I still can't keep the girls heads above water even though they've been in the desert for the past 8 months...they all still swim like fish!

We are supposed to get the part to fix the car tomorrow and head on down the road with hopefully no more adventures! We hope to make it to Stillwater by Thursday.

Everyone say some extra prayers for us :)