At long last: a post for Sophie's birthday.

The worst thing about forgetting to post is disappointing the grands.  Mags and Sophie read the blog often and they were the ones that pointed out I had not posted about Sophie's birthday celebration. The second worst thing about forgetting to post is all of the forgetting that goes along with procrastinating. Here is what I remember. (Maybe Maggie and Sophie can fill in the blanks after they read this and I'll do some editing.)

Sophie wanted to spend her birthday at a lake near where they live. It was a beautiful, man-made, and well maintained park called Burger Lake. It has a picnic area, water slides, a small snack bar, lots of life guards and friendly staff. The water is cool and clean (for a lake) and has a relatively smooth sandy bottom. All in all, really nice facilities.

The family drove up at met at the lake, staked out our area at some tables in the shade, and started the grill.  Gerson did some grilling since he doesn't swim, and Ron kept him company. The rest of us escaped from the heat by hanging out in the lake, watching the kids play. There were a lot of people there; but, the place is so large and well thought out so it didn't seem that crowded. The only down side is the parking and the entrance. Those can be a little crazy!

After swimming and eating, we left the lake before it got too hot. They ask everyone to get out of the lake around noon to give the life guards a break and do any clean up that's needed. It is the perfect time to leave because it beats the afternoon crowd. We all went back the Hotel Gutierrez and enjoyed one of Aunt Jamie's delicious cakes, ice cream, and present opening.

I'm pretty sure others took some pictures, so maybe I'll screen shot them and add them later. In the meantime, here are the ones I took.

Samantha, Sophie, Sophia, and Maggie

Gerson in his strange Uncle Sam outfit.

Ryan, Jamie, Samantha, Maggie, Sophie, Leslie, and Rebecca

Sophie, Samantha, and Sophia

Birthday Girl, Sophie on the water slide

Samantha on the lower diving board.

Maggie on the diving board

Sophia running off the diving board

presents!!!

twinning with the cousin

Reading her cards

Oooo! MONEY!!

Uncle Scotts yearly gift of change. One dollar for every year.

HUGS!!

It's just what she wanted!

Why?  .... I don't know.

Cake time with lots of candles to blow out.

YUMMY!

Happy Belated Birthday Post, Sophie Lyn. I'll try really hard to not procrastinate next year. Love you bunches!!

Retirement Bucket List: The Mercantile, Pawhuska, OK

Retirement brings an opportunity to do the many things I put off while I was working because I didn't "have time." Little did I realize, some of the things that I now have the free time to do, would still need to be planned around work schedules.  Not mine... my family's! Visiting Pawhuska, Oklahoma to shop at Ree Drummond's shops is no longer on my retirement bucket list.

I have been a fan of The Pioneer Woman since Ron bought me an eReader for my birthday several years ago. Her biography was one of the free books that came on the device. When I read her story, I was impressed with her can do attitude and generous spirit. That led to following her blog and watching her from time to time on television. When she released her kitchen line through Wal-Mart, I fell in love with her choice of colors and patterns. I don't have a lot of her things; but, what I do own, I love.

Going to Pawhuska with Ron didn't really seem like a lot of fun, so I never suggested it as a stop on any of our road trips. The women in our family have talked about taking a girls trip so I thought my birthday would be a great weekend to plan this particular trip.  I posted it on our family Facebook page and hoped for the best. Sadly, work and scheduling conflicts kept Rebecca and Jamie from going. But, Leslie gave up one of her weekends to tag along.

If you have ever driven in North Texas, around the Ft. Worth/Dallas area, you know you can't count on Yahoo Maps prediction of a 5 1/2 hour drive time actually working out. We left Leslie's house in Ft. Worth around 1:45 on a Friday afternoon, expecting to arrive in Bartlesville around 6:00 - 6:30. Ha! We rolled in closer to 8:00 because of the crazy traffic. Luckily, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

I had though we would have time to head over from Bartlesville from Pawhuska and get a head start on our sight seeing/shopping Friday evening. Since that didn't work out, we left Saturday morning, earlier than planned. Here is the blessing part. The Mercantile opens at 7:00 a.m. so when we got there, there was hardly anyone there at all!! We browsed through the store, got an idea of what we wanted to actually buy, then ate breakfast in The Bakery. I had the pumpkin scone and hot chocolate and Leslie has The Everything Croissant. Everything was so good!! We didn't eat lunch in the restaurant because by the time we check on making a reservation, they had a 2 1/2 hour waiting list. Instead, we hit Main Street to see the sites and do some shopping.
There are several unique shops in town; all in older, original buildings. Everything has a quaint feel; but is very tourist centered. Lots of iron work, Western themed items, candles, jewelry, clothing, and antiques.  We decided to go back to The Mercantile and make our final purchases, then head back to the hotel to check out early. Sweet Leslie paid for what I had picked out as a birthday gift. Thanks, Leslie!
I'm sure there are lots of other things to do in the area. But, we didn't do any research beforehand; and, I really just wanted to see The Mercantile, The Bakery, and Charlie's Sweet Shop. Check, check, and check.
I still haven't replaced my camera (it has a huge scratch on the lens) so had to take pics with the iPad. Sadly, there aren't many to share.

This had to be the most delicious scone I've ever tasted. The hot chocolate was amazingly creamy and rich. Neither one was in any way a disappointment.

The end of the bakery counter has an assortment of kid friendly bake ware. Such cute things!
Around the corner is a set of windows where you can stand and actually watch the bakery items being made. 

One of the most interesting buildings in town was the Triangle Building.
Don't know the history or story of the current use; just thought it was cool.

The Mercantile and Bakery are in the same building. The bakery is upstairs;
and, the restaurant and store are downstairs.

There was a really old, run down building on the top of a hill
across the street from the main shopping area. I found out once I got home
that is used to be the Osage County Courthouse.
Such a cool building just falling apart!

The Mercantile has just about everything you could possibly want for your kitchen. I didn't see many rugs or place mats, like the ones I bought from Wal-Mart. But, they have the most
adorable collection of dish towels!

Living in an RV is a choice I have not regretted. It does impact what I buy though. Everything must be lightweight, small, durable, and absolutely necessary. I've been trying to get buy with one plastic measuring cup. That doesn't really work, so I picked up her cute stainless steel set. I also got rid of our large plastic strainer and replaced it with the sweet, tiny one. My favorite, which isn't absolutely necessary, is the sifter. Isn't it too cute???
Thank you again, Leslie.

So, our trip wasn't as well attended as I had hoped, took a more adventurous drive than expected, and was much shorter than planned. But, I loved every minute of it. Next stop, Missouri Star Quilting Company, Hamilton MO!!! Who wants to go along?

Oklahoma City National Memorial

Ron and I decided to spend an extra day in Oklahoma City on our way home from South Dakota.  We have driven past the city numerous times while on our way to visit family. We've just never made the effort or taken the time to stop and see the memorial. It is certainly an emotional experience. I really don't know how anyone can mentally prepare for the visit. I had gone to the web site and ended up questioning whether or not I'd be able to handle it. But, we had already made the plans to go; so I "girded my loins" with prayer and hoped for the best.
There is an app that you can download so you have a walking tour of the memorial to listen to. There are several National Park Rangers on site to answer any questions. I'm such a blubbering cry baby, that I preferred the walking tour!

There are 3 bronze gates at the memorial, called The
Gates of Time. They bookend the memorial and remind
visitors of the time the bomb went off, the time the first
responders arrived, and the time recovery began.

                           

The Field of Empty Chairs is powerful! There are
9 rows; representing the 9 stories of the federal
building. Each row has one chair placed for each
individual who lost their life that day.

The Survivor Tree is the only tree on the
property to have survived the bombing. It was
broken, scarred, and had numerous pieces of
shrapnel embedded in the bark. It was nursed
back to health and included in the memorial.

This message was written on the exterior of a
neighboring building, which became the museum. It was
placed there by those who helped with the
clean up and recovery.

The Rescuers' Orchard was planted to remind visitors of
the countless citizens who immediately ran to the site,
willing to help with rescue and recovery.

The Reflecting Pool is simply beautiful. It is so
peaceful and is intended to provide visitors with
a place to meditate and reflect on what had
happened.

This is a large observation area inside the museum.
It overlooks the memorial.

The Fence is part of the original barrier constructed
around the bomb site. Many people place ribbons,
pictures, stuffed animals, etc. on the fence during recovery.
The citizens of the city petitioned the designers to
include at least a portion of the fence in the final
design.

I handled most of the memorial fairly well; but, those tiny
chairs representing the children lost in the day care center
were heartbreaking. So many lives cut short way too early.

  After walking through the outdoor memorial, which took almost an hour, Ron and I decided we just couldn't handle the museum. There are several tours available, of varying lengths, for those with a tougher heart than we have.

Sturgis, South Dakota

My baby brother, David, is a Harley rider. As a matter of fact, the one and only time I've ridden a motorcycle was when he took me for a ride on one of his bikes. I really can't think of a time when Dave HASN'T had a motorcycle. Now that he's older, he struggles with the the decision to hang up his leathers and sell the bikes. I really can't imagine him without one; but, age, skin cancer, free time... but mostly age, are giving him reasons to sell. Frankly, I hope he hangs on to his bikes forever because they are such a part of who he is. 

He and his wife had been to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally; and, I got to hear all about it. Quite honestly, it sounds like a nightmare to me! But, since we were in the area; and, Ron enjoys looking at vintage vehicles, we decided to make a quick visit.

The town is pretty small, and thinking about how crowded the streets must be when the bikers descend upon the community boggled my mind. I kept thinking, where to they park all those bikes! Do the people who live here go on a month long vacation to avoid the crowds? Where do they all camp? It's has to be absolute madness! Just to illustrate how MANY people come for the rally, look at this map! Each pin is for a person who attended the most recent rally. They come from all over the world!

The museum is pretty deceptive. It is on a typical, small town street, has a relatively narrow brick front, and small parking lot. I wasn't expecting much when we pulled up out front but ended up being really surprised. 

The assortment of motorcycles is massive! They have been donated by motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the world. The great state of Texas was well represented. I didn't post nearly half of the pictures I took. Just the ones that had the most bikes per picture. 

While I can't see myself going back, it might actually be a blast to go with David.  He and Deb are planning on going again sometime soon. I'm sure Dave  could offer a lot of insight into the exhibits; and, that would make it even more interesting.  Unfortunately, the crowds will be enough to make me pass up and invitation to go to the rally with him and Deb!

Custer State Park, South Dakota

Several years ago, I went to South Dakota with Scott, Leslie, and her kids. It was our first visit to the area and I enjoyed it so much, I knew I would eventually go back. Ron had also been to South Dakota on business and had made a run through the park to see the buffalo. But, we hadn't been there together. It really is a beautiful park and I think we timed our visit perfectly because it wasn't really that crowded.  We were just going to be driving through after having spent the morning in the Spearfish area, so we didn't want to spend a lot of time at the visitor's center; just take a quick restroom break. However, we ended up watching the movie that is narrated by Kevin Costner, explaining the founding and purpose of the park. That is a must see! I'm so glad we took the time to watch it. Plus, the visitor's center has a huge model of the park that you can check out to see where the bison are grazing. There is also a natural area outside the center where we got to watch some monarch butterflies.

I let Ron do the driving while we were in the park. He is pretty good about taking pictures with his phone, when I remind him.  But, he never seems to send them to me so I can upload them. I wanted my hands free so I could get some pictures of the wildlife.  The best time to visit is actually early morning or evening, so I didn't expect to get many pictures. No elk or big horn sheep; but we did get to see bison, deer, the begging burros, and some prairie dogs.

We've decided that the next time we go to South Dakota, we really want to be there in late September. That's when the public is invited to the bison round up. They have corrals in the park where the bison are herded for sorting. The park wildlife specialists will only keep the number of bison that the park can feed without supplementing. That fluctuates from year to year, depending on weather conditions and the abundance of grassland. Some are kept in the park and the rest are sold at auction; which helps fund the bison program in the park. It must be amazing to see and hear those massive beasts running over the hills toward the corrals. 

As we were getting ready to leave the park, we saw a bunch of cars parked along the side of the road. There were several bison walking across the road to get to a mud hole near one of the forks in the road.  We spent a little time watching them and headed out of the park, thinking we had pretty much seen most of them. But, as we drove over a rise in the road, there was a crazy bull waltzing up the middle of the road. He had traffic stopped in both directions. Once he finally started moving over, there were 2 motorcycle riders that got the bright idea to pass us. That bull did NOT like the noise those motorcycles made. I thought for sure he was going to charge them.  He finally got off the road and we were able to pass him. I think Ron really could have reached out and touched him as we drove by. 

There are several lakes inside the park and you are welcome to bring in canoes or kayaks. We stopped for a short visit at the last lake you pass before leaving. Surprisingly, there weren't any people out on the lake, or fishing! It was almost like having it all to ourselves. It really was the perfect ending for our visit.