family vacation in oklahoma! part two

The remainder of our trip in Oklahoma was equal parts easy-going and super busy! All the boys went fishing one morning (more fishing!) and so the girls and I got all dolled up for a little trip to get our "old time" photos taken. The previous days were so sweaty and action-packed, it was nice to have make-up on again, even if just for a second! :) We went to a nearby creek for some swimming before heading out to dinner that evening. And the next day we drove to Arbuckle Wilderness!

Richard with the rainbow trout he caught (that Nick ate for breakfast! ;P)

Our old-timey photo, hahaha. Nick & Meghan got one, too!

At the creek! The littles immediately made a million friends and had a pretty epic "splash war" going on. We were just trying not to freeze to death because that water was chilly. ;P

After a nice little lunch at a local bistro (seriously!), we headed to Arbuckle Wilderness. This was considered an imperative stop on our trip, as the kiddos went there years ago and just had to go back! 

Arbuckle Wilderness is essentially a petting zoo, but you travel along a route in your car. There were all kinds of animals (or "AMI-NALS!" as all the kiddos kept saying ;P) - llamas, emus, ostriches, horses... and you can feed them all right out of your car! (Plus, the animals are not shy about sticking their heads inside the car to get the food, and we had 1 or 2 cups stolen right out of our hands! Needless to say there were lots of screeches and squeals the entire time. ;P) 

This dude was one of my favorites. :D

Llamas!

Emus!

Oh, hello!

And they will follow you to get that food!

A very friendly camel. :D

Emmy feeding the geese. :)

Buffalo!

And one of the biggest horses I've ever seen.

Seriously!

Have to admit, the longhorn was my favorite. He was so beautiful!

Meghan & Nick were so excited for this giraffe. (Feeding them is so crazy, their tongues are crazy big!)

Love this picture!

After our little stop at Arbuckle, we finally headed back home. It was such a fun little family trip! Big thanks to Debbie & Aaron for taking care of our fishies and mail while we were out. :) Next up is our honeymoon/1st year anniversary trip for me and R (sans kids!) and we're really looking forward to it.

(You can see part 1 of our family vacation here!)

family vacation in oklahoma! part one

This year we went to Oklahoma for our family vacation, and had ourselves quite a time. Nick even came with us! Richard and Meghan found the most beautiful cabin (seriously, I was all "!!!" when I arrived... especially because our suite was entirely separate, teehee! ;)) When we first arrived, the boys immediately dove into fishing the pond behind our cabin (immediately!) but that didn't stop us from having a great inaugural dinner (steak for everyone, scallops for meee). The next day we took to the marina for a good ole boat-with-two-person-tube rental and holy smokes, it was a blaaast. Here are some pictures of our first couple of days!

Our lunch spot on the drive up. This is really important to me, as we stopped in Paris, TX and R & I kept obnoxiously saying, "We're lunching at the Chili's in Pah-ris! The Chili's in Paaaris!"

My vacation book of choice (which was super cute).

Our beautiful cabin. :)

My husband, not wasting any time. :)

Views from the backyard. :)

We found the teeniest frogs! That's a frog!

This photo is brought to you by The Giggles Over R3's Tooting (seriously ;P)

The morning we left to tube, R3 caught himself a fishy!

The marina was absolutely beautiful, and I think it's safe to say it was our favorite part of the trip. Lots of fun pictures (and video!) below!

Deee!!!

Mr. Man was simply the driver that day - no tubing for him!

Sadie and I were first! I was so excited!

Not pictured is me falling off the tube within 5 seconds of getting on it (had to learn to scoot my booty down to distribute that weight better! ;P) - Sadie and I had so much fun going together, and the only reason we stopped is because I fell off first... Sadie was hardcore, she could have kept going!

Next was Emily and R3! This video doesn't really capture it well, but they were bobbing up and down alot in sync over the waves (like little rag dolls!) and it was sooo cute.

Then Meg & Nick were up! Richard was determined to bull-dog them (also known as "knocking them on their asses"). They made it a good 3 minutes! Very impressive (and the littles were sooo excited watching them ;)). 

Emmy and I went together, and had a very lady-like turn. No dramatic shifts, and we asked to just be pulled in (not knocked in the water), thankyouverymuch. ;)

Meghan and Nick had another turn in which they sat on their booties (and Nick had a hilarious "weight distribution" system to avoid being knocked off, despite Richard's best efforts). I almost wished I video'd it, but it was too fun just to watch. ;)

After all of our arms were worn out, we just stopped and swam in the lake while running out the clock on our rental. At one point, R3 exclaimed, "Miss Kylie! Miss Kylie! Stretch your feet down, the water gets nice and coooold" and it was the cutest thing I'd heard the entire trip. :D <3

This picture! 5 smiles!

Quick swimsuit appreciation: guys, I don't have to worry (as much!) about my pasty-skin and sunscreen in this sucker. Just my face, neck and legs! It's seriously one of my favorite purchases of the year.

Just a little video of our drive back. :)

Waiting back at the harbor. :) (Also, I got these sunnies at the neighborhood Wal*Mart for a whopping $7. Color me pleasantly surprised!)

After tubing, we stopped by and picked up some bait for even more fishing back at the cabin. :)

The girls were into it (and looked sooo cute just sitting there).

And Sadie caught a big'un!

Seriously, it's almost as big as her!

That night ended with a wonderful fish taco dinner (apropos, right?), s'mores by the fire and the hardest sleep I've gotten in a long time. ;P We're all dreaming of being boat (and tube!) owners now! 

(part two of our trip here!)