Zoo-fabulous!

We took a trip to the OKC Zoo on Saturday.  

On the drive there we had to wait for a mama duck to cross the road with her babies.  It was such a cute sight!

Our first attraction was to visit the new baby elephant.  The mama was in Tulsa where she had a few hot dates with the papa.  Then she was pregnant for like 2 years...that would suck!

Erin was all grumpy because she wanted to be in the picture all by herself.  

We were all ready to get wet at the water play area in the kids zoo area, but it was shut down due to plumbing problems...we were really sad about it! Most of us had swim clothes on too!

Luke goin' down the zip line...don't worry, Howard only moved his hands for a quick picture.

The goats really liked my kids!

We loved the slide...we all took turns!

Brotherly Love

The boys have an AWESOME bed! It's a full bed up top, a twin bed in the hide-out, and a twin trundle.  We also have a toddler bed for Luke.  

So why do they have to all sleep together?!  This happens regularly although sometimes it's in different combinations.  

Sometimes they are all on the top bunk, or two will be in the toddler bed and one on the floor next to the toddler bed.  It's always a surprise when I check on the boys before I go to bed.

Just Lookin'

When I'm not looking.

Lookin' for something.

Don't worry, I cleaned the counter.

Camping

These just happen to be in chronological order.  I'm too lazy right now to do it any other way.

Now that Howard is finally home for some warm weather and the kids are getting older, I really wanted to go camping for my birthday. Well that didn't happen, so I decided Mother's day weekend would be a good time.  I obviously didn't know when Mother's day was when we scheduled this trip, because we didn't change the date.  We went this past weekend!  And, it wasn't warm while we were there either.  I guess it's better than being miserably hot.  Although we look forward to going back to get in the rivers, lakes, and natural pools at the Chickasaw National Rec Area.  It was SO BEAUTIFUL! As I was packing for our trip, I realized we were terribly underprepared, so I had to get some Amazon and Walmart shopping done for us to go.

Erin sitting around the campfire.  With the Oklahoma wind, we never knew which chair would get hit with the smoke.  It was terrible!  

Luke in his new kiddie camp chair, all bundled up!

This was the river behind our campsite.  

Dash had to be tied up or on a leash at all times.  He didn't like that!

I'm not much for cooking out in the wild, so we have cold cereal when we camp, but I make sure I buy the good stuff that we normally don't eat.  We also eat simple sandwiches for lunch, and had foil packet dinners that I had prepared at home.

About a 10 minute drive from our campsite was Lake of the Arbuckles.  We were wishing we had a boat when we went there.

Skipping rocks!

Silliness!

One of the natural pools.  The water was so clear, I was wishing it was warmer so we could jump in.  I don't like swimming in lakes, but this was different.  I could see the bottom of it.

Both afternoons I ended up going on a long walk with Dash (by myself...heaven!)  I walked along a trail that followed this river.

Here I am almost at the top of the summit.  I know it's not very high up, but the last time I was this high up what when I was in a tall building in downtown OKC.  It's pretty flat in the metro area, so this was very refreshing!

The second night we had very nice camp neighbors.  The Mom brough 5 boys for a birthday party sleepover...and they were all Howie's age.  Here we are at their camp site and Luke is attempting to smile on command.  He's normally not this challenged at smiling.

This is just a picture that I like.

On my walk on day 2.

These rock wall and bridges were built by the CCC during the Great Depression.

Jack was in charge of packing toys...of course he brought his dinosaurs.

We played lots of Slap Jack and a little Uno.  

Most of the trip was great, mostly because we were in a beautiful place.  But I learned a lot about my kids while camping...they are deficient in outdoor common sense.  Howard and I were very frustrated with them, but we know it's our job to teach them the skills they need to be responsible outdoors in nature.  It's just hard sometimes to do it without yelling. We also got a few ticks on us, but were able to get rid of them quickley.  Since there were no bugs flying around annoying us, we forgot to apply the bug spray.  I know better now.

We will definitly go back. I can't wait for school to get out because it's close enough for day trips.

I LOVE Flowers

First off, I want to say I am in no way trying to be boastful in regards to this post.  Amazing things are happening from a small idea that I had and God took over and turned into into something more.  He gets all the credit!

Our family volunteers at the City Rescue Mission two Sunday's a month in the kitchen.  It has been a wonderful opportunity to show the kids how to serve others outside of our comfort zone.  It has also been wonderful for me because it has given me a greater sense of accomplishment.  Cleaning house and changing diapers just isn't as fulfilling as I would like.  I love being a homemaker, but I also want to do something that has more immediate results.

On Thursday it occurred to me that all the mother's at the homeless shelter will probably not be getting anything special for Mother's day.  That just broke my heart.  I wanted to do something, but we don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on these people.  Then the idea came, how about we get some flower shops to donate their left over flowers at the end of the day and we could give each Mom a single flower.  

Friday morning I started calling without much luck, but a kind florist suggested I call a wholesale florist. I hadn't thought of that, so I proceeded to make some calls.  Not much luck, until finally a wholesaler said okay.  He donated 100 iris'.  Everyone else I called told me to call back on Saturday.

Saturday morning came and I made phone calls while Howard did the leg work.  Howard went to go pick up some flowers, but accidentally went to the wrong place.  What a blessing!  The wrong place (after initially saying NO on Friday) donated 100 carnations!  To make a long story short, blessing after blessing poured out!  We were given hundreds of flowers, greenery, baby's breath, ribbon, and wrapping!  So in the end we aren't just able to provide a single flower to each mother as planned, but a small bouquet. 

 In all we made 164 bouquets!

Saturday morning...this was just the beginning!

Finishing up the last of the bouquets.

All ready to go!

Erin loves flowers as much as I do!

Just for fun!

Cuteness

I should just rename this blog..."All about Luke", but it's still the Parkes Family.  Luke just does really cute picture worthy things.  Jack on the other hand is a crack up to talk to. Everyone should have the opportunity to talk with Jack. But talking doesn't make great pictures unfortunately.  

Dinner attire for the evening...swimming casual.

Nap time just couldn't wait so Luke decided to curl up to some nice cold concrete and flooring supplies. The lamp base was his pillow.

At the Science Center over spring break he bumped his leg, so he made it all better by kissing it.

This is for real at the Science Center.  It's right up front next to the handicap parking. 

My birthday dinner at Red Lobster. 

 Glad 29 is over, that was a very hard year. My birthday was hard emotionally.  It was my first without the parents.  My sister's made it special with phone calls that my Mom would normally make.  I was doing well until about a week before my birthday and then the emotions just came out unexpectedly.  I am not writing this for sympathy, but more for awareness.  This is something people just don't talk about, but it's perfectly normal.  If anyone wants to talk to me about their loved one who has past, even if it was 20 years ago...I will be a listening ear. I now know that each passing day doesn't get better or easier.  Some days are good and some are bad...it's a craps shoot. My heart and mind have been so full of things that I want to share, but I'm not sure how to express it.  I've obviously been in  a blogging funk, but I'm starting to think it's not such a bad thing.  What I have shared so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

My Mom and step-Dad's wedding anniversary is tomorrow.  They were married in 1988.  And then it will be Mother's day.  My heart is heavy right now.  Not just for myself, but for my step-Dad.  Now that both of my biological parents are gone, it's nice that I have back up.  I'm almost at the 1 year anniversary of my Father's death. Also, May 13th is the 15 year anniversary of my Grandmother's death.  She died on the Monday after Mother's day. No disrespect to anyone else's Grandma, but I was blessed to have the VERY BEST Grandma in the world.  Seriously...no one was better than her. Some say time heals all, but I miss her more now than ever before.  When my Mom died, it only made the hurt of missing my Grandmother worse.  It was like she died all over again because the link I had to Grandma was gone.  

This month kind of sucks.  

I recently attended a viewing of Howard's co-worker's 11 year old daughter who passed away from CF.  It was very difficult to see a perfect little child in a casket.  It really makes you reflect on how we choose to spend our time and what kind of difference we are making in our spot of the world.