Monday, February 19, 2018

President's Day Weekend Adventure - Guthrie

President's Day Weekend Adventure - Guthrie
We were so lucky to get to extend our President's Day Weekend Adventure with Grandmother and Granddaddy for another day. We headed out this morning to drive to Guthrie, Oklahoma. First, we went looking for a car shop that Granddaddy wanted to check out, but we never found it. We ended up on a muddy dirt road and it just kept going and going. We ended up turning around and finding something to eat instead.

We headed to The Stables Cafe in downtown Guthrie. It's a cute little restaurant in a converted horse stable. 

The Stables Cafe in Guthrie Oklahoma



I always like to check out the decor in these historic places. I noticed an old-fashioned leather football helmet at one of the other tables that was really neat. I would have taken a picture of it but there were people sitting at that table and that might have been a little awkward. 

Emily at The Stables Cafe

The old signs are always very interesting. And this young lady is pretty neat, too. 

Menu at The Stables Cafe


The menu had a written history and old photos of the building. I thought that was pretty cool. The building has a really neat history. 

                                            I love you sign

Noah flashing the "I love you" sign in our selfie. This is our family sign.

BBQ Sandwich with onion rings


Their food was delicious. I had the BBQ beef sandwich and onion rings. I let Noah try an onion ring and he ended up eating probably half the pile. I didn't know he was such a fan of onion rings. Noah also had a strawberry soda. I thought that was the perfect drink for our adventure. 


Triple-Decker Turkey Sandwich with Fries

Emily had a triple-decker turkey sandwich and fries. She had to take half of it home for later because it was so big. She thought it was good though. 


Historic Building in Guthrie Oklahoma

When we walked out of the cafe, it was at least 10 degrees colder than it was when we'd walked in, so we went to the car and got our jackets before heading out on the next part of our adventure. 

Pollard Theater Guthrie Oklahoma

We decided to walk over to check out some of the museums and historic buildings in downtown Guthrie. It's so neat to see all the old buildings and signage around the area. We went by the Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum, but it was not open. 


Oklahoma Daily State Capital Sign in Guthrie Oklahoma

We walked over to the State Capital Publishing Museum, but it was not open either. 



State Capital Publishing Museum in Guthrie Oklahoma

I'm not sure if it's ever open right now. It didn't really look like it. I found a news article that said a group was trying to save the building because it's crumbling and needs to be restored. 


Steps of State Capital Publishing Museum in Guthrie Oklahoma

The building was still really neat to see though. It amazes me how they made such fancy and intricate buildings way back when. They sure don't make them like that anymore. 


One of the historic buildings housed a coffee and chocolate shop so of course, we had to stop in there. It was called Rick's Fine Chocolates and Coffees. All their chocolates are handmade and they all looked wonderful. 

Chocolate Display

We all got to pick our favorites.  Noah picked the Rice Krispie treats covered in sprinkles. Can't say I blame him with that choice!

Picking out Chocolate Candies

I was impressed with their selection of treats. I think I saw a bag in my kitchen that still had some chocolate left in it so hopefully, someone will hide that one for (from!) me tonight!


Target Toy Aisle

And then we headed to Target - Noah's choice. He and Emily had some money from Valentine's Day that they wanted to spend. The got to spend their money any way they wanted. Emily got some colored pens. And I can't remember what Noah got so that'll have to be a blog post for another day. 


Couch Cuddling


When we got home, we had a couple of projects to work on. My parents are wonderful at helping me with my projects around the house. I wish I'd taken some work pictures so that I could show you what we did. Maybe I'll take some pictures of the finished product and show you?

I had to snap the picture above when the kids were snuggling with Grandmother on the couch. Grandmother and Granddaddy will drive home tomorrow and we're going to miss them so much ... until next time!



Sunday, February 18, 2018

President's Day Weekend Adventure - RV Show and Movie Night

President's Day Weekend Adventure - RV Show and Movie Night
This afternoon, we extended our President's Day Weekend Adventure and went to the RV Super Show at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. I wasn't sure what to expect when we went because I'd never been to an RV show before, but we had a good time. 

Noah found this cool 3-wheel motorcycle called a Slingshot.  How cool!

Noah sitting in Polaris Slingshot



Noah always surprises me when he just hops into the driver's seat of any automobile he finds. He's not shy or afraid of it at all. It makes me wonder what he'll want to explore when he gets older. Clearly, Emily is not impressed. 



Noah's going to be the one driving all the beautiful ladies around!

Driving the Ladies

And don't worry, Emily got a turn pretending to drive it too.  Doesn't this look like a scary image? "Watch the road! Stop looking at the corndog stand!"

Scary Driver

We also saw some really cool RV's, too. They had TV's on the inside and on the outside and some nice looking kitchens and fancy features. 


RV Show OKlahoma City

Noah and Emily found this one with a loft bed that was very high. But I think it would be a lot of fun. 

Bunk in RV




And of course, Noah found his way into the driver's seat once again. 

Driving the RV


After we got home, we had family movie night. We watched Wonder, which was a really good movie with a powerful message about being kind to others, even if they are different from us. We popped some popcorn and made a date of it. It was the perfect way to end the day. 

What did you do on your Sunday? 




Saturday, February 17, 2018

President's Day Weekend Adventure - Tulsa

President's Day Weekend Adventure - Tulsa

Grandmother and Granddaddy are visiting us this President's Day Weekend. Emily and Noah are out of school on Monday so we'll get to spend an extra day with them. This is their first visit to our house since Grandmother retired. 

They went with us on an adventure to Tulsa today. Emily didn't want to go so it was just me, Noah, Grandmother, and Granddaddy. Our plan was to go to The Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium (TASM). We let Siri guide us to our destination but he took us to the Tulsa International Airport, right to the terminal, where the TASM is not located. Ooops!

We decided that we needed to find lunch before we went to find the museum. We looked on our phones and found a place called Tally's Good Food Cafe that was close and had good reviews. We drove over and found the cafe on the corner. The parking lot was packed but we went ahead and found a line out the door. We sort of debated whether we wanted to find another place or not, but we ended up staying. 

Lunch at Tally's Good Food Cafe

How cute are they??

While we were waiting on line, Granddaddy noticed a sign for a car show that was in town this weekend. We looked it up and it was only 5 minutes away from the cafe. It didn't take us too long to get a seat at the back of the cafe. We had huge cheeseburgers and Noah had huge pancakes.  The food was all really good and the price was very affordable. 

President's Day Weekend Adventure in Tulsa Oklahoma


After we finished eating, we went to find the car show that was at the Tulsa Expo Square. When we drove up, we saw a huge HUGE man standing out front. Noah wanted to walk over and see him.  Does he look big? He was taller than the building!


Tulsa Golden Driller at Tulsa Expo Square

Did you see me and Noah in the picture above? We look like tiny ants at this guy's feet!  This is the Tulsa Golden Driller. He's the tallest free-standing statue in the U.S. and is a popular symbol of the self-proclaimed "Oil Capital of the World."

Sitting on the foot of the Tulsa Golden Driller statue

Noah had a lot of fun crawling all over the huge shoes. He thought this statue was pretty cool.


Car Show at River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa

There were some cars parked out in front of the expo center that we checked out before going inside. 


Car Show at Tulsa Expo Square

Granddaddy was like a kid in a candy store. We had to get a picture of him taking pictures of the fancy hot rods. 


Low Riding Blue Truck at Car Show

They did have some really fancy cars. All different kinds of cars. There were so many cars in the expo center. They were all unbelievably shiny and sparkly. 

Blue Car at Car Show in Tulsa

They also had some cars that were just really interesting. Is this car drivable? How does that work? 


Ryan Signing Autographs at Car Show in Tulsa

There were several famous car people there signing autographs. This is a guy named Ryan. He's on a TV show about cars. He had a car that he'd fixed up on display in his booth. 

We left Granddaddy at the car show and headed over to the Air and Space Museum & Planetarium. We got there a few minutes before the last show of the day at the Planetarium so that was our first stop.


Planetarium in Tulsa Oklahoma

They wouldn't let us take pictures after the show started but we got a couple snaps before. The Planetarium had a domed ceiling where they showed the films and the chairs lean way back so that you're looking up at the dome.



Air and Space Museum and Planetarium in Tulsa Oklahoma


We got to see three different mini shows. The first one was views of the earth from outer space, the second was the history of flying, the third was a trip to the middle of the Milky Way. The flying one was my favorite because it felt like we were actually flying in parts of the movie. It was really cool. 

After our planetarium show ended, we were going to go over to the museum but it was closing for the day so we didn't get to check out any of the exhibits. That just means we'll have to go back another day.

Maybe next time we can get Emily to join us. We missed her a lot on our adventure. We had a lot of fun though!  What will we do next?



Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

New York-Style Cheesecake Recipe

The Best Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Did you have a wonderful day? I definitely did. There is just something about the day of love that makes everything exciting. 

I remember when I was a kid and we'd be super excited to get those little paper Valentines from all our friends in our class at school. Things are different now. The kids give each other candies or snacks with pinterest-worthy Valentine greetings attached to them. 

And can we talk for a second about the Valentine boxes that kids need every year? When did they start this? Every time I get on Facebook, I see these fancy handmade monster boxes or princess boxes or heart-shaped macrame boxes. This morning, Noah and I were sitting in the car drop off line and a mom was carrying her daughter's 3-foot tall glitter unicorn box into the school for her. This is insanity! Noah had a gift bag with hearts on it and his name in glitter letters and he was super happy with it. AND he could carry it to school all by himself. #winning

Anyway, I digress ... my Valentine's Day was good. My family got me some beautiful double delight roses. They are white with red tips and they look so fancy!



Dozen Red-tipped White Roses


All the blooms are fresh and beautiful. They are on my kitchen counter right now, but I might have to move them into my office tomorrow so that I can enjoy them all day. I don't see why not!


I made a delicious dinner with cheesecake for dessert. Nanny came over and joined us and we had a good time talking and visiting. 


New York-Style Cheesecake


The cheesecake was really good tonight. I've used this cheesecake recipe a few times and it always turns out great. 

Slice of New York-Style Cheesecake


Yield: 1 9-inch cheesecakePin it
New York-Style Cheesecake Recipe

New-York Style Cheesecake

Cooking this cheesecake in a water bath will result in a beautiful, thick and creamy cheesecake with no cracks. Serve with cherry pie filling, chocolate sauce, or caramel sauce.
prep time: 30 MINScook time: 1 hour and 25 MINStotal time: 1 hours and 55 mins

ingredients:

For graham cracker crust
  • 12 full sheets graham crackers
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
For cheesecake filling
  • Four 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 2/3 cups sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream

instructions


  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Crush graham crackers (or use food processor), add sugar and melted butter. Mix together and press into 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until crust is lightly browned. 
  2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch together on medium speed, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl several times. 
  3. Add vanilla and eggs, mix well.  Add cream and mix until completely blended. Do not overmix! 
  4. Increase oven temperature to 350°F. Wrap the bottom and sides of springform pan in foil. Pour batter into prepared crust. 
  5. Place the foil-wrapped pan in a large shallow pan. Pour in hot water until it is about 1 inch up the side of the springform pan. Bake until light golden brown and the center barely jiggles, about 1 hour and 25 minutes. If the center still jiggles, bake an additional 5-10 minutes. 
  6. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 2 hours. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.










What did you do special for Valentine's Day?




Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma

Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma
Noah wants to tell you about an adventure that we went on. The thing is that we went on this adventure back in the fall but I just never blogged about it until now. 

Seeing animals at Arbuckle Wilderness Animal Safari

But, I'll give you a few hints ...

Donkey at Arbuckle Wilderness Animal Park in Oklahoma
"Hey, gimme some of that!"




Fish art at Chickasaw Cultural Center in Oklahoma
"Artistic Fish"





Toy and Action Figure Museum in Central Oklahoma
"Childhood nostalgia"

So, are you curious?

You can go to these posts to find out more:

40 is the new 30

40 is the new 30
So, while I was away from the blog, I celebrated one of those milestone birthdays. Let me tell you, baby, age is just a number and it doesn't mean a thing at 40. 

40th Birthday Party with Dark Chocolate Tuxedo Cake


We had some friends and family over for supper and I made this delicious tuxedo cake from Sally's Baking Addiction.  


Dark Chocolate Tuxedo Cake with Sprinkles



Emily helped me decorate it. The inside is white chocolate ganache and the cake and frosting were both dark chocolate. 


White chocolate ganache between thick layers of dark chocolate cake


It was really delicious - so much so that Mike requested it for his birthday too. We decorated his a little differently. He didn't want sprinkles and I don't blame him - the ones on my cake were really hard!

Dark Chocolate Tuxedo Cake for Birthday


I got some new decor for my office for my birthday. I put them on top of my desk in my office. Not a great photo, but I just love my new vases and I'm very happy with the way they look on my desk. 


Turquoise vases with feather pattern on desk



Here's to 40 more years!



Monday, February 12, 2018

Someone was chosen as Student of the Week!

Someone was chosen as Student of the Week!
Happy Monday!

Noah is student of the week for his class! He brought home a bag on Friday that included instructions for the week.

We had to color and fill out a poster about Noah that will be displayed at school and he was recognized in their morning assembly this morning.

Student of the Week Poster

Tomorrow, he's going to share a book with the class. 

Student of the Week Second Grade

Later in the week, he gets to bring a snack for the class and everyone will write about Noah.  And another day I get to send a letter or story about Noah that will be read to the class.

Student of the Week Poster Color

It's going to be a fun week and I'm so excited for Noah.

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