Saturday, July 30, 2011

My BFF Came To Visit! :)

I was beyond excited when Karen sent me a text asking which week would work best for her to come out for a visit! It had been a while since we had seen each other and I was really missing her! Last year we spent an amazing time in Branson after not seeing each other in two years! (She had just moved back from Oregon.) I would LOVE to make this an annual event! :)

Karen and her daughter, Madison (who is the same age as Abby), arrived on Sunday afternoon. We spent the day just hanging out, eating delicious dinner and teaching Karen and Madison how to play Rummy!
In our house, you MUST know how to play Rummy!

Monday morning we headed out for Oklahoma City! First stop: Pops! My family loves Pops and think it is a must when family/friends come to visit! I love that old Route 66 feel!

Abby opted for Fizzy Lizzy Yakima Grape pop.

Madison went for Gardena Grape pop.

Once Karen discovered that there was crushed ice, she got really excited and ordered a fountain Pepsi. Her favorite!



Aren't we just cute?! :)

Karen had never been to Oklahoma City (or Oklahoma, for that matter) so the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial was a must. We didn't take the time to tour the museum. We just walked the outside grounds. The memorial is beautiful and touching, but I just never get over that awful feeling I get in my stomach when I go there. Such a terrible tragedy!


Each chair represents the people that lost their lives in this tragedy. Large chairs for the adults. Small chairs for the children.


This is a statue across the street from the memorial entitled "Jesus Wept".

This is the Survivor Tree. Just as the name says, it survived the blast on the day of the bombing.

Madison and Abby wrote messages in the children's area of the memorial.

This is what happens when Abby gets a hold of the camera. :)

Karen's dad had told her that the Women's World Cup of Softball was going on while we were going to be in OKC. We knew that Abby would definitely be interested in that, so we checked it out. That night was the championship game. What made it even more exciting was that the USA team was in the final game! USA vs. Japan! Sweet!








Madison and Abby each caught a pair of batting gloves!

Of course, Abby had to try hers on. It was almost like watching the O.J. Simpson trial all over again! HA HA HA!! Her gloves were too small. :)

USA WINS!!!!





We all had a great time at the game! I would definitely take Abby there again!

The girls spent some time in the pool before we headed out for the day. I would have loved to jump in that pool later in the day!

Our next stop was the Bricktown Canal. It was pretty, but OH. SO. HOT!!!


Abby and Madison thought the ducks should be in the water since it was so hot!





The little fountains of water at the end of the canal couldn't have been more welcomed! Who could resist?




This kind of grossed me out a little bit. Who knows where that water came from? But, in case I hadn't mentioned it yet, it was HOT! We were all desperate for a drink! We decided it was time to take a break from the outdoors and go inside for lunch.

This is what happens when you drink a blue coconut slush! :) Silly girl!

We ended up spending the rest of our day in Oklahoma City at the mall! Nice and cool! We scored some great deals, which was great! (I have to say, we spent something like three hours in JCPenney's alone! Crazy!)

I am SO thankful that Jon was able to take a day off of work for me to be able to go play in OKC! He did a super job of taking care of the boys and making sure that we came home to a nice, clean house!

Wednesday we headed to the dollar theater (Which actually costs $2. Go figure.) to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. Cute movie.
We should have had the girls in this picture since they were there with us!

After the movie, Karen and Madison set out to make a little craft to take home with them.
Madison made hers for herself, but Karen made hers for her younger daughter, Erika.

They turned out ADORABLE!! I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, so I am waiting for Karen to send me a picture.

Karen and I had the opportunity to go to the movies by ourselves! We were the only two people in the entire theater! It was great!

Waiting for Karen to send me this picture too! :)

Karen and Madison headed out on Thursday afternoon, but like I always say, no visit to Bartlesville is complete without eating at Frank & Lola's! So, of course, we had to partake!

(Ben and Luke were there too, but for some reason, I didn't take a picture of them. Sorry boys!)

I LOVED having my best friend come visit me! We had a great time! I hope this is becoming an annual tradition and we will get to go on a fun little trip again next July!

Thank you SO much, Karen (and Madison), for coming to see me in Bartlesville!! Thank you, Chris, for setting us up in a great hotel in Oklahoma City!! I appreciate it all SO, SO much!! I love ya, Karen! Thank you for being such an amazing friend!

5 comments:

Nana-Judy said...

Awesome pictures, Jamie! Kind of interesting that Karen has never been to Oklahoma since her two oldest brothers were born there. I recorded the softball game...now that I know exactly where you were sitting, I'll have to go back and see if I can find you. So glad you had a good time.
Ron

Nana-Judy said...

This really IS Judy...
An excellent post, Jamie! You do a wonderful job with your blog. My daughter is excellent at it, too! The only thin...its been over a year since she posted on her blog! LOL
Maybe she will get back to doing it !?!?!? I HOPE SO!

Mom said...

WOW! That was quite a trip. You guys were busy. I brought back lots of memories.(POPS, The Memorial, the Canal, and of course Frank & Lolas) Of course when we were there it was really cold. It looked beautiful. Karen looks great. Glad you had a great time,

Anonymous said...

We had a wonderful time! Thanks for having us Jamie and for all of your awesome food! I told Mad that she'd be eating well with you as a cook and I WAS RIGHT! Love you my friend! Can't wait to see what we come up with next year...

Becca said...

So glad you have such a great friend. Looks like you guys had a GREAT time together.