Back on the Wagon

I feel like I'm slowly but surely climbing back on the wagon here in Tulsa. No, I didn't go through a period of villainy, larceny, skullduggery, and persnickety, only to find my way back to to the good road. But I am starting to feel like life is getting back to normal, at least a little bit, thanks to the fact that I finally have some regular, scheduled activities on the calendar. Geez, when we were in California, I feel like there were things going on all the time: park days, weekly Parent Ed, library storytime, music classes, museum free days, etc., not to mention the readily available Disneyland. That was really awesome. So, it's been an unwelcome adjustment to go from having lots of activities on the calendar to having NONE. But like I said, we're starting to climb back on the wagon. For instance:

*Church!* We went to our new church on Sunday (well, same church, new ward). As we expected, it is chock-full of really friendly, wonderful people, many of whom welcomed us and introduced themselves. However, I admit, we will miss the big, tall, bright windows that lined the chapel of our old building in CA, because this new building doesn't have any windows in there. On the other hand, the nursery here has a peephole, and I'm really loving being able to peek at Weston after Sunday School to see how he's doing (wandering around the room aimlessly, as it turns out). It seems like there's a good group of young couples with little kids here (I say "young", even though we're nearly 30, haha), and I know I'm going to enjoy getting to know them better. (That's a process that I go about very tentatively, because I get really shy sometimes, and inadventently become anti-social. I'm working on that.)

*Playgroup!* I heard tell of the weekly playgroup at the park, so of course Weston and I went, because even though everyone was obligated to be nice to us on our first Sunday at church, that second get-together is crucial because I needed to prove myself to the other moms as a worthy new friend. (Or is all that just in my head? Haha!) I got all cute-looking, and then nearly sweated myself to death because it was so hot outside. (It's hot here.) Even so, I was having a great time chatting with the other moms, and of course that was when Weston decided that he did NOT want me to be social and instead wanted me to follow him along poison-ivyed trails through the woods in my little black slides and with a massive diaper bag weighing down my shoulder. Yeah... note to self: wear sneakers and non-cute clothes at Hunter Park, and leave the bag in the car, because there are trails and Weston will want to get his wilderness on. And don't expect to get much social time. Even though my child is my ticket to new friendships, he is also ironically my greatest obstacle. Anyway, it all turned out fine, because I did get to visit and laugh with the other girls for a little while, and I also got to eat mulberries for the first time in my life, thanks to a friendly stranger who pointed them out to us during our impromptu hike.

*Storytime!* We hit a toddler storytime this week, and will continue to do so (I loooooove the library). Okay, there are pro's and con's. Pro: our new local library is FLIPPIN' AWESOME. It has a HUGE children's area with little chairs, puzzles, a wonky mirror, and a storytime room lined by massive artificial trees and with huge murals of animals (Weston kept pointing out all the animals... he was also very excited). Con: it's not within walking distance (but that's a rarity - it's kind of just a city thing); and con: it doesn't have Miss Tanya. The storytime itself was... well... mediocre, but that's because there was a substitute, so I can't really make an accurate judgment. But, I am REALLY excited about the physical space itself. AMAZING. And while I was there, I also signed up for Tulsa Library's Summer Reading Program, which had a "Storytime in the Park" event this morning. As it turns out, this park also had a big playground and water play area, and my favorite part was when Weston (fully clothed, because Jean did not pack a bathing suit, since Jean did not know that there was water play) squatted down on top of a water spout so that it could continually spray his bum. It brought him great joy. (The Tulsa Library should include THAT on their list of reasons to get involved with the library: water sprays to the bum for ALL!!)

So, hooray for getting back to scheduled activities! Next up: find a preschool program for Weston -- just one day per week for 2-3 hours. (Really, I just want something like regular weekly babysitting. I need some Jean time, and Tim said it's okay, so I'm being selfish and looking into it.) And after that: get Weston signed up for some sort of summer class. Swimming? Music? Twang for Tots? (so he can blend). I don't know. And after that: keep trying to make friends so that we can have some playdates!

Speaking of Twang for Tots, living in the South is funny. (Is Oklahoma the south, or the midwest? Or the south-midwest? Or the somidwestuth? Please confirm.) Here are three things that I never thought I'd see:

-Armadillo roadkill.
-Churches as big as community colleges.
-A sign on a local pizza place/fun center that says, "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, Proverbs 3:5". (Not that there's anything wrong with that... it would just be very surprising to see something like that in LA! Hahaha!)

And before I sign off, I would just like to award HUGE bonus points to Lisa and Liz, who both pointed out (in their great motherly wisdom) the wondrous benefit of having a washer/dryer for those vomit-in-the-crib moments. Because, incidentally, we DID have a massive vomit-in-the-crib moment on Sunday, and we WERE able to just toss everything right into the washer and get him into the tub and then back down for a nap within about 7 minutes. Oh my joy. I was so happy about it that I bought roses for the washer/dryer the next day, and then baked a chocolate cake and put it in the washer and turned it on High. So, bring on the vomit, Weston. Bring it. And thank you again, Washer/Dryer. I love you. You're welcome for the cake. :-)

Aaaaaaand... We're Here.

Editor's Note: Okay, okay, we've actually been here for six days now. I apologize for my extreme tardiness in posting about our move. In my defense, I've been swirling and whirling in a tornado for the past several days, and I finally just touched down a few hours ago. After pulling the leaves and twigs from my hair and hitchhiking back to Tulsa, I was finally able to get to a computer and do some blogging.

Anyway... we're here! I don't even know what to say, except that it's been really crazy over the past week and a half. (And sorry if I ramble... I'm really, really exhausted right now. I only sleep like five hours a night.) There was the move, of course, and the never-ending unpacking/organizing. (As it turns out, we have A LOT OF STUFF. The movers just kept coming and coming with more boxes!! Always more boxes!!!! And it's pretty much impossible to do any unpacking during daylight, a.k.a. Weston, hours). But there was also the passing of my beloved Uncle Joe in Cincinnati, who I'm really, really going to miss. Then, there's been Weston's crazy behavior, which has ranged from extreme clinginess to rampant hitting. To make matters worse, he came down with some sort of stomach virus a couple days ago. I think this move has been hard on him. Once or twice a day during our four-day roadtrip, he would say, "Wanna go home..." That broke my heart! I think he's slowly adjusting, and we're trying to be there for him as much as we can, but it's difficult when there are so many things that we're trying to do, too.

Anyway, we're getting there. This is what our apartment looked like on our last night in Pasadena:
And then the next day, it was bye-bye, Pasadena apartment! We'll miss you. Kinda.

I'll give you a full run-down of our cross-half-country roadtrip, but I think the first thing that struck me about Tulsa was how green it is here. Supposedly, Tulsa is part of Oklahoma's so-called "Green Country," which is basically the northeastern portion of the state. That was really nice to see -- grass and trees!!! Tulsa kind of reminds me of Tennessee, in that it's humid and wooded but also has those swaths of red dirt in some places.

Anyway, I think it's fair to say that we like Tulsa and we like our new apartment. It is by far the nicest place we've ever lived. (The honor was previously held by Wymount.) The pros: it has a swimming pool, and said pool is right next to our building in the complex; our unit has a dishwasher; it has central air conditioning (which Tim has never had in his life); and it has a washer and dryer. About that last one... WOW. Neither Tim nor I have ever had our own washer/dryer, ever, and although I've always craved it, I had no idea how easy all you fine people with your own washer/dryers really have it. Our first night here, I had to do two loads of laundry, and I could not BELIEVE that I could just walk over to the machines, without piling everything into laundry baskets or going outside or checking to see whether there was even a washer available, and just start the laundry. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. It was a glimpse into the lives of the other half. I am still in shock that I don't have to go outside to do laundry, because that's been the routine for the past seven years.

So, things are good so far. There are cons to this apartment, too, though: it's on the third floor, which means we have to leave 10 minutes earlier to everything than we would otherwise since Weston goes down the steps so slowly, and which means that I will never again be able to do any significant shopping during the day because it will be reeeeaaaally annoying to lug up bags of purchases plus Weston. Our little balcony overlooks not a forest with a sparkling stream, but a parking lot and a medical building (with the golden arches glowing in the distance). Plus, we can no longer walk our trash out to the trash cans; now we have to carry it down two flights of stairs, load it into our car, and drive it to the central trash compactor. So, those are a few of the things that are less desirable about this place, but on the whole, we like it.

One thing that I've realized since moving here is that Black Friday is going to be OFF THE HOOK. We live about one minute away from the big 71st Street thoroughfare in South Tulsa, which, I believe, boasts every single major retailer that exists on this planet. In our six days here, we've already been to the Super Target and Super Walmart three times (each). It's wild to be in a store so big that you can't even see where it ends. Thanks to a ginormous grocery shopping trip this evening, our pantry is now full of a combination of Trader Joe's items that we lugged from California (well, to give credit where credit is due, the movers lugged it), and the Great Value label. (Waffles for $1.50? Bananas for $.49/pound? Are you kidding me?? But that's a blog post for another day.)

We've also already been to several places that we've really been looking forward to: Braum's (a local favorite -- basically a burger joint + ice cream shop + dairy market), Cici's (THERE'S A CICI'S HERE!!!), Krispy Kreme, and Chick-Fil-A. I've also been to the mall and to a playground, but I'm sure I'll blog about those places another day, too. I don't have any friends yet, so these activities have just been for me and Weston (since Tim had to start work the very first day that we arrived here, while the movers were still unloading boxes... he's been really busy helping to get items together for a forthcoming video game pitch). Actually, in all honesty, it's been kind of fun to be completely off the radar. I don't know ANYONE here, so I've taken that to mean that I don't need to wear makeup. Haha! (It's not like I'm going to run into someone I know at the store!) However, tomorrow is our first Sunday in the new ward, so it's probably time to make myself presentable again, in the hopes of maybe making some friends here.

And FYI, we did in fact experience our first major Oklahoma thunderstorm/tornado warning the other night. It was raining harder than I've ever seen the sky rain, and we were technically in the zone where the newscasters advised hiding out in your basement/closet/insert safe location here, but we didn't. We weren't sure if it was actually a serious storm, or if they just exaggerate tornado threats around here because it boosts ratings. It turns out that yes, it was a serious storm, and yes, we were probably morons for not taking precautions. But, it was interesting and exciting nevertheless. Welcome to Oklahoma!!

So, this has been a very busy/stressful/tired/tumultuous time for all of us. Tim and I have been so preoccupied with everything going on that we keep forgetting that Sunday (today) is our seven-year anniversary. Hahaha! We decided that we're going to celebrate by watching the LOST series finale. Yes, we are pumped, but... LAMEST. ANNIVERSARY. EVER. But don't worry, in addition to trying to look presentable and smiling at people at church tomorrow, another one of our objectives is trying to find a babysitter so that we can hopefully go out next weekend. Hahaha! We're lame.

********************

And now for the CROSS-HALF-COUNTRY ROADTRIP RECAP!!!

I guess you could say that it went well, although Weston certainly hated it. In my pre-motherhood days, I would have definitely considered a paid roadtrip from California to Oklahoma to be a really wonderful, relaxing, and highly anticipated vacation. In reality, I was dreading it because of how disruptive it would be to Weston, and I was definitely not considering it to be a vacation in any sense (even if we did try to make the best of it). We had lots of fun and sweet family time, but we also had lots of stress and frustration! We stayed in five hotels in five different states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma), and we sat in the car for about six hours a day, four days in a row (sometimes arriving at our destinations after 9 PM because of stops along the way).

With that in mind, here's a nice morning photo of Weston:

Hahaha! (And you may notice Weston's little boo-boo. He fell on the concrete in front of our apartment shortly before we left and scraped his face. Ouch! So, all of his roadtrip pictures feature a prominent and very yucky scab just under his nose.)

Our first night at the hotel was HORRIBLE. We finally got Weston into bed at 9:00, and he was asleep within 10 minutes (even with us right there in the room), so we knew that he had been exhausted. But then he woke up crying and coughing at 10:45 and didn't fall asleep again until 2:15. Yes, A.M. He woke up again at 5:45, and despite our many efforts, did NOT want to go back to sleep again. So, we started our day quite early, and we were all pretty tired and grouchy.

Fortunately, our Present-A-Day program seemed to go over well, because it gave him a new, novel toy to play with in the car each day. Sometimes (like the first day with Woody), the enthusiasm was slightly underwhelming (haha!):

We ate lots of quick meals at restaurants along Interstate 40. Tim's boss told him to take me out for nice dinners along the way, which was really generous of him. But we struggled to think of a nice place where we could feasibly take Weston. As such, this photo was taken at Denny's (aren't those two darling?):

A morning with Sesame Street in the hotel room was always a good morning (he likes his backpack a little bit):

... but 6+ hours of driving each day was a bit trying:

On the upside, after the first night, he started sleeping better in the hotel rooms. There were no more massive middle-of-the-night crying/coughing fits, and even when the last two hotels didn't have cribs and he had to sleep in a big bed with me, he still did pretty well. (Oh, there was that time on the fifth night when he sort of rolled out of bed and sort of bonked his head really hard on the nightstand... but yeah, aside from that.)

Anyway, one thing that made the drive smoother for Tim and me was our new GPS. I fought getting this little gadget for a long time, but (recalculating) eventually realized that if we're (recalculating) going to get one some day, then now would (recalculating) be the best time on account of (recalculating) the move:

On our second day, we visited... you guessed it... the Grand Canyon!!!

They've got a nice, shiny, new Visitor's Center there on the South Rim (but it's still surrounded by quite a bit of construction):

Tim and I did our best to entertain Weston along the walkway detours:

As is customary, we took a bamillion pictures of the canyon, but I won't bore you with them since everyone takes a bamillion pictures of the canyon. However, Tim managed to capture a sweet picture of Mommy and Weston:

The next picture does a much better job of capturing what it was actually like, though. In a nutshell, WESTON HATED THE GRAND CANYON. He cried and fussed and wanted to be held the entire time, and all he wanted to do was leave until it was time to leave (when he decided he wanted to stay). Let's just say that it sucked it made for fond memories. :-)

So, we got some good pictures, but it was a very wimpy visit to the Grand Canyon. We were probably there for 25 minutes, and there was no hiking, camping, rafting, kayaking, backpacking, birdwatching, rock-climbing, helicopter-riding, or anything else that makes for an amazing Grand Canyon experience. We came, we saw, he cried, we left. Hahaha! It's alright, though; I've decided that we'll go back again some day for a family camping vacation that will be AWESOME.

Oh, and what idiot wears sandals to the Grand Canyon...?? Oh yeah, ME:

Anywho, later that day we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to also visit a giant Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona:

Tim got more cute pictures (thanks for taking some pictures of me, honey... I luuuurve you):

Yet on this trip, where there is a picture of cute Weston, there follows a picture of angry Weston (hahaha!):

(The poor guy! It's been a big, weird change for him, and he's been sick to boot. Bless his little heart... I love 'im.)

And just so you believe me, here is proof that Tim was, in fact, on this family roadtrip, too:

On the third morning, we gave Weston what turned out to be his favorite present-of-the-day: Jessie! Yeeeeee-HAW!!!

That same day, part-way through the drive, we impulsively decided to visit a small dinosaur museum in Tucumcari, New Mexico:

Even though Weston relished ANY opportunity to get out of the car, he seemed to really like the dinosaur exhibits here:

As did Tim! (Haha! He funny.)

We ate at a Route 66 joint called Del's Restaurant after the museum visit:

After dinner, I had to take a picture of this stretch of the road outside the restaurant. If you've ever seen the movie Cars, just know that it is SPOT ON. This Route 66 stretch of Tucumcari was nearly dead -- stores and restaurants (aside from Del's) were boarded up, signs were tattered, and it was strangely quiet. It was exactly like Radiator Springs. We actually watched Cars in the car on one day of the drive, and it was weird to be doing exactly the same thing as Lightning McQueen -- driving cross-country on Interstate 40 while completely bypassing the little towns that line the old Route 66. Very weird. At least Del's was still open... I'm glad we dined there and supported the town in a small way:

We stayed in Amarillo on our fourth night, and then the next day I took lots of pictures...

... as we arrived in:

Wheeeeeee!!! We ate lunch that day at Braum's, an Oklahoma institution with its ubiquitous giant-pink-ice-cream-cone sign:

Weston loved his vanilla ice cream with M&Ms, Tim loved his Heath bar Blizzard (but they don't call it a Blizzard), and I loved my little peanut butter-hot fudge sundae:

Then as we got closer to Tulsa, I got more and more surprised at this: a GREEN landscape! (Tim had told me that it was pretty green, but I remained skeptical. I thought Oklahoma was brown and dry and flat... y'know, Dust Bowl!)

And fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally, we made it to our new place:

Nothing was set up for the first couple days, so the counter served as Weston's highchair for awhile:

There were boxes, boxes, boxes everywhere for about 2 days, and then we finally moved some of the crap into the office so that we could sort of arrange a living space. This is what our living room looks like now, which is a great improvement over the previous giant-mass-of-furniture-and-boxes:

We've been here for six days now, and for five of those days, our dining room looked like this:

The only reason that the dining room is slightly less chaotic today is because Tim and I launched a major let's-knock-this-out-because-we-are-so-sick-of-all-the-boxes campaign this morning. There are still boxes in there, but we've conquered about 75% of them at this point. Hopefully over the next few days, we'll get this place completely set up!! Then maybe we can actually relax and enjoy Tulsa a little bit. :-) Yaaaaaay for settling in!!! Yaaaaaay for new job!!! Yaaaaaay for Tulsa!!! (Oops, I just fell asleep.)

It's Almost Time

Pasadena City Hall

Well, it's almost time for us to say goodbye to this neck of the woods. AHH! Today we're going to Disneyland for one last hurrah (sniffle sniffle); tomorrow the movers are coming and packing everything up except for our bedding (thus commencing our weeklong eating-out-for-every-meal); and Wednesday they're coming back to load the truck and drive off with our belongings. That night, we're staying in a local hotel in Pasadena, and then on Thursday morning, we hit Interstate 40!

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about our time here. Here's a quick (aka extremely long) summary:

# months: 45
# apartments: 1
# college degrees: 1
# student loans: 15
# jobs: Jean=1, Tim=3
# apartment break-ins: 0 (surprisingly)
# bikes stolen: 1
# 911 calls: 2
# police visits to our house: 2 (unrelated to the 911 calls)
# times blinded by a helicopter searchlight: 2
# sirens: approx. 3,780
# quarters used for laundry: approx. 4,032
# hospital visits: 1
# babies: 1
# favorite playgrounds: 7
# favorite restaurants: 6
# celebrities: 13
# cupcakes: too many to count
# new cars: 0
# cars that we continue to drive even though they’re missing a door handle and generally a piece of crap: 1
# races: 2 (1 half-marathon: Tim & Jean; 1 marathon: Tim)
# church callings: 3 each
# friend/family visitors: 7 (pitiful…)
# Dodgers games: 1 (also pitiful…)
# trips to Europe: 1
# trips to Yosemite: 0 (whoops)
# trips to the Central Coast: 4
# trips to San Diego: 0 (whoops)
# trips to Disneyland: far too few

Things I’m going to miss:

-A grocery store, shoe store, Big Lots, Game Stop (that one’s for Tim), Subway, Pizza Hut, Italian restaurant, Chinese restaurant, BBQ restaurant, Salvadorean restaurant, fish restaurant, 2 Mexican restaurants, 2 Mexican markets, 4 barber shops, donut shop, 2 gas stations, car parts store, library, and post office, all within a five-minute walk from our front door.

-The mountains. First we were along the Wasatch Front, and then we were in the San Gabriel Valley. For the past seven years, we’ve lived with mountains next to us.

-Our hammock trees. It’s been really nice to be able to lie in a hammock outside our front door and read a book beneath the trees.

-The two stray cats in my neighborhood who come to me for food. Okay, so I give them food. Okay, so I pet them a little. Okay, so I kind of love cats and am desperate for feline interaction. But, they’re sweet little things.

-All the great parks/playgrounds: Brookside, McDonald, Vina Vieja, Victory, Hastings Ranch, Farnsworth, Garfield, Lacy, Shane’s Inspiration, etc…

-All the great museums: LACMA, Norton Simon Museum, Natural History Museum, Pacific Asia Museum, Autry Museum, etc…

-All the great kid-friendly places: Kidspace Museum, CA Science Center, L.A. Arboretum, L.A. Zoo, Travel Town, Aquarium of the Pacific, Pretend City, etc.

-All the great malls: Santa Anita, Glendale Galleria, Americana, The Grove, etc.

-All the great bakeries/cupcakeries: Dots, Sprinkles, Europane, Le Pain Quotidien, etc.

-All the great restaurants!!! Now, I WOULD put this in the next category down, but I also know that I’ll find great restaurants in Tulsa to which I’ll become fiercely loyal, too. So, I feel like it’s okay to move on to a new place for that reason – the opportunity for more culinary discoveries.

-Los Angeles in general. It’s been fun to be so close to downtown, Hollywood, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Malibu, Orange County, etc.

Things I’m REALLY going to miss:

-Art Center. Even though it was, at times, a journey through hell for Tim, it was an amazing opportunity, especially given the really talented and professional artist-professors with whom Tim got to study. I’m going to miss the place. It was what brought us here, and it is what is now launching us forward.

-Ikea. Where do people even buy furniture without Ikea? And thus begins Jean’s effort to bring Ikea to Oklahoma, just like I devoted time and effort to bringing Krispy Kreme to Lansdale and Café Rio to Los Angeles. Let’s wait and see…

-Costco. They have Sam’s Club in Tulsa, but still… I have a repertoire of Costco products to which I am strongly attached.

-Trader Joe’s. I’m going to have to trade Joe Joe’s for Oreos… I’m going to have to trade Baked Cheese Crunchies for Cheetos… I’m going to have to buy yogurt with high-fructose corn syrup again! Where am I going to find Weston’s favorite foods like berry applesauce and pesto tortellini and chicken drumettes and organic animal crackers? And where would I even START looking for garlic naan or pre-chopped pancetta or quinoa with veggies or almond butter with flax? I know, I know, I can try Whole Foods. But that place is expensive!!!

Things that I am absolutely HEARTBROKEN about losing:

-Disneyland. I am truly and genuinely pained that we have to take Weston away from Disneyland. He loves it SO MUCH, and we always have such a fun, happy time there as a family.

-Miss Tanya. Miss Tanya is the storytime lady at our library branch – Santa Catalina – who runs the toddler storytime. SHE IS AMAZING. I LOVE HER. I am so glad that I found her. And I’m not biased – any time that there was a substitute, he/she was pitifully inferior to her. Her storytime consists of songs, books (but not too many), felt boards, music, and egg shakers, along with a fun craft and a cookie at the end. And did I mention that it’s all free? I am going to miss her so much. She has helped a lot in the education of my little child

-Parent Ed. It’s basically a weekly mommy-and-me program run by our local community college. It includes playtime – with TONS of toys, crafts, and equipment to play with – songs, snack, storytime, music, and even an adult discussion. And it’s FREE. I can’t imagine there are very many colleges that offer something like this.

-The Pasadena ward. I love this ward. I know everyone always says that they love their wards. But seriously – I really, really cherish everyone here. I have seen great examples of human kindness and generosity. Thinking of losing this ward hurts my heart.

-My California friends. (And this one goes for Tim and Weston, too.) I love you all so much. I hate having to pull Weston away from all his little kid friends. And I hate having to leave all my grown-up friends. I know we’ve only lived here for 3.5 years of our lives, but that’s plenty of time to become very close with people. And that’s the case especially when these are the people, both in the ward and otherwise, who watched us go from being a husband and wife to a daddy and mommy. Again… at least there are blogs! If you don’t have one, START ONE! Do it for Team Anderson!!! And I know many of you wonderful CA friends have already moved on, so just know that I miss you and will continue to miss you, too.

Anyway, wish us luck! We're driving halfway across the country with a toddler -- whee! What could possibly be more fun than making him sit 25 hours in the car, over the course of 4 days, and staying in 5 unfamiliar hotel rooms in completely unfamiliar places? Yeah... we'll see how that goes. (We're hoping our "Present a Day" program goes over well.) We expect to arrive in Tulsa on Sunday evening and then move into the new place on Monday. AHH! I still can't believe this is all happening. Tulsa? Tulsa!

Ouch

Yesterday afternoon, Weston got into a fight with the concrete in front of our apartment:

If you think that's bad, you should see the other guy.

Good Things

With the Big Move approaching, we've fortunately been able to do a lot of fun things lately. Here are a few of them, plus some words of warning:

#1

My boss actually had some work for me to do in Orange County, so after I finished in Newport Coast, I drove up to Balboa Island:
... and I bought a frozen banana (oh my Bluths):

... and I ate it in the car.

(Warning: Despite the food-on-a-stick convenience, the frozen banana is not as car-friendly a food as you might think.)

#2

I finally took Weston to Paintbox Kids, an art studio for children that, incidentally, is about 2 minutes from my house:

There was a huge array of supplies:

... and lots of space to hunker down and get artsy:

... plus some cute toddler creativity at work:

(Warning: With the art-themed birthday parties and the Lego building workshops and the lightsaber lessons, this place is AMAZING... if your child is about 4 or older. Since Weston has the attention span of a commercial, he didn't last very long. But I still love this place.)

#3

Tim and I finally went to Julienne (thanks to Erika, one of Weston's teenage girlfriends/babysitters). We headed out early to a rummage sale, and then made up for our thriftiness by enjoying an extravagant gourmet breakfast at Julienne ($48 for two... and that's WITHOUT cappuccinos or mimosas!).

(Not my picture. I tried to blend with the high-end clientele by leaving my camera -- and my 25-cent rummage sale spoils -- in the car.)

I highly recommend it, but then again, everyone does because it's intrinsically fabulous. We started with a "lemon creme brulee scone," and then Tim ordered the "baked creme brulee French toast with fresh strawberry sauce and creme anglaise," and I ordered the "green omelette with asparagus, broccoli, spinach, scallions, chives, and feta topped with avocado and Gudelio's roasted pepper salsa, served with rosemary roasted potatoes" (and also with their famous rosemary currant toast). Mmmm. So worth the $48.

(Warning: You WILL stuff yourself at this restaurant. My omelette was massive, and with the potatoes and toast to boot, it was definitely unfinishable. Similarly, Tim's French toast was the hugest, sweetest, most ridiculously wonderful dessert-for-breakfast that I've ever seen.)

#4

I finally took Weston to Pretend City. WOW!!! This place is pretty much every preschooler's/kindergartener's dream come true -- a whole mini-town just for them:

(Warning: Your child will NOT want to leave.)

(Warning #2: Even though there are smocks at the marina area, shown above, your child WILL get soaked. Bring a change of clothes!)

#5

Good Things Tulsa: I've also been doing my research and learning more about my future home. For instance...

-The Woodland Hills mall (the biggest mall in Oklahoma, they are proud to say) has a play area, a carousel, and a Chick-Fil-A. Therefore, you can likely expect to see me and Weston there every day around noon.

-Tulsa has a supposedly fantastic Farmer's Market (oh, the relief that this brings).

-Tulsa, I have been informed, has one of my favorite restaurants that I have been desperately missing: Cracker Barrel. (Thanks Mom!)

-Tulsa also has a Kohl's, an IMAX theater (who knew?), and a host of bakeries and restaurants that are supposedly pretty darn tasty.

-Tulsa (yes, Tulsa) even has a little gourmet cupcake shop now. So, of course I will be doing an official taste test in the near future.

-I've also recently discovered two great websites: a Tulsa food blog and a Tulsa events blog. Yay!

I think I'm starting to like Tulsa. (Does that make me a slut?)