But, things are really looking up around here.  We now have the Thunder, our local NBA team.  Devon is erecting a huge tower in downtown that will forever change our city’s skyline.  The Myriad Gardens have become a amazing place to spend an afternoon and I cannot get enough of the amazing restaurants and multiple art districts.

Law Man and I love our date nights.  Last week was no different.  I was feeling a little under the weather and he was running late so I killed a little time on Twitter.  @LudivineOKC was serving a Seafood Stew and it sounded delicious.  Much to my surprise, when LM walked in and said we were heading to Ludivine I was THRILLED and I knew exactly what I was going to order.  The Stew was delicious and I got a crazy hair that I could recreate this little bit of heaven.

Tuesday I stopped by Whole Foods (Oklahoma even has a Whole Foods now and it is minutes from my house).  I stocked up on fresh seafood (Squid, Scallops and EVEN Mussels) and headed down the bean aisle to find some dark colored lentils.  I measured out the correct amount and checked out.  I was sure not to close off the bag mussels because they “would suffocate” I was told.  Who knew they were still alive in the store?  Probably a stupid question, but I am in the middle of the landlocked states.

It took me a good 24 hours to find the courage to combine the two recipes that I thought I could adjust to create just the meal I was going for, but I did it.  Last night I, Amy Curran, made a seafood stew from scratch….fresh fish and all.  And, it did not disappoint.  I will definitely make this stew again.  Next time I will invite over some friends because it made enough for the entire street.  So, I am officially landlocked no more.

Yay!!!  We did it.  We have all of these things and more and yes, we do live in Oklahoma City.  We spend Friday nights at one of the Art Districts monthly events or dining at one of our favorite local restaurants.  The kids love to scooter down by the Oklahoma River and we all love to wander around the Myriad Gardens.  Twenty third street is unrecognizable.  I remember when we laughed at the idea of outside eating feet from the busy street with almost constant sirens.  Now, take your pick…..a Mary Poppins at Cuppies and Joe, the Rancher at Big Truck Tacos, a bacon wrapped dog from Mutts Amazing Hot Dogs or the classic Tucker’s onion burger.  Oh yes….and we have a brewery and Coop Ale Works is an awesome one!!!  Now, if only they would brew me a Pumpkin Ale, life would be perfect.

This weekend is the bookend two of the most amazing weekends we have here in Oklahoma City.  I have posted in the past the excitement that makes up OKC the last week of April.  Now, we have the second weekend in October.  There is so much going on I will list out my favs at the end of the post.  But, the one thing that these two special weekends have in common are the Myriad Gardens.

If you visit R&TM often, you know I have a crazy love affair with public places. Remember, last year my excitement led me to throw a 100th Birthday celebration for the park down the street.

The concept for the downtown gardens developed in 1964 when Dean McGee initiated a revitalization plan for the downtown area.  The 17 acres was purchased in 1975 over the next 10 years the project, including the Botanical Gardens, came to fruition as money became available.  Since then, things have been rough.  Remember the Banking Crisis of the 1980′s and the Oil Bust of the 1990′s?  The Garden took a hit like the rest of the state, but thanks to many generous people, they were able to maintain with fairly mild wear and tear.

In the past several years as Oklahoma City leaders have looked to again revitalize our city, the remaining 15 acres of the Myriad Gardens was included in the plan.  This weekend will be the grand opening, the Festival on the Green as it has become known.  There is now a dog park, several stages including a remodeled water stage, a children’s area and hope of a restaurant….have you seen Mr. Popper’s Penguins????  You get the idea.  LOVE IT!!!  The boys and I are beyond excited for the opening and I assume you know where I will be a good part of Saturday and I will have my camera.

Lawn before the renovation…..Arts Festival 2009, I think.

Botanical Garden’s Pre Renovation

Another look…

Beautiful Cardinal at Gardens after Ice Storm

Preview of new Renovated Botanical Gardens

Preview of one of the New Stages

One last teaser preview….

Other events you won’t want to miss….

Heritage Hills Home and Garden’s Tour

Mesta Festa

Desmond Mason Art Show at LIVE on the Plaza

@1614 | Desmond Mason from christopher hunt on Vimeo.

STOCKtoberfest

and I really wish I was going to get to see The Man From Earth….another time.

Just after the new year, the kids started “training” for the kids marathon. Every Friday, after school, they met in the cafeteria for a healthy snack from Eat Wise and then ran around the school. Each lap they ran was logged as part of the Kids Marathon event of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

Big Guy loved every minute of it. There was only one time he went missing only to be found on the playground with an undisclosed girl from his class. The parents who organized this were amazing and it made this parent so proud to watch her little boy try so hard to be a part of such a great event. This year over 200 schools participated and there were an estimated 3000 kids that ran on a very rainy day!





Then he was worn out!!!

Last week we received an email telling us that we had been a part of the largest donation to the Memorial and Museum EVER, $800,000.00.  It was so much fun to help the boys be a part of this.

Memorial Marathon Donation

There is more open area then ever to sit and enjoy the day and take in the beauty of the art and the park.

I love how they left space between booths to highlight all of the renovation they did to the Botanical Garden.

Oklahoma Blue Sky

A sneak peak of the Children’s Garden.

This year was different in just the right way.  Francis Bacon said, “the best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.”  How true it is and after several weeks with a sick family and more unknowns than I am comfortable with, beauty is what I needed and beauty is what I found.

English Garden

This view is looking from the driveway up into the Formal Garden.  In this picture you can see the water feature, well manicured shrubs outlining each individual section, and the pavilion complete with a blue ceiling.  All of these are unique qualities of an English Garden.

The Long Garden.

This portion of the garden reflects the intentional effort in an English Landscape Garden to create a place that displays an idealized view of nature often inspired many landscape artists.  Again, you will see the yard is immaculately manicured, wooded, and highlighted with beautiful bursts of color from patches of flowers.  All of this beauty highlights the focal point, an English Obelisk.  The rod-iron fence and graveled walkway, add a welcoming entrance into this home park.

Kitchen Garden

My absolute favorite part of the garden was the kitchen garden.  Although it is still early in the season, you can see the potential for the amazing beauty that comes from an edible garden.  This area was full of thyme, basil, chives, as well as grapes and blackberries.  All of this is used by the gardener and shared with friends and neighbors.

As I left I took special note of a hidden treasure….the rose bushes that line the wall of the quarters were FULL of buds.  It is only a matter of days before this wall will be full of color.

It was such a treat to get to visit and photograph this amazing little paradise.  What was most spectacular was the delight that came from the gardener.  Her enthusiasm exuded the beauty and wonderment of each detail as we walked through the garden and shared stories of childhood memories, common friends, and a mutual love for all things beautiful.

***Now, I am prepared with an abundance of natural ideas for kids and adults alike.  I will try to share them in the next few Friday’s…..a little weekend inspiration, you might say.  Until then, you must check out the blog of a family friend who has one of the most amazing gardens I have ever seen.

Happy Earth Day!

Yarn Bombing…..

The first time I heard of this was a year or so ago in this article.

Then, while in Vancouver, we were driving through a parking lot looking for a yarn shop and I tell Law Man to pull over…..IMMEDIATELY!  I jumped out of our car and ran over to take a picture of this……then I realized it was the entrance to the yarn shop I was looking for.  Either way, I was excited to see this in real life.  (You can imagine traveling with me is a lot of fun……and requires a special kind of person.)

Fast forward a month or so and I drop big boy off at school and head back home with the little guy and low and behold…..i see this….

Yipppeeeee!!!!  My excitement grows.  I pull over…run across the street and take a quick picture.  “I have to blog about this!”  That was at least six months ago.  The holidays hit and well….I just forgot.

A week or so ago Law Man takes the little guys on a walk….all the way to their school.  When he gets home, he tells me that there is something I must see.  He describes it something to the effect of…”This strange yarn thing that resembles that thing you got so excited about in Canada.”

I am thrilled that he notices.  A couple of days later I spy this beauty…..

I love it!!!!!

Now I know there are probably people out there who do not like these around town.  No need to tell me about it…..I will still love them and hope to see more.  However, the people I really feel for are those who drive by such unusual beauty everyday and do not notice it.  Tisk Tisk!!!

So, those of you in Oklahoma City….I am happy to send you something special if you are the first one to tell me where one or both of these bombs are located.  After a few guesses I will post a picture that shows the really ugly alley where the last one is located…..it would make guessing to easy.  When you see it, I think it will make many of the naysayers come around.

“And it’s good to be out where others can see you, so you can’t be your ghastly, spoiled self.  It forces you to act slightly more elegantly, and this improves your thoughts and thereby the world.”

Anne Lamott
Grace Eventually p. 233

I have posted before about how I really do believe “it takes a village to raise a child”.  This is something I internalized long before I had children and it is something I have tried to remember as I have gone through the first five years of motherhood.

Recently I was able to see this village at work.  Parents and kids gathered at the Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch to celebrate the beautiful fall day.  There were at least two neighborhood playgroups and then a menagerie of church friends, school friends, and the list goes on and on.  The kids were all younger than school-age…so four and below and well, they were going everywhere.  This being said, the parents had little time to sit and chat but the friendship expressed was ever present.

I stood back and watched a group of kids running off to the hay bale maze and one parent took over…..then they ran back to the hay ride and different parents took charge.  The kids were so comfortable asking different parents questions and for permission to do this or that.  The parents, very naturally, guided the children from activity to activity.  Babies were passed and wipes were shared.  I have to say I love it when I am with a group of people that I feel comfortable asking for a baby wipe when I have neglected to bring my own stash….I am even more tickled when I am asked for a wipe and I actually have one.

I love that I have found a village where I can raise my children.  My village extends much further than the women at the pumpkin patch.  It extends to those who keep one child from running into the street while I am trying to retrieve the other at school pickup.  My village includes those who call and e-mail me messages of encouragement and who continue to check on me.  It encompasses the grandparents and aunts and uncles who love my children as much as I do, the people who continue to come to the boys’ birthday parties every year even though I usually get in over my head with chaos.  The neighbors who keep me company during lonely work weeks and let me borrow the “one thing I forgot at the store”.  The parents who trust me to care for their children and especially those who love my kids enough to discipline them when I am not present.

So, this Thanksgiving Season I am thankful for my village.

I do have a village, do you?

A few hints:

1.  It is hot….really hot!!!!

2.  It is dangerous….really dangerous!!!!

3.  It is art.

4.  It is four blocks from my house!

5.  The boys beg me to take them over and over again.

Need more hints!!!

Any guesses????  I will post the location tomorrow!!!!

I have become more acutely aware that my guys are not going to want to do all of these fun things they drive me NUTS about doing now.  Solution:  on Wednesdays, we are going to go do something they want to do….best of all….we are together.

The boys’ Aunt and Uncle gave them a year pass to for Christmas last year.  (I *heart* these type of gifts!!!)  We have been several times and it has been a great place for Law Man to take them on some hot Saturdays.

Having said that, going on a weekday afternoon, during the school year, was totally different.  It was *quiet*, there were only a dozen or so other people in the entire museum, there were NO LINES.  We had a great time.  They boys were able to explore at their own pace and their mom was not doing the neurotic thing she does when the boys wander off in a crowd.  Overall, it was amazing…..I think we are going to enjoy this time together once a week.

I watched an entire puppet show put on by the “Big Guy”

They both spent a lot more time working on activities and puzzles.  They were asking me a ton of questions…..trying to figure out how to change water flow and arrange various shapes to make a perfect square!!!!  It was so fun to watch their brains work.

They both were able to ride the Segway…..I will never wait in that crazy line on a busy day.

When it was time to close, we headed out to the grass and enjoyed a picnic of grapes and string cheese.  We talked about what they learned at school that day and who they played with.  The boys loved having a special afternoon just for them and I felt like a really good mom.  Sometimes this is all I need to push through the more “tedious times.”

So, Where R We????  Science Museum Oklahoma

I was also beginning to think the boys were out growing the Science Museum.  Not at all….they are now at a whole new level of wanting to engage the exhibits.  We will be back!!!

]]> http://readandtellme.com/2010/09/01/where-r-we/feed/ 1 http://readandtellme.com/2010/05/04/oh-my/ http://readandtellme.com/2010/05/04/oh-my/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 20:13:44 +0000 admin http://readandtellme.com/?p=456 Lions and Tigers and A FIELD TRIP! I can’t believe I am the a mom of a child old enough to go on a field trip.  Is that crazy or what?  And this was quite the experience….. Full of…..Friends Awe Amazement Learning Spotting Silliness Gross, gross,…..well, kind of cool. Photo Opps More photo opps Food [...]]]>
Lions and Tigers and A FIELD TRIP!

I can’t believe I am the a mom of a child old enough to go on a field trip.  Is that crazy or what?  And this was quite the experience…..

Full of…..Friends

Awe

Amazement

Learning

Spotting

Silliness

Gross, gross,…..well, kind of cool.

Photo Opps

More photo opps

Food and Drinks…..and this was all just my experience.  I haven’t asked the Big Guy how much fun he had yet.

I think he enjoyed it!

**Tech post will happen tomorrow…..How to share digital photos.