Taco Tuesday!

Yesterday was Tuesday. Also known as "The day Grammy comes over and stays with Charlie all day so I can go do things like get my haircut really, really short. And mail things. And buy milk."

See haircut photos below. Then feel free to exclaim, "My, that's short!"

It's also known as "Taco Tuesday" at Iguana. That's when they sell a selection of delicious tacos for just $1 each. We love it. Enough to even go on "nothing Friday". Charlie loves it, too. It's always a party and, to be honest, he's pretty popular at this particular fiesta. Plus there's loud music, a loud dining room, lots of cool art to look at, chips to eat, guacamole to smear and fruit upon which to sustain oneself. We go a lot. In fact, when we turned the car onto 9th Street from Broadway, Charlie saw the restaurant's lights, pumped his little fist, and shouted, "tot-toe-two-zay!"

You should take your family there. It's cheap, it's delicious, it's real food, it's locally-owned, it's a lot of fun, and kids cannot - no matter how hard they try - be too loud for this place. Can't figure out the web address, so just go here:http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/46/740925/restaurant/Midtown/Iguana-Mexican-Grill-Oklahoma-City

Toasty trip to the zoo...in November?

Just got back from a lovely little trip to the zoo http://www.okczoo.com/. Yes, we go all the time, but today was special. Because not only did we forget sunscreen, we also decided to try it stroller-free for the first time. Of course, this proved to be no problem for the little cub. Especially because his mama bear was there to lug him around when he got tired. (but of course I didn't mind. How much longer will I even have that luxury?)

What unbelievable weather! Everyone was out enjoying it - lions, gorillas and bears (as seen in video below) were all having much fun. Even the buffalo were moving around for once.

There's a lot of building going on out there and we can't wait for the Children's Zoo's opening next year. We both thought it was funny, though, when we stopped to watch the gorillas only to find they were sharing their habitat with construction workers!

Halloween Revisited. Or Dia De Los Muertos.

Good Sunday morning!

Last night's Halloween festivities were made a touch more enjoyable by absolutely perfect "no jacket required" weather. Oops. That was a slip and should be the only Phil Collins reference in this post. Should be. I'm not promising anything. There's always the possibility I'll mention "In the Air Tonight". So watch out Blake...'cause I saw you watch that guy drown.

But back to last night: our game plan was to hit a few neighbors/friends houses, primarily on our old block, so we could say hello to everyone and see how cute their little goblins were costumed. Oh - and attempt to fill the giant plastic "pun-KEEN" with candy. Easier said than done. We maybe "trick-or-treated" at four houses. Charlie was a bit confused, as we thought he might be. But that confusion soon turned to terror when we rang the doorbell at our old house, (stop #5) and the little girl who answered the door greeted us by stabbing Charlie in the eye with her Capri Sun straw.

And that's when we decided to call it a night.

Prepping for "le tour de candy", 2009.

He took an apple w/him and ate it the entire time.

"Halloween" and "trick-or-treat".

Important words to know.

First house on the tour.

Daddy helped him figure out what to do.

They gave out Dum-Dums.

Charlie plopped down and ate his on the porch.

Oh, and I suppose I should say something per my Day of the Dead mention in the title. Well, the sourdough starter I whipped up yesterday is busy frothing away.

I mean, it's no sugared skull, but I think that by bringing these dormant ingredients to life in order to sustain us, we're saying something significant about the memories of those we love who've passed.

Just kidding. I just wanted to see if I can make sourdough bread.

Getting ready for Trick-or-Treating, so Charlie is in the living room bossing his dad around. I'm taking advantage of this little down time to post some hauntingly precious images of the spooky little dinosaur. Happy Halloween, y'all!

Pretty scary sounds from the young man in a low-cut dinosaur suit.

Whipped cream? Me? Absolutely not. Why? Are you missing some?

En route to a SE Oklahoma tent revival. (Or so we promised. Sucker!) I'd never considered the similarities between gospel music and that of Van Morrison until this video was taken. Leave it to Reverend Charles to show us the light. Amen!

And more Van Morrison. This time, we're waiting for the beat to drop...aaand.....shoulders!

OK - enough with the videos for now. Here are a few silly stills and then I'm outta here. I'll post some trick-or-treat pics/vids tomorrow. As I understand it, there are some neighborhood poodles serving up some chili...and Andy had chili for lunch today. Two servings of chili in one day? That's super scary.

By the way, this last shot is included only for it's weirdness. First person to guess where or in what context it was taken gets a blog entry dedicated solely to their awesomeness.

Happy Halloween

Tomorrow is Halloween. Not having been much of a Halloween family until Charlie, we actually had to do some digging to find out what day Trick-or-Treating takes place around here. Turns out it's tomorrow. On Halloween. But look what else we dug up in the process: a big green and red, guitar-pickin' dinosaur!

I've really gotta figure out how to upload video. I can already sense another request coming from Susie B. Have a happy and safe weekend, everyone!

Welcome to The Okie Toddler

I've been writing lately - actually getting paid to do it. One problem I kept running into was that every time I'd turn on my computer to try to get some work done, I'd soon be lured like a moth toward the always-burning porch light of Facebook. So recently I made the decision to cancel my account. What was the response? Well, it wasn't, "We miss you, Tracey." No, it seems that I wasn't the reason for my Facebook friendships after all.

*Sigh*.

Anyway, you asked for it, you got it: more Charlie. Welcome to the Okie Toddler. We'll see how well I keep this little blogging venture going. It's no virtual cocktail party like Facebook, but it'll definitely be at least a DWI's worth of intoxicating cuteness.

To kick it off, here are some pics from a last-minute weekend trip with friends+kids to southeastern Oklahoma. Surprisingly awesome. It included a couple nights in LBJ's room at the Kerr country home, a fall foliage drive on the Talimena Trail, totally fake "viking runes", a possibly-fake outlaw hideout, and a prison town that served up a white pizza so good, it should be illegal.

So there you go. Enjoy the pics. Some links to the places I mentioned follow the photos, if you're interested!

Charlie, Cole & Lena - probably sometime after 10pm.

Mommy & Charlie outside the resort, trying not

to be lanced by the world's sharpest succulent.

Charlie doing what he does best.

Showing daddy the unique structure of the stone.

Sunset was amazing.

And here are some links to keep things lively:

Kerr Home.

If you go, ask to stay in the Bush room or one of the "play rooms". They've been remodeled. Ours was pretty much "as is" since LBJ's last visit. In fact, I think the old band-aid we found on the floor was from his index finger. They have free breakfast, an enormous yard, and a pool for summer fun. Beautiful views of the valley from pretty much every room. (It seems the oil business has always been lucrative.) The hotel manager warned that breakfast wasn't much, but we found it to be more than enough.

http://www.carlalbert.edu/kerr_center/

Talimena Scenic Drive.

Nice, sleepy, winding drive (just ask Andy - he nodded off while in the pilot's seat) through the trees and hills with such pretty vistas that make one think a trip to Tuscany takes three hours by car heading east on I-40. Bring a picnic unless hot dogs and ice cream can sustain you. Yet another reminder that this is, in fact, Oklahoma.

http://www.talimenascenicdrive.com/

Heavener Rune Stone.

OK, I had a hard time buying the story that Vikings were traipsing through Oklahoma. But I'm no expert. Which is why I am comfortable citing Wikipedia in this instance. But it's easy to get to, and makes for a pretty little nature walk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavener_Runestone

Robbers Cave

This story was more plausible than the Vikings. I mean, criminals had to hide out somewhere, right? It's another pretty hike with more potential - I'd love to go back in the summer.

http://www.touroklahoma.com/detail.asp?id=1+5U+3607

Napoli's

Pizza bianco, ottimo.

Somewhere in McAlester, across the highway from Pete's Place.