New Year's weekend

This year for New Year's weekend, we decided to drive to Oklahoma City, to visit Neil's brother, Spencer. He moved there this summer, with the Air Force. He is a doctor on the base, running the occupational medicine clinic. Neil had Friday off, so we headed down there on Thursday evening. We spent Friday (New Year's Eve) getting a tour of the Air Force base, looking at all the cool airplanes, then getting the tour of Spencer's clinic & office. We were going to go bowling on the base, but it was closed until later that night. We walked around the big commissary & BX, then headed to lunch. After lunch, we went back to Spencer's house & hung out, watched a movie, and played some games. That night Spencer made us a gourmet dinner (not only is he a Major in the Air Force and a Doctor, he is quite the gourmet chef), and the kids even liked the food too. The kids wanted to stay up until midnight, but the party-pooper adults vetoed that (we've done it the last few years, and didn't really want to this year, and the kids were all exhausted anyway). After the kids were in bed, we just relaxed, talked, & watched some T.V. and all ended up falling asleep by about 10:30. Yeah, we are wild & crazy party animals, huh?! :)

On New Year's Day we got up & headed to the HUGE Oklahoma City Science Museum. We had been there a few years ago & had a great time. We were there for several hours. It has SO many fun, interactive, educational activities & hands-on fun for kids of all ages (and adults). We watched the cool IMAX movie, played with "magnetic sand", a sand pendulum, learned about dinosaurs, astronauts, hot air balloons (that actually went up & down), tornadoes, earthquakes (and felt what different kinds & strengths are like), teeth, crime scene investigators & what they do, we got a tour of an old train car, looked at a whole bunch of smaller electric trains, tried out flight simulators & cockpits, looked at a whole bunch of airplanes, played in a huge 2-story treehouse with a bunch of activities inside & a slide from the very top, to the bottom, looked at crazy mind-boggling art, watched demonstrations & tried various activities, and much, much more! By the time we left, the kids were pretty worn out. We headed out for a late lunch & then back to Spencer's place for some more relaxation & down time. We put together a new puzzle, enjoyed some treats, watched a movie, had a little nap time (the adults, not the kids), and just had a great time. Then Spencer made us yet another gourmet meal, that we all enjoyed. That night the kids crashed once again, and then Neil, Spencer, & I just enjoyed hanging out & talking.

Sunday morning after breakfast, we headed back to Arkansas. Our little boys always have a hard time saying goodbye. They had so much fun with Uncle Spencer that they didn't want to leave. Poor little Clay was sad & crying because he would miss Uncle Spencer. We assured him that we'd see him again in a couple of months.

It was a great long weekend and a fun beginning to the New Year! :)