The Ride Home

Samantha refusing to give a good smile on the way home.

Alden - snoozing again.

The Texas Flag

The Red River

At the museum, Doug took Samantha around while I tended to Alden. Doug is a big science nerd, and loved to learn himself.

The world's largest dinosaur skull was found in Oklahoma and was on display.

Doug & Sam with Alden in the pink stroller again.

Samantha next to the Femur (thighbone) of a dinosaur

A statue of the giant Mammoth in the museum.

Outside the museum by the giant buffalo statue.

The front of the museum.


The 9:01 gate and reflective pool at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.


9:01 gate

Field of empty chairs

Alden & Dad having fun in the pool at the hotel. Alden likes to splash!

Samantha being boring-she wouldn't let us hold her in the water, she just wanted to sit on the side of the pool!

We started home at about 10am on Sunday, May 18th. We traveled to Norman, OK and ate lunch and went to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. The museum had tons of Dinosaur bones native to Oklahoma. It has the world's largest Dinosaur skull and the largest complete set of bones of one kind of dinosaur in the world. Samantha loved it. At one point she told a museum employee that the giant bones of the largest dinosaur on display was "tiny", mainly because she likes to say that word. There was also a discovery room for kids where Sam could touch things like bones and fur.





After the museum, we traveled to Oklahoma City to see the National Memorial of the Oklahoma City Bombing. It was very moving to see the Memorial and to read about all the symbolism of the items in the memorial. There are "gates of time" 9:01 and 9:03 that frame the second the destruction took place. A reflecting pool stands where 5th street once stood. 168 empty chairs stand in nine rows to represent every person that died that day. There were 9 floors to the building, so those 9 rows represent where the people were when they died, as well as 5 people who died outside the building. There is a "survivor tree" that survived the bombing. There was also a museum, but with the kids, it was impossible for us to go. The memorial is something I think everyone should see.



After we left Oklahoma City, we traveled to Emporia, KS to spend the night. We went swimming in the indoor pool and then started to wind down before bed. The next day we got up and drove home, stopping in Nebraska City to eat lunch and see "Nebraska City Grandma" (a.k.a. Grandma Nancy). It was good to be home again!