Journal Entry for Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Before we all see my family for the first time this trip, Ben and Blake get some quality brotherly playing time on one of the beds.

Finally, my mom gets to meet Blake for the first time.  She's seen him in pictures, but she has never seen him up close until now.  My mom and my sister Helen were in our room to see us on this day.  Before we all got together, I had to rustle up Ben from the lobby.  He was getting mad as he wanted to have his way in the lobby.  He wanted to play and stand on the chairs and he wanted to turn the lights on and off.  He even wanted to run around in the lobby where it's frowned upon.  I had to apologize to my family that Ben was not acting on his best behavior.  I felt defeated in front of my own family.  Ben was starting to come around and act right in front of everyone.  Here are some pictures of our gathering in the hotel.

Before the boys got their nap, Ben was throwing down a major fit.  He was mad, angry, ill, mean, and sad.  Something made him sick and I don't know what it could have been.  We tried getting both the boys into the pool, but Ben wasn't having any of it.  Ben didn't want to go in because he wasn't feeling well.  Blake got some time in the pool, but not too much.  After we had a fun and productive visit, we all took a light nap in our room.

Later on in the evening, we visit my sister Gena and my mom at their homes.  We all got to have fun with our family, and Ben turned the lights on and off.  My niece Shannon got to see the guys up close.  Blake was enjoying his time with our family.  Ben wanted to turn on the lights.  In between our home visits, We got to walk in the big back yard and look at frogs and ducks.  We got to feed them when we were outside.  After we visited my family, we had a last-minute meal from Sonic.  I saw a deal on half-price cheeseburgers and I jumped on it.  We're enjoying the yummy fast food that we're eating, but it will catch up with us someday soon.  Until then, we enjoy ourselves and get back out there again tomorrow.

Journal Entry for Monday, May 30, 2016

Happy Memorial day!!!!!  I'm doing all the driving today, so there are no freeway pictures for me to post on this leg from Memphis to Locust Grove, Oklahoma.  Of course it did not help that I had a headache and that I would have one throughout most of the day.  We begin our journey at a McDonald's Drive Thru just outside of Memphis.  After we get our McGriddles, we hop on I-40 Westbound towards Little Rock and Fort Smity.  

My goal was one, and it was to get us to our room in Locust Grove before the sun went down.  We past the Largest metropolis of Arkansas, Little Rock.  There wasn't much to it as there was no traffic to speak of on the freeway.  I was getting a bit nervous.  I couldn't remember where the Chick-Fil-A was.  The boys were crying and getting hungry.  We tried to stop at a McDonald's off the freeway.  Unfortunately, there was no playground that we could see.  It was on to a Plan B.  Eureka!!!!  We found a play place for the guys.  Our first stop of the day was a Burger King in Conway, Arkansas.

After our trip to the Burger King, we were off toward the west side of the State of Arkansas.  I still had my headache.  It was a hot day outside.  We had to motor on.  I had the sounds of SiriusXM Lithium and Paw Patrol to keep me entertained.  Before we arrived on the outer edges of Fort Smith, Arkansas, I had to stop for gas and some aspirin.  I had to fill up the car and try to knock out my headache.  I also got an emergency cup of coffee to keep me going.  After crossing the state of Arkansas through I-40, I hoped onto I-49 North towards Fayetteville and Springdale on my way to Oklahoma.  Once we arrived in Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, we stopped at a Chick-Fil-A.  It had a playground and everything.  There was one little problem:  It rained outside and the playground was there too.

My boys, Kelly, and I enjoyed some Chick-Fil-A goodies before we got back on the road.  After a brief stay on I-49, we got off on U.S. Highway 412/Sunset Avenue.  We went West on 412 to get to Oklahoma (Locust Grove).

Once we got into Oklahoma, we took the Cherokee Turnpike to get to our town for the next four days.  It took us about 25 miles to get to Exit 6 to get to our hotel.  Ben got to run around the lobby and play with a lamp before we got into our room.  There was one problem.  We had to go get a new room key because the first one would not let us in.  We all walked down to the lobby to get a new key.  Ben got to hit the elevator buttons to get us where we needed to be.

After we got settled, I traveled to the Walmart Neighborhood Market to go get groceries for our room.  I got the boys Chicken Nuggets and ribs for my wife and I.  We even gave Ben some ribs as part of his meal.  He started to choke on a bone after he insisted on eating a bone.  After we got it out of his mouth, we told Ben 'don't eat bone.'  Ben said it back to me.  He said 'don't eat bone.'  I think he got the message.

After Ben and Blake went to bed, I watched the conclusion of Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder.  My C team, the Thunder, fell short in their bid to make it back into the NBA Finals.  I would have loved to have had the Thunder in the Championship round while my family and I were in Oklahoma.  No matter, the night was a success.  Tomorrow, we will see my family and they will all get to see Baby Blake for the first time.

I tell Blake to look at that bear in March 2016

Journal Entry for Sunday, May 29, 2016

This morning, we all got up at the ungodly hour of 6AM (Tennessee time).    The boys woke up before my wife and I did.  We all got out of our beds at 6:30AM and we had to chase them around after they drank from their bottles.  We got to see Ben turn the lights on and off.  We got to see Blake walk around my cousin April's house.  I had to make sure Blake didn't bump into anything that could hurt him.  I had to make sure that Ben didn't fall off anything or have one of her dogs attack him.

I was getting exhausted from chasing my boys down.  I also even got to splash around with them in the kiddie pool in April's big back yard.  We had fun, and I don't remember them getting any semblance of sunburn.  That made me happy.  The hard part for me was staying awake as I got back into the house.  Before I conked out on the recliner for a while, we all had a delicious lunch of sloppy joes, tater tots, french fries, and drinks.  I had a soda while Ben and Blake had some tea.  I conked out while my wife, son Ben, and April went out to Lowe's to get Ben a special present.

Ben wasn't really in the doghouse today.  He was just having some fun in there before he turned the lights on and off.  He also got to see the big light up in the sky, the sun.  There's no way he could turn that one on and off.  Only the clouds would be able to do that.  He got some quality time in the kiddie pool.  He splashed Blake in there before he got tired and needed some nap time.  Blake had a good lunch and dinner.  He got a bonus fruit pouch with his meal.  He's getting better at eating table foods that we provide for him.  I'm going to get better at feeding Blake more solid food (within reason).

It was time for bed for all of us.  Before we went, we looked out, or up in this case, to the stars.  We downloaded an app called "Sky Map" and it can tell us where the Sun, Pluto, and China are.  I hope to use this app more often in the future.  I think it will be neat.

Monday will be our next travel day.  I'll be doing the driving this trip down.