Monday, November 28, 2005

Trip to Oklahoma

Our trip to Oklahoma was awfully eventful.

We left on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and took the long way through Iowa and Kansas City. It took an extra 4 or 5 hours, but we took 3 days to get there, so it was a pleasant drive. We're thinking next time, we'll take the long way via the Grand Canyon. I've never been there before.

On Sunday, we stopped at the Ameristar Casino in Kansas City.
Ameristar Casino

They had an onsite baby-sitting service:
Kidsquest

And, I don't know for sure if Trevor and Devin had fun, but they should have! I wish I could say the eventfulness started here, but it did not. We lost a little, but not a lot, of money. We travlled on and stopped in Emporia, Kansas. My dad went to school here for a time, in his younger days, at Emporia State University.
Emporia State University
I even applied to graduate school here. Between Emporia and Wynona, there is nothing. Nothing but brown grass, a few trees, some cows. We had to leave our route to get gas! But, that's not really the eventfulness, either.

We got to my parent's house on Monday for the beginning of our pleasant visit. I was surprised to see my brother-in-law, William, at my parent's house. I thought he would be there later in the week to get Vikki and his girls and return back to Arkansas. But, they are living with Mom and Dad right now. Logan and Jena are so stinkin' cute. Jena is a 2 and half months younger than Devin, but she is already taking a few steps. But, she doesn't have the perfect teeth that Devin does. He has 12 teeth now!

In the evening before we left mom and dad's house for the hotel, Devin got sick all over me. We cleaned up as best we could and left. As soon as we got to the hotel, but before we checked in, he got sick again. Before the next morning, he got sick about 8 more times. Trevor got sick about 3 times. Trevor getting sick was a big, yucky surprise!

Back at Mom and Dad's house, Devin was clingy and not very outgoing. Trevor was mostly all better, and he had oh, so much fun with Logan. He really does seem to like Logan. But, he also likes to push her down and take toys from her, and hit her a lot.

Before the visit was over, Devin got sick one more time, this time, in the car. It certainly gave us a good opportunity to clean the carseat! What fun. Then, he got the first signs of a cold on Thanksgiving day. We left the following day after a night of next to no sleep. Devin had asthma symptoms, so I called our pediatrician from the car. I wanted them to call in a prescription for prednisolone and albuterol with a aerochamber. They told me I had to take him to the ER. Honestly, that was not what I wanted to hear, so I hung up on that nurse, asked the Prius car to find the nearest hospital. Hats off to Craig General Hospital in Vinita, Ok.
Craig General Hospital

They apologized for taking so long, but we got in and out of there quicker than most trips to the pediatrician's office! The doctor listened to his breathing, and he didn't think it sounded too bad. He was wrong. His asthma was bad. He didn't hear much because he wasn't moving too much air. That's my feeling anyway. But, they gave him a breathing treatment, and a prescription for...
...prednisolone and albuterol with an aerochamber.

We stopped at that Wal-mart I had wanted my pediatrician to call in a prescription to, and we got what I wanted them to prescribe, and we continued on our way.

When I was a kid, if you did something goofy, people would say, "They're gonna send you to Vinita!" I guess there's a mental hospital somewhere in Vinita, or at least, there used to be. I can't drive through Vinita without thinking I might be a little crazy...
Eastern State Hospital

Ok, that's the end of the eventfulness.

For Thanksgiving, we went to my Grandma's house. Let me see if I can count who showed up:
Aunt Barbara, Uncle Bill and Linda, Sabrina and her three kids, Harry and Claudette and 2 of their 4 kids came to Grandma's, some little girl named Monica (not related to me), Will and Candace, Vikki and William and their two kids, me and Daddy and Trevor and Devin, Mom and Dad, Amy and Larry and their three kids (Rachel is going to OSU studying biochemistry, smart girl!) and Leann brought her fiance. Now, they don't have a date set, and I didn't see a ring, so they're really just boyfriend and girlfriend, but I didn't mention that to them. Also, Joann showed up. How many is that? Hmmm, a lot? A Houseful? 31 or so? I'm going to round up tp 40 because I'm sure more people dropped by later.

I think that's about it.

Dad made a turduckin (A Turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken, stuffed with stuffing) and it was darned good! I only had the turkey part, because I'm a traditional sort of gal, but I think it was the most moist turkey I ever had. I think the duck contributed to that. Dad also made stuffing, sweet potatoes that weren't overly candied (very good) and noodles. The noodles were a tragedy. After drying on the table for 3 days, Dad told Stephanie to turn off the noodles. She thought he said turn up the noodles. She put them on high and burned them. They tasted like black smoke. Darned Stephanie...

After lunch, Vikki watched out kids, and we went to the Hominy Casino with mom, Sindy and William. We didn't win, but we didn't lose. The Hominy Casino is in an old underwear factory. It's really not a bad place to spend a couple of hours. It is just a few hundred feet from the prison, but that didn't seem to be a problem.

After the Hominy Casino, Sindy suggested we go to the Pawhuska casino. We dropped off mom and William, and we headed north. The Pawhuska casino is in two double wide trailers. It was really bad smokey, and they only had slot machines. I won't be going back there. No, not me... Quad wide trailer casino, though. Everyone should go at least once, if they are ever in the area. Man, I wish I would have gotten a picture of that casino.

Million Dollar Elm
Their website doesn't reference their little Osage County Casinoes. Makes me wonder...are they ashamed of them or what?
History of the Million Dollar Elm Franchise"

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