Posts Tagged ‘holiday’

Wordless Wednesday – Happy New Year & A Texas Holiday

January 1, 2014
Maya Happy New Year

Welcome to 2014!

Happy New Year!

I love the holidays because it allows me to end the year on a happy note. Every year we go to visit my parents in Texas. This year was no exception. Here are some photos from our visit:

Texas December 2013 Heron Pond

Pond by my parent’s house. Can you see the heron in the middle of the photo?

Heron Pond Texas December 2013 015

Can you see the heron flying away?

Maya Pierson Texas December 2013

Pierson and Maya pose in front of the Christmas tree. A couple of those are theirs.

Texas December 2013 028 Maya

Maya looks on as everyone opens their Christmas presents. “Where’s mine?”

Maya Texas December 2013 024

Maya sniffs the pretty red bow. “Is this mine? What else did I get?”

Pierson Bow Texas December 2013 025

Pierson is a little nervous about all the chaos. He sits by me quietly looking on and I put ribbons from presents around his neck.

Pierson Ginormous Squirrel

Pierson loves the ginormous squirrel dog toy given to him and Maya by Joanne from http://www.fleecedogharnesses.co.uk/

Maya Squirrel Dog Toy

“Finally, a present for me!” The ginormous squirrel dog toy comes with 6 little squeaking squirrels .

Maya Squirrel Dog Toy and Niece

Maya plays with her dog toy while my sister and my niece plays with her new toy.

Family Playing Hungry Hippos

Pierson looks on as my niece and nephew, my brother-in-law, and my husband play Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Maya Sleeping Texas December 2013 041

Maya is pretty tuckered out after all the presents are opened. She didn’t even notice the bow I put on her belly.

This is part of the Wordless Wednesday blog hop hosted by Blog Paws.

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Oklahoma!

December 30, 2013

We had quite an eventful road trip to and from Texas and Kansas this holiday. Most of the adventures happened while we were traveling through Oklahoma. While it has been some time since I’ve seen the musical Oklahoma! my adventure could easily be accompanied by music.

Let’s begin with some dramatic music, something like the Jaws theme as we were approached by danger. Or perhaps some scary music from horror movies when some dummy ventures off from the group even though there is a mass murderer about.

Okay, our trip wasn’t that frightening. But it was pretty intense. On the way from Kansas to Texas we ran into the ice storm that ravaged through Oklahoma. It was about 9:00 at night or so and we were just entering into Oklahoma City. We planned on stopping in Oklahoma City for the night anyway, but we were hoping to make it to the south side of town rather than the north. The ice storm forced us to stop early.

Oklahoma Ice Coating a Car

This isn’t our car, but the ice on ours was just as bad. I couldn’t get a good photo of our car because it is such a light color.

Oklahoma Ice Storm 001

Ice coating the grass after the Oklahoma ice storm looks very interesting. Maya and Pierson could not walk on it.

Oklahoma Ice Storm 002

The ice was just over a quarter inch thick in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma Ice Storm 003

This brown shrubby grass clump looks like coral under the ocean.

The worst part of this adventure was that we couldn’t reach the pet friendly hotel we planned on staying at. So I had a heck of a time finding a place. It was absolutely awful! The Holiday Inn I called said they had no pet friendly rooms left. Other hotels I called either did not allow pets, charged crazy fees for pets, or did not allow large pets. My savior was Motel 6 and I will tell you more about that on my Pet Auto Safety blog post – Saved by Pet Friendly Motel 6.

Our trip back to Kansas from Texas was much better. Imagine some happy music from Mary Poppins or holiday music, Wizards in Winter from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. On the way back from Texas, we went through Tulsa, Oklahoma to meet Flea from Dog Treat Web with Jones Natural Chews. And we had the BEST TIME EVER!

First off, my husband and I were greeted with open arms by the entire family. We met Flea, her husband Chris, and her three wonderful kids, Mae, Oliver, and Squatch (his nickname).

Next, we were welcomed with a wonderful Polish dinner. I love food and have never had the opportunity to eat Polish food before, so this was a fantastic treat. The first dish was sauerkraut soup and it was absolutely delicious!!! Next up was kielbasa with a horseradish sauce and pierogi with a sour cream sauce. Both were very very good, but the sauerkraut soup was the best. The recipe belongs to Chris’s mother and Flea has been gracious enough to share the sauerkraut soup recipe on one of her old blogs.

After dinner, I got to meet Flash, Patches, Bosco, and Jimmy! Flash and Patches are so much more animated in person. And they are super cute. Both were very friendly too. Bosco was a sweetie pie as well. Jimmy didn’t like me, though. Perhaps if I had made my visit in the day time, he would have been less intimidated by me.

Oklahoma with Flea and Bosco the Cat

Bosco is such a handsome kitty. Despite the fact that Pierson kept eyeing him, Bosco could care less.

Oklahoma with Mae

Mae, Flea’s daughter, is so funny and sweet.

Patches in Oklahoma

This is Patches. Isn’t she adorable?

Flash and Patches Oklahoma 001

Flash and Patches pose for the camera. Flash sticks out his tongue. I don’t think he liked the idea of having to sit still for a photo.

Flash and Patches Oklahoma 2

This is a sweet photo of Flash and Patches. Patches is the girl with the white face and freckled legs and Flash is the nearly all black one.

Jimmy the Duck Oklahoma

It was dark outside and Jimmy the duck kept running away from me as I tried to flash a photo.

Me and The Good Flea Oklahoma

Flea and I get a photo together. I just love her hair and her friendly smile. 🙂

Dog Flash Oklahoma

Flash is so cute and spunky for an older guy.

After this were the gifts. Oh my goodness, the gifts! Maya and Pierson got some wonderful Jones Natural Chews treats as well as a humongous bone. Thank you, thank you, thank you Flea! As if Maya and Pierson were not already spoiled enough. 😉

Big Bone Jones Natural Chews 003

This big bone from Jones Natural Chews was almost too big for Maya to pick up.

Big Bone Jones Natural Chews 004

Pierson couldn’t pick up the Jones Natural Chews bone because it was too big!

There you have it, a new version of the Oklahoma! musical. It was a scary beginning with a very happy ending. A little adventure to spice up an otherwise long long long boring road trip. Did you have any adventures this holiday?