Wichita Mountains

Oklahoma has, believe it or not, several small mountain groups:  The Arbuckles,  the Ouachita's, part of the Ozarks, and the Wichita's.  We have always confined our travels to the first three, in eastern and south central Oklahoma, but this last weekend we went further afield and ended up in the Wichita.  It was an eye opener.  While not as big as the Ouachita's or Ozark's, and while not containing the surprises (Turner Falls) of the Arbuckles, the Wichitas have their own beauty...Buffalo, many small lakes, rugged terrain and room for hiking and climbing.  It was a beautiful place! If you are ever in the neighborhood of Lawton, go!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Well, today is Shelley's birthday, another hallmark in life!  We've seen two movies this weekend, had some super meals, and celebrated the 4th of July with family with fireworks and food!  What a great thing!  Birthdays, whether personal or of a country, are pretty special events.  Here's hoping you and your friends and family celebrated our country's birthday well!

And, Happy Birthday Shelley, may we share many more wonderful years together!

Car Shopping

We have been looking at vehicles (nothing like shopping for cars!).  Shelley wants a Murano, a really good vehicle, and we found one we'd like!  But even better, we found a good car dealership and salesman.  Imagine a person that didn't pressure, showed you the vehicles you wanted, talked to you, said he would like to make a deal but didn't push, didn't throw paperwork at us.  He rather just said, "I'd like to have your business."

I'm not absolutely positive we are purchasing the vehicle we looked at on his lot, but, the likelihood is high.  Good experiences in buying cars are rare, and this was one of them.  Kudos to Bob Moore Nissan in Norman for having a good sales staff.

Karate and Kung Fu, Oh My!

Well, we went to see the new Karate Kid with Jackie Chan and Jaiden Smith.  And it was really good.  Although we will always hold a special place in our hearts for Mr. Miyagi, Jackie Chan does a great job as the new teacher, Mr. Han.  And Jaiden's performance as Dre was nothing short of spectacular.

It is nice to see a film that shows a boy growing both in skills and character, and where political correctness is limited to a short blurb on how Americans should turn off their hot water.  This was a great film, and well worth seeing.  The story is very similar to that of the first Karate Kid, but the setting is China.  Replace karate with Kung Fu, and you have the gist of the film.  The setting was pretty spectacular, and there are some really good nods to the cultural differences  between east and west here.  There are a couple of bad words (Dre is a very upset boy, with reason), but nothing that a 4th grader or older probably hasn't heard wherever they live.   Now, I can hardly wait to see it again, when our son gets back from traveling with his grandparents!

Father's Day

Well, Shelley made sure that Steve had a great Father's Day even though our son was in Colorado with Steve's parents!  Steve's celebration started Thursday night with tickets to see America (70's folk-rock group), and then on Friday we went to eat great sushi and saw Karate Kid.  If you liked the original, you'll like this one too.  Great movie.  Saturday, we helped build a playground during the day (HOT HOT HOT), at our church, and then, Saturday night, we saw the movie presentation of "Oklahoma" at Owen Field (OU's field).  Talk about BIG screen!  It was great fun.  Very family affair, lots of people, super evening.

On Sunday, after church, we went to a really great restaurant (one we left out of our favorite list by oversight!), Cheevers, in OKC.  Great brunch, and quite a "fashion show" for Shelley.

Then, to round out the weekend, after a great phone call from our son, we went to an outdoor concert by Danny O'Keefe of "Good Time Charlie's got the Blues" fame.  Excellent guitar, excellent lyrics, very nice concert in front of a thousand or so Normanites under the moon.  Very very good end to a phenomenally good Father's Day weekend.

America

Occasionally, it's good to just sit back, reminisce and have a good time.  That is our goal tonight.  Shelley's father's day present to Steve this year is a trip back in time to go listen to America!  A Horse with No Name,  Lonely People, Sister Golden Hair, I Need You, Ventura Highway, The Last Unicorn and many more songs that we listened to in the 70's.  Here's to good folk rock of yesteryear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSAJ0l4OBHM

Weather Again

http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=12642754 

Near record blizzards, tornadoes, hail, and now...rain.  This last 7 months have had about everything.  Normally, when one lives in Oklahoma, you just think, "Oh well, of course the weather is different."  But this year has been a full helping of the full spectrum.  Cars floating in streets in OKC is unusual to say the least.