15 May 2011

Of Family Dates, Volume Two

I know I have mentioned previously, I'm a sucker for a good family date.  Thus, today, as you can imagine, was quite the day.  With many thanks to the plethora of daily deal sites on the vast world wide web (and a belated Easter check from some grandparents), our day o' family fun was light on the wallet, as well. 

We headed out mid-morning . . . 

. . .to get our kicks on Route 66 (while listening to the soundtrack of Cars, of course).


We passed the Round Barn in Arcadia - which I have heard about when reading of Oklahoma landmarks along Route 66, but as we did not stop, I still cannot explain to anyone the fascination with this structure.  Because it's round?  Isn't that called a silo?  A short, fat silo?


Our first destination: Pops.  Thanks to Seize the Deal, we had a $20 voucher to eat here - which worked out nicely as I'd been wanting to visit for almost two years now and an expiration date was a nice fire under our tails to get us there.  For those non-Oklahomites, Pops is a glorified gas station with a restaurant inside.  What makes it unique is the walls of soda lining the windowed building and the refrigerated cases of soda bottles boasting any flavor one could desire from various locations across the globe.


Philip wasn't feeling adventurous enough for anything more than the standard Coca-Cola, but Micaiah and I picked out a nice green apple flavor.  Not being the pop connosseur, once I'd decided on a flavor, the brand was chosen merely by the fun factor of the label.  Highly sophisticated, I know.  But the two of us girls sure did enjoy trying something new (as evidenced by the fact that every time Micaiah took a sip, we heard a satisfied lip smack and, "Aaah!" - thanks, Grandpa, for teaching her that).


Between toddler-sized gulps of the green stuff, Micaiah tore her corn dog apart, but managed to avoid the pile of french fries the size of her head - literally.


For your next visit to Pops, keep this in mind: the Arcadia burger (with homemade barbecue sauce, apple-wood smoked bacon and bleu cheese) - amazing, really.


From Pops, we started out on a tree-covered road to our next destination.


Just for kicks and giggles, this is what Emmett's hair looks like as it blows in the wind - better enjoy it now, he's getting it trimmed very shortly (as in a short period of time, not necessarily the length of the hairs themselves).


Final stop before heading home for naps: using our Groupons we painted our own pottery at Brooklyn-Victoria in Nicoma Park (did anyone even know this town, just outside of Choctaw, even existed?).  Micaiah chose (with a little help) a piggy bank which was painted a nice shade of pink (thrust upon her by the store's assistant), while I worked on Emmett's birthday plate - the one from which he will, in theory, eat all of his birthday (and other celebratory) meals during the time in which he resides in our home.  It's a tradition we started with Micaiah which I hope to continue down the line.


Micaiah was so happy to have "pink"ed her pig (which is actually what she calls painting, the fact that she actually used this color is sheer coincidence, or perhaps a reflection of the assistant's mis-interpretations of one little girl's shouts of, "I'm gonna pink!"), she was wiped. And so it was we headed home for naps for the little ones (though, as it turns out, naptime happened more in the car than in their beds, but they didn't seem to mind).  A family date well spent.

Not pictured: Mommy and Daddy's evening movie date, complements of Living Social.  Thor in 3D may not have been my favorite movie experience (not bad, just not great), but not having paid a large amount for the tickets was re-assuring.  And, let's be honest, it doesn't much matter what we see as long as the kids are sleeping quietly in their beds, their Aunt "Dia" is keeping them company and Philip and I are out together.

Side Note: Per daily deals websites, most of these activities were not, in fact, free - just discounted, but being that we pre-purchased the vouchers for half the cost of the value, not only were they good deals, but by the time we used the coupons (as the money had been deducted from our account months ago), it feels free - which is close enough for me.

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