Stuart had a birthday last Thursday. Being a quality-time sort of person, he asked if we could do something special together as a family for his birthday. Will and I had an idea that caught fire as we talked about it. Why not take the family on a little trip?

Plans were made in secret, to the delighted annoyance of our children who knew that something was up.

The evening of Stuart’s birthday, we had a table full of guests from our small group in town. We had a wonderful time eating pizza, chips, and pop together, and our friend Mary Lou made a beautiful birthday cake! I also made a gluten-free cake so that Elijah could party with us. We ate lots of junk food, I know, but we had such a good time together!

After our guests left, we broke the news to Stuart that the next afternoon we were going to leave for Oklahoma City (about 3 to 3.5 hour drive from here) to spend the night in a hotel then go to the Science Museum the next day.

The children screamed with joy! And the next evening found us in Oklahoma.

The hotel had an indoor swimming pool, which was perfect to work off a lot of energy before bedtime. My nephew Drew, who is Stuart’s age and Stuart’s best friend, was along for the trip, too.

Saturday was piles of fun. Will and I love museums, so we like seeing our children enjoy them as well!

The trains made us think of our neighbor Kevin. Our boys adore him because he is a nice person, but also because he has real electric trains in his basement.

So much to see everywhere!

Playing with water was fun, and resulted in wet clothes!

The boys ate up the live science show that included lots of explosions! Drew got to help with one of the explosions.

More pictures… Will does a lot of teaching at these events.

Desiree and Keane worked on building houses with these lovely blocks.

I had as much fun as anyone! I wanted that lady to let go of my Segway so I could drive more recklessly! 😀 And I was fascinated with the exhibit on mind games.

You know how children display exactly what we adults think and feel sometimes? (It’s one of the many things to love about children.) Well, this is how we all felt after that long and wonderful day.

And the children are already asking when we can go again! I love this family.

Being home feels nice, too.