Beavers Bend, OK

At the beginning of Thanksgiving week, we took a few days and headed up to Beavers Bend State Park in OK. "We" included Scott, Claire, Carly, Reese, and myself-- the whole family. We put that pet barrier to use, only to discover that 30 minutes into our trip that Carly, The Brains, figured out how to slide the gate over. Reese, The Braun, fortunately stayed in place and watched the whole eppisode unfold. It was a pretty easy drive, although once we turned off the highway, there was NOTHING for 45 miles. Short on space, we decided to buy all of our food there, including a stop for lunch. One of the first things we found was a MacDonald's. It was there that Claire discovered the art of dipping. She dipped her fingers and fries into ketchup and sucked it right off!

When we got to the park, our cabin was not ready, so we got to hike around a bit and adjust ourselves to the layout of the park. We missed prime-time fall, but it was still gorgeous to see all the remaining reds, yellows, and oranges as well as all the leaves on the ground.

Our cabin was a basic little abode-- 1 bedrm, 2 twin beds, small kitchen, and living room-- but it worked well for us. We made ourselves comfortable and spent the evenings relaxing, playing games, and reading. The first night I tried to let Reese sleep in my twin bed with me but ended up having to uninvite the poor boy-- it was like sleeping with a small adult!!! (Reese is a healthy 100 lbs.!)

We spent our days hiking and exploring the trails. Claire hung out in her backpack, and even took a nap in it one day! Carly and Reese loved trailblazing-- all the new scents! We had purchased for Carly a backpack to help her burn more energy and give her a job, which worked out quite well. (I'm even using it here in the city on our walks and it has really slowed her down!) Claire loved playing on the cabin floor with her doggies.

4 days/3 nights went quickly, but we returned home to begin the second part of our celebration.

Pet Barrier

Why didn't we get one of these earlier??? What a great invention! It keeps the pups safely in the back and allows us pretty good visibility. Easy to assemble, no drilling into the car, etc. Carly was a little peeved that her co-pilot license was revoked! This should give us a pretty comfy ride to OK this wknd...

A Walk in the Woods

In Dallas? No way! We stumbled across this little nature preserve, right in the middle of the city. Well, I shouldn't say stumbled-- I drive by it at least once a week, but it always looked so sketchy, and I wasn't sure what it was. Anyway, we went out for a hike today and took just the girls (Carly and Claire) to enjoy this beautiful weather we had. Claire enjoyed herself from the backpack (Thanks, Aunt T!) as Scott tried to teach the poor thing, "Go Gators." Carly was a horrible trailblazer and continually lost the path-- thank goodness we did not have to rely on her! We saw nothing more than a few little birds, but it was a wonderful break from city life.

The Morrison Girls and Shoes

Shoes, shoes, shoes! Seems like it's a commonality among us-- we love our shoes! I just recently purchased a pair of sneakers for Claire (when she starts walking) and a pair of black dress shoes (to go with her Christmas dress), and she is in love with them. Yesterday morning, she spent 15 minutes opening and closing the Velcro and asking me to put them on her little feet.







Then there's Carly who loves shoes too, but unfortunately, in a destructive way. After numerous offenses, Carly was hauled off to the Doggie Dentention Center and booked for destruction of private property.

Mima Visits Texas

Shelly came out for a Fall Visit this past week. She was here for Claire's second Halloween and got into the spirit of the holiday with a fabulous she-devil costume. Since I was terribly out-numbered and the Gator game was televised (but poor FSU did not get coverage!), Claire got dressed up in her UF cheerleading outfit-- don't worry, my fellow FSU alumni-- she has a Nole one too. (Gotta love grandmas... Mom and Shelly were both out shopping, different times, different days, and picked out for Claire their own child's alma mater-- same sizes, too!) We did some shopping, went out for lunch, and had a nice time playing around the house. Shelly was here for the Election Party and got to see Scott's solo in the Requiem concert at church last night. "Scott did a wonderful job!" says the proud wife. I did video-tape it, so hopefully I will soon learn how to download digital footage.

Claire has really been on the go! She loves playing in her new sandbox, in which she was making cakes with her mima. She has also started to climb on things-- chairs, Reese, the dishwasher. I am on my toes now more than ever!

Happy Halloween!

Claire was a princess for Halloween-- it's so weird to think that this is her second round at the holiday, but our year of "1sts" is over! We went to the little Halloween festival put on by the city, rushed home to nap, and was all set to go pick up Claire's Mima at the airport until her nap ran long-- never wake a sleeping baby! ; ) Fortunately, Scott was able to get his mother and brought her back. We did walk around the block in costume-- all of us-- and stopped by houses of our friends to say hello. We usually do an after-dinner-stroll, so we stayed in our routine for baby and dogs' sakes.