Did we take a wrong turn?

So spring is the air, and being the great mom I am, a Spring Break excursion is planned. We got Silver Dollar City season passes for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad...and Lanelle for the idea), so an easy trip, reminescent of ones from my youth, is in our future. Sydney is all prepped and excited to go to our pretend home (a hotel for those of you who don't speak four-year-old), our bags are (mostly) packed, the library travel bag is by the door(aren't I a great mom to think of this?), Nanny is here, and we are ready to go. As I am packing some snacks and thinking smugly how great of a trip-planner I am (I even thought of juice boxes), David is on the phone with his dad who will be meeting us the next morning. He asks if we've checked the calendar at SDC, because he heard it was closed part of the week. What, closed on Spring Break? Never. I never remember it closing during the week. And of course, any great trip-planner would actually check to make sure that the highlight of the trip is actually open, right? Um, well - just a small detail, right?

So, what is a mom with a wound up four-year-old, who so wholely has her heart set on a pretend home to do? Go on to Branson and just shop (because my kids, not to mention the husband would love spending two days shopping.) Perhaps pretend there was never a trip planned? Well, I did what all technology-dependent moms do; I sat down in front of my computer and typed in google.com "things to do close to nwa"

HELLO TULSA!

So, into pigeon foot (my pet name for my trusty CR-V) we climbed the next morning (but not after a good argument about getting started late because someone just had to get in a few phone calls on his vacation day, oh and maybe due to the fact that not everything was quite as well packed as I liked to pretend it was.) But, by the time we actually arrived in Tulsa, all was well and I was anticipating the gourmet selections awaiting my taste buds at good ol' QT. I mean, seriously, where else can you find so many flavors of slushy under one roof?

QT was followed by a brief visit/goosechase to the Tulsa Children's museum. Luckily we had Nanny with us, so we could leave the kids in the car without being arrested and jump in and peek at what the Tulsa Children's museum had to offer. Um, lots of ticked off parents, miserable kids, and a few that I'm pretty sure had been pumped full of some sugary substance to pretend they liked the place and its rubber-cement pizza. Honestly, if I lived there I would probably get a season pass or something and use it on rainy days, but for the price, we decided to move on and let Bear play pretend elsewhere.

So, we ended up finding a really fun bowling place, complete with bumpers. Sydney, who has never been bowling anywhere outside of our living room, found out that the actual ball is much heavier than the Wii remote, that Mommy's score also looks a lot better in the comforts of our own living room (although, with the bumpers on I did manage to break 100), and that the actual lane is very slippery and you will end up on your behind if you walk on it. Elle loved clapping and mostly just being out of her carseat. Of course, no game of bowling is complete without a little show from you-know-who.

After two games, we were feeling homeless and found a Marriott with an indoor pool and a continental breakfast. Sold. (Thank you Marriott points - I knew I loved my husbands job for a reason) Amazing service, and amazing chocolate chip cookies...look how happy Bug is with that cookie smeared all over her face. Syd was just thrilled to be in a pretend home. When I finally got it through her thick skull that just because we weren't at home, the no-jumping on the bed rule was still in effect, she graciously moved to the floor (and graciously, we were on the first floor.)

After some swimming, we were all ready to eat. So, off to meal #1 at Zio's where Elle learned to color and I remembered exacly how great the nachos are. Mmmm...delish. We had intentions of taking the kids to the dollar show, but ended up at Cheescake Factory instead. A much better trade, in my opinion. Then, back to our pretend home for some rest to get geared up for the Zoo the next day.