A Series of Mini-Adventures

Joss had last Thursday and Friday off, along with the rest of TPS students. I usually work from home on those days, but try to make sure we get out of the house some as well. Even better if we can try new things! So here’s what we’ve been up to the past several days:

Celebration Park

I’d been hoping to visit Celebration Park ever since its opening last month. The park features garden-themed playgrounds, a splash pad, sports court, etc. Joss’s favorite part was definitely the stem-like poles you could hang onto and spin around. He loves spinning, so these were a hit!

The park is close to River West Festival Park. If you head on 21st Street, turn north on Jackson Ave., and the park will be to the left in a block or so.

Lubell Park

On Friday, I had to get a Covid test out in the Red Fork District. It was fairly close to Lubell Park, which I’d also been wanting to check out for some time. Bike Club has really built up the trails at Lubell and added some fun ramps and jumps. The trails are said to be great for mountain biking beginners.

Sadly, it was too web and muddy to explore much. However, there was a really pretty water area with a wooden platform you could climb up and enjoy the sights.

Route 66 Historical Village

On the drive home from Lubell, we swung by the Route 66 Historical Village. I hadn’t been since they’d added the Red Fork Depot event venue. And we arrived at the perfect time because there was a large Route 66 travel group from New Zealand visiting, which meant the gift center was open. We’d never been in there before, but the volunteer gave us some Route 66 guide books, a railroad safety activity booklet, magnet and sticker. She also said they’re always looking for more volunteers, and that it’s a great way to meet people from all over the world. Learn how to join “The Crew” at route66village.com/copy-of-blue-star-memorial-by-way

Inside the Philips 66 station visitors center

In addition to the event venue, there were some fun, new vehicles to climb on. Joss pretended to drive a trolley and old-fashioned truck. The New Zealand group was centered around the main train engine so we didn’t get up close this time. But this is definitely a great place to take kids who love trains and other vehicles.

Pee Wee Event at Mid-Continent Kennel Club of Tulsa’s All Breed Dog Show

Over the weekend, the Mid-Continent Kennel Club of Tulsa held an All Breed Dog Show at Expo Square. The event was free to attend and featured a kids table and, on Saturday, a special Pee Wee dog showing event for kids. The club invited me to hand out gift bags at the Pee Wee event, which was a free opportunity for kids to practice showing dogs on a real dog show course. Kids were invited to bring their own dogs or borrow a dog for the event.

Although the event was limited to 15 kids, there were several empty slots leading up to the entry cut-off time, so I asked if Joss could show a dog as well. He was teamed up with a sweet beagle named Tully. Tully’s owner graciously helped Joss around the ring. Each kid got to lead the dog around the ring, put it up on a table for a judge to look at, walk it diagonally up and down the ring, and then around again for a “victory lap.” At the end of the victory lap, each child got a rosette and bag of goodies. It was so fun!

Follow the Mid-Continent Kennel Club of Tulsa on Facebook to stay up-to-date on future events.

Castle of Muskogee’s Renaissance Festival

Whew! Almost done. this is all part of why I’m currently exhausted. On Sunday, we took our annual family trip to Castle of Muskogee’s Renaissance Festival. Kristi Roe Owen will cover this more in her Coffee Nebula blog, so I’ll keep this brief. We always look forward to the jousting and birds of prey shows, and made sure to do those again this year. This year’s birds of prey show also featured a fluffy young owl, which visitors were invited to gently pat after the show. It was ADORABLE!

The Wheel of Death is also a hit, and very funny. Joss says that he is going to build his own kid-sized Wheel of Death for next year’s school talent show. I haven’t reminded him that he’s a little scared of heights!

The new thing we did this year was the Kids Quest. You’re given a clue upon entry, and then a series of clues that take you throughout the castle grounds. You get a new clue as you solve the previous clue. Eventually, they lead you back to the castle, where you turn in a Quest certificate that has been stamped by vendors as you solve the clues. You can choose to be knighted by either the Queen of England or King Oberon. While waiting for the knighting ceremony, there are several educational stations set up. Groups of young knights-to-be rotate between stations. Volunteers teach them about dancing, Renaissance-era music, chess, weaponry, food, etc. This was a lot of fun and very interesting. However, we were inside a fairly crowded room for maybe an hour. So…I’m glad we did it this time, but I don’t know if I’d do it again.

Bonus Activity

I’m probably not supposed to say much about this, but I was excited to get an invitation to be an extra in season 3 of “Reservation Dogs”! So that’s what I was doing Monday and Tuesday of this week. (That’s also why I had to get a COVID test on Friday.) Monday was a LOT of sitting around. I managed to finish almost an entire book, which was nice! But not very exciting. And the chairs were very uncomfortable, ha. We ended up working from 8 a.m. to about 7 p.m., which was a longer day than I’d expected. On Tuesday, we got “wrapped” around 2 p.m., so I guess that balanced it out.

Overall, it was a cool experience. But it was definitely a tricky situation with working out childcare. I don’t think I’d sign up to do it again unless I had more family in town to help with Joss. Because not knowing what time you’d get out each day definitely made planning stressful.

There’s a Reservation Dogs Casting Instagram account, so if this sounds like something you’d like to do, check that out. You do get paid, which is nice, and get to meet some new people. And you just might get to see yourself on TV someday!

Ok, that’s a wrap! This weekend, we’ve going cabin camping at Marval Resort, so hopefully I’ll be writing about that next week. What mini-adventures have you been on lately?