A visit to Bartlesville

About 10 days ago (a long time if you're waiting to see these photos, but work and school intervened since our trip), we traveled to Bartlesville, Oklahoma to see family. Here are some photos depicting our 30-hour, whirlwind visit:

Sharon Warzel read a favorite childhood book (The Elves and the Shoemaker)

to Megan during a break from sorting through the household belongings of
Morgan and Floy Warzel (Sharon's parents), who recently moved from
their longtime house to a Bartlesville area assisted living facility.
Morgan and Floy are doing well in their new digs (Morgan spent
that Friday at the city's air show).

Aww! Megan shared a strawberry lemonade
with her Uncle Clyde during dinner at Mazzio's Pizza.

This was priceless . . . after refusing to nap and running wild
most of the day, Mary fell asleep at Mazzio's with fork in hand.

But she woke up for this . . .

Bartlesville's Kiddie Park: Awesome! This local amusement park with pint-sized rides (and inexpensive. . .no admission fees, 25 cents per ride) has been a fixture in Bartlesville for decades. With Sharon, her brother Kirk, and Grandma Jeannie Eblen, we converged on the park. Megan loved the rides, Mary wasn't as enthusiastic (not that we didn't try. . .it's just not her thing, yet).

But Mary was enthusiastic about waving to Megan,

while Megan enjoyed her first rollercoaster ride. . .

And her ride on the ponies with Grandma Eblen. She spent most of the ride
waving beauty-queen style to spectators looking on at the Merry-Go-Round.

Mary didn't much care for the Merry-Go-Round (too loud, made her dizzy, etc. . .)

but she loved the ice cream cone, and the helicopter that flew overhead.

Here's another shot of the treat-break we took.

Thanks to the delicious, blue raspberry sno-cone,
Megan's face was blue for the rest of the evening . . .
She also got her face and hand painted. . .

We had an absolute blast, and as always it was great to catch up with family. Sharon lives in the Denver area, and Kirk lives in Idaho Falls, so it isn't often that we see them.

We left Bartlesville the next morning, and enroute home to Kansas City we stopped at the restored Little House on the Prairie (just southwest of Independence, Kansas). It's accessible off U.S. 75 and also has a restored post office, school house and an extensive gift shop. Megan and Mary have always enjoyed the Little House stories that have been read to them, and Megan is starting to connect the dots that Laura was a real person. They both got a kick out of their visit, and Mary especially liked the rocking chair made out of a stump, on display in the replica of the Little House. Here are some of the pictures:

One of the exhibits, a replica of Little House on the Prairie,
located near where the original Little House actually stood.

Mary checks out the Little House.

Megan and Mary, inside Little House.