Surprise Trip

Several weeks ago my husband, Joe, told our kids and I to keep the afternoon of Sunday, December 20 open.  We had no idea what was going on, but marked it on the calendar.

In the meantime, our son, Zachary, quizzed his dad about the trip, so Joe gave him some outlandish tale about going goat/pig hunting in south Texas and being in a goat parade.  Since our children show goats and pigs and have been on farms in south Texas, Zachary believed him....and later told his siblings!  We were so shocked that he actually believed the wild tale and did up until the time we left. 

When we headed north instead of south, the kids all realized we weren't headed to Texas as all.  In fact we were headed northeast to Oklahoma City.  When we first got to the OKC/Edmond area, we went to worship at MRCC with Joe's brother, our sister-in-law and their family.  Worship at MRCC is one of our favorite things.  It's always so uplifting.  Sunday evening was a time of song, scripture, and prayer - focusing on the omnipotence of God. 

After worship, we grabbed a quick fast-food meal and headed to downtown OKC for a concert of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  I had figured out what we were going to do (because I snooped online for "Things to do in OKC" on Sunday, December 20 and my husband gave TSO initial hints to our kids), but the kids still had no idea.  Even when we got there, they didn't know what it was.  They've heard some of their songs, but not many and not enough to know what it was.

The lights and special effects of the show were amazing and we enjoyed most of it.  For us, though, a lot of it was too "rock band" for our style.  It didn't seem like the songs we had heard on the radio for the most part, BUT there were some beautiful songs and TSO has some amazing talent.  I heard a group of people comment that it was more rock-style than last year, so others felt the same way we did.  However, I'm certain we were in the minority on the opinion scale.  It just wasn't our thing this year.  Next year's style might be more what we would like.

A few days before the surprise trip, I mentioned that I would like to go shopping in the City ("the City" is Oklahoma City to us Okies.  You may think of it as the biggest city in your state or country!) before Christmas. Joe thought about it and decided to tell me that as part of the trip we could spend the night in the City I was so excited and that gave me a clue as to what the surprise trip was going to be.

I told our daughter that we were spending the night somewhere so she could pack her own things, but packed the three boys myself. They had no idea we were staying in the City until we pulled into the hotel parking lot. They were so excited!

Monday morning we woke up and headed out shopping.  We had a great day and got lots of shopping done.  One of our favorite stops was Bass Pro Shop where Tyler got to see Santa and the store had lots of neat places to take pictures. 

Monday night on the way home we had one more surprise for the kids - the Festival of Lights in Chickasha.  If you live within traveling distance of Chickasha, Oklahoma, this spectacular light display is well worth your time.  It's beautiful!  We actually waited in line (a line of cars) for 50 minutes to even get into the park, then walked around to see the lights.  The weather was great, so it was a perfect evening for stopping by.  If you're not near Chickasha, here are pictures for you to enjoy :).

Merry Christmas!