Traveling Companions

This week Tobey and I did some traveling with Rodney. He has been so busy with work lately that we have barely seen him. The last two weeks he was in Atlanta and this week he had to go to Oklahoma City for three days and then on to Tulsa from there. We talked about us going with him but it was last minute and we didn't know what to do with Scooter. Then my amazing mother-in-law said she would check on him for us. This all happened Sunday night while I was at work. So I came home Monday morning, slept for 4 hours, and then got up and frantically packed. We left Monday afternoon and stayed two nights in Oklahoma city with our favorite hubby and daddy. We got to our hotel outside the city around 6pm. Once we crossed over into Oklahoma it had started raining on us and when I stepped out of the car at the hotel I realized it was kind of chilly. Tobey was just wearing a pair of cotton shorts. In fact I had only packed shorts for him. I didn't expect such a drastic change in temperature only three hours from our home. There happened to be a Wal-Mart across the street and I looked really hard for a pair of pants that would fit my slender little guy and could find nothing. He has to have those pants with the adjustable waist bands. So then we drove around the city looking for a Target or Old Navy and a place to eat. I just want to say the highways and exits in Oklahoma City are frustrating and confusing. We finally found a Pei Wei and an Old Navy. So Tobey got set up with some Teriyaki and a pair of jeans and a jacket. We got back to the hotel and helped Rodney set up the conference room for his class. He was training/teaching some clients over the next two days. Tobey helped set all the parts out for the laptops and set them at each table. We then left Rod to boot up the laptops and went for a little swim. The swimming pool was inside but not heated. It was freezing so we didn't last long. The whirl pool was heated at a nice temperature so we spent most of our time in there. It was nice because we were the only ones in there. I was singing and being silly and Tobey kept telling me to stop. I guess I was embarrassing him. The next day we got up after Rodney had already left for his class. We made our way down the hall for breakfast and I thought Tobey was right behind me. But when I turned around I realized he had slipped into Rodney's classroom and I heard him yell out "Daddy". Thankfully the class had not started yet but I was quite embarrassed anyway. After we ate breakfast Tobey and I left to explore the Oklahoma Science Museum. I remember going on a field trip to this museum when I was in Elementary school growing up in Ardmore, OK.  It was called the Omniplex then and I thought it was huge and fascinating. It is still fascinating but not as large as I remembered. It was a great place to let Tobey burn off some energy and he was definitely full of energy. By the time we left three hours later I was worn out. There was a zoo next door and it crossed my mind since we still had about three hours to burn before Rodney's class was over. I asked Tobey if he wanted to go to the zoo and he said "I wanna watch moo'ee".  I was fine with that so we went back to the hotel so he could watch a movie and I could read. It was a fine arrangement if I do say so myself. When Rodney finished we drove downtown and ate dinner and then drove over to the Oklahoma National Memorial.  Neither one of us had ever seen it. It was already dark outside and the museum part was closed but the outside memorial was still open. I didn't know what to expect. I immediately teared up when I saw the chain link fences. They are covered with pictures, flowers, teddy bears, and other trinkets in remembrance of those who did not survive the Federal Building bombing of 1995.  It was terribly sad and moving. Then we walked up the ramp to enter the memorial and when we stepped through the archway my breath was taken away. It is such a beautiful scene. Stretched between two tall granite walls was the stillest body of water. At first we didn't know if it was water. It looked like a vast sheet of smooth black marble. To the right of us were small metal chairs lit up underneath with white light to mark the graves of the many that died that day.  On the left were stone steps. You could hear the sound of water falling in the distance. It was all so beautiful and peaceful. If you ever drive through Oklahoma city you have to stop and see it. It is a scene that will always stay in my head. Then we had to drive out to the airport so Rodney could pick up a rental car since he was driving on to Tulsa the next day while Tobey and I drove back home. Tobey fell asleep on the way back to the hotel and slept until 9:30am the next morning. That is very late for him. He is usually up before 8am. I knew something was wrong when he didn't stir even when I got out of bed. He finally woke up when I started making some noise but he just laid there and watched me. He didn't even bother to get up. He had a slight dry cough the day before but now it was a congested barky cough. He was sick. I had thought about doing the zoo before we headed home just to let him burn some energy before riding in the car for three hours. That was out now because he was out of energy. He didn't have a fever but he definitely did not feel good. Rodney came to check on us during one his breaks and he was worried too. So we got our stuff together and headed home. Tobey was asleep within a hour even though he had only been awake for a couple of hours and he slept all the way to Denton. It made for a peaceful drive but I was very worried about him. However, when he woke up he was a different child. He had more energy when we got home and was playing and acting normal again. He still has a nasty cough but much better today. Weird. Maybe he was just worn out. I am glad he is better though. It was sad coming home. We so enjoyed being with Rodney and it was such a blessing that we were able to accompany him on one of his trips. I don't know if I could have survived another week without him.  

At the museum Tobey got to play inside a real space shuttle!