#2 Rayola Park

Today's park is Rayola Park in Owasso. The park has a nice splash pad, swings, a slide and a jungle gym. There is also a nice walking trail along with a gazebo and several picnic areas. Check out the photos in the Rayola Park album to see more. Its a little bit of a drive for some but worth it. The splash pad alone looked like lots of fun.

#1 Chandler Park

 I know its been awhile since I posted. Lots of stuff has been going on lately but we've started our month of June parks. We started with Chandler Park.

Chandler Park is beautiful. Here's a sampling of what you can find there:

Chandler Park
Where: 6500 W. 21st Street
When: Gate opens at 7am, Upper level closes at 11pm, Lower level closes at 6pm; Community center hours are Monday and Wednesday, 9am-8pm; Tuesday and Thursday, 9am-9pm; Friday and Saturday, 10am-5pm
Call: (918) 591-6053
Web: sites.google.com/site/chandlerparktulsa/

My husband had the day off so we loaded up two of the kids and off we went. I had suggested Chandler because we hadn't been up there in awhile and I thought it might be nice to get out.

 The whole park is gorgeous. There are two play areas, one near the front and one close to the community center. That's the one we hit. There is also a pool, basketball court, tennis courts and frisbee golf. The play area we went to is newer and offers one area for kids 6-12 and a smaller area for kids 2-5.

The newer playground is also next to what used to be "the mound". Years ago the Tulsa Easter Pageant was held at Chandler Park. On the mound used to stand a building and a cave used for the pageant. It was a beautiful production, I myself participated one year.

My husband was upset that they tore down the building and didnt even put a plaque in its place to commemorate "the mound". We let the kids play for about an hour and then we were off again.

The nice thing about Chandler is the peacefulness (well if you get there early enough that is.) There are park benches and cookout spots as well. You can even go into the woods and climb rocks and walk trails.

This is a wonderful park and worth the drive if you do not live near the Westside. Be sure to take plenty to drink and maybe a picnic lunch too. Enjoy the beauty.

Breakfast in the Park

This week I took the kids to Braden Park. Braden Park is in the White City neighborhood off of Yale and 11th streets. Its a beautiful park complete with play areas, picnic benches and a pond with a fountain, ducks and geese.

I stumbles upon the park years ago while taking a detour to avoid construction one evening. Off and on over the years I have taken the kids there. When we arrived this week I noticed they had completely redone the play area. They added new equipment and a nice covered area to sit under.

When we arrived it was about 9 in the morning. We sat down to have our breakfast and then I let the kids play. The play areas are separated into two areas. One for the smaller kids and one for the larger kids. Off in the field is a swing area. Theres also plenty of benches and picnic tables as well as grills to cook on.

I think this is a great, quiet, clean place to take the kids. The park has lots of shade trees as well. We will most definitely be going back to this park. I posted other pictures in the Braden Park folder, be sure to check them out!

Discovering the Dinosaurs

Todays field trip was to Discover the Dinosaurs at the Tulsa Convention Center. I only heard about a few days ago but it sounded like the perfect place for a field trip. It started at noon and we were there about an hour. They had full scale replicas of almost every dinosaur you can think of. Even the mighty T-Rex. At the beginning of the exhibit they handed out scavenger hunt pages that you could turn in at the end of your journey and receive a small prize.

It was dark inside with lots of different dinosaur areas set up. I thought the exhibits were very well done and each area had an information plaque about the dinosaur. Some of the exhibits included buttons you could press to make the dinosaur move. Emma wasnt too sure about that but she seemed to enjoy looking around.

They also had a Dinostore, a place with bouncy inflatables, face-painting, a photo opportunity with T-Rex's head and a Dino-dig for the little ones. Jordan seemed to really like doing the scavenger hunt and even wanted to come home and learn more about dinosaurs. I myself find dinosaurs fascinating so it was also fun for me. Conor was amazed at them too.

Today was fun and I am so glad we took the time to get out and see something different. Thanks to my mom for her help!

The Tulsa Zoo

Last week we visited The Tulsa Zoo. I happen to love to zoo and so do the kids so it was the perfect place for a field trip (and a place we will most likely visit during the year).

The Tulsa Zoo is also called a "living museum" and when you think about it, it really is. The zoo sits on 84 acres and is located in Mohawk Park. Right now the zoo hosts 2800 animals and many of them are rare or endangered. There are so many attractions there as well. Including the train, the carousel, and the newest exhibit Sea Lion Cove. Recently they added The Giraffe Encounter, an elevated deck in which to view the giraffes better and even feed them (additional tickets required). You can even ride a camel which costs about $5 (we plan on doing this next time). The zoo also host Starry Safari, its for members only but I always thought camping out at the zoo sounded like a blast! Maybe we can plan for that next year.

There are so many great animals to look at. My favorites are the giraffes but they also have meerkats, tigers, lions, bears, chimpanzees, and much, much more! Conor loves the train so I bought round trip tickets and off we went.

Both Conor and Emma loved the train and Jordan got to ride "backward" which he thought was really cool. I love to ride the train too, and sometimes I even ride the carousel. We went all over the zoo. We started with the chimpanzees which was great because they were getting fed bananas and it was so cool to watch them peel and eat them!

All over the park is a beautiful array of flowers and shrubbery. I love to look at all the wonderful flowers and of course take pictures. My grandmother loved pansies and I was able to find some.

We took a small break to eat lunch. Normally I would take my own but I was running late that day so we decided to eat in the zoo restaurant. Its okay. The food is okay and the prices are terrible but theyre not great. When I do get something there I make sure I have my own drinks (cheaper that way) and we try to share. I have to remember too that the money they make goes to caring for the animals. They also have vending machines all over the park as well as kiosks with drinks and ice cream.

All in all it was a great day. Its a great place to take kids and enjoy the weather as well as learn something. Heres the website if anyone is interested in any additional information. www.tulsazoo.org.

The Beauty of Nature

This weeks field trip was to the Mary Kay Oxley Center. Its located in Mohawk Park about one mile past the Tulsa Zoo. This is not my first trip out there but as I pulled into the parking lot I started to wonder "just who is Mary K. Oxley?" When we got back home I did some research and heres what I found. John Thurman Oxley worked in the petroleum industry and in 1935 married Mary K.Yetter.  He loved to be outdoors and played professional Polo even winning Englands Gold Cup and was inducted into the Polo Hall of Fame. In the 1970's he and his wife established the nature center. The nature center is 804 acres of beautiful outdoors and marks the area where the couple would ride their horses in the 1930's during their courtship. (http://www.oxleynaturecenter.org)

We started by visiting the interpretive building which features hands on exhibits, a small library and a wildlife viewing area. There is staff available to talk to about the current conditions of the trails and they can answer any questions you have. We went inside and its really nice. They have remodeled it a bit and it was really neat to see. One really nice feature was the water fountain. It had a feature to fill up your water bottle without having to tilt it sideways and it was cold.

We were then ready to set out on the trail. We chose to take the Red Fox Trail. The Red Fox Trail is only 0.3 mile so I figured we could make that in no time. It was beautiful. We saw lots of old fallen trees, a lizard looking thing (I didn't get a real good look at it as it scurried away) and butterflies. They were so pretty. It was little muddy in places but it was very peaceful and quiet. We got done and although I would have liked to have done more my back was killing me from wearing Emma in the back-pack. After we walked the trail we came back to the observation deck and had a small snack. Just then I asked the kids if they wanted to go to the playground we had passed on the way. Of course they said yes so off we went.

All in all it was a good trip. It wasn't incredibly hot (although I don't shy away from heat) and the kids seems to enjoy it. I want to go back and wander over to the lake and the other observation tower. I think this would be a great teaching tool for anyone whose interested in nature. If nothing else its a great place to just take in the beauty of Oklahoma. And if your anything like my husband its a great place to get some exercise. I highly recommend that everyone visit at least once.

Visiting Oklahoma's Favorite Son

This week we took a trip to Claremore, Oklahoma. Originally I was going to take the kids to Oxley Nature Center for the Spring Equinox Celebration but it was cancelled due to all the wet weather we've had this week. A girlfriend of mine lives in Claremore and she called to invite us out. I thought " what a great opportunity I can get out with the kids, get in the field trip and see an old friend". So we loaded up and headed to Claremore.

Emma on the saddle.

A little history of Claremore. Claremore is about 30 minutes outside of Tulsa.  Around 1800 a band of Indians of the Osage tribe settled in the area. Of course Claremore is most famously known for Will Rogers. They were one of the first families to settle there in 1856. The railways were a driving factor in the growth of Claremore. The Cherokee Nation incorporated Claremore into the Nation in 1883. 

The drive out there is quite nice. I took the highway going through Catoosa and Verdigris. Both towns are nice to look at. We even passed by the Big Blue Whale. You can check out the website here at http://www.claremore.com. They have lots of different attractions that I plan on visiting at a later date.

Conor with "Will Rogers".

I loaded up the kids and headed out to my girlfriends house. After we hung out and ate lunch we decided to take the kids out to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum. I had never been there so I thought it would be fun and they have a great play place for the kids in the lower part of the museum. The cost was only $5 for adults and 17 and under are free! The museum is on beautiful grounds. It opened in 1938 with an east wing added in 1982 and renovations made from 1990-1995. Its set on 20 acres with an on site sunken garden with a family tomb.  I didn't know much about Will Rogers prior to going to the museum so seeing all the movies and posters and artifacts was really interesting. The museum has a theater inside that shows Will Rogers movies daily. They show continuously from 8-5 and you can view the schedule on their website at http://www.willrogers.com. 

Inside the museum are loads of art, artifacts and a room with several dioramas depicting the life of Will Rogers. They have several of his saddles and some artifacts from the plane at the time of his crash. In the lower part of the museum is the Children's Museum. The Children's Museum has a stage where the kids can dress up and put on a show, a puppet theater where the kids can do a puppet show. A little play area with some trains toys and a room with a table and books to read. There's even a view of an old school room. The kids had loads of fun trying on costumes and playing with the puppets. Conor of course played with the trains.

I highly recommend visiting this museum. Its not very far and the cost is low. They have a beautiful gift shop and I thought the prices were reasonable. This is definitely a place we will be visiting again!

Funtastic Island

This weeks field trip was taken on Wednesday instead of Friday due to the weather. I wasn't sure what it would be like on Friday. The weather called for rain and 60's. It was cloudy and windy but still nice enough to have fun.


I decided to take the kids out to a park in Owasso, Oklahoma. Its a suburb of Tulsa about 20 minutes away. The City of Owasso is one of the oldest existing communities in Tulsa County. Owasso is a Cherokee word meaning "trail 's end" or "end of the trail". In the past 5-10 years or so Owasso has started to boom. The city has everything you can want and more. Here's a link for those who are interested in visiting, http://cityofowasso.com/. 

The park that I chose is called Funtastic Island. Its three acres of fun! The park is completely ramped so that all children can enjoy the many slides, climbing apparatuses and monkey bars. It even has a merry-go-round! There are also three bronze statues that depict kids playing. The playground is surrounded by a fence so there's only one way in and one way out.







When we arrived there was no one there. It was about 12 noon. We were there about an hour and that's when it started to pick up. Lots of kids started to show up. Its a very popular place. It also has bathroom and a covered picnic area should you decide to take a picnic lunch. All in all I give it a 5 star rating. 

Field Trip Fridays

I have been thinking for awhile about starting what I like to call Field Trip Fridays here at Morrison Homeschool. We finally got a good car so Im ready to get out and about. The weather lately has been nice and that makes it even more enticing to get out. I have been looking around at all the different things we could be doing and I cant wait to get started. I hope that you will join us on our journey into Oklahoma. I will try to take the kids somewhere every week even if its just to a local park. Tulsa has tons and do surrounding areas. I will also be adventuring into more elaborate field trips that involve traveling a long distance. I will post pictures and links to the various places we visit so come on lets explore Oklahoma!