Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter's Visit - Part 2

On Monday May 14th, we went to the Oklahoma State University Botanical Gardens. Jared and I had wanted to go for quite some time, so we thought it would be a good thing to do with Terri and Dick. It was very pretty, and we had a good time.

Soon after arriving, a butterfly landed on my arm. Allie thought it was the coolest thing and wanted it to go on her arm, too. Luck was on her side, and it did go on Allie's arm, too. She will still occasionally mention the time when a butterfly was on my arm and her arm.

Mommy's arm

Allie's arm

We liked these vivid pink flowers. 

More pretty flowers

Allie enjoying a water feature.

(There is water on top and running down the side.)

We liked the butterfly tree, too. (Ginkgo Biloba)

Dick observing the bottle tree.

 Allie loved the fish. It took some convincing to get her to leave them.

Look at the big white flower.

There were several of these little lizards. Allie wanted to chase them.

They were kinda cute.

Chickens!

I had seen some friends' pictures from the Botanical Garden and knew that there was a Tinkerbell house somewhere. We kept telling Allie that we were looking for Tinkerbell's house, and when we saw it, she went running.

Looking in the telescope at Tinkerbell's

Allie was so happy inside, too.

I got her to look at the camera. Not a smile, but I still like this picture.

The rest of the gang on their way to meet us at Tinkerbell's house.

What a cool chair, huh?!

Mommy and Allie

The next excitement for Allie was Captain Hook's ship. She went running to it.

And up top.

Grandma Terri joined her.

This is how Rachel enjoyed the gardens.

Very reluctantly, Allie left the ship. We then saw some huge bugs!

Allie checking out a bee.

Then on to see more things, again.

Rachel now chilling with her water.

I liked these two rows of trees.

Notice how little Allie looks.

We came upon an xylophone. Grandpa Dick helped Allie learn to play.

So much joy!

Another lizard friend.

The Botanical Gardens were beautiful and fun. I think we were all glad that we went.

Something that we needed to do before Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter left was have Allie learn to ride a bike with training wheels. Jared found a cute little Tinkerbell bike by a dumpster on campus. It didn't have pedals or training wheels, but since those are easy to add, Jared brought it home. Grandma and Grandpa got Allie a cute Dora helmet, as well as the pedals and training wheels, for her birthday.

Jared then got it all put together and Allie tried to ride for the first time inside the house on the carpet. Because of where we lived (in an alley with broken glass most of the time due to being near the bars), we hadn't gotten Allie a tricycle. So this was her first time trying to ride anything. Also, it was past Allie's bedtime, and she was tired.

The cute bike

Happy Allie with her bike

Lovin' her helmet!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter!

And the first ride.

Not really a success.

We tried again the next morning, and after some more frustration, Allie finally let Mommy help her a little and she had a little bit of success for a short distance. That was all that Grandma Terri and Grandpa Dick got to see. We then took them to the airport. We had such a nice and fun visit with them. We were so grateful that they came to visit us.

I think it was the day after they left that we decided to take Allie to Walmart to ride a tricycle in the aisle. We figured it would help her get used to pedaling. Unfortunately, the tricycles were all chained up to the shelves. So Jared let Allie get on a little Spider Man bike. They had ridden the bus, and Rachel and I drove since we were going to get groceries, too. I went to the bike area expecting to see Allie on a tricycle when she came zooming around the end of an aisle, turning to go down the next one on the Spider Man bike. It was awesome. She did such a good job! I think the flat ground helped. She was so excited, and we were, too. We need to get some video of her riding sometime.