Trip to Oklahoma!

Back in early September Ava and I rode with my Dad down to Oklahoma to pick up my sister Joni and her little boy Houston.  They were down their visiting her husband Tommy’s family while he was on leave from the Army.  Joni and Houston made a longer vacation out of the trip and came home with us to Minnesota. It was a fun road trip with Grandpa and Ava was a perfect little girl in the car.  We didn’t hear much out of her, unless her Elmo movie needed to be restarted.

The whole trip took us about 12 hours, but we split it into 2 days so it wasn’t too much time on the road in 1 day. 
On the way down, we made it all the way to Oklahoma before we stopped for the night.  The Vikings played their opening game that night, so we decided to call it a night to watch the game.  Here’s Ava in her Viking jersey relaxing with Grandpa watching the game in the hotel room.  The next day we had breakfast before heading down to meet Joni.  We only had about a 3 hour drive, so it wasn’t as long as a drive as the day before.
Finally we arrived in McAlester and Ava could finally play with her little cousin Houston.
 
As you can see they have a lot of fun together.  We only spent one night in Oklahoma before coming home, but we were able to meet a lot of Tommy’s family over supper.
The next day we hit the road fairly early, but didn’t make it as far as we did on the way down.  The trip was much more difficult with two little ones…and it took a lot out of us adults.
Below are a few pictures taken on the ride home. Thank goodness for Elmo!
The trip home took 2 days and was full of lot of fun.  Some of the excitement included me winning 4 rounds of the Alphabet game…..without cheating, even if Joni thinks I did.  Joni spilling her entire glass of pop on Dad’s breakfast, Houston and his phantom poopy pants which included a lot of loud grunting, and Ava not sharing her toys. 
Below are a few more pictures from the trip.