Ooooklahoma! Where the wind comes sweeping!

This year Mrs. and Mr. Shrock took me to Mr. Shrock's grandparents/uncle and aunt's farm. They live in the panhandle of Oklahoma. This is definitely the part of Oklahoma that they wrote the famous song about. They have red dirt and sometimes have waving wheat because they are wheat farmers. This is where your bread comes from. Here the wind blows a lot and is very strong. On this day the wind was blowing so hard the tumbleweeds were going everywhere! This is one that stopped long enough so that I could get a picture with it. It's huge but they come in all sizes. These are really bad for farmers because if they get too many in the fences it can tear them up. They are more of a weed and are only good to fuel your fire. We even had to dodge them while driving in the car. Have you seen a tumbleweed?

Utica Square...Christmas Can Start

Every year Mrs. Shrock and her family go to an outdoor shopping center called Utica Square on Thanksgiving night. They are there to wait for the thousands of Christmas lights to turn on at 7 pm. Before they come on they sing Christmas carols and listen to a choir sing also. It's also fun to see all the different dogs that people will bring with them. We took hot chocolate with whip cream (yum!) because it was so cold! It was so beautiful when they turned on the lights. Mrs. Shrock said when they turn on the lights that Thanksgiving is over and it's time to put up Christmas decorations. Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions?

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Oklahoma with both Mrs. and Mr. Shrock's families on two different days. The first thing we did on Thursday was get up and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I loved seeing all the balloons, bands, and floats. We ate turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, cornbread, corn, nappa cabbage salad, and probably more stuff that I can't remember, for lunch. After we digested some food we ate pie. We had pumpkin, coconut cream, pecan, and peach! It was all so delicious! We went to Mr. Shrock's grandparents the next day and did it all over again. I am so thankful I got to be a part of two wonderful days. What are you thankful for?

Texas Flag

This is the Texas flag. It's also known as the "Lone Star" flag because it only has one star. Texas is also called the "Lone Star" state. It has been the state flag since 1859. The flag colors are red, white, and blue. The blue stands for loyalty, the red stands for bravery, and the white stands for purity. Texas also has their own pledge to the flag. It goes: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible." What does your state flag look like?

Pecans

This is a pecan tree. It is the Texas State Tree. That means there are more pecan trees in Texas than other trees. This tree makes the nuts called pecans. The nuts start falling off the tree in the fall! You can use a special cup with a long handle to help pick up all the nuts. Then you can crack them open and eat them plain or make yummy desserts with them!
What's your state tree?

Baby Bear

Great news! Mrs. Shrock is going to have a baby! She has known for a while but on Friday we got to see pictures of the baby inside her tummy and watch the baby on a DVD. The baby weighs about 9 ounces right now and is about the size of a tomato. Mr. and Mrs. Shrock don't know if the baby will be a girl or boy yet, but they've got some names picked out just in case. They have to wait until it is born in March. I attached one of Mrs. Shrock's pictures so you could see what it looks like right now. I am so excited and can't wait to have a baby Baylor bear!

Palmetto State Park/San Antonio, Texas

This weekend I went camping at Palmetto State Park which is near San Antonio, Texas. We slept in a tent and roasted hot dogs. There were lots of kids staying at the park enjoying the fishing and hiking. We went on a hike and saw a real armadillo. You have to be careful there though because the area is swampy so snakes like to hang out. We also had some ducks hanging around our campsite because we stayed next to the San Marcos river. The next day we went to see the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. This is a very old place where there was a famous battle. We also visited the San Antonio Zoo. It is huge and has so many animals! Can you guess what my favorite part was? ....The bears of course! They had some of my speckled bear relatives which I had never seen before. It was a great zoo but bring your walking shoes because they built the zoo on a big hill!

Baylor Bears

You can go to Baylor University and find lots of bears but their are two special black bears that live at Baylor. They are Joy and Lady. They are the Baylor mascots. They are very nice and have a beautiful home. If you go to Baylor I suggest you stop by and see Joy and Lady. They even don't mind when Mops stops by even though she's not sure what they are doing in there. Sic 'em Joy and Lady!

Tulsa

Last weekend I went to see Mrs. Shrock's family. They live in Tulsa, Oklahoma which is a much bigger city than Waco. We stayed at Mrs. Shrock's grandma's house. I also met Mrs. Shrock's mom, sisters, brother-in-law, aunt, nephew, and Mr. Shrock's parents. We had so much fun. We went to the rodeo and to Woolaroc in Bartlesville, OK, which is a really fun museum full of Native American and western things. The only part I didn't like were all the mounted heads. But we found out all of the animals had died naturally on the ranch surrounding the museum. You should check it out! Here is a picture of me and Mrs. Shrock's nephew Derek.

Provident Heights Elementary

Today I visited Provident Heights Elementary in Waco, Texas. Mrs. Shrock teaches a section of TED 1312 Introduction to Education. This class is for students who want to become teachers someday like Mrs. Shrock. The students have been learning how to work with 3rd graders to tutor them in reading. We went to the school for the first time today and the college kids met their 3rd grader. They introduced themselves and learned how many 3rd grade words they could read and spell. They did a great job working with their student. I really liked the cafeteria too! All of the paintings in the hallways were so neat to look at. I can't wait to go back!

Mops

Mops is the dog that I live with. She belongs to Mrs. Shrock. She is about 1 1/2 years old. She is a Chinese pug but she was born in Buffalo, Oklahoma. Mrs. Shrock got her from her aunt and uncle's farm where they have lots of puppies. Mops got her name because it means "pug" in German. We are great friends! Pugs have short noses and big eyes. They are small dogs which is good because she'll be a good size to play with me. I like her curly tail best! She is a nice dog but you've got to be careful because she likes to chew!

Lake Waco Dam

Yesterday I went to the Lake Waco Dam. You can hike or ride your bike up to the dam. We drove to a spot and parked the car and then hiked up to the dam. There are several places to start from and several ways you can hike or bike on the trail. Bring your walking shoes though it's a pretty long hike. It is really neat to look off of the dam. You can see lots of boats in the water and you can see the big gears it takes to run the dam. We also saw lots of buzzards but I'm not sure why they kept circling around. We went late in the afternoon and the sun was so pretty.

Hello World!

Today I went home with Mrs. Shrock. She lives with her husband Mr. Shrock and their dog Mops. Mops is a very cute pug, but so far I have to be very careful around Mops because she likes to play a little too rough. Mrs. Shrock got me from the Waco, Texas Cameron Park Zoo. I enjoyed living there but I'm anxious to see different places. I am going to use this blog to record what I'm doing each week. You can check back to see what exciting adventure I'm up to next. Someday I hope to go to different kindergarten rooms around the United States and the world. I wouldn't mind spending some time with some of the students either. If you have any suggestions about places I should see let me know!