Altus AFB is the best base in the world! Literally.

You can't make this stuff up. Altus Air Force Base recently won the 2014 Commander in Chief's Installation Excellence Award! (If you want to get all military and acronym-y, it is generally referred to as the CINC IEA.)

Translation = the best base in the Air Force this year.

With such a high honor comes some serious cash for base improvements, which are desperately needed. The Altus Chamber of Commerce hosted a big party on base to celebrate the occasion, and in the spirit of finding fun, Scarlett and I had to attend.

We got there really early, so it looks totally empty from the picture, but I assure it was NOT. There was free lunch, bounce houses, a dunk tank, and music. They announced the new projects on base, which are actually very exciting. We're talking mini-golf and a splash pad, people. And remember how I hate the kids area in the gym? They're making improvements there too.

Unfortunately, two things happened that prevented me from properly documenting this with my camera phone. Scarlett was high on sugar from that morning's National Donut Day celebration and refused to eat her lunch. So she 1) ran around like a wild banshee and I could barely keep up; and 2) as it approached 1 p.m. (her nap time) she started throwing rocks around other kids. Time to leave.

Hooray for base improvements! If you need me next summer I'll be at the splash pad.

Christmas Tree Lighting on Base

So I know I was a buzzkill on the whole "do one Christmas activity a day" phenomenon, and I apologize. I hate being a downer. The thing is, I do really love the idea of making an effort to enjoy the season as much as possible. I want to do ALL THE THINGS and make the most out of it, but it's just not realistic with our schedule.

But in the spirit of finding fun and celebrating the Christmas season, we headed out to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony on base.

There were cookies and hot chocolate to enjoy while Scarlett ran around and we waited for the program to start. They had a choir from the chapel (I think) come out and sing some Christmas carols to start off the festivities. They passed out sheets of music for everybody to participate, so that was fun. 

Then the wing commander and his family invited the family of a deployed member to light the tree. So fun!

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And then, Santa arrived by fire truck....

 ...and took his place next to the plane for pictures.

Scarlett couldn't have cared less about Santa. She was busy fastening the buckles on her stroller.

And running on rocks.

Super comfortable for mom to chase her on too.

But she did discover the joy of the Christmas "yights." I'm pretty sure we photobombed a lot of pictures that night because she didn't want to leave the tree, and of course it was the hottest spot for pictures. Who wouldn't want a picture of this cute kid anyway?!?

Finding Fun: Base Cattle Drive

It's rodeo time in Altus! This is a big event every year, and I've been looking forward to the festivities for awhile. This morning was a cattle drive on base! How cool is that!

Guess what -- cattle are slooooowwww. One of the organizations on base was set up with drinks and donuts so we could snack and mingle while waiting for the horses and cattle.  All Scarlett wanted to do was run into the road, so that was good times.

Finally -- here they come! Base leadership also got on some horses and participated in the cattle drive. I thought it was so fun to see a bunch of guys in flight suits up on horses.

I told Scarlett that technically we hated seeing the longhorns because we are Sooner fans.

I took her over to see a horse that had stopped along the way and she SCREAMED. If you've ever had the pleasure of hearing Scarlett cry, it is definitely shrill and alarming. I was worried the horse would freak out and buck the rider off or something, so we got out of there as fast as possible.

Sadly we will miss the rest of the rodeo festivities this weekend, but we're already looking forward to next year. Maybe by then Scarlett will have her first pair of cowboy boots to wear!

Finding Fun: 2013 Rush Springs Watermelon Festival

Hot weather = watermelon.


Black Diamond watermelons from Rush Springs, OK are where it's at. AND it turns out Rush Springs is only 90 miles from Altus. So on the second Saturday of August, we headed that way for the 2013 Watermelon Festival.

I always pictured the watermelon festival to be just like Tracy Byrd's video for Watermelon Crawl (early 90s country fans know what I'm talking about). While they do have a watermelon queen, she did not dance in a tub of watermelon, nor was there watermelon wine.

Job #1 was lunch. I realized I hadn't eaten anything that day and I was starving. Scarlett had a footlong hot dog all to herself. She didn't eat it all, but she did discover the tangy deliciousness of mustard.

Job #2 was to check out the winning watermelons. My super cheesy husband's joke of the day: "check out those huge melons!"

This watermelon is the Grand Champion watermelon. I don't exactly know what the criteria is -- size, shape, color, taste? We're still trying to figure it out.

And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, wins the award of biggest watermelon. 163 pounds!!! I wish I'd put Scarlett in the picture for comparison. 

We strolled the craft booths to walk off lunch. I've never seen more little girls bows in one place in my entire life. I do wish their wares were more watermelon specific instead of just something I could have bought at any fair at any time.

I'm sad to say we missed the seed-spitting contest. The record was set a couple years ago at 52 feet. What kind of training does this entail?

The highlight of the day was getting our "slices" of watermelon. Delish!

  

 Watermelon carcasses -- don't show this picture to the starving kids in Ethiopia.

We ended our day with buying huge jugs of root beer and headed home. We stopped at one of the MANY roadside stands to buy a black diamond and a yellow watermelon. We'll be eating watermelon for days!

Finding Fun: Lavender Valley Acres

Photo Credit: Lavender Valley Acres

Today's stop on our Finding Fun Tour found us at the Lavender Valley Acres in Apache, OK. If you think you'll just get directions from Google maps while you're on the way, you would be wrong.

Yes, we got a little lost. Neither Android, Apple, nor Garmin could direct us to our destination. However, poorly placed signs hidden by overgrown weeds did eventually get us there. So maybe they weren't so poorly placed after all.

I initially read about this place from following the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department on instagram. They had a cool picture of a peacock so I decided to look it up. It seemed closer than other places I want to go in Oklahoma (read: can be done in a day), so I wanted to go sooner rather than later. Fortunately, I have a friend who was also ready to get out of the house and find an activity for her little boy, so I wasn't alone on the journey.

Basically, this place started out as an experiment to see if lavender can be grown in Oklahoma. The owner was told that the climate and the soil were not compatible with growing lavender. He sought out to prove that he could do it, and he now has about 10 different kinds of lavender that he grows. He has a big lavender festival every June and a couple open houses during the year where he showcases the lavender he has grown in all sorts of products and food. You can also tour the gardens like we did today from March-July.

He has like, 24 peacocks living on the grounds, including 4 babies. I had never considered how cute baby peacocks could be! P.S. Did you know there is such a thing as white peacocks? P.P.S. I had incredible paranoia about a peacock biting my baby.

Scarlett was so ready to be out of the car. She had no interest in learning about lavender and was more than happy to pick at the dirt and throw rocks. She also found a cat who would return her affections more than Clarity will, so there was a lot of grabbing and attempted tail-pulling going on.

Where is Altus Air Force Base?

Photo Credit: kswo.com

Have I mentioned we're stationed at Altus Air Force Base in Altus, OK? Oh, you've never heard of Altus? It's okay, most people haven't.

To be honest, it's not an assignment that most people seek. When people do want to come here, it's so they can be home more and have a more stable family life. We came here for a number of reasons, but first and foremost, it just felt like it was where we were supposed to be.

Most of our Air Force friends will say they hate living in Oklahoma because they equate Altus with the rest of the state. Oklahoma doesn't suck, people!

Now, it's true. There's not much to do in Altus itself. We have a sweet base pool that's open in the summer, some cute downtown shops, and I think there's a story hour at the library. We also have dead grass, dilapidated buildings, and the worst drought I've ever seen in my life.

So I'm on a mission. A mission to find something to do with my day and keep my very busy and super social one-year-old entertained.

I'm getting creative and exploring all the nooks and crannies of the state and featuring our discoveries here. Will they be awesome or a disappointment? Let our Finding Fun Tour commence!