Setbacks
- Brenda Tollefson
- Jun 19, 2015
- 4 min read
We’ve had a lot of rain here lately. Not just rain, but nearly every day there’s been thunderstorms and flooding for the last 2 months! Finally we got a break from the rain last week. A whole week of sunny skies and we all come down with a nasty cold. No big deal though. It looks like the rainy season has come to a close. If we could just kick this cold, we’ll all be back to enjoying the beautiful outdoors once again. WRONG. Mother Nature has a sense of humor this year! Just as soon as we’re all starting to feel just a little better, we get 2 more weeks of thunderstorms.
I check the weather report diligently. My son and I are running a half marathon in September so training is paramount. I’m not one to get caught in the middle of a thunderstorm with a 7 year old, while pushing a 2 year old, 4 miles away from our house though. This means that not only have we missed out on our usual summer adventures, but our marathon training has been seriously compromised. In fact, with only 3 months left we’re still only running 3-4 miles when we do actually get outside to run. Knowing that we are way behind and still feeling really congested (I’m beginning to believe it’s allergies from mold spores caused by all the rain), I feel the overwhelming need to get out of the house and do something. Anything! We all just need to get our bodies moving and soak up some fresh air and sunshine.
With my husband out of town for the week I have to choose an activity that both kids will enjoy. Something we can do that will get us outside, but will allow us to still jump back into the car if the sky decides to pour on top of us. Don’t get me wrong, my kids love to play in the rain, but I can’t let them play outside if it’s thunder storming. And I certainly don’t want to fork out a lot of money or travel very far to do it (especially since it was supposed to rain).
In downtown Oklahoma City, “Oklahoma Contemporary” has introduced an exhibit by Orly Genger titled “Terra”. I first heard about it a few months ago in the Metro Family magazine, but haven’t had the chance to see it yet. This installation features 1.4 million feet of repurposed lobster fishing netting. It’s been painted with 350 gallons of paint. This outdoor installation was surprisingly easy to get to and even had a convenient parking lot where we didn’t have to cross any busy streets. You might think that’s not a big deal, but in my experience it’s far more common that all the cool stuff is difficult to find and even more inconvenient to park. That’s even truer when you’re talking about anything located in the downtown part of a large city. It was actually a lot harder finding the location on my GPS than it was to get to it. If you plan on checking it out, I recommend using the location of the Mercedes Benz dealership on Broadway and 11th as your destination. The installation and parking lot are right across the street. If you want to see pictures you can use the hashtag #OrlyinOKC or visit OKContemporary on Instagram or twitter. I find it helps to do a little research before heading out to things like this. You want to make sure it’s something that you’ll enjoy before you drag the kids out.
Just as we pull out of our street it began to rain. Just my luck! Fortunately the forecast called for rain, not thunderstorms, so we carried on to the installation. I knew my kids would love it. They love anything new they can climb on, jump off, and basically just anything they can interact with that’s outside the norm. As if some kind of miraculous twist of fate in our favor the downpour stopped just as we arrived. The sun even peaked out from the clouds for a while. We spent a few hours climbing and playing on the structure. We stopped for a snack break. The kids even joined me in a little yoga. (Yoga is always better outside. I don’t know why. It just is.) It was exactly what we all needed to get our heads on straight and relieve some of the tensions that have been building with the lack of outdoor playtime. Kids can really act out in some awful ways when they don’t have a proper outlet for their energy. As we walk back to the car to head back home for dinner, the downpour started back up. We somehow managed to take advantage of every second of our 3 hours of sunshine this week. It was a perfect outing. I now feel like I can take on this rest of the rain and thunderstorms we have headed our way. If you are anywhere near the area I highly recommend checking this out.
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