Friday Fifteen

Fifteen reasons the Zandis should move to (our area in) Oklahoma:
(here is a review by Yahoo of living in Tulsa)

(Of course I am assuming you know about the loooow cost of living & great housing and that it is extremely green (in fact it is called "green country"))

15. Big Splash Water Park (and you can get season tickets at Christmas time for $20 each) and Bell's Amusement Park

14. The Oklahoma Aquarium a wonderful aquarium with an AWESOME shark display (our favorite part)

13. Boy Scouts are really big around here!

12. Woolaroc in Bartlesville - it is REALLY cool. Great museums, petting zoo, great activities including a thieves and outlaws reunion which is supposed to be really fun, great Christmas activities, too. You can also have buffalo walk right up to your car!!

11. Tulsa Zoo - voted America's favorite zoo last year! We agree...it is awesome! Very large and detailed, would take a whole day to go through thoroughly, it's better to get a season pass and go many times doing different parts. There are also two big museums - the Gilcrease and the Philbrook, the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, The Will Rogers Museum, and several native American museums.

10. Incredible Pizza - not that our pizza is incredible, this is a place...and it IS incredible!! Here is a little blurb: "Welcome to America's Incredible Pizza Company, where Nothing Tops our Pizza but the Fun!™ Here you'll find an incredible all-you-can-eat buffet and choose to eat in the sporty Gymnasium, the cool Drive-In Room, fun retro 50s Diner or the quiet Family Room! Then, hop into some fun at the Fairgrounds, where you'll find indoor Go-Kart Races (with real trophies!), Bumper Cars, Route 66 Mini Golf, an incredible Arcade where you can redeem tickets for great prizes, Adult and Junior Bowling, and much more! " It is our most favorite place to go with the kids.

9. Great homeschooling group and Brandi already knows some of the members! Also a lot of homeschooling resources....a used homeschooling book store, a monthly (free) book swap where you can give and/or take any school books, a great convention in Oklahoma City - OCHEC. Plus, of course, the seminar that our homeschool group puts on every year and that I am usually a speaker in!

8. Great church you can try out right away! Our Finest Hour with a great youth program, elementary program and kid program, as well as wonderful teaching, of course!

7. The nearby Ozark mountains with the beautiful, fun, little town of Eureka Springs in it. It is near enough for a day trip, but far enough away to feel like you are in another world!

6. ALLLLL the nearby lakes... Oolagah, Keystone , Fort Gibson, Tenkiller, Grand Lake , Lake Eufala are just some of them. There are also a lot of nearby rivers, streams and creeks. There is a pond about 100 feet from my backyard. Water everywhere!

5. Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas are all less than 2 hours away. Makes for great day trips or camping trips. Kansas has an AWESOME space museum. (I know, that is a weird place for a space museum, but we LOVED it!) It is a day trip away. Missouri has GREAT rafting and canoeing (although oklahoma has good rivers too.) Our favorite is Noel, Missouri.

4. We are the "buckle" of the bible belt so things are very conservative here, in general. The cashier at Michael's store tells everyone "God Bless You" when you call or after you check out with her. That is pretty normal around here. We live a few miles from a big bible school...Rhema and across town from Oral Roberts University (who, by the way, LOVES homeschoolers and it is a GREAT university!!) .

3. Speaking of universities, lots of higher education possibilities here....Oklahoma University, Oklahoma State University, Northeastern State University, Tulsa Community College, Tulsa Tech, and lots of smaller ones.

2. We have a family of bunnies who sneaks in our yard when the dogs aren't out and munch on our grass, we have about 13 kinds of birds (if not more) that make their home in and around our back yard (my favorites are the cardinals, bluejays and purple martins), about 1/4 mile from our house we saw a deer last week; if you like wildlife, this is the area to be! We get to do a backyard bird count in our yard every spring and we are planning on trying to get our backyard certified as a natural habitat!

and the number one reason to move to our area of Oklahoma....

1. BECAUSE WE ARE HERE!!!!! Besides making us happy, it would provide these benefits to you:

• someone to look at houses and narrow down your choices for you, before you have to come out
• someone to help you unload, unbox and move in (how cool is that! That alone is worth it! LOL)
• someone to help you find the nearest Walmart, a good doctor, the best mexican food and any other important things.
• someone to introduce you to lots of different people and make you feel at "home"
• someone who will actually babysit all six (or however many) of your children for you at ONE time!
• meals brought to you when Brandi's not feeling like cooking!
• BBQs at our house! WOOHOO!
• Someone to spend the holidays with if you want and noone if you don't want!

Okay, friends of mine from Oklahoma...add your reasons why the Zandis should move here!!