Our Family Visit to The Pioneer Woman Mercantile


Six(ish) months ago, our family took our second annual road trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
We made the trip from the Toronto area, which is about a  22 hour drive with stops.
This time around, we couldn't leave Oklahoma without making the 45ish minute drive to Pawhuska, Oklahoma home of Food Network Star,  Ree Drumond. 
You most likely know her as The Pioneer Woman.



Ree opened The Pioneer Woman Mercantile, a shop, bakery and restaurant a few years back, that brings in guests from all over the United States.
Don't be surprised to see lines around the block to eat her famous food.
When we arrived, around 11am on a weekday, the parking lot was nearly full.
I'm pretty sure we were the only vehicle who made the long drive from Canada though.

The Mercantile is 25,000 square feet and consists of two levels.
On the lower level you will find the food and retail store, continue up to the second level and you will find the bakery and beautiful seating areas. 
Oh, and if you visit the bathrooms and you're a home decor lover like me, you will leave wanting to reno all your bathrooms they are that beautiful.



We didn't want to wait in line for the food downstairs with the kids, so we opted to try the bakery upstairs for some sweets and caffeine.
A sweet friend of mine from Tulsa told me that I couldn't visit without trying "The Spicy Cowgirl", a drink made with espresso, chocolate and cayenne.
It was just as delicious (and spicy) as she said! 



We had heard that it's not unusual to see Ree and her husband, Lad at the store but unfortunately for us, they weren't there when we were visiting.
She did however like my photo about our visit on Instagram afterwards and you bet I had a total fan girl moment.





There's also plenty of cute photo opportunities around the town that we took advantage of.
It kinda felt like we were on the set of a mid western movie, the ones my grandpa used to watch when I was a little girl.

 

 We definitely plan on visiting the store again when we visit Oklahoma next but this time, we are also going to add in a lodge tour.

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TransformEd Creative Studio Space



I shared about our morning at the incredible Reggio Emelia inspired creative studio space on  Instagram last week but I was so inspired by the experience that I had to share about it here as well.

The creator of this magical space is the incredible Joanne Babalis.

Joanne is a former Kindergarten teacher, wife, mother, artist, photographer and is currently completing her PHD at York University.

 She created this beautiful space in her home and offers workshops for educators, parents & children.





 The Reggio Emelia approach encourages children to be the leader in their learning and Joannes studio space is set up in a way that there are learning opportunities in every corner.

The girls were immediately drawn to the table in the centre of the studio that held a variety of art tools from watercolours to pencil crayons and pastels while Luca was drawn to the sensory bins set up in the learning space.






Joanne also offers photography packages when you visit her studio.
All the photos in this post were taken by her.


This beautiful photo backdrop is actually part of the studio play space and the children are encouraged to play and explore while being photographed. 


If you would love to check out the space for yourself click HERE for more info.
You can also find her on Instagram HERE.

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