OKC Visit

Frank and I visited Robin, Jeremy, Autumn, and Isaiah Wednesday, March 9th to Thursday, March 17th. The most recent time we'd been there was mid-October for Autumn's 3rd birthday. Isaiah was three months old then but babies change so much in their first year I wanted to see Isaiah again at eight months while he was still in the infant stage. We soon experienced what a mellow, happy, baby he is. He would stare straight at you for about three seconds before breaking into a wide ear-to-ear grin.

Wednesday, March 9th
Our Southwest flight was routed through Las Vegas. As we walked from our arrival terminal to another for our connecting flight, we looked out the window en route and saw this baggage handling equipment. Quite impressive, I think, but maybe that is just the mechanical engineer in me.

Once we were at our departure gate area, there were plenty of slot machines to keep us entertained - and to take our money. We left the money in our pockets but I took a tongue-in-cheek photo of this slot machine to show Jeremy, since he works as a fire safety engineer. I promptly forgot to show it to him. Oh well, maybe Robin can alert him to see it in my blog.

We left Las Vegas on time and arrived at OKC with no delays. After deplaning, we stopped off briefly at the restrooms before getting our luggage. We dawdled to snap a photo of Frank next to this statue giving thanks for our safe arrival. The bronze statue called Prayer was installed in the Will Rogers Airport in January 2014 and is by the artist Allan Houser  I looked up its history when I got home and learned something I'd never known about the Indian tribes in the late 1800's early 1900's. Allan Houser's parents, members of the Chiricahua Apache tribe were held as prisoners of war for 27 years because when Geronimo surrendered to the U.S. Army in 1886, the tribe refused to leave their lands in New Mexico and relocate to a reservation in Arizona. I was unaware that 1200 Chiricahuas were sent by cattle-car train to prisons in Florida and eventually were sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where they remained captives for 23 years. Freed at last in 1914, Allan was born just months after their release, the first child born out of captivity. Allan Houser became one of 20th century's most important artists.

I guess we delayed too much. Boy! Were the handlers quick! When Frank and I got down to the luggage carousel it had stopped, no one else was there, and ours were the only three pieces of luggage sitting on it. We texted Robin, who was circling the airport, to pick us and our luggage up curbside. Autumn wanted to ride along when she learned Grandma was coming. I opened the rear door and gave her a big smile as I greeted her. She had this funny, quizzical, half-smile look on her face. I guessed the reason and queried her, "Wrong Grandma, huh?" Just the previous weekend she had been on a road trip to see Jeremy's side of the family down in Texas. I think she expected the same grandma again.

Autumn was undaunted by her momentary confusion. She adjusted to the grandma of the moment. No sooner had we crossed the threshold of their front door when Autumn asked, "Grandma, will you sleep with me in my bed?" I did just that both the first and second nights, under the My Little Pony comforter and sheets, luxuriating on all 12" allotted me at the edge of the bed while Autumn slept crosswise having kicked all the covers off into a multi-layer pile on me. That first evening began with a game of hide and seek. Look closely at the hemline of the family room drapes.

Peeking behind revealed not only Autumn. She had brought with her eight-month old Isaiah. We learned he had made his first successful venture in crawling just that morning, the day of our arrival.

Isaiah was a quick learner. He was successful with his crawling except when he would push backward on the slippery hardwood floor and slip under the changing table. "Gosh, darn but how to you expect me to get up on my knees now? Help!"

Thursday, March 10th
Robin and Jeremy have limited time off from work, so during the day Frank and I got to chill, relax, and recover from our travels (and from sleeping immersed in a My Little Pony theme). The evenings were kid-filled though. Our first full night there, we unpacked the suitcase full of the goodies Grandma and Grandpa bring on these trips. Autumn turned three in October so we though she would be ready for her first board game. This Sesame Street Stop & Go game is a piece of memorabilia from Robin and Dan's childhood. Hard to believe Sesame Street is reaching its 46th season in 2016.

Autumn liked the playing pieces but had no patience for her two higher-college-degreed grandparents struggling to read, follow, and enforce a strange something called "rules". From Autumn's point of view she understood taking turns. On your turn was the time to pick the color you liked, choose which character you were in the mood for on that turn, and move it however many spaces you wanted to count up to. Her mom and dad were rolling around in laughter watching Frank and me try to explain, no you can't do that. "Why not?" was her attitude. "This is a game. You are supposed to play! Why can't I look in the bag and pick out the circle I want?" She and her daddy played again on Sunday when he and she were on the same wavelength. It went much better that time.

Isaiah got a roly-poly puppy ball with crinkly ears and bells. He really liked the box! He did discover and play with the ball eventually.

We brought along some rolling dinosaur toys since that is the theme of his nursery. Let's see – green stegosaurus, yellow brontosaurus, orange diplodocus or brachiosaurus or apatosaurus (never could tell those three apart), and purple triceratops.

He did like those dinosaurs and they fit just perfectly in his mouth. I guess stegosaurus is particularly tasty. Isaiah likes his green vegetables, too.

Friday March 11th
A much better consistency for mouthing though, was the tissue stuffing from Autumn's new shoes.

Her new shoes were My Little Pony themed, of course, and were her first pair of tie shoes. Grandma thought that velcro is great but you've got to learn to tie a bow eventually and what greater motivation than My LittlePony – and in PINK no less!.

She sure loves her little brother and hugs and tickles him whenever she can; it is wonderful to see.

Saturday, March 12th
Robin had scheduled a professional photo session while we were out there. We were all to dress in color coordinated outfits of light and dark blue and yellow. She had clothes for the kids and I had packed a selection in that palette for Frank and me, but Robin wanted some new clothes for herself. Off to the outlet mall she and I went, both kids in tow. What an exhausting experience! Autumn got bored fairly quickly, looking at clothes or waiting for mom in the dressing room. Isaiah thought his stroller was too much like a car seat and wanted to be held. Autumn liked to be carried, too, or else she would zip off, and at her height, it was nerve-wracking to spot her among those clothes racks. There was also the issue of her periodically shucking the boot-like galoshes she'd chosen to wear. We did stop midway on our "shopping" to give her a ride on Thomas. She enjoyed that.

At one point when Robin and I were pushing an empty stroller, packages dangling from the handle via carabiner clip, and carrying two kids, I asked Robin if perhaps we could put Autumn in the stroller. That seemed like a good idea and a novelty for Autumn.  She plunked her butt in the bucket seat and dangled her feet over the edge of the stroller underneath the handle.  On my watch, while Robin was in the dressing room, theoretically trying on something but in reality nursing Isaiah, something grabbed Autumn's attention and she leaned forward to get out. Well, with that shift in the center of gravity, the entire stroller flipped over - child, packages, and all - while I stood adjacent, aghast, and helpless to do anything but watch it all happen. Robin heard the commotion from the changing room, in no position to rush out and investigate. Autumn landed on her feet – fortunately the boots were both on at this point – and was unscathed by it all. All packages remained intact and undamaged. Grandma righted the capsized stroller and tried to recover her dignity. We high-tailed it home shortly thereafter.

Sunday, March 13th
We went to church in the morning. The service has a time in the middle where the young children are invited up front and a story from the Bible is told just for them. Autumn likes this part in particular. Robin related to me a cute story the following Sunday after we'd left. It was Palm Sunday and the teacher was relating to the children how Christ rode down a palm lined pathway on a donkey. There were other animals there too - cows and chickens. Then this little voice pipes up. "And sharks?" Who else but Autumn. She is really into sharks now. I do not know how the teacher explained sharks in the middle of the desert but she assured Autumn that yes, they too were included. Autumn was wearing one of her favorite shirts during our visit.

After church and lunch at home, Frank and Jeremy took Autumn to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History on the Oklahoma University campus. She had a great time and letting her run free made a small dent in expending her seemingly endless energy. Autumn could give the Energizer Bunny a run for his money. Frank was very impressed with the extent of the museum and claimed that it rivaled the Smithsonian's.

Robin and I stayed behind at home with Isaiah. Robin actually got a chance to resurrect and work on her quilting.

In particular she started the free motion quilting on a Christmas Traditions quilt she'd had ongoing for a while until pregnancies and child rearing absorbed her every free moment. It is hard to see in this photo but there is exquisite detail in the tree trimmings.

Isaiah napped or played contentedly under Grandma's watchful eye – a bit more watchful than it had been during the stroller debacle at the outlet mall. Here he is making his first cell phone call. Or perhaps he is face-timing someone...?

There was bedtime reading with Autumn. too.

Monday, March 14th
Robin took the day off from work to spend some time with us and to prepare for the evening photo session. Frank, she, and I went to her local real mall (not outlet mall) to try again at getting her something to wear that night.  It was a couple hours low-key outing sprinkled with childless, uninterrupted conversation, and we enjoyed each others' company. We spotted this graphic in a shop window that Frank and I really liked. We even asked the store manager what they were going to do with it when it was time to change window displays. She did not know for this particular one. Sometimes they are trashed and sometimes corporate gives them other instruction to save the display for re-use. Once home, I checked with our local Limited, left my name and interest, and maybe we can claim it from our mall. Though actually someone else had also put in a request. I will check back at the end of the month. It is kind of striking isn't it? Even if this particular one is hung upside down. Yep. Really. Look closely.

That night we had the photo session but little Isaiah, who usually smiles at the blink of an eye, was not a happy camper. Turns out he was enduring an ear infection. We got several photos but his heart was not in it. Robin plans to take him back soon for better baby photos of him but here is one photo of the two kids with us. We can't wait to see the others.

It was fortunate we'd driven to the photographer in two cars. A bit of shuffling and Frank and I took Autumn home while Jeremy and Robin took Isaiah to the doctor's. They came back a few hours later with a confirmed diagnosis of an ear infection and a prescription for an antibiotic to combat it. Poor guy! Those things hurt! I made dinner but we ate very late that night. Autumn was as good as gold for Frank and me while her folks and little brother were gone.

Tuesday, March 15th

Frank and I took a short ride to Rink Gallery, an antique store in nearby Bethany. There were some very interesting lamps to look at, made from all sorts of repurposed valves, handles, gages, etc. We did not buy one. All that metal would have been too heavy to ship! It made Frank and me think of all the treasures that could have gone to this artist from my dad's basement. Now if that novelty lamp had been closer to home ...

I saw an eye-catching idea for a curtain valence that I might copy for our master bedroom. We did not buy the curtains. I think the large rings and tassels and deep ruffles made me think of a merry-go-round at an amusement park.

Our bedroom has a seaside amusement pier sculpture in it. I thought this style curtain evoked the same mood with its carved wooden rod and fabric frills.

We did purchase a set up roll up maps that made me reminisce about my early grade school classroom days. The stacked roll is big and will cover up the holes in the wall in the guest room while adding a bit of nostalgic whimsy. We are awaiting the shipment any day now.

Wednesday, March 16th

 In getting ready to pack for the next day of travel I found a few items that never made it out of the suitcase. We broke out the unicorn poppers that Autumn had a blast with. I wish we'd deployed them sooner. Maybe not. Perhaps the super high energy investment and decibel level might have done me in.

After we left Autumn also played with this Spot puzzle activity of opposites. Lift up the flap Spot books by Eric Hill had been such such a favorite of Alex's that we told Autumn this gift was from Uncle Alex. She loved it and Robin texted us she matched things right away the next day.

Thursday, March 17th
Our morning flight from Oklahoma was scheduled to be a short jaunt down to Love Field at Dallas and then on to Oakland. Robin would drop us off at the airport and head in to work about an hour later than normal. We hugged and kissed the kids at the house before she ran them to day care and then came back for us. Here is Isaiah in his fine greenery for St. Patrick's day.

Our departing flight was delayed in getting to OKC having been re-routed due to severe thunderstorms. This meant we would miss our tight connection in Dallas. But not to worry. We were advised we did not want to go there anyway. We might not get out again for several hours because flights out of there were being cancelled due to the weather. We had our choice of waiting at OKC about four hours and then flying home through a Denver connection. Or we could leave a bit sooner, fly through Phoenix, have a long layover there, and get home even later. We opted for the Denver route and earlier arrival. We were assured our luggage would be intercepted and loaded onto the plane to Denver. And it was! I saw my Winnie the Pooh tapestry suitcase from my window on the plane and it had been intercepted and did indeed make it.

There were snow flurries in Denver. This is ironic since when I booked our flight I avoided Denver for fear of blizzard delays this time of year. But the flight was a go and we already had our boarding passes for flight 2250 that went from Denver to Oakland. Denver to Oakland, right? Read the boarding pass.

The snowfall was light. Our gate was at the end of one long arm of the terminal so we had a nice panoramic view of the air field.

Our flight to Oakland was on time for departure per the flight status board.

Then surprise, surprise. Reading the fine print on the boarding screen and we learned we were indeed going to Oakland, but via Los Angeles! We'd been had. No gate agent or boarding pass had divulged that little tidbit of information.

At least we did not have to change planes and get off in LA. But apparently our luggage had other ideas. It was not to be found in Oakland when we finally arrived. I guess the luck of the Irish was not with us that day. It was not so bad, though. At least it was on our return trip and the bags were delivered to our home 24 hours later. At the Oakland airport I noticed a strategically placed compartment in the terminal dubbed a "Lactation Station". This must be a sign of the times.

Our daughter and daughter-in-law would be pleased.

Frank and I were tired and a bit travel worn but very, very happy we had made the trip. Autumn and Isaiah are awesome and to see them interact was priceless. I have a favorite poem from when my own kids were little.

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow

For babies grow up we learn to our sorrow.

So quite down cobwebs, dust go to sleep. 

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.