Oklahoma Visit : Part 1 of 3

I do not know why, but my "Wander" posts take me so much longer to write than my "Ponder" posts – probably because I make them too long. I just realized it has been a month since our Oklahoma trip to visit Robin and family and I still have not published our week there, which was Thursday June 13 to Wednesday June 19. I currently have five draft "Ponder" posts waiting in the wings for nine books I have read, but do not want to publish those posts until I finish this one because then they would be out of sequence. I know. Big horror, huh? Plus, the longer I wait, the more I forget.  I take inspiration from a quote by Angela Walters, a well-known quilter whose work I admire:

A Finished Quilt is Better Than a Perfect Quilt Top.

No one ever sat by the fire cuddled up under a quilt top.

Unpublished draft posts are of absolutely no use to my blog followers and a month is way too long a lag time! I am determined today to work off my backlog. I claim that "A published post is far better than a near perfect unreleased draft."

Thursday June 13th

Frank and I had a mid-day flight out of Oakland with a plane change in Las Vegas that went smoothly, arriving in OKC at 7:20 pm. We wanted to have the flexibility of a car for our own convenience while there, since Robin and Jeremy's two vehicles would be in use by them for work.

We dutifully took the shuttle bus out to the satellite car rental facility lugging our four suitcases, one of course filled solely with gifts. By the time we went through all the rigamarole of the vehicle rental and loading, we arrived at Robin's house, starved and ready to eat dinner. It is ironic, but take four adults who are all computer savvy, yet indecisive about what they want to eat, and the resulting situation was that we did not manage to negotiate the Panera Bread website in enough time to place an order and pick it up before they closed at 9:00 pm. Hence we all traipsed out to MacAllister's shortly before they closed at 10:00 pm and devoured an assortment of sandwiches and baked potatoes there. We also indulged in their HUGE cookies.

Friday June 14th 

Robin worked a half day so Frank and I got to rest up in the morning; we enjoyed being able to visit with her in the afternoon. In the early evening a bunny came to explore their back yard and Autumn was fascinated. She and I stood quietly on their back deck for quite a while just observing it. The next day, two bunnies came to the front yard and were playing with each other. They, too, were fun to watch as Autumn and I sat on the front porch swing.

Since the kids came home a bit earlier from daycare, Isaiah could not hold out until dinner time. He wanted a hotdog on a bun but sadly Robin did not have any bread other that raisin bread.  Isaiah had his hot dog with mustard and ketchup on raisin bread. He would not allow his hot dog to be sliced along its length and then eaten as a flat sandwich. Instead he wanted the bread curled around the hot dog like a bun would be. 

Grandpa helped him hold it to eat in this awkward configuration. Isaiah stayed fairly tidy but Grandpa did not. Ewww...

Jeremy's mom came over that Friday night to say "Hi" to us. We decided to play it easy for dinner. We got into a discussion on how long it had been since any of us had had Kentucky Fried Chicken. It appealed and so Frank and I zipped out for a bucket of chicken with some sides.

We brought back cole slaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and biscuits. The potato wedges we added on were lousy. So were these "free, introductory offer" Cinnabon wannabe biscuits. They were just the normal biscuits, which are great, but with powdered sugar icing drizzled over them they were not very enticing. The two flavors did not jive. Yuck. But the chicken was truly finger lickin' good. Yum!

After dinner I gave Isaiah his robot floor pillow. I had made the outer shell at home from two tea towels (see DianeLoves2Quilt post dated 6/9/19...) and had pre-ordered a pillow form to be sent ahead via Amazon.  I inserted the pillow form before showing it to him and he loved it.

My husband and kids (son and daughter, son-in law, and daughter-in law alike) roll their eyes when I travel each trip bringing a suitcase of gifts. But the grandkids love it and I do it anyway.  So Grandpa, moms and dads...suck it up! I ain't stopping. I had envisioned a laid back evening of distributing items one at a time from my suitcase as the kids explored them. I was delusional. All chaos broke loose as the lid of my suitcase was flung open and it was a free for all. Some pictures are blurry because of the enthusiasm with which Isaiah and Autumn extracted the gifts from the suitcase. This gold smear in the first photo was an introductory stage setting and four figures for Stikbots that Isaiah spied and whipped out of the top layer of my suitcase in a flash. 

Where did "Stikbots" come from? Clueless, I had been prowling the clearance aisle at an Office Depot and had found these figurines that to my eye resembled robots. I read on the box that they were intended to be posed repeatedly and incrementally and then a motion-picture made with the camera on the cell phone. I know Isaiah, who turns 4 this month, was still too young for that intense process but thought he would like the robot aspect. They were 75% off and, when I got up to the register, they were an additional 50% off that price. 

I went back to the clearance aisle and bought all the accessory packs they had of helmets and swords and life style. 

I did not realize at the time what a dark horse I had stumbled upon. When I checked the description on Amazon, StikBots were defined thus:

• Stikbot toys are pose-able sticky bots who will adhere to almost any flat surface.
• Easy to create your next video animation with stikbot and share to your friends.
• Stikbot is an outlet for kids to play, learn, create and share to the world.
• Everywhere becomes a stage: the living room, the kitchen, the school bus, or anywhere around the world.

Isaiah and Autumn both loved them. If it seems like I am devoting too many photos to these little plastic figures, I will point out that proportionately the quantity of photos reflects the amount of time Isaiah and Autumn spent playing with them. I can still hear Isiah's repeated battle cries of "Save me, Pink Robot!"

The next items out of my suitcase were a pair of Cowboy and Cowgirl dolls with their respective brown and pink hobby horses that I had sewn and stuffed from fabric panels. My DianeLoves2Quilt post dated 6/25/19 contains more detailed photos of them. That blog post also describes my sewing adventures with Autumn as she and I together, later that week, completed the blankets and pillows that went with the two dolls.

What else is in there Grandma?

At my son's house he claims this suitcase process is like the scene from the movie Mary Poppins where she removes items seemingly endlessly from her carpetbag.

There are pillowcases I made for July 4th and Halloween, two each for each holiday for each grandchild and two for their parents.

The making of these pillowcases and full pictures of them are in my DianeLoves2Quilt post dated 5/11/19 for the Halloween cases and in my DianeLoves2Quilt post dated 5/27/19 for the patriotic cases. The flags, swirls, witches and dots are for Autumn; the fireworks, spiders, and stripes are for Isaiah.

Here is Autumn twirling one of her patriotic pillowcases like a flag. She wanted the witch one on her bed that night.

I did bring some clothes too. As a joke I brought x-ray image socks for Jeremy since he broke his elbow and is still in a mobile splint from a few months ago. He did get a book, too. I am not totally mean.

Isaiah got two Paw Patrol outfits but, in stereotypical boy fashion, he gave them a brief acknowledging nod and then was off to more interesting things.

An outfit for Autumn went over much better. Sight unseen, she hugged it as soon it came out of the suitcase, all squished inside a zip loc bag for packing.

The tulle skirt fluffed right up once released. She tried it on immediately and excitedly wore it to church the following Sunday.

Saturday, June 15th
The next morning Isaiah had his second trial class of martial arts. In the next photo Frank and Jeremy are demonstrating the bowing part. I went along with Robin when she took Isaiah and I enjoyed watching.

The walls of the studio are stenciled with inspirational thoughts. I am not so sure if I agree totally but in the spirit of the 1984 movie Karate Kid I can see the merit in the thought. Remember that classic? "Wax on. Wax off." Aah.. gotta watch that again.

The martial arts studio has the number for counting in Korean and the students recite it with each move.

Isaiah was super, super excited and even in the calm pay-attention parts he jumped and fidgeted and could not stand still. But he listened well and gave a valiant attempt on all the moves. He was accepted into the program for Little Tigers ages 4 to 6. He was thrilled!

Robin signed him up for weekly sessions on Thursday nights. Isaiah was outfitted in his white robe (called a dobok, I believe) with a white belt. Jeremy is arranging to go into work earlier on that day so he can come home and be the one to take Isaiah to his class. Just look at that smile.

The back of the dobok is pretty cool, too. However, I do not envy Robin the task of keeping the garment worn by a four year old boy white. Before we left I heard the women who outfitted Isaiah giving Robin laundering instructions, and it was not by using bleach!

Later that afternoon Autumn had been invited to a birthday party at a pool and Robin took her. Perhaps his morning martial arts class did wear him out a bit, but Isaiah contentedly lounged while Grandpa read to him.

Go Dog. Go! I told Isaiah that that book has been a favorite of his uncle Dan's. As I listened to the words, a flood of memories came over me and I can still practically recite many of the words, in alternating male and female voices of course. 

"Hello!" "Hello!"
"Do you like my hat?" "I do not."
"Good-by." "Good-by."

As I was googling an image for the hat scene that was floating in my memory, I came across this amusing 2012 blog post by Michal MacBride about the secret message behind Go, Dog. Go! It will give you a chuckle.

Martial arts did indeed tire out Isaiah and apparently reading tired out Grandpa. Shortly after I took this candid shot I joined them in slumber land at the opposite end of the couch.

That night Jeremy made a very tender, moist chicken dish with this recipe from a website called www.thecookierookie.com and it was great! Or did he make this another night? I don't remember when, but whatever night it was, it was fantastic.

We closed the evening by relaxing in front of the 2017 movie Gifted. You can read the Wikipedia plot summary but I truly enjoy watching the movie especially the interactions between Mckenna Grace as an intellectually gifted 7-year old and Chris Evans as her uncle. You may remember Mckenna Grace as the President's young daughter in the TV series Designated Survivor. I have viewed this movie several times because it is a favorite of mine and I recommend it.