Oklahoma Visit : Part 2 of 3

Sunday June 16th
This Sunday was Fathers' Day but acknowledgment and celebration would need to be postponed until later in the day. Jeremy got a phone called asking him to fill in as liturgist at their church New Life Methodist church in Moore Oklahoma and he needed to be there early. The service did acknowledge the fathers and grandfathers that were present and the children were dispersed out among the congregation to give out tape measures to each male parent/grandparent. Frank was very touched. They each had a sticker on them that read, "You are loved beyond measure."

As to the rest of the service, I was very impressed at how excellent a job Jeremy did leading the congregation as liturgist especially with out any time to prep. Check out the church website, too –  Robin is their webmaster. You will see a smattering of photos of their family there if you poke around in the photo gallery. After the church services, we returned to the house briefly before meeting up with Jeremy's sister August and Evan and new baby boy Wyatt at a Chinese Restaurant named Dot Wo for lunch. 

Baby boy Wyatt, born in February, is the most recent recipient of my latest baby quilt and a stack of burp cloths. Details are in my DianeLoves2Quilt 2/21/19 post for the quilt and in my DianeLoves2Quilt 1/18/19 post for the burp cloths.

At the entrance to the restaurant is a gold gilded cat waving to the customers. On our way out, I made videos of Autumn and Isaiah waving back.

After a delicious, extremely filling meal, Robin and I walked Autumn and Isaiah down the sidewalk aways in the same strip mall from Dot Wo, pictured on the left, to Sharkey's Cuts for Kids, pictured on the right.

Isaiah sat in a race car and watched a Baby Shark video while Robin explains to the hairdresser how short she wants his hair cut. Jeremy is a former Marine. His son's hair is kept short!

Autumn got her nails done as well as having a shampoo, trim, and blow dry.

Here I am trying to get a photo with my two grandchildren where everybody is looking at the camera and smiling –  more or less. I had limited success while standing up so I tried sitting down. These are the two best of a myriad of photo attempts. Autumn is the little poser, showing off her outfit and her nails. Isaiah is super distracted by his lollipop. I just try to hold a frozen smile on my face while Robin clicks away with her cell phone. Oh, the fourth character in the photo is Sharkey, himself. He has a very toothy grin.

After haircuts we return home for a bit of unwinding in the afternoon. Jeremy chills with Isaiah and his Kindle hoping a nap is in the works. It looks like the attempt is successful for Jeremy (or about to be successful), but not so much so for Isaiah.

I took the time to read a couple more chapters to Autumn out of the book My Father's Dragon, which I had checked out of my local library to go through with my adult literacy student. This is the first chapter book I read to my own kids when they were little, a transition to help them learn that not all books are read in one sitting. Autumn took to the idea readily. It is a ten chapter book and we read two, and only two each day. We both looked forward to it. We followed the hero's adventures along on the map at the front of the book. And we had a deadline since I was taking the book home with me.

I think Robin is going to check the two sequels, also by Ruth Stiles Gannet, out of the library as part of Autumn's summer reading program.

In the afternoon I also did some sewing with Autumn helping her make the pillows and quilts that went with the cowgirl and cowboy doll. A full post on that fun bonding experience is in my DianeLoves2Quilt post for 6/25/19.

Finally, in the late afternoon on Sunday we got around to opening Father's Day cards and gifts. First was Jeremy's turn.

An then was Dad/Grandpa's turn.

Robin had sewn a shirt for Frank and he was admiring the details before trying it on for a photo session.

It has Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Donald & Daisy Duck, and Goofy riding in a bright red Christmas train.

Frank and Jeremy then clown around a bit arm wrestling on the front porch. Look closely. They are using their left arms. Jeremy's right elbow is still healing from his accident in bike safety class... yes, safety class!

Jeremy is still triumphant however.

Frank and Jeremy remain on amicable terms even after the competition.

The evening ended on quieter terms. Here the males of the house, Elliott (cat), Frank (Grandpa), and Isaiah (sans Jeremy) are chilling.

Monday June 17th

Robin took the day off work and five of us went to Science Museum Oklahoma. It is a very impressive, extensive museum. I was a bit bummed when, in visiting the web site in preparation for writing this post, I noticed we had not covered a good deal of the exhibits this trip. We'd been there once before when my sister Maxine had been visiting Oklahoma City in July of 2017. My WanderOrPonder post dated 8/18/17 has many different pictures of what we saw inside the museum on that trip. In going back and reviewing them I was pleased to see this time we had managed to visit other areas we had not explored on our last visit. I felt better once I reviewed my previous post and realized that it was actually serendipitous that this time we had been able to see different exhibits and not only repeats from before.

Upon entry, bottom right of diagram, while Frank and Robin were dealing with admission tickets and museum membership, they urged me to go on ahead with the kids who were antsy to get started. Autumn and Isaiah took off like shots toward the right and into the adjacent CurioCity. 

Per the website description of CurioCity:

Get lost in this bustling, 20,000-square-foot city! Pronounced like "curiosity," in CurioCity's eight whimsical neighborhoods children are exposed to science through a number of interactive activities that encourage learning through play. Whether it’s storytelling, navigating obstacles, playing instruments or balancing a tightrope, there are plenty of ways to explore. Enjoy your stay in CurioCity!

One small problem. Once under the arched threshold, they split up on to two widely divergent paths in almost opposite directions. I lost sight of both and panicked. "Oh, know! Not on my watch!" For Autumn, I had an idea where she'd gone... into Odd-A-See Tower

a spectacular two-story climber where young visitors can conquer their fears and master new skills. In this imaginative, adventurous playground, children have the opportunity to discover processes of perception, senses, wayfinding and risk taking.

But Isaiah? Into which of the other seven neighborhoods had he gone and did any one of them loop back to an exit? I anxiously texted and phoned for reinforcements. When Robin and Frank came running over, the kids were herded together and my fears of his possible escape were allayed. During my brief, but heart-stopping frantic search period, I took no photos. (Hmm.. wonder why?). We made them sit still for a couple of photos outside CurioCity.

The outdoor area of the museum is quite lovely. It is fully enclosed (no escapee danger). There are plant exhibits with dinosaurs tucked away in hidden locations to find and interesting statues and gadgets to explore and climb.

The kids can really run off their energy under the watchful eye of this gnome. Note his monogrammed shirt

The stone turtle attracted a lot of seating traffic, Frank and me for example.

We were joined in the afternoon by a friend of Robin's: Dad Dustin, daughter Nora, and baby Zoe. Isaiah, Nora, and Autumn are competing here for king of the turtle mountain.

Another attraction in the garden area was this miniature backhoe that could be operated to scoop up sand and move appropriately sized rocks. See the big grin on operator Frank's face? He may have missed his calling.

Frank was intent and determined to demonstrate mastery over  the positioning of this rock. He was quite fascinated with the backhoe's operation but did, a bit reluctantly, get off to give the kids a chance.

"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" That familiar phrase inspired me to ask, as we orderly lined up for a photo with Nora & Autumn in the front row, Isaiah & Baby Zoe & Frank in the middle row, and Robin & Dustin in the back row:

So, isn't it more apropos to know

"How many rows a backhoe would hold,

if a backhoe could hold rows"?

Once we come back indoors from the courtyard we went to Red Dirt Dinos: An Oklahoma Dinosaur Adventure.

Per the website description of Red Dirt Dinos: An Oklahoma Dinosaur Adventure

Get ready for the ultimate Oklahoma dinosaur adventure! The region’s largest Cretaceous carnivore and an herbivore that called southeastern Oklahoma’s Atoka County home are among the animatronic dinosaurs at the center of Red Dirt Dinos. Created for the Oklahoma Museum Network and funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, Red Dirt Dinos features three dinosaurs that once roamed Oklahoma along with the science used by paleontologists to unearth the secrets of these great giants. Open through Labor Day 2019.

After examining the three huge  animatronic dinosaurs in the exhibit, the kids were occupied for quite a long while digging for fossils.

After dinosaurs we moved on up to the second floor. The first area the kids wanted to do was in Destination Space.

Per the website description of Destination Space:

What is the only state that can claim astronaut participation in every phase of NASA’s space program? It's Oklahoma! Come explore Destination Space for an introduction to all things space and exploration. Here, you’ll train like the professionals do. After learning to work and live in space and blasting off on an actual mission in the Mercury Simulator, you’ll be on your way to becoming an official astronaut.

The simulator was a great attraction. The kids had ridden in it on their last visit, remembered it, and wanted to do it again. They climb up and into a capsule and the hatch door is closed behind them.  A video camera is focused on the riders inside, probably for safety, but for the onlookers and simulator operator, it is projected on a screen near the capsule. The kid-astronauts feel all the motions during take off and landing while viewing the earth on a "window" screen within the capsule. It is fun to watch the expressions on the riders' faces as they accelerate or jiggle or see various scenes out their "window". The simulator operator talks to them during their journey, much as mission control would converse with the astronauts, explaining what stage they are experiencing.

Frank and I wandered the nearby areas while the kids were waiting on line for their turn in the simulator. We saw exhibits of space equipment such as this Gemini Space Suit.

Another region of upstairs was devoted to the Olympics and focused on Olympians who were from Oklahoma. The tug of war activity was very popular. I thought it interesting that, left to their own devices, the kids segregated themselves into boys and girls – not size.

Autumn enjoyed taking time out to socialize with baby Zoe.

I have a penchant for noticing bathroom decor. I thought the red and white tile pattern in this one was particularly striking. It seemed precise while being totally random. I liked how it reflected itself in the mirror, too.

I kept staring at it trying to see if I could make out the word SCIENCE with the stylized e's and m's in the following museum logo. But if there was an embedded code, it escaped me.

Our day was ending and as we made our way out, Autumn imagined herself as an astronaut, posing in a space suit cutout in the central welcoming area.

She and I passed through the exit turnstile, waiting for Frank, Robin, and Isaiah to catch up. It was then I noticed some displays comprised old objects, similar in theme. The first one that caught my eye, of course, was a box of sewing machines, even hand cranked ones.

A second glass fronted compartment contained old telephones. Note the cordless handsets with antennae. The red landline phone in my sewing room has a rotary dial as does a red phone in Frank's office. I guess our two command centers are historically equipped.

A cubby containing nostalgic games prompted me to look up their origins and invention dates: Operation (1965), Rook (1906), Monopoly (1935), Yahtzee (1956), Clue (1949), and Chutes and Ladders (1943 in the U.S.).

• Operation was initially produced by Milton Bradley in 1965 and is currently made by Hasbro, with an estimated franchise worth of USD $40 million. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_(game)
• Rook playing cards were introduced by Parker Brothers in 1906 to provide an alternative to standard playing cards for those in the Puritan tradition or Mennonite culture who considered the face cards in a regular deck inappropriate because of their association with gambling and cartomancy. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_(card_game)
• Monopoly has become a part of international popular culture, having been licensed locally in more than 103 countries and printed in more than 37 languages.It was first published by Parker Brothers in 1935. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game)
• Yahtzee was marketed by the E.S. Lowe Company from 1956 until 1973. In 1973, the Milton Bradley Company purchased the E.S. Lowe Company and assumed the rights to produce and sell Yahtzee. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahtzee
• Chutes and Ladders was initially the board game called Snakes and Ladders and originated in ancient India, where it was known with the name Mokshapat or Moksha Patamu. In 1943, the game was introduced in the US under the name Chutes and Ladders. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_Ladders
• Clue in North America, Cluedo  began as a murder mystery game for three to six players that was devised by Anthony E. Pratt from Birmingham, England. The game was first manufactured by Waddingtons in the UK in 1949. Since then, it has been relaunched and updated several times, and it is currently owned and published by the American game and toy company Hasbro. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo

As I was standing in front of these displays, musing in particular about which games I had played, Autumn broke into my thoughts considerately offering, "Why don't you sit here and rest until they come, Grandma. I'll run up and down these steps to expend my excess energy." Look closely. She is dancing or doing gymnastics or limbo or something else vigorous.

It had been a good, fun-filled day but now it was time to head home – or rather out to dinner.

Jeremy's mother, recently widowed, had moved last fall from Colorado to Oklahoma City. She wanted to show us her, artfully decorated, new apartment and cook dinner for us. We enjoyed meatloaf, mashed potatoes, brownies and ice cream. Our tour included her guest room which is decked out in a Wizard of Oz theme. Her pride and joy is the quilt and pillows on the bed all made by Robin. You can read more about them in Robin's blog post http://robinlovesquilting.blogspot.com/2019/06/theres-no-place-like-complete-decade-of.html

Her completed quilt had been displayed in a quilt show in Oklahoma City in 2013. It tells the tale of the movie, starting out as sepia toned at the top, and migrating through rows of technicolor film strips as you progress downward. At the sides are vertical columns of ruby slippers and fields of poppies. I loved seeing her hard work once again up close in person.

Frank and I would have one more day in Oklahoma before flying home on Wednesday. We went on some outings on our own Tuesday, described in my next post.

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.