Treasures

Today Ivan and I went for a walk. Normally I would say that Oklahoma fails at fall colors. Dismally. In fact this is the first autumn that we have been here that I have not felt like I completely missed the season. I'm not sure whether there really is something different about this year, or whether I've just gotten used to seeing a lot more brown, but I have loved every pop of color I've come across, and I'm convinced that this has been the best fall yet. Just look at this tree!

It was a beautiful morning, in a beautiful place. Recently I've really learned to appreciate the beauty of Oklahoma. It is rather different from where I grew up, but I really do like it here. There may not be mountains or tall trees, but you can't argue with that sky, and prairie grasses make a music of their own.



I was a little early to pick up Henry at school, and his class was outside on the playground. He saw me pull in and ran to the fence, jumping up and down, waving and shouting, "Hi, Mom! Hi!" Pretty soon there was a whole swarm of four-year-olds at the fence saying, "Hi, Henry's mom!" I said hello to them all and gave Henry a high five, but before I could walk away to wait on the bench by the school entrance, a little boy poked a piece of bark through the fence for me. "Here you go," he said. "It's school bark." Of course that meant I received several more treasures as other classmates joined in the gift giving. I was even given a tattered leaf.


This was probably the best moment of my whole week and made me so happy in ways I cannot express. I loved how happy Henry was to tell his friends, "That's my mom!" I loved the innocent generosity of children who were immediately ready to accept me as a friend.

Barak's baptism

Barak turned eight this month, and so he was baptized. :) I think he was excited about it, and I hope he felt how loved he is. Isaac's parents were able to visit us for a couple of days, and we took them to the science museum in OKC and the splash pad in town. I can't wait for our family reunion next summer, and now I'm trying to figure out another scheme so we can see them again sooner...

How we pretend we are:

                                 The real us:
    

The first day of school

School started a couple of weeks ago. I was not quite ready for summer to end, but also I was.

Lizzy started 4th grade

Barak is in 3rd grade

Sebastian is in 1st grade

Henry started Pre-K. 

And Ivan is my only friend home with me in the morning. We have a good time, just the two of us, but sometimes we miss the little crazies who are at school.

Giant Sequoia

While we were in California we were able to spend a couple of days with Isaac's brother and his family. I wish we could have stayed longer. They took us to the Trail of 100 Giants, where we saw the most enormous trees. I think my soul needs big trees and the ocean. Besides my family, I think these are the things that I miss most about the west coast.

We need to convince some of our siblings to move out to Oklahoma. We need cousins nearby!

Robber's Cave

Also this summer we were finally able to go camping at Robber's Cave. This has been on our list of things to do since we moved here, and I'm glad we finally did it. Camping in Oklahoma is very different from where I grew up. We did not need to pack any sweatshirts or long pants. The campfire was strictly for cooking and was extinguished before we were even done eating, because it was a little unbearable to sit next to it. We brought fans for the tent at night, and Isaac still couldn't sleep. We were covered in sweat all. the. time. However, there were not too many mosquitos, and the hiking was beautiful. On our second night there a thunderstorm rolled in and dumped quite a lot of water on us, but our tent was perfectly dry on the inside, and the storm brought the temperature down just a bit.

Lizzy loved crawling up these rocks.

Sebastian refused to stand with everybody else, so he looks like he's creeping up behind the tent. I promise we let him sleep inside.

I almost forgot the chickens! There were three chickens that must have lived at the campground, because they kept walking through our campsite, inspecting everything. I hope they didn't get sick from all the cheetos they found on the ground. Ivan was completely delighted and chased them every chance he got.

Isaac and I are terrible at taking selfies. I don't think we've ever taken a picture together where we both look like normal people. But maybe that would be expecting too much...

Disneyland

This summer we went to Disneyland. All of my sisters we able to join us there, and we stayed together in a house which was about a ten minute walk to the trams that took us to the front gate. I don't even know what to say about this trip. It was just so, so fun.

Dumbo was a big hit, especially with the youngest two.

The first thing we did when we got to the park was Space Mountain, and Henry... was not a fan. It was probably not the right first ride for him, and he was nervous about trying new rides for the rest of the time we were there. In fact he threw many screaming fits and refused to go on anything that he couldn't see from the line. He loved the teacups, though. I think he rode on this one at least six times.

Ivan was willing to try everything, and loved it all. He would have ridden on the Winnie the Pooh ride all day if we had let him.

The older kids wanted to do everything. Twice. I think they had a pretty good time.

But how could they not, with all their amazing aunts there?! Seriously, everybody who goes to Disneyland should bring their sisters with them. 

We were there for a week, and most days we came home completely exhausted, but I think it was worth it. 

We also got to see the ocean! I miss the Pacific. 

This blog post is such a lame representation of an incredible trip, but it's all I have time for right now, so you're welcome.

New Mom

It was bedtime, so Henry was mad at me. Also, he had filled the bathroom sink with water, and I caught him before he completely finished splashing it around. I suppose he felt his anger was justifiable. He responded in classic three year old manner by hitting me repeatedly, saying, "I'm not going to stop until you're dead!" (We have a very loving relationship.)  

"Henry, what would happen if your mom died?" I asked him. (I'm sure he and his therapist will have a nice chat about this conversation someday.) 

He just shrugged, utterly unconcerned. "I'll just get a new one." Then he paused. "Probably a stripey one," he added.