the sound of the water and the feel of a pumpkin

So this post has pictures from the last day that josh and I were at my parent's house. I have to say, I was really surprised how fast two weeks went! By this time, it hadn't actually been two weeks, but josh and I were leaving for the weekend - and leaving the kids too! - so for me, it was really the last day there. My general thought about staying with families, or even visiting with family, is that you should keep your stay short enough that everyone wishes there was more time. If you get to that point where you've stayed too long and you all feel like it's time to go, that's just too bad. I though two weeks was the limit for me, but I felt like the time passed quickly and I was more than willing to stay with my family and relish the time together.

I truly feel so blessed by having such a great and close-knit family. Not that it's perfect, no way, but we all love each other and truly enjoy each other's company.

We decided to spend the day going to Bricktown, the area of okc that has been transformed to be similar to the riverwalk in San Antonio. It's actually a super nice area, with beautiful landscaping, fountains, great restaurants and shops, and a beautiful riverwalk. My parents had never actually ridden the boat on the canal, so we headed down there to ride the boat and eat some lunch. It was the perfect day for an outing - but so far, we hadn't had anything other than a perfect day!

First item of business was to buy the armband. It gives you unlimited rides all day, which is kind of a rip-off because you really only ride it for a little while, but that's ok. Samantha gets her little armband and was really thinking it was very cool to have an armband.

My cute parents, walking behind us holding hands...(not always easy, because my dad is five steps above a power walker!)Near the end of the canal, the city has commissioned work on a set of bronze statues depicting the Oklahoma Land Run. I think by the time it is finished, it is supposed to be the largest set of bronze sculptures in the country, and it is actually really beautiful, detailed work. I have always had fond memories and feelings about the Land Run, partially because it's such an important part of our statehood, but also because in the 3rd grade, our school reenacted the Land Run. They divided up this huge field into plots of land, and everyone had to wear their cowboy gear, with bandanas and stuff. We all lined up and at the sound of the bell (I'm sure no gun was used at school that day), we all raced off to find settlements for our "families". It was terribly fun. Plus, oklahoma is just a cool place to live, so the land run must have been cool too, right? :)Emma and daddy, after our picture-taking pit stop...
We de-boated (?) and walked around trying to decide which of the lovely places to eat at for lunch. We all had a hankering for barbeque that day, so we decided on Earl's Rib Palace. Thank you, Earl, for such a lovely, lovely beef brisket sandwich.

During lunch, emma spied this yellow bike hanging from the ceiling and just HAD to have her picture taken with it. Daddy was the only one (of the two of us) able to hold her high enough for it.

Later on that afternoon, it was pumpkin carving time! I always remember my dad carving a pumpkin for us during the fall season - always happy, friendly pumpkins, by the way - so he was delighted to do another one for the girls. Remember now, that a lot of care was taken to choose just the perfect pumpkin a few days ago at the pumpkin patch!

Everyone gathered around for the big event...Looking at how the top is cut...waiting for the moment when we pull it off!Eeeew! Pumpkin guts!The girls were gung-ho about it at first. They each had spoons and they were supposed to get all the gunk out. Seeds and stringy pulp awaited them...They did a good job, but after a while, it got a little too messy for my girly-girls! They were happy to let someone else to the dirty work! The knife came out again as we applied facial features to our friend...Finally, he's all done! Emma fell off a chair just before this picture was taken, so that's why she didn't make the picture, poor girl. But samantha was happy enough for both of them!

A search of the house yielded no votive candles, so a trip to Walgreens later and our dude was ready to shine his pumpkiny light for all to see!

more friends, more family...

Our next stop was driving just a bit out of the city to our friends Tom and Rikki's house. Yes, Tom...oh, Tom...master of the airwaves. Or at least, master and benefactor to US of all of OUR airwaves, in the form of TV. Tom and Rikki have been friends of ours for over a decade, and just recently came to visit our asia home. They are terribly hospitable, and their home is so warm and inviting. It is a lovely place to visit! Outside were tons of swings and slides, and our kids had a great time playing with their kids. Somehow we managed to corral this gaggle of girls around for a picture. Emma was delighted it was her turn to hold ainsley......and the silly picture......and the cute family, all together. Tom and Rikki, thanks for the fun times, though i hate that it was so short! (and did I mention to you all that was the only time we made it to Chili's while in the US? But we did some serious damage there!) I also forgot to mention that tom was the inspiration behind our recent mac purchase! Yep, we bought a mac and so far we really like it! (at least I like it; josh actually bought it for me - what a great guy!)


When our afternoon with tom and rikki ended, we drove out to Pops and Nonna's house for a fun-filled evening. The two questions that seemed to come every single time we went somewhere were: 1) do they have toys? and 2) do they have a puppy? Apparently, those are the deciding factors on if emma and samantha want to go!

Pops and Nonna had not one, but two puppies, and that was heavenly for them! We dont' get to see pops and nonna much, so I was thankful the girls were so happy and friendly to them. They loved looking at the puppies...as long as pops was holding them!

...aunt kayla also was a good substitute!As the evening went on, they got brave enough to step up on the fence themselves for a front row show. While pops was griling some teriyaki chicken, the girls giggled and watched the two dogs do all sorts of tricks; most notable was the dogs jumping on and off the doghouse!After a great dinner, nonna had a surprise for the girls! they all crowded around the bar and made fall cookies with pumpkins! (note: this is a MUCH easier way than the way I have to make cookies with the girls here! Prepared cookie dough is astounding!!!)putting them all in orderly rows...hahahaThe wait while the cookies were in the oven was terrible! To pass the time, we took pictures with the box. Nonna made the mistake of asking the girls how many cookies they wanted - but they actually responded reasonably. Emma said she should have three because she is three, samantha then agreed that two was good for her since she was two. Happy times for my kiddos!

Everyone had a good time after the pumpkin cookies - who can be unhappy after cookies? :) Pops got his share of kisses and smiles...
And the camera timer again came in handy as we crammed in for a group picture.

Pops, Nonna and kayla, we love you guys!!

sisters and the alma mater

After having so much fun at the "beauty shop" on picture day, the girls thought it would be fun to pretend "beauty shop" with holly and katie the next day. Holly and Katie kindly - and even enthusiastically! - agreed, and pulled out rollers and hairbrushes. Hair went flying...

...but in the end, everyone turned out beautifully! My little sisters, who I swear, used to be smaller than even my own kids, have grown up in ways that astound me. One of the hardest parts about being home - and in reflection, one of the hardest parts of being away - is realizing all the stuff in their lives that I have missed over the last five years. Somehow, missing out on my parents lives' don't quite seem the same; maybe because they are grown, and they have major changes less often.

So much has changed for them since we started this journey: they have graduated from high school, gone through boyfriends, tough professors, college life, intramural football (!!!), car wrecks, and a lot of maturing. Holly will graduate this spring, and katie is just a year after her. Sometimes, I think that I don't really sacrifice a lot to live over here. We've got a nice place, good friends and community, the ability to make good food, and have the honor of working for the best Boss in the world. But when I look at my sisters and realize how many important things I've missed in their lives, some of the sacrifice becomes tangible.

I appreciated seeing them and spending time with them; I appreciate them hearing my (sometimes) unsolicited sisterly advice; I appreciated the love they showed to my kids and the energy they did it with. I especially appreciated them letting us watch embarrassing home movies and eating traditional family snacks from long ago. Fun times, and how blessed I am to be a big sister!

One of the legacies they left on my kids was teaching them how to make faces. Here's a pictoral rundown for you:

Happy face: Sad face:
Excited face:
Angry face:
They practiced and practiced until they had them down with military precision.

One thing high on our list of things to do was to visit our alma mater, the University of Oklahoma. The place holds such great memories for us, of our early marraige and learning to live and work and study together. How thankful we were that God had us stay and finish college!

While we went to OU, we also stopped at Katie's sorority house and scoped out her room and her fab little place. (since josh was a boy, he wasn't allowed in. That made me feel a little better for katie's sake!) She and her roommate melissa were kind enough to let the girls totally trash their place and find all sorts of amusing things. We also discovered that my children could double as body builders after they found the weights that were stashed behind the desks...

Aaaah, yes...of campus beautiful by day and night...

(isn't it interesting that even clouds are beautiful in America?? I don't recall seeing clouds very often in my asianese home) ...samantha holding tight to mimi and G...Adams Hall, where I spent most of my university days in the College of Business. Emma wanted to take the sheep home. I tried explaining that even though this was "my college", it didn't mean I could just take anything I wanted......wide open spaces...with grass, not people...amazing.
Perhaps the thing most important to OU alum - the stadium. The new and improved stadium has lots of open grassy spaces that are perfect for pregame mingling and tailgating (more on that in a later post).

...live on, university!!

the family tree

There's a saying, right, that says "Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts"? Well, I'm not necessairily saying that's my family, but we sure can scare onlookers when we all congregate together!

Such was the occasion one saturday morning when we gathered from all parts of the globe for a family picture (actually, only people from dallas and asia made the trek, but it sounded much more fun to say it that way). There's quite a lot of us, and I think we might have stressed the picture taker out, but anyway, that's another story.

Since it was a big day, and since emma's hair can sometimes be a little out-of-control, we decided to do a little beauty-shopping to it. My sister katie was a great help getting emma's curls to chill out and have a bit more straightness to it.

...but then of course, you can imagine that samantha wanted a turn, so holly helped her out and added some curls for her. Now that we were all pretty and everything, the whole group congregated together. For privacy reasons, I won't post the massive group picture. I'll only jeopardize my immediate family! :) My parents, two sistes, brother and josh and I with the girls.



After all the picture drama, we went to cool-nana's house to eat pizza...Hideaway Pizza! Yum Yum! The girls were delighted with the large number of children their own age. Here are two of my cousins' kids who were playing so sweetly on the steps wiht my kids. My brother dustin playing pinball with samantha (still at my nana's house)... ...mimi reading to emma... The next stop that day after nana's house was to my brother dustin's house, where his dog Chewy had been waiting to meet emma. I guess I should probably say Emma and Samantha had been waiting to meet Chewy! They were SO excited to play with him. He was a great dog, and certainly an exhausted one after meeting my kids!
...whoa, emma...chill out a bit with the dog! In a quieter moment, emma decided Dustin was a good pal to have around. He played endless games with them, and pretty much gave in to any request they had! No wonder they loved him so much!

Emma and samantha invaded Chewy's room...that's right, I said his room. Chewy lives a life that should have been documented in Beverly Hills Chihuahua. (ok, maybe not that extreme!) But really, chewy has his own tv, a staggering array of toys, plush carpet, a soft fleecy bed, and actually only lets dustin stay in the house because he pays the bills. Emma and Samantha thought his bed was so much fun. Chewy didn't know quite what to think. That evening, we went back to my parents house where the girls had a much needed bath, and then ended up cutely on the bed with all the gals in my fam. Finally, jammies on and snuggling with holly, I think everyone was ready for bed! It was a long day!