Outings around Oklahoma

Here is another fun picture from Grandfield. Ezra is being held by Fanny Hickey. She has known me since I was a baby and knew my daddy since he was a baby and now has met and held all of my babies. I remember as a child, I put Fanny in the "Old Lady" category but after spending some time with her on this visit she seems younger and healthier than ever. I did not dare ask how old she is now.
I found keeping up with house work challenging in the U.S. I soon realized 2 years old is not too young to keep a floor vacuumed. Manon is a fabulous cleaner, Henna works hard and even Judah did his part so that I could keep up with home schooling, cooking etc.
Here are some fun times in OK. The kids and I enjoyed relaxing Sunday afternoon's in our friend Joe's hot tub and Monty and Judah loved the motorcycle rides in arcades.

Henna and Olivia, Julie's youngest daughter, enjoyed dance lessons taught by Julie. I also dusted off my tap shoes and joined them for some refresher classes. Julie is a great teacher ! Dancing with her again reminded me of when we were 15 and competing in the "Miss Grandfield" pageant together. Julie was so sweet and worked with me on my talent often - even though I was competing against her. What a great friend! Grandfield!
Grandfield is my home town. I do not have family living there now but my best friend since 2nd grade, Julie, and her family and the community always make it feel like home no matter how many years I have been away. On this trip Manon went to school for a day with Addie, Julie's oldest daughter. Manon sat in the same class room I sat in for 2nd grade and was taught by the SAME teacher! Some things never change!!!!! Manon enjoyed her day in school but later told me she prefers home school since you can finish your work quickly and have free time without waiting for the bell to ring to say that school is finished. I think she has a good point.
The girls put Ezra to bed in Olivia's baby bed! I don't think he was quite ready for a nap:)


This is Dana - Katie's Burnese Mountain dog. She often babysat the children for us so we could go get our hair done. just kidding - she only babysat when we were in the next room:). A week at Grand Lake with the Brocketts!
Katie, my best friend since we worked at Falls Creek together in '93, invited us to spend spring break with her family at her aunt's lake house. It was a great week of hiking, cooking, playing, home schooling (together), and catching up. The house even came with a Jeep in the garage which Monty and Chris were constantly making up errands to run just to take it for a spin.
Katie and I never run out of things to talk about. Katie sells Mary Kay so on one of her first visits she looked in my make-up bag and tossed everything. She re-outfitted me with make-up that actually goes with my skin tone instead of something I picked up in a Chinese super market. Beside's our week at Grand Lake Katie took every opportunity to drive down to OKC to spend a few days with us. It was great fun having them around. I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends!
Manon and Henna had a great time with Tate and Sam - they are all about 1 year apart in age and got along great even if the Brockett boys were "a bit wild" as Manon often described them.
Even Ezra got to enjoy outings in the Jeep to Sonic! It seemed a bit silly strapping down the car seat in a Jeep but Ezra loved the wind blowing on him.