We are in the middle of a full-fledged mid-west experience in Oklahoma City. GAM stands for Great Aunt Mary and the term of endearment is how Easton and Layla refer to her.
Here is a short list of the differences I see in Oklahoma compared to our Arizona life:
- Sweet tea is the default drink in every home and restaurant
- The continuous buzz of cicadas hums along 24x7. Easton points this out every time we go outside. I found a dead, preserved cicada and he was brave enough to hold it in his hand.
- The entire town is infatuated with the OU Sooners. If you don't have an OU hat or shirt, you're obviously "not from around here"
- The pace of life is slower. People walk slower, talk slower, and know how to relax
- Humidity is great for the skin. My dry and cracked feet are rejuvenated, but yard work seemed more difficult when sweat was pouring off my nose instead of evaporating in air.
Aunt Mary's front yard features a long rock waterfall, which Easton found intriguing. He wanted to badly to throw rocks into the flow of water, but the surface was a bit to slick and the drop off too steep for me to feel comfortable letting him lean out over the edge.
The twins made significant swimming improvements as a result of copious amounts of time in Aunt Mary's pool. The sunscreen is applied liberally, but both of them have a little too much pink from overexposure. Kendra reapplied the sunscreen and they had to wait patiently on the step for it soak in. torture!
Layla's most enjoyable moment during the trip was swimming with her cousins, Lauren and Abby. She was amazed by their jumping and diving and swimming abilities. Seeing what was possible led to major improvements in her own confidence as she discovered she was able to do the same things.
They started off jumping in together from the step and fountain area.
By the end of the day they were jumping off the hot tub ledge. No fear!
Easton earned the most improved achievement for the day. he started off a little apprehensive about idea of even getting in the pool. Throughout the day his confidence exploded and he was asking me to practice swimming without his floaties.
The twins kept asking for all 4 Webbs to swim together. Not sure what the significance is about having both of us parents in the pool with them at the same time, but we gladly complied and they loved it.
Kendra and I left the twins with Aunt Mary so we could have a date night. OKC doesn't have a plethora of attractions or events, but one thing I wanted Kendra to see is the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. I know it doesn't sound like much of a fun, entertaining event for a date night, but I really wanted to see the museum and for Kendra to get a better understanding of what happened that tragic day in 1995. The reflecting pool is where the street used to run in front of the federal building.
The big, metal chairs on the other side of the pool represent individuals who lost their lives.
The most amazing thing about this peaceful scene above is how drastically opposite that day must have been where half of the building was destroyed.
I had a difficult time comprehending how a truck full of stuff could cause such an enormous explosion. The museum experience was well worth the effort and time. However, Kendra internalizes emotional things like this so she had to walk quickly through a few of the exhibits and wait for me. Absorbing pictures and descriptive paragraphs takes much longer for me so I moved at a snails pace.
There is a room where each person who died has a picture and glass case with some trinkets or memorabilia. That room impacted me the most because I thought, "What if I were one of these victims? What would accompany my picture and what will I be known for?" For some it was a fishing lure or model car or something to represent their career. I want to be remembered for something more than a meaningless hobby or tangible thing I possess. God help me if all my life has amounted to is being a "good man" or having the cleanest car in the neighborhood or leaving a bunch of money for Kendra. I'm striving for something better like being a blessing to people in my life and leaving an eternal legacy through Easton and Layla.
I felt sorry for some of the victims because what they were known for or remembered by had zero impact on the world and those around them. They would have already been completely forgotten if they had not been memorialized in the museum. It really made me evaluate the legacy I'm leaving behind and what's important.
No apologies for going so deep down the emotional rabbit trail. There are a few of these pivotal moments in a person's life and this was one of those. I've not made any drastic changes, but more like a dark room in my mind where a light was turned on and now I will see what's in it and figure out where to make adjustments in my life accordingly.
Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled programming... vacation! We ate at some local restaurant that I don't care about. We were alone at our booth conversing and sitting close to each other. That's what mattered. We could have gone to McDonald's and I would have been just as happy. All I needed was time with Kendra and being close. She thought the meal was amazing and since she liked it I consider the night successful.
We walked around Bricktown and checked out the local stores. The long waterway through the area has boats running, but we decided to wander on our own.
We found a candy shop and inside there were several children's tables set up with different games. Kendra is such a fun, outgoing girl. She sat down at the checkers table and said, "Let's play!" I was more than happy to join in and neither of us cared about what other adults and families thought as they passed by.
I won by the way, but she threw the game on purpose to make me feel good about myself. She freely admitted to my accusations. Even so, I still enjoyed playing and it did make me feel good. :)
As we walked down the street I saw Jeff Gordon's race car on the sidewalk. I did a double-take because it seemed completely silly for his car to be there. I convinced Kendra to check it out and sure enough, it was Jeff Gordon's car. The road show just happened to be on the exact day at the exact window of time we were there. I'm not a huge Nascar fan, but nothing says, "Mid-west" like a picture next to a Nascar Race car. My dad naps in the living room to the sound of this car's engine every Sunday afternoon.
Kendra stopped by to pet the horse on the way to the car. She sweet-talked one of the horse and carriage owners who gladly let her get a hand-on experience.
Easton and Layla slept in the same crib next to our bed for the first few months of their life. Ever since then they slept separately. Aunt Mary's guest bedroom has a king sized bed so we just put both of them on one bed. The first night they acted like two teen-age friends at a sleep over. They were talking and giggling and being completely silly. I had to go in and threaten with bad consequences, but they finally went to sleep.
Each day we walk along the trail in the backyard wooded area. We saw bugs and wildlife we don't normally run across in AZ. Karen's boyfriend Bob says there are lots of ticks, but luckily we didn't find any on us. I'll take his word for it. Easton's favorite part about the woods was running down from the top of the steep hill.
I'm used to the awesome Arizona sunsets so anything short of spectacular is ho-hum for me. The sunset I captured below was worth watching. Instead of the blazing, blinding sun of AZ I was able to actually look at the sun as it dropped below the horizon of green hills.
Layla found Aunt Mary's lip gloss while pilfering through some part of the room she wasn't supposed to go. She opened it up and started to apply it to her lips. I exercised as much self-control as possible in my voice as I told her to stop and come over where we were sitting. Mary agreed to let Layla apply it to her instead of herself. I was more than happy to go along with this risky idea and capture it in a picture. Layla said, "GAM has a make-up set just like me!"
I'm a couple of days behind on all of our adventures, but at least this is a little taste of what we're up to.
See you soon!
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