Tulsa Airport

On the way to our departure gate at the Tulsa airport we found a wonderful spot for the children to work off some energy. In fact we had a whole phys.ed. class right there for about an hour!

There was jumping and spinning...

 galloping...

hopping...

more jumping...


dancing...

and wrestling, of course!

There was also running and an obstacle course.

What I liked was the huge bank of windows - gotta love airports for the light they let in!

Awww, what natural smiles!

One green and speckled frog...

... sitting on a speckled blog. As you can see Izzie still loves to pick up any sort of creature. She is not particular about whether it could bite or sting. Neither is she picky about whether it's alive or dead. We generally try to keep her away from the biting, stinging, decaying things, although we did examine with some interest a dead cicada outside of GG's house one day.

These pictures are from the end of August when it was still hot enough that Izzie's evening attire consisted of a diaper. (Now she's wearing underwear all the time except for naps and overnight!)

Do you think this little guy could turn into someone's Prince Charming?

And a shot of Izzie's head since we have all her other body parts in this post.

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow...

We headed over to Patsy and Wingo's for a feast of melon, courtesy of Johnie and Nancy. I don't know where they found these whoppers - they were certainly the biggest melons I'd ever seen! I was really surprised when the salt shakers were passed around. Who ever heard of eating SALT on WATERMELON?! It seemed like a strange tradition to me, but I tried it, and it was quite good. I think it really did make the melon seem to taste sweeter. I'm sure Colin could tell you why that is.

Have you ever seen a watermelon this big?

It's approaching three feet long!

Circumference of the canteloupe. No folks, that is not a pumpkin you're looking at, although it's the size of one.

Mmmm, mmmm, good.

Sweet, sticky goodness! Watermelon + children = bath night.

Funny Faces

Izzie has a whole library of funny faces now.

The "I'm mad at you!" look.

The "I'm mad at you but I can't help cracking up!" look.

And of course the fake smile.

This little piggy got a pedi...

Izzie is enthralled with her first pedicure, courtesy of Grandma Ann.

She showed off her toes to anyone and everyone for the next month!

Early Birthday

Ben and Izzie celebrated an early birthday with all the relatives in Oklahoma!
The kids loved these gliders from Grandma Nancy. In fact the gliders made it all the way to Korea and are still being played with. The cake must have been good - check out how much is on Izzie's shirt!

Witte Museum

While GG was "enjoying" a physical therapy session Grandpa and I stepped out with the kids to visit the Witte Museum.

One of my favorite parts of the museum was the sound and music section. It was very interactive and needed no explanation. Although Ben wants to know the how and why of everything, Izzie just wants to do it, so this was great for her. Here the kids are playing a "pipe organ" with the bottom of a flip-flop.

Here is Ben is peeking through a hole in the wall of noise - a wall with various metal items: lids, chains, pots, pipes etc. attached to it. There were several drum sticks and the kids went crazy banging whatever they could reach.

Izzie and Ben attack the wall!

Sending messages through the pipes.

Ben playing dodge ball on the computerized floor. If the red light gets you, you're out.

Izzie shoots off a rocket with a little help from Grandpa Steve.

Ben uses pulleys to raise his chair up.

It was a fun afternoon and then back to GG's for pizza and snuggles. It doesn't get much better than that!

Texas

Before going to Oklahoma we stopped to see Katie and the great-grandparents in Texas.

Snuggles and kisses with GG.

Izzie loved Biscuit!

American Tour

We (Nat, Ben and Izzie) left Tennessee in mid-August to drive with Colin's dad to Texas and Oklahoma to visit Colin's family. (Colin finished his last class a couple of days later and flew to Korea the same day.) The kids were pretty good considering how many hours they had to spend in the car, but there was a definite "witching hour" in the afternoon when they were tired, bored and cranky. All we could do then was hope Izzie would fall asleep quickly. Once that happened all was well again.
I think this was at a rest stop in Louisiana. It's not actually foggy - my lens fogged up because it was so cool in the car and so hot and humid outside.

Stops were good for the kids - a good run around and some peanut butter M&M's perked them up considerably.

Tiger Stripes

This is what Colin's feet looked like after a summer of guiding rafting trips on the Watauga River!

Ewwwww!

Do not leave glasses unattended.

The Kitten

Last Saturday - July 31st I was working in the garage when I heard a strange mewing sound from outside. Right outside - so close that it almost sounded like it was in the garage with me. I opened the side door to the garage and there by our garbage can was a tiny little kitten. It looked pitifully underfed so I picked it up and brought it inside. Then I went and told Colin, since I am far from an expert on cats. Also, I knew I would need his help keeping Izzie from smothering the kitten with love.
We fed it some tuna, which it seemed to really enjoy. (It wasn't until later that we read you're not supposed to feed cats tuna intended for humans.) Colin held out his finger and the kitten licked his finger and then tried to eat it. It was very innocent, but she had broken the skin and we were concerned about the possibility of rabies. We talked to our vet and also called the nurse hotline. Neither person seemed particularly concerned about rabies - they were more concerned with tetanus and infection - but we were advised to keep the cat for 10 days and if it became ill, have it tested. So we kept the cat and the kids loved it.

When Ben was using the computer she would jump up on the chair and sit beside him. Sometimes he would decide he was "hot" and put the cat down which made her protest loudly until somebody else gave her attention.

Unfortunately, just as we had decided the kitten was very healthy, she became ill Wednesday night and was dead by Thursday morning. When we realized around 11pm on Wednesday that the kitten was very sick Colin went to the ER. We were now very concerned, but not so much anyone else. Colin was told to get the cat tested the next day. Thursday morning was spent making arrangements for the cat - the rabies test has to be done on brain tissue. Luckily we merely had to drop the cat off at the vet. Somebody from the Health Department was responsible for transporting it to Knoxville (about 2 hours away from us) where the test is performed. We were waiting on tenterhooks all day and got the results about 4:30 - everything is clear!

We don't know why the cat died, and of course we are sorry she did, but at least she had several happy days with us in which she spent a lot of time purring happily and getting lots of love.

And a little bit of mauling.

Of course the first thing the children asked Thursday morning was, "Where is the cat?" We told them, in carefully chosen words, that the kitten was unhealthy and had died. They asked a few questions. Izzie wondered if we could see the cat later and Ben bluntly told her, "No. When things die they're dead forever." This didn't phase Izzie at all.

I think the kids enjoyed the kitten because they were the ones in control. They could pick her up, put her down, hold her in their laps. They really liked petting her and hearing her purr. It didn't take much to make the kitten purr, and when it happened Izzie would proudly exclaim, "She's happy!" I hope she is.