After spending nine days of mother-time, Mark picked Denisa up at the airport in Oklahoma City to start some family-time. Our first stop was Denisa's sister's house in Edmond, where we spent the day making peppernuts. This is a family tradition started by our grandparents, who gave these spicy little cookies away at Christmas time. Rolling and cutting these tiny cookies is a labor-intensive process. We were so busy that we forgot to take a picture of Connie, Joe, Mark and Denisa working in the kitchen. But we did remember to take a picture of some of the finished products. We noticed that some of the peppernuts were getting bigger as the day progressed and the bakers got more "creative" with the dough.
We were also blessed with two evenings of family time, as nieces and nephews and their families came to see us in Edmond. What fun family time! After a couple days, we moved to Oklahoma City to spend time with our son and his wife. Claire was working, when Blake took us to the Oklahoma City zoo on a beautiful weather day.
It has been years since we had been to the zoo in Oklahoma City, and Blake and Claire have season passes. We were excited to see all the changes inside, such as the brand new Asian section with its beautiful buildings.
But of course the stars of the show are the animals, who were enjoying lounging in the sunshine and enjoying the weather. Seeing the grizzlies up close reminded us of our visit to Glacier National Park and the bears we saw on the trail.
The lighting made the color of these pink flamingos really pop in the sunshine. In contrast, the juvenile bird in the center seems to have his head bowed, as he hasn't gotten his pink plumage yet.
Denisa's favorite is the giraffe, and they were close to the fence for the feeding. He was enjoying the $5 pieces of lettuce that were being handed over the fence.
We have to say that the Oklahoma City zoo has some first-class exhibits, with well-done enclosures. It allows you to get up close and personal, while the animals still have a large space to enjoy.
Also, spread throughout the zoo are statues that are good for pictures. Sometimes it's hard to differentiate the animals from the visitors.
One of the newest members of the zoo family is the baby elephant born this fall. Mom and baby were walking right toward us when Denisa snapped this picture that seems to highlight the fence more than the animals.
We had a great day at the zoo! This was followed by more fun activities, as we spent a couple evenings with Claire's parents too. We really love it that our sons have married into such fine families that we enjoy spending time with. We also spent some time playing piano duets . . .
and yoga. Denisa enjoyed yoga while in South Texas, and Claire is a certified instructor. So we had our own private exercise sessions as we cobra-ed our way to more flexible muscles.
Claire is also working on her certification in HIIT--for those not up with the latest fitness jargon, that's High Intensity Interval Training. She needed a group of volunteers to practice her teacher-skills. Along with Claire's parents, we volunteered for an evening of exercise without thinking this through. Below is a picture of the upstairs studio, overlooking the Christmas lights on Broadway. It's a beautiful view for the intense workout that we will remember for a long time! Claire did great, but some of her volunteers were feeling it the next day.
Besides all this playing, we also got some work done. We bought them a new dining room light fixture for Christmas, which also included the labor to hang it. Mark and Blake also installed a new wooden window blind. But the big project of the weekend was installing this macrame hanging in their living room.
Made by Claire's aunt and uncle, this was the beautiful back-drop for their wedding vows in the park. Thanks to Mark's handiwork, it now hangs in their living room.
So we are enjoying some good family fun and fellowship here in the Oklahoma City area. Denisa has been living out of a suitcase for two weeks now. This makes her appreciate how easy it usually is to travel in the motor home, where no packing is necessary. But with it winterized right now, we are glad to have family who welcome us into their homes. This two-week suitcase trip isn't over yet, as we have plans for more fun in Kansas City!
We had a fast couple days of getting the motor home moved to the Oklahoma panhandle, and then Mark prepped it for the freezing weather that was nipping at our heels. Then we planned to split up and spend some "Mother Time." That meant Denisa jumped into her Mother's car to take her on that looooooong drive to the Rio Grande Valley where she spends the winter. Denisa and her Mother spent a night on the road in Junction, Texas, where several major highways come to a common point. Since we are deep into Texas barbecue country, we had a smoking plate of meat at Lum's. This recommended local smoke house will now forever go into the itinerary as the required food stop on the way to the valley. That's the leanest brisket and ribs we've found in a long time.
It's a 13-hour drive to the tip of Texas, so we arrived the next afternoon to Bentsen Grove Resort in Mission, Texas. This is where Denisa's Mother has wintered for the last 33 years. We always play a game to spot the first palm tree on the drive south. We had seen many by this time, but this street of the resort is lined with some of the tallest palms around.
The best thing about this resort, however, is the fruit trees. Citrus trees line many of the lots. Denisa isn't used to being in the valley this early, to see that most of the fruit is still green this time of the year.
But a few early-ripening trees had enough orange-colored oranges and tangerines ready to get her citrus-fix during her week in south Texas.
She did enjoy some of the resort's amenities, including pickleball, water aerobics, yoga, bingo, etc. But our real focus was getting her Mother's park model home out of its six-month storage status into its six-month living status. After a few long days of work, things are looking like home again.
We had some cool weather and rain during the week, but that gave us incentive to stay in the house to get work projects done. Denisa's 88-year-old Mother says her little street in this resort feels like home since she's lived here so many winters.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in the panhandle of Oklahoma, Mark is not looking at palms trees. Instead, he is looking at snow. It's a good thing it is winterized, because this is a mighty cold view of our home.
Remember that husky puppy that chews up anything left unprotected? Well, they found out that she absolutely loves the snow.
Snow cover over the grass means that the cattle must be fed every day, so Mark was on feed duty while he was visiting Oklahoma.
He was the gate-opener as he and his Mother rode the snow-covered pastures with his rancher brother. The new baby calves are following their mothers up to the feed line. So the pick-up crew gets a great view of the newest members of the herds.
One cow had twin calves, and it's seldom that a mother can successfully raise both. So Mark's new job was feeding this baby that had been stealing milk from other cows until they brought him up to the barn. Denisa was a little jealous of this job, as she was always the designated surrogate mother to all the orphaned and twin calves when she was growing up.
Besides outdoor chores with the cattle, Mark was also keeping busy inside. Just like Denisa, he was helping his 90-year-old Mother with projects around the house.
After a week of being separated by 820 miles, it was time for Denisa to fly north and get a real taste of winter. Since we are used to spending 24/7 together, this unusual 9 days of spending time in different climates helps us to appreciate each other more. And we must say that our moms don't seem to mind this mother-time either.
After two weeks of baby-sitting our six-month-old granddaughter, we are fast-forwarding three generations and heading to the panhandle of Oklahoma to see our Mothers. We are travelers that usually move the motor home one to two hours to its next location. So this was a huge journey from Independence, Missouri to the panhandle of Oklahoma. What a tough day!
We had the slides in and things packed up the night before, planning for an early departure. We wanted everything to be ready. But in the morning Mark found water pouring out of the bottom of the motor home and the cement underneath completely wet. That wasn't according to plan!
But before we could look for the source of all that water, it started raining. Now it is wet everywhere, and all we know is that everything in the basement storage is now drenched. What a start to a tough day!
Our long journey started with the drive in Kansas City morning traffic--in the rain. Add some construction and stopped traffic just for fun. What a tough day!
We crossed the Kansas state line, and Denisa didn't even try to take a picture. That's how tough this day has been! Then the winds picked up, and we had some 30-mile-per-hour south winds hitting our tall motor home. Anyone that has ever tried to drive a big vehicle in these conditions knows that Mark was having to work hard to keep us between the lines. What a tough day!
Cold weather is coming our way, and we need tomorrow to winterize the plumbing (after we determine what is leaking). So we pressed on and made the entire seven hour drive with only one stop for fuel. That would mean that we had lunch while rolling down the road. We started the generator so Denisa could warm up some leftovers, and she fed Mark spoon-fulls while he drove. Sorry, no picture, but it would have been a good one. Just imagine Denisa standing between the front captain chairs, spoon-feeding the driver and hoping she didn't drop that plate of food if we hit a sudden bump in the road. What a tough day!
After a long, tough day, we arrived at the ranch outside of Beaver. We're worn out, but glad to have this long boring drive out of the way. The forecast calls for freezing temperatures and even snow almost immediately. So the next job is detective work to find the leak in the plumbing. It looks like this is the culprit--the kitchen sink drain pipe. What a tough day!
Mark unloaded everything in the wet basement storage bins and set them out to dry. That's when we found out the new ranch pup has a chewing problem. She might be cute, but she chewed up our sewer connector and our tow bar cover. What a tough day!
Even with the broken pipe connection, Mark managed to get the pipes filled with anti-freeze to protect them from Oklahoma's cold. What a tough day! So after a tough time getting it here, this is our view of our motor home's parking spot for the holidays. It is our "home, home on the range." Unlike the song, we have heard a few discouraging words as we got through this tough day.
We are staying near Kansas City for two weeks, catching up on time with our granddaughter, Carter. We are enjoying lots of her "firsts." Since she is our first grandchild, these milestones are also our firsts of grandparenting.
For example, on one of our baby-sitting days, we strolled to the playground for her first time in the swing. It was a beautiful blue-sky day, and perfect weather for some time outside.
We took a padded insert, and she loved her first of many years of swinging at the park. I think Dad and Grandad have prepped her well for that swinging motion with all the lifts and swings they do at home.
Our timing was good to be in Kansas City for her first Halloween. Mom has her dressed up as Rosie the Riveter. A little part of us wanted to take her trick-or-treating. But she obviously isn't old enough to eat candy, and there's few things worse than old people going door-to-door begging for candy.
We know it's not a Halloween costume, but she looks like she has long bunny ears in this shot when we were taking off her jacket. And what a cute bunny she makes!
We were also at the house on her first half-year birthday. It's hard to believe that she is already six months old!
We really enjoyed being in Kansas City for Carter's first autumn. We had heard that Kansas City has nice fall foliage, but this was also our first time to experience it. We had great weather, allowing us to go on stroller walks through the neighborhood almost every day.
So we got to see autumn for the first time through Carter's eyes and hands.
On the news, they are exclaiming that this year's fall color is even better than usual. So we are all spoiled to see the best color for our first time.
Carter is being raised in a football-watching family, so this wasn't her first weekend of football. Dad is trying to recruit her to be an OU Sooner fan, but this picture seems to indicate she's not that excited about his choice.
She and Grandad were up after dark, watching the OSU Cowboy game, and she seemed to be more interested in this team.
Six months is the recommended time to start some solid foods, so we got to be present when she had her first taste of oatmeal. She was actually more interested in the spoon than the food on it. Earlier she was giving that spoon a two-fisted hold that was hard to pry her loose from.
It's fun to see things through the eyes of a baby experiencing life events for the first time. We've found grandparenting to be another of the wonders that we are enjoying wandering through. We're convinced that she is another of God's wonders.
While camping in Independence, Missouri, our main focus is spending time with our children and grandchild. But occasionally we would go independent, as we wanted to explore a little of our new home town of Independence. This little city is also the home town of our 33rd president, Harry S. Truman. Denisa is hanging out with Mr. Truman at his presidential library museum just down the road from our campground.
Like the other presidential museums we have visited, this one has a replica of the oval office the way it looked when Truman was sitting behind the desk.
These museums are great refreshers of American history. Harry Truman was Roosevelt's Vice President when FDR ran for president his fourth time. When Roosevelt died early in his fourth term, Truman became commander in chief during the tumultuous time of World War II. He was the one to make the decision to drop the bombs on Japan. But he took full responsibility for that decision with his slogan, "The Buck Stops Here."
Even though most of the museum centers on presidential politics, Denisa especially enjoys the more personal sections. She likes learning about presidential childhoods and how these men found their first ladies. In the mural of pictures taken at different times in his life, Harry wore his signature eye glasses. Does the young man on the left-hand side of the mural remind you of anyone?
Mark noted that young Harry Truman looks a lot like young Harry Potter with those iconic glasses.
The entrance of this famous Missouri presidential museum is painted by a famous Missouri artist. We recognized this mural as being the work of Thomas Hart Benton. We had just seen his work at the state capitol, and we're glad to see that all the mules have the appropriate tails in this picture. (If that doesn't make sense, you must have missed that blog.)
Harry and Bess Truman lived in Independence before and after their time in Washington DC. So it is appropriate that their final resting places are here at the Truman Presidential Museum.
Another fun historical activity in Independence is the Truman walking trail. He was famous for his walks around town, and his silhouette is on signs throughout the historical district. We are ready for a stroll on this beautiful weather day to walk where Harry once walked.
Following a map, we found the forty different brass plates embedded in the sidewalk that explain a little piece of Independence's history.
For example, the Trinity Episcopal Church is where the Trumans were married, and the site of their daughter's wedding, and Bess's funeral. That definitely deserves a brass plaque in the sidewalk and a picture on the blog.
Sometimes the bronze plaque just pointed out a Truman friend's house. But a stroll through Independence at this time of the year also points out a friend's beautiful tree.
Mark picked these leaves that were in the process of turning from their summer green to their autumn red. That's another beautiful example of God's wonders that we are blessed to wander through.
Many of those lovely leaves are falling off the trees, and onto our sidewalks. That's making our search for the next bronze plaque more difficult. But we are thorough tourists, and we found every one!
For example, we found the plaque pointing out the county courthouse where Mr. Truman once worked. That memorial on the lawn also points out the beginning point of the Oregon Trail that many settlers traveled on their journey to the west. We also found that Independence, Missouri, is the start of the Santa Fe and California Trails as well. This is quite the historical city!
Independence was a thriving retail center, as people setting out on one of those trails needed to stock up on supplies for the long trip. We learned this information from the driver of the local wagon. We met him at church on Sunday morning, finding out he had been hosting the wagon rides around town for many years. This is one of his three teams that pulls the wagon. He told us that he prefers mules over horses because they have a better work ethic. His current tour group is getting more history lessons as they stopped outside the Truman's house.
As if there wasn't enough interesting things going on in Independence, we noticed one morning that a marching band in full uniform is hanging out across from our campground. Then we realized a parade is coming down the street!
The parade has a halloween theme, with lots of candy. We have stumbled into another parade!
The band we heard practicing earlier is coming down this narrow city street. If Denisa had her old saxophone, she was close enough that she could have joined the band.
In addition to the usual candy at the parade, we also got this interesting bag of goodies from the local dentist. He includes chewy candy, but also a toothbrush and a coupon for braces or a first check-up. It gets the award for our favorite parade hand-out for today.
We're finding that the little city of Independence is interesting from a historical view point, and entertaining from a parade view point, but it is also interesting from a religious viewpoint. Among those lovely trees decked out in their finest fall splendor, we can see this curious spire top that reminds us of a twisted ice cream cone every time we drive towards home.
This is the world headquarters of the Community of Christ Church, who branched off from the Church of Latter Day Saints. Besides a swirly-top church, they also have a wide open grassy field that these churches believe will be the new Zion where Christ will return right here in Independence, Missouri.
Who knew that Independence held such an important place in the eyes of so many? But right now for us, it is our new home town, and an interesting place to live between visits into Kansas City for more grandbaby time.
