Oklahoma!

Last week Mom, Dad, and I went to Mom's home town Okarche, Oklahoma for Aunt Dianna's wedding, Aunt Vanessa's graduation (she's now a pharmacist - nerdy drug dealer), and cousin Garrett's baptism. It was quite a busy week, so I'm devoting a whole blog entry to the trip. Mom and I left last Tuesday. We got on an airplane (which seems to be a very smooth and fast car that holds many people, none of whom seem to be actually driving) and left Dad alone in Pennsylvania. Mom prepared Dad's stuff ahead of time so he would be able to make it through the week by himself. He always talks about things he takes care of at work, but I think it must take a lot out of him because Mom takes care of many things at home. She takes care of so many things that sometimes Dad can't even keep track of them all (I think that's why Mom has to repeat things to him sometimes - he says he's always just very focused on the task at hand).

We arrived in Oklahoma City that evening (I wonder why I've never heard Mom and Dad talk about Pennsylvania City) and went to eat at a restaurant. They say Mexican food is good in Oklahama, but with it being Sinko da Myo (which has something to do with Mexico - maybe the Mexican Sink or something) we thought the Mexican restaurants would be too busy. We wanted food, not crowds.

Wednesday was mostly devoted to decorations. There was something called a centerpiece that was very important. There must have been a lot of centers because there were a lot of centerpieces, and they took a long time to prepare. When all was said and done, everyone thought they were very pretty. Mom is pretty good at designing interiors, and she gets to use this knowledge to help out with these wedding things. I can't wait to see what she does with my room.

Thursday night we got to go to Aunt Dianna's bachelorette party. It has something to do with the wedding. I think the wedding is all about two people being together, and a bachelorette party is all about a girl being by herself. Part of it has to do with getting gifts to entice her husband, but I'm not sure I quite understand that part because I think he has already agreed to marry her. Anyway, there was lots of talking and celebrating, and I took a nap.

Dad finally got to Oklahoma on Friday. We were at the rehearsal dinner politely waiting for Dad to arrive before we ate, but he took a long time to get there. When he finally arrived Mom was hungry and annoyed because her brothers had taken a scenic route from the airport. Apparently when you take a scenic route in Oklahoma it makes you thirsty because they had to also pick up something to drink called "gold-tops" on the way. Once everybody started eating, however, everyone was happy again, and Mom and Dad got to talk about how much they missed each other over the week and how their day had gone. After that they finished preparing the hall for Saturday's wedding. Until it actually took place I thought that a wedding must be something like a play, because everyone seemed to be very concerned with decorating, preparing costumes, and doing make-up all in one big room. It turns out that a wedding is only like a play when you're in the church. After that it is more like a big party. Perhaps everyone is so nervous about getting the church part right that they have to celebrate a lot when they get it right.

A lot of the time that wasn't spent preparing for the wedding was spent playing with Cousin Maddie. Because Mom doesn't get to see Maddie very often, she likes to spend as much time as possible with her when she's in Okarche. She tries to teach her new things and get her to repeat all the things she knows as much as possible. I paid close attention because I figured she would do the same for me when I start talking. Hopefully I'll be as good at learning new things as Cousin Maddie. Maddie learned that Dad's name was Erik and that his hair goes 'boing!'. She even learned to say my name, but she didn't know where I was when she said it. There are pictures of Maddie attached to the blog. One of the pictures she even took herself when Mom and Dad were showing her how to use the camera (the picture she took of Dad is also attached). There is also a picture of Uncle Mig holding Cousin Maddie who is holding Cousin Garrett (she likes to hold babies and kiss them on the head - Dad says that makes her a natural-born politician, but I don't know what that means). Finally, there's a picture of Mom giving Cousin Maddie a bath in the sink.

On Saturday Dad slept late. He had been tired from such a long day the day before. Mom and I let him relax at the house (and check up on the Nine Inch Nails tour which had begun the night before - once he opened up the Internet Box the Nine Inch Nails tour was all he talked about). We went back to the Hall to make more preparations for the wedding. Mom thought things were under control, but apparently weddings are harder to control than people think. Dad didn't really have a lot to do to prepare for the wedding, but he was very interested in how Mom's brothers were doing on the float decorations. As I found out later that night, a float was a ride for the wedding actors where they got the party started. It involves a lot of honking, cheering, and talking. It also makes everyone so thirsty they have to constantly pass drinks around. Here's a picture of the float being prepared:

The wedding was that night, and Mom was one of the bride's maids. Everyone said she was really pretty, like a princess. They said that I make her glow. I can't wait to see the pictures someday so I can see what Mom looks like when she is glowing. Her sister Aunt Dianna was also glowing, but in a different way. They said that she was glowing with happiness, as she was now going to be married to Uncle Brenden. There are pictures from the church part of the wedding below:

After the church part, everyone goes outside and watches the wedding party get on the float. When Mom and Dad tried telling people in Pennsylvania about the float they encountered a lot of bewilderment and amazement. People didn't understand how the town allowed a party on wheels to clog up the highway on a Saturday evening. In order to help explain things, Dad got lots of pictures of the float, as well as some video (attached at the bottom of the blog):

After the float shenanigans came the reception. It should just be called party. It was a big party with lots of people and music and food and cake. Everybody was excited about Aunt Dianna and Uncle Brenden doing a good job earlier in the church. Also, everyone got to talk to people they hadn't seen in a long time. Dad got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Dunham and Great Aunt Sandy, and Mom got to hang out with Jayme and Brian and Shanna (who I'll see at her wedding the month after I'm born). Here's some reception pictures:

Mom and Dad have some crazy friends. They stayed and partied late into the night. I had time to take several naps throughout the party. Then they even cleaned the whole place up at the end of the night.

The next morning we got up early and ate some breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Dunham and Great Aunt Sandy. It was mother's day, so the ladies got flowers. Grandpa brought pictures of his dad from his military days. Grandpa's dad enlisted in the Navy a month after the Harbor of Pearls, and Grandpa said he looked a lot like Dad around his age. Grandpa Dunham knows a lot about our family history and has traced us back to the days of the Pilgrims (depending on what Dad calls 'the Singletary Mystery') and also found how we are related to President Obama. Dad and Grandpa spent the last part of breakfast talking about engineering stuff, and I fell asleep.

Mom and Dad said good-bye to Dad's parents, and then we all went to church. The church is an important part of Mom's family, as we always spend a lot of time there when we go back to Okarche. Grandma Vogt even plays the organ there. After going to church, we came home and ate a bunch of wedding food, while Aunt Dianna and Uncle Brenden opened presents. They must have done really well in church because they got a lot of presents. Then we went back to church again for Garrett's baptism. This wasn't a party like the wedding. Instead it was pretty quiet. I'm not sure what this one was about, but it must have involved water because Maddie kept saying, "Garrett - water!". Because the baptism was a quiet event, though, Uncle Mig eventually had to take her to the back of the church. She was really excited about Garrett and water. Here are some pictures:

The next day we had to fly back to Pennsylvania. Since we had some time, though, we all drove out to Uncle Mig and Aunt Terri's new house in the country. It was very quiet out there, and Dad said his friends in Pennsylvania would be amazed at the view out there - flat horizons through all 360 degrees. Here are a couple pictures of Oklahoma pastureland, where the wind comes right behind the rain:

We spent the rest of the day traveling home. We got home later than we originally thought we would because one of our planes had a bio hazard on it, and we had to wait for them to give us a different airplane. Mom and Dad were actually just grateful that they didn't have to sit next to a bio hazard. Another outing, another adventure. I got to learn a lot about weddings and floats and cake and baptisms. Actually, I didn't really learn much about baptisms. But I did learn a valuable life lesson: sometimes your flight is delayed, and it may make you upset, but at least you aren't going to sit next to a bio hazard - so things all seem to work out in the end.

I'll leave you with a video from the float.

See you in August,
A. Dunham