Since I'm awake about 20 hours of the day now anyway, I might as well update everyone with the latest events. A 
lot has happened since my last post. Every time Mom and Dad visit Oklahoma they stay very busy. This time was no exception. The first part of our trip was spent in Okarche with Grandma and Grandpa Vogt, Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Kenny, Aunt Terri and Uncle Mig, Aunt Dianna and Uncle Brenden, Uncle Tom, Uncle Bill, Cousin Garrett, Cousin Maddie, and a bunch of other people who came to visit (including Great Grandma Kretchmar). Everybody wanted to hold me at some point, so I spent a lot of time being passed like a baton. I would fall asleep with one person and wake up with another. It 
has been pretty crazy. So to recap, we arrived in 
Okarche early Thursday morning (over a day and a half ahead of schedule - wow!). That day I got to experience Eischen's chicken for the first time
(it would not be the last time this trip). Eischen's is now more famous than ever, having recently been featured on the Food Network's 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives'. Thursday night the whole family went out to eat at a mexican restaurant. Dad said it wasn't a real mexican restaurant because they didn't have a liquor license, so they couldn't serve tequilla. But they served him and Mom some good mexican beer in margarita glasses with salt and lime, so Dad forgave them. Thursday night Mom and Dad finally got to sleep after their 29 hour marathon road-trip, so I let them sleep at least 3 hours at a time. This would be one of the last nights of the trip this would happen.
Friday was an exiciting day for Mom and Dad, but not as much for me. The State Fair of Oklahoma was winding down this weekend, so Mom and Dad took advantage of their early arrival and got some fair time in. I stayed home with Grandma Vogt (Grandpa Vogt was working - it was a weekday after all). Mom and Dad talked about what a great time they had at the fair. Dad ate a turkey's leg, and Mom had a pulled pork sandwhich. They met up with Uncle Mig, Aunt Terri, Cousin Maddie, Uncle Bill, and Uncle Bill's girlfriend Casey. Dad was impressed with her, as she was bold enough to
call him out upon the first meeting. She had asked how Mom and Dad met, and Dad told her the long version, as he thought they were just relaxing. Little did he know, everyone was ready to go and waiting on Casey. "Hey Casey, you about ready?" "Yeah, just listening to the longest story of how two people met I've ever heard." Ouch, Dad! Dad's reply: "All right, we met in a bar - skidaddle!" Mom and Dad then went on about their business. And their business was pleasure. They rode some rides, including one that left one lady in need of medical attention. Then they got corndogs. Real corndogs. Forget about that crap they have in the freezer section of Wal-Mart. It may say "State Fair Corndog", but it is a lie. Do you put your corndogs in a microwave? That negates the very nature of the corndog. 
A real corndog is made in a deep fat frier with a midway barker hollering in the background. A real corndog is eaten amidst the sounds of screaming, dinging, buzzing, laughing, and music. it will be served next to other fried objects such as fried cheese, fried Snickers, and even fried butter. And while you're eating that real corndog, watch your step, because underfoot will be cables and puddles and maybe even some manure of some sort every once in a while. So for the first time in over five years, Mom and Dad had a real corndog! Just look at the enjoyment on their faces! Like little kids!
Friday night they went to a rehearsal dinner for Saturday's wedding, where they once again had mexican. And once again, no margarita for Dad, as there was no alcohol at the rehearsal dinner, not even wine. So after the dinner many people went out searching for some loud-mouth chowder, and Mom and Dad came home to me to spend a quiet evening alone. They shared half a bottle of wine as a celebration of new beginnings, but saved their Bacanalian revelry for the next evening.
Saturday morning was picture-taking time. The family had professional pictures taken, but I was a little hungry by the time we got to posing, so I cried a bit. Mom and Dad told me to smile, but I told them to try smiling when they were hungry (they couldn't understand what I was saying). I later found out that I didn't ruin the pictures or anything like that, which made me feel better, as I later realized that one moment of posing for a picture can last a lifetime in people's memories, while a feeding will only last for about 3 hours.
I would remember this lesson for my next picture-taking session, and I've started practicing my smiling more and more. Saturday afternoon I got to meet Aunt Karen, Uncle Greg, and Cousin Lily for the first time. We met over lunch at where? You guessed it - Eischen's. I can't wait until I can eat chicken - it smells so good. I can mostly recall it from dreams, however, since I pretty much slept through both my Eischen's visits. Aunt Karen, Uncle Greg, and Cousin Lily had to leave shortly after lunch, but I would see them again at my 
baptism the next day. Saturday night I finally got to see what all the fuss was about with these Okarche weddings. I stayed quiet during the ceremony so I could better understand what was going on. Then after Shanna and Blake were married I got to pose for a few more pictures. Then I got to see the float. It was very similar to the hay rides they have back home around this time of year. Except that they were drinking beer and wine on this hay ride. I then got to see the reception, which was (as I had previously suspected) a big party. There was food and cake and beer and music and dancing. I met a lot of people in a short amount of time, but then I had to go home for the night with Grandma and Grandpa Vogt while Mom and Dad danced and partied the night away. I've been told Dad danced and partied a bit too much, and I suspect that is why he seemed a little quiet on Sunday.
Sunday morning I got to visit church for the first time. It is basically a group meeting in a large room where people sing and lecture about the goodness of a God named Jesus. Or maybe God and Jesus are d
ifferent people. I'm rather confused about it, but the general idea is that these people are very good, and we all need to learn from them and celebrate the goodness. The singing part was pretty, but the lecture part got a little long, and I fell asleep. After church we went home for a short amount of time, and then went back to the same place for the baptism. As I was baptized they said something to me about joining Jesus' family. I wonder if Jesus' family is as big as the Vogt family? And next time I come back to Oklahoma, will I have three families to visit? Eventually I'll learn more 
about this church stuff. All I know now is that joining Jesus' family involves water and godparents (Uncle Mig and Aunt Vanessa). I think I also get fairy godparents at some point if the Disney movies are correct. So then we came home and had a combined celebration of my baptism and Uncle Brenden's 40th birthday. Cookie cake for all! Is it a cookie or a cake? It has frosting like cake, but if you scrape the frosting off it is pure cookie. Either way it seems quite amazing! And I got some presents, including lots of books
that will help me learn more about the church stuff. I can't wait. Dad will read to me and teach me about the Bible, as well as about meditation and Eastern religious philosophy. And Mom will teach me about the Catholic church as I work my way towards something called Communion. For now I'm just happy to be fed, changed, and held on a regular basis. Spirituality will come later (although according to Dad's belief, I am possibly more in touch with my spirituality right now than most adults, as I haven't created the mental blocks that form as we learn about the world).
On Sunday I also got to meet Dad's friend Kyle and his son Aidan. Aidan liked to play catch with the football (he was much better at the throwing than the catching). I've seen kids of all ages on this visit, and I get to see what I'll probably be doing over the next months and years. It seems I'll be crawling at some point.
Then I'll start forming words and walking. At that point, Mom and Dad will have what people call "a hand-full". This means that I will take more attention than currently, when Mom and Dad can lie me down in one spot and I stay put. We left Okarche on Tuesday. The last thing we did before leaving was visit Aunt Terri and Uncle Mig's new house. It is still not complete, but it won't be long now. They will be living out in the country (past the city limit sign) where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. In every direction you can see a flat horizon. This is very strange when compared to the hills of Pennsylvania, but beautiful in a completely different way.
Then it was on to Ponca City, home of Grandma and Grandpa Dunham. Cousin Lily was also there, as they were watching her for the week. Also, Gracie the Dog was there to play with Eddy the Dog. Shortly after arriving, I also got to meet Great Aunt Sandy. She was very excited about meeting me and had kisses waiting for me. Grandpa Dunham had a tractor and piles of dirt waiting for us. What do you do with a tractor and piles of dirt? You fill in a swimming pool, of course. Grandma and Grandpa had many good years of use with the pool, but now that their kids have kids, the pool was used less and less. Grandpa now
wants to fill it in and install a pond and outdoor theater. That sounds pretty fun. But first comes the fun of filling in the pool. Dad got to learn how to run the tractor and took a few turns dumping some dirt. It was a little scary at first, as you had to get the wheels very close to the edge of the pool to get the dirt in. But Dad and Grandpa seemed to do alright. They spent most of the day Wednesday using the dirt, the tractor, some shovels and rakes, and a compacting device to build a ramp from the bottom of the shallow end to the lip of the pool. The ramp will later be used to get a Bobcat in and out of the pool. For now the ramp has another use (which began on Thursday evening). Wednesday evening we all went to Medford to meet Great Uncle Joe and Great Aunt Cathey, as well as Second Cousin Justin and his wife Andrea and children Dalton, Gunnar, and Ethan. Dalton and I had a conversation, although he carried all of it. Then Great Uncle Joe took pictures of Cousin Lily and I. Remember what I said about my last picture session? Well, I learned my lesson, and I was very good for this session. Once Mom and Dad get the pictures, I'll have to show you how good I was at posing.
On Thursday, Dad left the house early, and
when he came back his hair was gone! I was so used to staring at his hair when he held me that I didn't know how to take this at first. Now I've realized he's still the same Dad, he just has less hair. The before
and after pictures are included. Disregard the Hitler mustache in the before picture, that was Dad being silly. Why did he cut his hair? For one thing, he likes to change things from time to time. Another reason is to prepare for his Halloween costume - Godric the Vampire from True Blood. As a DJ for Jay and Hallie's Halloween party, the Godric costume will be very low key but also very cool (lots of fun tattoos). Finally, Dad said it will be nice to have low-maintenance hair for a while. Shortly after Dad got home, I got to meet Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Ebert (Grandma Dunham's parents) for the first time. They said that they already knew a lot about me because of my blog. Everywhere I go, people comment about my blog and how nice it is to be able to keep up with my adventures. I didn't realize I had such a large readership. Now that I've met so many of you in person I can finally tell you how nice it was to meet you. Also, I will continue to keep the blog up on a regular basis. You will be able to keep up with my first steps, first words, first crayola wall paintings, and even my first day of school. Hopefully the blog account won't be out of memory by then : )
Thursday
night Mom and Dad went to a movie by themselves while Grandma and Grandpa Dunham watched me. They saw 'Surrogates' and said it was pretty good - an interesting comment on the online society we are currently creating for ourselves. 
For example, you know me from this blog, but did you realize this blog is actually a surrogate version of me as voiced by my dad? It's not actually me, but it is convincing at times. As we create great online communities, how might our ethics change? Are online personas racist? Do they commit crime? As we pour more of ourselves into our online personas, do we lose part of what makes us human? Or has humanity evolved to the point that we are now 
a cyborg race, indivisible from our technological extensions? These philosophical posing are best mused by firelight. So when Mom and Dad got home on the bike (oh yeah, forgot to mention, they rode to dinner and the movie on Grandpa's KZ-1000 Kawasaki - fun!) they poured some Champagne and joined Grandpa by the fire at the bottom of the deep end of the pool. Yes, that is correct. They climed down the ramp built the day before and enjoyed some Champagne at the bottom of the pool. The cool air was held back by a nice warm fire, and the wind was held back by the high walls of the deep end. Mom and Dad said it was rather surreal. It was a nice way to wrap up the last night of the Oklahoma stay.
This afternoon we hit the road again. Will we drive straight through again, another 29-hour marathon? Only time will tell. The plan right now is to stop in Memphis tonight, but plans can change. The plan on the way down
was to spend the first night in Knoxville. Anyway, I guess that's it for now. That was actually quite a bit, and I had to leave a lot out. As I said, Mom and Dad usually stay quite busy while in Oklahoma. Oh, Mom wanted me to tell you she just found a brown recluse spider while packing! Oklahoma can be a dangerous place! Dad has been under attack for the last few days by these things called allergies. The allergy attacks have gotten so bad he thinks he may actually have a cold. Pretty crazy stuff. The next time I write, I will be back in Pennsylvania, where the dangers are completely different: underground coal fires, 45 degree inclines, rabid groundhogs, and winter.
lot has happened since my last post. Every time Mom and Dad visit Oklahoma they stay very busy. This time was no exception. The first part of our trip was spent in Okarche with Grandma and Grandpa Vogt, Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Kenny, Aunt Terri and Uncle Mig, Aunt Dianna and Uncle Brenden, Uncle Tom, Uncle Bill, Cousin Garrett, Cousin Maddie, and a bunch of other people who came to visit (including Great Grandma Kretchmar). Everybody wanted to hold me at some point, so I spent a lot of time being passed like a baton. I would fall asleep with one person and wake up with another. It 
has been pretty crazy. So to recap, we arrived in 
Okarche early Thursday morning (over a day and a half ahead of schedule - wow!). That day I got to experience Eischen's chicken for the first time
(it would not be the last time this trip). Eischen's is now more famous than ever, having recently been featured on the Food Network's 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives'. Thursday night the whole family went out to eat at a mexican restaurant. Dad said it wasn't a real mexican restaurant because they didn't have a liquor license, so they couldn't serve tequilla. But they served him and Mom some good mexican beer in margarita glasses with salt and lime, so Dad forgave them. Thursday night Mom and Dad finally got to sleep after their 29 hour marathon road-trip, so I let them sleep at least 3 hours at a time. This would be one of the last nights of the trip this would happen.Friday was an exiciting day for Mom and Dad, but not as much for me. The State Fair of Oklahoma was winding down this weekend, so Mom and Dad took advantage of their early arrival and got some fair time in. I stayed home with Grandma Vogt (Grandpa Vogt was working - it was a weekday after all). Mom and Dad talked about what a great time they had at the fair. Dad ate a turkey's leg, and Mom had a pulled pork sandwhich. They met up with Uncle Mig, Aunt Terri, Cousin Maddie, Uncle Bill, and Uncle Bill's girlfriend Casey. Dad was impressed with her, as she was bold enough to
call him out upon the first meeting. She had asked how Mom and Dad met, and Dad told her the long version, as he thought they were just relaxing. Little did he know, everyone was ready to go and waiting on Casey. "Hey Casey, you about ready?" "Yeah, just listening to the longest story of how two people met I've ever heard." Ouch, Dad! Dad's reply: "All right, we met in a bar - skidaddle!" Mom and Dad then went on about their business. And their business was pleasure. They rode some rides, including one that left one lady in need of medical attention. Then they got corndogs. Real corndogs. Forget about that crap they have in the freezer section of Wal-Mart. It may say "State Fair Corndog", but it is a lie. Do you put your corndogs in a microwave? That negates the very nature of the corndog. 
A real corndog is made in a deep fat frier with a midway barker hollering in the background. A real corndog is eaten amidst the sounds of screaming, dinging, buzzing, laughing, and music. it will be served next to other fried objects such as fried cheese, fried Snickers, and even fried butter. And while you're eating that real corndog, watch your step, because underfoot will be cables and puddles and maybe even some manure of some sort every once in a while. So for the first time in over five years, Mom and Dad had a real corndog! Just look at the enjoyment on their faces! Like little kids!Friday night they went to a rehearsal dinner for Saturday's wedding, where they once again had mexican. And once again, no margarita for Dad, as there was no alcohol at the rehearsal dinner, not even wine. So after the dinner many people went out searching for some loud-mouth chowder, and Mom and Dad came home to me to spend a quiet evening alone. They shared half a bottle of wine as a celebration of new beginnings, but saved their Bacanalian revelry for the next evening.
Saturday morning was picture-taking time. The family had professional pictures taken, but I was a little hungry by the time we got to posing, so I cried a bit. Mom and Dad told me to smile, but I told them to try smiling when they were hungry (they couldn't understand what I was saying). I later found out that I didn't ruin the pictures or anything like that, which made me feel better, as I later realized that one moment of posing for a picture can last a lifetime in people's memories, while a feeding will only last for about 3 hours.
I would remember this lesson for my next picture-taking session, and I've started practicing my smiling more and more. Saturday afternoon I got to meet Aunt Karen, Uncle Greg, and Cousin Lily for the first time. We met over lunch at where? You guessed it - Eischen's. I can't wait until I can eat chicken - it smells so good. I can mostly recall it from dreams, however, since I pretty much slept through both my Eischen's visits. Aunt Karen, Uncle Greg, and Cousin Lily had to leave shortly after lunch, but I would see them again at my 
baptism the next day. Saturday night I finally got to see what all the fuss was about with these Okarche weddings. I stayed quiet during the ceremony so I could better understand what was going on. Then after Shanna and Blake were married I got to pose for a few more pictures. Then I got to see the float. It was very similar to the hay rides they have back home around this time of year. Except that they were drinking beer and wine on this hay ride. I then got to see the reception, which was (as I had previously suspected) a big party. There was food and cake and beer and music and dancing. I met a lot of people in a short amount of time, but then I had to go home for the night with Grandma and Grandpa Vogt while Mom and Dad danced and partied the night away. I've been told Dad danced and partied a bit too much, and I suspect that is why he seemed a little quiet on Sunday.Sunday morning I got to visit church for the first time. It is basically a group meeting in a large room where people sing and lecture about the goodness of a God named Jesus. Or maybe God and Jesus are d
ifferent people. I'm rather confused about it, but the general idea is that these people are very good, and we all need to learn from them and celebrate the goodness. The singing part was pretty, but the lecture part got a little long, and I fell asleep. After church we went home for a short amount of time, and then went back to the same place for the baptism. As I was baptized they said something to me about joining Jesus' family. I wonder if Jesus' family is as big as the Vogt family? And next time I come back to Oklahoma, will I have three families to visit? Eventually I'll learn more 
about this church stuff. All I know now is that joining Jesus' family involves water and godparents (Uncle Mig and Aunt Vanessa). I think I also get fairy godparents at some point if the Disney movies are correct. So then we came home and had a combined celebration of my baptism and Uncle Brenden's 40th birthday. Cookie cake for all! Is it a cookie or a cake? It has frosting like cake, but if you scrape the frosting off it is pure cookie. Either way it seems quite amazing! And I got some presents, including lots of books
that will help me learn more about the church stuff. I can't wait. Dad will read to me and teach me about the Bible, as well as about meditation and Eastern religious philosophy. And Mom will teach me about the Catholic church as I work my way towards something called Communion. For now I'm just happy to be fed, changed, and held on a regular basis. Spirituality will come later (although according to Dad's belief, I am possibly more in touch with my spirituality right now than most adults, as I haven't created the mental blocks that form as we learn about the world).On Sunday I also got to meet Dad's friend Kyle and his son Aidan. Aidan liked to play catch with the football (he was much better at the throwing than the catching). I've seen kids of all ages on this visit, and I get to see what I'll probably be doing over the next months and years. It seems I'll be crawling at some point.
Then I'll start forming words and walking. At that point, Mom and Dad will have what people call "a hand-full". This means that I will take more attention than currently, when Mom and Dad can lie me down in one spot and I stay put. We left Okarche on Tuesday. The last thing we did before leaving was visit Aunt Terri and Uncle Mig's new house. It is still not complete, but it won't be long now. They will be living out in the country (past the city limit sign) where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. In every direction you can see a flat horizon. This is very strange when compared to the hills of Pennsylvania, but beautiful in a completely different way.Then it was on to Ponca City, home of Grandma and Grandpa Dunham. Cousin Lily was also there, as they were watching her for the week. Also, Gracie the Dog was there to play with Eddy the Dog. Shortly after arriving, I also got to meet Great Aunt Sandy. She was very excited about meeting me and had kisses waiting for me. Grandpa Dunham had a tractor and piles of dirt waiting for us. What do you do with a tractor and piles of dirt? You fill in a swimming pool, of course. Grandma and Grandpa had many good years of use with the pool, but now that their kids have kids, the pool was used less and less. Grandpa now
wants to fill it in and install a pond and outdoor theater. That sounds pretty fun. But first comes the fun of filling in the pool. Dad got to learn how to run the tractor and took a few turns dumping some dirt. It was a little scary at first, as you had to get the wheels very close to the edge of the pool to get the dirt in. But Dad and Grandpa seemed to do alright. They spent most of the day Wednesday using the dirt, the tractor, some shovels and rakes, and a compacting device to build a ramp from the bottom of the shallow end to the lip of the pool. The ramp will later be used to get a Bobcat in and out of the pool. For now the ramp has another use (which began on Thursday evening). Wednesday evening we all went to Medford to meet Great Uncle Joe and Great Aunt Cathey, as well as Second Cousin Justin and his wife Andrea and children Dalton, Gunnar, and Ethan. Dalton and I had a conversation, although he carried all of it. Then Great Uncle Joe took pictures of Cousin Lily and I. Remember what I said about my last picture session? Well, I learned my lesson, and I was very good for this session. Once Mom and Dad get the pictures, I'll have to show you how good I was at posing.On Thursday, Dad left the house early, and
when he came back his hair was gone! I was so used to staring at his hair when he held me that I didn't know how to take this at first. Now I've realized he's still the same Dad, he just has less hair. The before
and after pictures are included. Disregard the Hitler mustache in the before picture, that was Dad being silly. Why did he cut his hair? For one thing, he likes to change things from time to time. Another reason is to prepare for his Halloween costume - Godric the Vampire from True Blood. As a DJ for Jay and Hallie's Halloween party, the Godric costume will be very low key but also very cool (lots of fun tattoos). Finally, Dad said it will be nice to have low-maintenance hair for a while. Shortly after Dad got home, I got to meet Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Ebert (Grandma Dunham's parents) for the first time. They said that they already knew a lot about me because of my blog. Everywhere I go, people comment about my blog and how nice it is to be able to keep up with my adventures. I didn't realize I had such a large readership. Now that I've met so many of you in person I can finally tell you how nice it was to meet you. Also, I will continue to keep the blog up on a regular basis. You will be able to keep up with my first steps, first words, first crayola wall paintings, and even my first day of school. Hopefully the blog account won't be out of memory by then : )Thursday
night Mom and Dad went to a movie by themselves while Grandma and Grandpa Dunham watched me. They saw 'Surrogates' and said it was pretty good - an interesting comment on the online society we are currently creating for ourselves. 
For example, you know me from this blog, but did you realize this blog is actually a surrogate version of me as voiced by my dad? It's not actually me, but it is convincing at times. As we create great online communities, how might our ethics change? Are online personas racist? Do they commit crime? As we pour more of ourselves into our online personas, do we lose part of what makes us human? Or has humanity evolved to the point that we are now 
a cyborg race, indivisible from our technological extensions? These philosophical posing are best mused by firelight. So when Mom and Dad got home on the bike (oh yeah, forgot to mention, they rode to dinner and the movie on Grandpa's KZ-1000 Kawasaki - fun!) they poured some Champagne and joined Grandpa by the fire at the bottom of the deep end of the pool. Yes, that is correct. They climed down the ramp built the day before and enjoyed some Champagne at the bottom of the pool. The cool air was held back by a nice warm fire, and the wind was held back by the high walls of the deep end. Mom and Dad said it was rather surreal. It was a nice way to wrap up the last night of the Oklahoma stay.This afternoon we hit the road again. Will we drive straight through again, another 29-hour marathon? Only time will tell. The plan right now is to stop in Memphis tonight, but plans can change. The plan on the way down
was to spend the first night in Knoxville. Anyway, I guess that's it for now. That was actually quite a bit, and I had to leave a lot out. As I said, Mom and Dad usually stay quite busy while in Oklahoma. Oh, Mom wanted me to tell you she just found a brown recluse spider while packing! Oklahoma can be a dangerous place! Dad has been under attack for the last few days by these things called allergies. The allergy attacks have gotten so bad he thinks he may actually have a cold. Pretty crazy stuff. The next time I write, I will be back in Pennsylvania, where the dangers are completely different: underground coal fires, 45 degree inclines, rabid groundhogs, and winter.Happy trails,
Azja
Good night my sweet baby. Will talk to you and mom and dad soon.
ReplyDeletelove you best,
Grandma Taffy/momkat