Top Ten - Part 3

Today's Top 10 will be all the things we are looking forward to doing with our Family! Keep in mind, these lists are scientifically put together by all 4 of us. :)

10. Vacations!!
9. 6 Flags
8. Watching OU Football games together.
7. Nertz
6. Scrabble/Monopoly
5. Holiday meals at Grandmother's House
4. Choctaw
3. Laughing at with Nana.
2. Playing with all the cousins.
1. Spending the night at Memaw and Pa's house, Nana's house, and Grandad and KA's house. (Rob and I are especially looking forward to this)

Top Ten - Part 2

Today's Top Ten are all about the grocery store.  Our grocery shopping experience is extremely different than an American one, and after 3 years, there are some things we are all looking forward to at the store.  If you want some good entertainment, come shopping with us the first month we are home.  You might get a good laugh.

10. Large paper cups (Solo, we love you!!...here paper cups are the kind you use for brushing your teeth)
9. Pretty meat packaging without all the insides showing.
8. Fresh Milk....Braums, we are coming!
7. Lunch Meat.....turkey!
6. Rotisserie Chickens
5. Loaves of Bread
4. Blocks of Cheese!!
3. Cereal Aisle
2. Drink Aisle
1. Already prepared food section being everything we can recognize.

Top Ten - Part 1

So we are down to the last few days here in our home away from home.  We have less than 4 days until we board the airplane, but won't be in Oklahoma for 5 days....lots of travel.  So for your reading enjoyment, our family put togetether some different "top 10's"  during our family time the other night.   So each day, you will get to see what we are looking forward to when returning home.

Today's Top 10 are the the ten "little" conveniences/things we are sooooo looking forward to in America.

10. Green grass, and lawns.
9. Carpet.
8. Central heating and air.
7. Water Fountains and drinking out of the tap.
6. dryers to dry our clothes in. (mom, I am so looking forward to your HUGE Maytag washer/dryer)
5. Dishwasher.
4. No one making suggestions on why we should/shouldn't buy something, what we should/shouldn't wear, or making strong comments to us at the grocery store about what is in our grocery cart, then tsk, tsking when we check out, and craning their necks to see how much we are going to spend.
3. personal space.
2. widespread use of deodarant.
1. Ice in drinks!!!!!!!

A Fun Visit

I am slowly trying to catch up on our last weeks of traveling, and hopefully I can do so before we start traveling again! We counted up on our way home 8 legs of travel in the last weeks.  There were buses, cars, trains, planes, then more buses, cars, and trains again.  My least favorite leg was the one on a bus where a man was moving and had all his possessions with him, including his dog on the bus.  The dog didn't have a leash or anything and just roamed up and down, up and down the bus.  At one point it was licking me....GROSS, and at another time it got under the driver's feet while driving.  The driver was FURIOUS!!!Fun times.

One of our most anticipated times of our trip was visiting our good friends in their new home.  They live in a beautiful place in the mountains where the air is dry and cool.....not SWEATY and HUMID!!!   We had such a great time with our friends and were so blessed to see them in their new home. 

The kids at the entrance to the "old town". 

 

 Two old friends.

 Nothing like cotton candy shared between sisters.

 This was a very cool hors made out of molasses.  However, it didn't taste as good as it looked.

 Fun times in "old town"

  Hudson being hudson.

 Boat trip at the park.  This is the girls boat.  Grace and Hannah drove us around the park. 

We were so blessed to spend some great time with our friends. We miss them already but are so thankful to see where they live and to have had this special time with them!!

End of the Year

We have been traveling for the last 18 days, but are home now and have had numerous adventures!! Our trip started at when we went to the big city and met some friends for the end of the year home school celebration.  It was so much fun. 

I have friends and family in the states who have a regular co-op to meet with weekly or monthly, but since we all live so far away from each other, this is impossible.  However, we decided  to make a big deal for our kids at the end of the year, where we could all celebrate their accomplishments. Each child performed one of their talents.  There were singers, piano and guitar players, poetry recitations, and a jump roper.  Then each child had an academic presentation as well. 

What a fun day we had! We all met together in the afternoon and saw Kung Fu Panda 2.  Then we had a big meal together and headed to the celbration.  I was so proud of not only my two children, but of all the kids who had each accomplised so much.  We were so blessed to have time to celebrate all together.

Here is Hudson singing with Rob accompanying him on guitar.  He also did a research project report on Alexander Graham Bell.

 Here is Hannah presenting her research paper on Segregation in American schools,  She also sang a solo.

 All the participants.

 Friends

This is True Love....You think this Happens Every Day?

15 years ago today I married my best friend.

Today, I am still married to my best friend!!

Daily Sights on the way to the store

Lately, we have been coming up with a running list of "little" things we look forward to once we are back in the USA, things that wouldn't rate on any important scale, but little insignificant things.  For example, expectation of toilet paper in the toilet stalls, tall glasses filled with ice (tea) that keep getting refills at a restaruant, no one staring at you, not having to climb 7 flights of stairs every time you come home.  The little things.  One of the bigger things is our excitement over grocery stores.....cereal aisles, meat wrapped in nice little packages, cheese, options, nice smells while buying food. 

Today, as I walked to the market for a few things, then on to the bakery for bread, then a little farther to another store for some other items, I thought about how completely different my shopping trips will be in just a few weeks.  These are some of the sights I saw today as I walked through town with the kids.  I likely won't be seeing these on my way to Wal-Mart.

The unloading of the watermelon truck.  I wish I had a picture of the hundreds of watermelons sitting on the side of the road already.

 The random lady on the street selling and shucking corn in the miserable heat.

 I won't be passing a lady on her bike coming home from her shopping run with her makeshift umbrella shading her from the sun.

 And....thankfully, I will not see this, our one stoplight in town, which is more of a suggestion than anything else, because traffic always looks like this no matter red, green, or yellow.