To Denton, TX

We had a slow start this morning and did not leave until nearly ten. We stopped in Oklahoma City to visit the state capitol building and the Oklahoma City Memorial. I think Kris thought I was a bit on the morbid side, but I tried to impress on her that this could happen again, especially in this political climate. The center of the explosion was the tree at the left of the picture of the reflecting pool picture (with the people near it). We thought the memorial resembled the Pentagon 9-11 memorial that we visited about a year ago (see 8-22-09 post). After that we left the general path of Route 66 (maybe someday we will make it all the way to California) and pushed on toward Texas. It was hot out, but the route was pretty green and hillier than I anticipated. Mayebe after living in central Illinois every place seems hilly! We made it to Denton, TX, at about 4:15 pm, unpacked, went to the University of North Texas campus to register, ate at a Rudy's (a locally recommended barbeque place) and swam at the hotel in the evening (temps still in the high 90s).

Off to Tulsa

As the last post indicated this week was vacation bible school (VBS) at St. Anthony's. We were quite busy all week, but it was a good experience. I hope the kids were blessed through the experience. On Monday we found out that Katie needs to be on a soft food diet another couple weeks as not all of her stitches have come out. Our sunflowers are doing their typical late July blossoming.

On Tuesday, Karen noted that van's front passenger window appeared to be stuck. After she went to bed that night I dismantled the car door to see if there was something I could fix. I could not, so I called up our friend/mechanic to look at it on Wednesday. He discovered the stuck window was simply locked out of moving by a child safety button. Boy was I embarrassed by not thinking of that and just taking the door apart! He got the door back together for me.

Thursday was the last night of VBS (except final cleanup which will be some other day). Afterward we packed and picked up the rental car using reserves of adrenaline from that night. This morning we left at 8:15 for our trip to Texas for a presentation on Sunday afternoon. We got a bit of rain and constuction delays around St Louis. We found a Peoria, OK, in the far northeast corner of the Peoria map. An overpass rest stop on I-44 (the Will Rogers Turnpike) claims to be the world's largest McDonalds. We arrived at our hotel in Tulsa at about 6:45 pm. I have not been to Tulsa for some 22 years. I don't recall too much about the family trip and this city. I do recall that my father got pulled over by a pretty zealous cop 22 years ago and given a speeding ticket. Oddly, Karen got pulled over and given a warning for going a mere 7 mph over on the interstate as we were approaching the city! Of course we stoppped by the oil man statue, see:http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2190! Tomorrow we head to Texas. The predicted high for Denton on Sunday and Monday: 101 F. (Hello AC and swimming pools!)

First day of VBS

Chatty blog entry tonight. Five months until Christmas - Merry Christmas in July!

Earlier this week the rabbit trap I borrowed from my boss to protect my garden caught a juvenile raccoon. I let it go in the woods couple miles from my house. The trap has still not caught any rabbits. The Peoria area has been sacked by Japanese beetles this year. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_beetle. I have been them in previous years in the yard but not known what they were. Our foliage has been relatively unscathed, but some places like our church have gotten hit hard. I remember on the 4th of July in downtown Peoria being amazed by all the dead leaves on the ground with nothing left but veins. The scourge is predicted to pass soon.

Tonight was the first night of vacation Bible school at St. Anthony's. Karen has reprised her role as leader of the preschool area - she does a wonderful job with it. Kristine is helping her this year - she is a little old to be on the other side of things. Katie is also in the preschool class. She is one of the younger participants. and had some listening issues, but otherwise did OK. I was asked to lead the video segment for the second time. Last year the video clips were short that I brought in vaguely related science demos to kill time (they were a big hit). This year the segmant has been redesigned to the point that tonight, anyway, I had not time to spare. I don't mind so much, I still have my demos in reserve and we are doing more Bible related stuff.

Somebody gave Katie a cute dress that reminded us of Minnie Mouse, so Kris got Katie into costume.

This afternoon the movie "Real Genius" was on TV. I never saw the full 1985 movie, but saw more of it today. It actually used some somewhat realistic laser terminology. Kris was mildly amused. The closing song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears reminded me of when my family visited Green Bay in 1985; we were living in North Tonawanda, NY. We did not have cable, but we stayed with my grandparents, who did have cable, so we watched MTV. Back then they played music videos, and that song was in rotation. Then I also remembered watching the Live Aid concert on that trip. It kind of blows my mind that was 25 years ago this month.

VBS and air show

Kris and Katie attended a vacation bible school at a local church this week. It had an Egyptian theme (it covered the story of Joseph). On Thursday they got to ride a camel. Katie called it a "canimal". Today we were at our church getting ready for our vacation bible school, which starts tomorrow, and saw part of the Prairie Air Show over the nearby airport. No Blue Angel or Thunderbirds this year, but there were other loud jet fighter planes (F-18s?). Katie was napping in the parish hall and did not appreciate being woken up by them, but once she was conscious she enjoyed being outside watching the very loud plane - you can see it to the right of her head in the picture - she likes it loud! I think the show was stopped a little early due to an incoming thunderstorm, but the dark clouds made it easy to see the flames of the jet engines.

Balloons in the Park

Last night our friend Wayne Bosma joined us at Peoria's annual balloon festival. Actually, the festival never took place last year and this year's festival was in Chilicothe. We attended the "glow", when the balloons set on the ground at dusk and glow like huge lanterns. So many pretty pictures to choose from...

2 Year Anniversary, 6th Month Anniversary, Jury Duty, and County Fair

I began blogging on this date in 2008. I hope that you have enjoyed the over 300 entries in this blog and aren't you glad I haven't crammed all this into your email "in" box? We met Katie 6 months ago Monday! So glad to know her. She is still in a soft food diet, but continues to heal OK. On Monday and Tuesday I had to do jury duty. Mostly sat around and worked on stuff. I did not volunteer for grand jury (every Tues for 12 weeks), volunteered but not one of 4 drawn for coroners jury this Thursday, not called for 2 trials, but called for the last trial of the week (traffic). Seated on the jury (very comfortable chairs), but excused. When I left they had over a 50% excuse rate. Glad to be out, but had a nagging "didn't make the team" feeling afterward. The $25 I made those two days is more than I make per day directing researchers in the summer. Tuesday night we went to the Heart of Illinois Fair, it was fairly quiet there - except maybe the very loud tractor pulls. Katie was afraid to feed the animals at the petting zoo. The much anticipated funnel cake was not that good, but the rest of the fair food was OK. At one of the political booths we stopped by we unexpectedly met somebody who worked for Aaron Schock a few years ago and quite likely was the one who helped get Katie's adoption paperwork "unstuck" from Illinois bureaucracy. We were all glad to get that sort of closure.

Matthiessen State Park

The family made a trip to Matthiesen State Park today. We enjoyed our visit on June 21, 2009, (see blog entry) and wanted to visit again. We again had a REALLY great time walking through the cool sandstone dells of the park. Lots of waterfalls. On the way to the park and back we passed through the damage path of a tornado from the June 5 outbreak (see blog entry) near Magnolia, IL. The blackberries are ripening in the area, but are well protected by mosquitoes and poison ivy.

Nina and Pinta visit

Replicas of the Nina and Pinta (no Santa Maria) docked near the Spirit of Peoria riverboat this weekend. Kris and I visited the Nina in 2007 - it was such a tiny ship to cross the Atlantic. The real Pinta (right) was the same size as the Nina (left), but the replica was built bigger to accomodate more visitors. Karen and Kris are at the top of the ramp of the Pinta pic. See: http://www.thenina.com/schedule.htm for a schedule of other stops in the Midwest and elsewhere. After lunch at the Old Chicago restaurant nearby, I ran Katie through the fountain by the riverfront.