David, Melissa, and Co.: Our Summer Vacation Part 1

Vacation is one of those things that you look forward to, and yet dread at the same time. I really enjoy going to see new things, visit family, and spend some time away from the every day life. I do not enjoy the travelling to get to such places, or the lack of sleep (and grumpiness that comes with it). According to Google Maps calculation, we had over 51 hours of travel, but with children (and getting lost a few times because the road signs are terrible), plus the extra travelling we did to see sites that weren’t in our original plan, etc.….we definitely topped 60 hours in the car, and maybe even more like 65. The kids were troopers for sure. Poor Easton got to the point where he’s start crying every time we put him in the car seat. We had our moments of insanity, but all things considered, we survived the travel alright.

We went to David’s family reunion which was in Eureka Springs, AR. I had never been to Memphis, where his sister Stephanie lives, so we decided to make that part of our trip, and we headed there before the reunion.

We decided to break it up into 3 days to get to Memphis to make it a little easier on the kiddos. Our first stop was in Albuquerque. We stayed at the home of David’s brother Clark (free lodging is the best!) We didn’t get out our camera, but we let the kids play outside in the backyard after we got there to get them some exercise. They sure enjoy being outside. Shayla loves to jump on the trampoline, and we held Easton up there and let her bounce him a little bit. He thought that was the greatest thing ever and could not stop laughing. Both kids enjoyed swinging in the swing, and Shayla can never get enough of slides. We ate dinner, then put the kids to bed. Up early and on the road again the next morning.

The next day we stopped in Oklahoma City. We stopped by to see the temple. The church next door was open, so we took the opportunity to use some clean bathrooms. Shayla thought it was time for nursery. I must admit, their nursery had some pretty cool toys.

David took this picture because it was strange that all the “Welcome” signs on the door were missing an “e” at the end.

The temple:

Then we headed to our hotel. It seemed to take forever to check in and unload. Possibly because the elevator barely worked (we were on the 7th floor so it’s not like taking the stairs was easy), and one of us always had to stay in the room with the kids. I made sure to get a hotel with a microwave and a fridge, so we reheated some soup that I had made ahead of time. Then we took the kids out to the pool to get a little exercise and tire them out for bedtime. Shayla was excited because she got to sleep on the pull-out couch. Problem was she didn’t actually want to go to sleep, she kept getting out and walking around.

Next morning, we were up early and back on the road. We wanted to see the Oklahoma City Memorial while we were there, so we took about an hour to stop and see it. We didn’t have time to go in the museum, but it would have been interesting.

The bombing happened at 9:02 AM. There is a gate on either side of the memorial marked with the minute before, and the minute after. This represents life before and life after.

There used to be a street running through where the reflecting pool is.

The Field of Empty Chairs represents each of the lives that were lost. There are 168 total, 19 of them are smaller for each of the children who lost their lives. They are arranged in 9 rows, one for each floor of the building, and each chair is placed on the floor where they were at the time of the bombing. This field is where the original building stood.

These are the only remaining walls of the building. The names inscribed here are those who survived.

This is the Survivor Tree. It is over 90 years old and is a symbol of human resilience.

On the right is the building that was on the opposite side of the street from the bombing, and you can see how it was damaged. They have repaired it enough so that it is structurally safe (the Museum is inside), but they have left much of the damage there as a reminder.