Our trip to Tulsa! We left on Wednesday, October 24 and returned on Tuesday, October 30. The purpose was to see friends and family (and the ND-OU game, ahem) and it was Isaac's first plane ride, first time out of the country and his first time on US soil! Admittedly I was nervous about the actual trip, since he was a lap baby we didn't have an extra seat for him, and to complicate matters we couldn't sit in the emergency exit row like we normally do to give Adam extra legroom, so we were doubly squished into two normal seats.
On the flight from Cancun to Dallas the plane was completely full, and we had an aisle and middle seat. It was about a three hour flight, and Isaac was good most of the way, although there were about twenty minutes when he was crying and squawking and we had a hard time calming him down. On the flight from Dallas to Tulsa (40 minutes) he slept the whole way.
Margie was there to pick us up at the Tulsa airport. The weather was in the 80's when we arrived but quickly dropped to the 30's to 50's the rest of the week. We drove by the Elks Lodge in Sapulpa on the way to Margie's house, and who should be just leaving (or was it arriving?) but Grandpa Mike! We stopped and Mike got to meet Ike, his first grandbaby.
At home Margie had begged, borrowed and stolen baby items from her friends, including a crib, baby seat, stroller, car seat, and deluxe baby swing.
VIDEO: Isaac enjoying his swing (and Margie and me trying to figure out how it works).
On Friday we went to the nursing home to see Adam's 87-year-old grandmother. Margie's sister Suzanne (red sweater) was there for lunch. It was amazing to see Great Grandma with Isaac - although she doesn't remember people or events, nor can she do many things for herself anymore, she hasn't forgotten how to hold a baby. She grabbed onto him and rocked him back and forth in her wheelchair. She even flipped him around to face the front or to face her, and arranged his legs so he'd be comfortable and secure. Margie, who goes to the nursing home several times a week and knows all the residents and staff, enjoyed showing Isaac off to everyone.
VIDEO: Isaac with Great Grandma Crawford
Friday night we invited some friends over to the house, and we had a pretty good showing. We didn't get pictures of everyone, but some of the people who stopped by included Adam's friends Dustin, BJ, Natalie, and Angela, another friend Beau and his 8-month-old Abby, my friends Sarah, James, and their 11-month-old Izzy, and my old neighbors Jim and Danny. Margie was in baby heaven.
Saturday was game day! We got up and headed out around noon. Ike stayed in Sapulpa with Grandma. Grandpa Mike, Adam, Brian and I fit into Brian's new Audi and headed out to Norman. I grabbed a pregame nap on the way. Once in Norman we stopped at Adam's friend Ryan's house, to pick him up and meet his adorable 11-month-old carrot-top Phelps (who has the same birthday as my niece Lily, by the way). Then it was a tight squeeze in the backseat of the car. Guess who got to sit in the middle? And yes that's the biggest sunroof I've ever seen. It's like riding in the Popemobile.
We parked and walked around Campus Corner, which is an area of bars and restaurants right on the edge of campus. We ran into Adam's cousin Chris and his 15-year-old son Dylan. Adam and I took the opportunity to wander around campus a bit, which is really lovely and features the "Cherokee Gothic" style of architecture. We even ran into one of Adam's old professors, who had also taught at Notre Dame. Then we headed into the stadium.
It was a new attendance record at the stadium, and Adam and I had seats all the way at the top of the lower deck, near the end zone. The Oklahoma fans had arranged it so as to be color-coded crimson or cream, depending on the section, which created a striped effect throughout the stadium which was really cool. Although it cooled off as soon as the sun went down, we were packed in like sardines and kept warm with the ambient body heat in the stadium.
Afterwards we met up with Mike and Brian again as they grabbed something to eat, then we headed out. We got back to Sapulpa at about 2:30am.
On Sunday, Adam's aunt Sammie and uncle Phil invited us to their house for lunch. Sammie made chicken, ribs, hamburgers, brats, potato salad, and two desserts!
On Monday we ran some last-minute errands, and Margie made dinner at home for everyone. We gave Isaac a late-night bath so everyone could see how much he likes to splash around. We got some pictures of him in a highchair that had been his dad's and his grandpa's.
VIDEO: Isaac blows bubbles
Tuesday we headed back. This last video was taken after we returned, but I thought I'd include it anyway - it's Isaac when he wakes up in the morning in a good mood.
VIDEO: Isaac waking up in the morning