After Phoenix

We were home one week when Dina, Ellie, Scott and I left for Oklahoma City.  We flew into Dallas, stayed over night, then drove to OK...You are probably wondering why the heck were we going to OK in the middle of summer!  Well, last February Ellie tried out for a select pre-Olympic volleyball team.  they had 36 try-outs throughout the US.  Ellie was in the 12 and under division and she tried out for the Libero position. Libero means "free" in Italian, which in term of volleyball means she is free to go in and out playing in the back row only, but she can just run in and take the place of someone in the back, then go out, but go right back in for someone who is rotating to the back row.  Anyway, they selected only 24 girls to come to this Olympic Training Camp and Ellie was one of the lucky 24!  She stayed on the campus of the Central Oklahoma University in Edmond, OK and she roomed in a dorm with another girl.  The camp was 5 days and she loved it...and she would love to go back.  You have to try out each year until you finally reach the 16 and under level, then you are considered the girls to watch...maybe be on the Olympic team!  And of course that was Ellie's goal a year ago when she announced that she wants to play in the Olympics!!

 We were told to go to Roanoke, just down the road from our Hotel for the BEST BBQ ever!  They were right, it was awesome.

 Across the street from the Hard Eight BBQ was the store called "Hey Sugar"...check out all the different kind of popcorn they had....Mt. Dew popcorn, can you believe it?

 Of course we had to spend a day roaming around Bricktown...and have lunch on the canal and visit the Oklahoma City Memorial. 

The wall that has so many pictures and memorabilia of the ones who lost their lives.

The water is only an inch deep, it stands where the building was...to the right are the "Field of Empty Chairs".  Each symbolizes the life that was lost (168).  They are in rows, one for each of the nine floors of the building and represent the floor on which those killed were working or visiting.  The shorter "chairs" are the 19 children that were killed.  The bronze and stone chair rests on a glass base etched with the name of the victim.  By day, the chairs seem to float above their translucent bases.  By night, the glass bases illuminate as beacons of hope.

As you enter the Memorial from the street, the East Gate wall is etched with these words:
  We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever.  May all who leave here know the impact of violence.  May this Memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.

We came back here on the last day so that we could bring Ellie to see this Memorial. She was very touched by it.  As you step through the wall and look up, the time 9:01 is engraved.  At the opposite end of the reflecting pool the wall is engraved with the time:  9:03.  The entry time of 9:01 on April 19, 1995 represents the innocence of the city before the attack.  The west gate or wall that has 9:03 represents the moment we were all changed forever.

As we drove out of the city heading back to Dallas we passed the town of Moore where the tornado hit in May of this year...whole blocks were completely leveled.  There were two large  groups of clean-up people, sorting and stacking the debris.

The cement foundations are visible where homes once stood.  We were told by a neighbor that the people will have to have a new foundation poured as it is not safe to use the existing one.  Above, Ellie is standing at the fence that totally encompasses a school area that is gone.  the flowers were arranged to spell out HOPE and there was a sign thanking the teachers of that elementary school for keeping the children safe.

It is one thing to see devastation like this on TV, but to witness it in real life is certainly something that leaves a lasting impression.  We here in the Pacific Northwest are very fortunate to NOT have tornadoes or hurricanes.  Yes, we get rain and sometimes flooding, maybe a 100 year flood will come in our life time, but nothing like the devastation you see in the pictures above...something they live with on a yearly basis.

 Oh, did we ever think of our SIL, Aaron, the fisherman, the hunter, he would have loved this store!

And lastly I wanted to show you these HUGE statues depicting the GREAT Land Run of 1889!  You can see how big they are as Dina is standing next to one.  People rushed to claim some land that was just opened up for settlement. Some who made the run sought to beat others to choice homesteads by entering early and hiding out until the legal time of entry.  These people came to be known as "sooners".

Thanks for hanging in there with me through all these pictures and stories...I wonder if Ellie will make it next year and if it will be in the same place or a different location.  OK is the home of the "sitting" Olympic volleyball team.  They spent an evening with the girls, they played but could only be on their bottoms...(most of them have no legs, one leg or maybe a prosthesis.)  The net is obviously much lower to the ground and the girls sure had a good time learning how to play by scooting on their bottoms.

Now we are off to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for 9 days to play in the lake, golf, fish, and just relax and have fun with the whole family!  So stay tuned for more pictures when I get back!!