Nathan's First Vacation

We've taken a couple trips with Nathan, but this was the first one I'd call an actual vacation.

Friday morning we left to go to Oklahoma. Some friends of my parents, Jim and Barb Esbenshade, have a gathering every year at their farm called the Golden Harvest Day. They do a complete wheat harvest using nothing but antique farm machinery and horses.

Whereas the concept itself is pretty neat, that in itself is not enough to entice me to spend 7 hours in the car just to spend the day outside in 95 degree heat. With a 9 month old.

But Nathan did really well in the car. Really well all along! Here's a prime moment of sock munching. Paul and I decided to combat fussiness by one of us riding in the back whenever Nathan was awake. It cut down on our conversation, but we both decided we'd like to retain our sanity by not listening to a bored baby scream for miles and miles.

We've gotten to know a guy that works for the Esbenshade's, Mike, and his wife, Angie. They've been up to the Power of the Past show in Ottawa twice, and we really hit it off with them, sitting and visiting for hours in the shade (usually making fun of how excited these old men get about tractors). They were the main reason we decided to go down.

We stayed at a hotel in Durant. It had a pool, which Nathan loved. It was 3 feet at the shallowest, so either Paul or I had to hold him, but he didn't mind. We even tried out his dog-paddling abilities - We'd only hold him with one hand and watch his hands and feet go! I didn't get any pictures; I'll tell you why in a moment.
The show started at 8 AM with a free breakfast. You know I'm all about breakfast and free. So what did we do? We skipped it in lieu of lazing around the hotel room and eating at McDonalds. We finally got there about 10.

Nathan was all cool and ready to go in his shades. He kicked back in the stroller to enjoy the day.

But even at 10 it was hotter than Hades. Nathan eventually fell asleep, and I ended up taking him in the house (priviledges of knowing the host). Even under the big tent it was still too hot for him; his little face was bright pink. He didn't act uncomfortable, but this Mommy worries.....

Grammy came and watched him so I could go see the happenings outside. They'd finished the potato harvest and were full-fledge into the wheat harvest. It's not the best picture, but you get an idea.

About 4 in the afternoon, I'd had enough dust. Mom and JC took us to the bridge over the Red River to Texas. Carpenter's Bluff Bridge is an old railroad bridge that's now used for vehicles. It's a LONG way across, and it's only one lane.

You can't see it in this picture, but there's a closed wooden lane to the side of it, which is what they used for foot traffic, horse traffic, and vehicles up until 1965. Imagine crossing this thing in a buggy when a train comes rumbling across. *H* no. That's all I got to say about that.

Red River - Oklahoma on the right, Texas on the left.

After Oklahoma, we went to see Paul's relatives that live southwest of Wichita. We stayed there Sunday and Monday nights, and just kind of hung out and enjoyed time with family. These are some random shots of cuteness I got of Nathan.

Not sure what he thinks of chickens.

Chilling in the hammock.

And apparently Nathan doesn't understand the concept of "Mommy and Daddy want to sleep in when we're on vacation." These were just two of the shots we got at 6:30 in the morning when he was ready to party and we were both experiencing a sleeping-with-the-windows-open-induced hangover.