The Big Three

While in Oklahoma our events of the day can be summarized into the big three. No that's not the interstates in Atlanta or the car makers that are in financial trouble, but the 3 "E's" of the weekend: eating, elevators, and of course...Ella.

Eating:
It all started when arrived in Oklahoma. We stopped to grab some dinner after a long day for all three of us. We ordered an appetizer before dinner and Ella decided she not only wanted some, but she wanted to dip hers like we were! She dipped, and dipped, and dipped. She dipped the same thing over and over so much that Earl and I decided we didn't want to dip ours anymore...

The next night at dinner she did the same thing with chips and cheese dip. Instead of showing you the same pictures over and over, I decided to show you another first for Ella...she ate an entire taco by herself with no help (heaven forbid).

And then, of course there was the nightly "Coo- kie" (cookie). Every night we would enjoy a cookie from the lobby (served promptly at 6pm). Ella made friends right away, and since her daddy is somewhat of a "regular" around the hotel they were very sweet and helpful our entire stay.

Elevators:

Just because I couldn't think of a catchy acronym with three E's and an S I'll lump two events into the elevators section. We did have lots of fun swimming in the indoor pool. Some of the senior adults use the pool during the weekdays for exercise and water aerobics, so we enjoyed many conversations with locals, including one sweet retired schoolteacher.

But... the most fun excitement for Ella I think the whole trip was the fact that we had to use the elevator several times a day! She loved pushing the buttons and waiting for the doors to open (no honey, banging on the doors doesn't make it open faster). At the beginning of our trip, she was quite hesitant to cross the gap between the floor and the elevator (there's a small space that you probably don't notice, but when you're small it seems much bigger, I'm sure). I basically had to drag her onto the elevator. By the end of our stay she would walk right across with no problems. Oh yeah, and she even pushed the "call for help" button. Don't worry we rushed right off the elevator. Who would put that button at a child's eye level anyway? :)

Here's she is, waiting for the elevator after a swim,

Getting onto the elevator with no help (see the gap?),

And then on the elevator at last, dancing as we go up (no music in the elevator, but whatever)

And then of course...Ella:

Nothing specific but just a few cute shots of her great personality while we were away. I think she enjoyed seeing her Daddy as much as I did! She's missed the wrestling and giggling with him. They did their best to catch up, don't worry!