Two weeks of family time and now the training begins!

Before Tisha b'Av, we headed down to Dallas to spend the long weekend with the Spigler family! These are Yoni's cousins from Israel who spent three weeks visiting Dallas. We had a wonderful time doing activities with them and spending some quality time together. We hadn't seen them in two years since Yoni and I were in Israel for the summer. The five children (Miriam - 10, Eliana - 8, Rachelli - 5, Ze'ev - 3, and Yehuda - 1) also had a great time with Libby. After the initial few hours of timidation, they warmed up quickly, and even became great playmates for her! They all learned how to make her sit and fetch, and during meal time they became her best friends as she sat by their side waiting for anything to drop.

That weekend, we left kind of early on Sunday, because we had to make it back home to prepare the house/kitchen for the rest of the week, and our next visitor! Early Monday morning, I left to pick my Mom up at the Wichita airport. She came with me to work that day, then we came home for dinner. On Tuesday, we spent the whole day getting things done around the house and running a few errands in town, then the three of us took the Turnpike into Tulsa to see Wicked. I saw it once with the girls in college when we did a road trip to New York, but my Mom and Yoni hadn't seen it, so we all had a great time - what a good show! It was also enjoyable to go into the city for the evening. We have yet to really venture to Tulsa, and it's really a nice city. Hopefully we'll get to make it there for a few more ocassions before our time in Oklahoma comes to a close.






















After the fun-filled week with Mommy visiting, we went back down to Dallas for the weekend! Now, in addition to the whole Spigler family, Shuki, Cyrel, Sara Na'ava and Gavi came in town as WELL as Mom and Dad. It was a fun-filled, quick weekend, but wonderful to be with so much family!

On Sunday, we went on a daytrip with everyone to the Fort Worth Stockyards.

















Neither Cyrel nor I had ever been there, and of course it was a first for all of the kids. We all hung out for a while as people took turns posing on the longhorn steer.

(Here's Sara Na'ava with her Savta - if you look closely, the steer was peeing while they sat there...)























All the Spigler kids!




















Yoni felt quite in his element -


























Ze'ev also had a great time -



















Yehuda missed some of the fun, but he seemed quite content -

























After walking around for a bit and finishing our picnic, we took a nice long train ride past downtown and back again. Here's everyone waving to the train as it pulled into the station:






















Here's Yoni and me on the train:




















Cyrel watching Gavi's excitement as he acted out the whole train ride with "toot toots", the arm pumps, and all, as he stared out the window :




















It was very cute - Sara Na'ava almost fell asleep on Eliana's shoulder while they were gazing out the window on the ride back:





















Aww - cousins Yoni and Ze'ev:




















Sara Na'ava, Miriam, and Rachelli:





















Adorable picture of Rachelli with Ze'ev:



















All in all, it was wonderful seeing everyone and spending so much time together!

Now, back to life in Enid -
The week we returned from all of the family adventures, Yoni's academic phase of pilot training began! For six weeks he has normal length days of T-6 (the trainer he begins on) academics.
G-d willing, September 29th he'll hit the flight line and start the true intensity of pilot training. This will be quite a day - the day after Yom Kippur, my 23rd birthday, and Yoni hits the flight line!

It looks like we have a very busy, exciting few months ahead of us :)