purim

a few weeks ago i heard of a purum (jewish holiday) festival happening on the promenade and on the street near terrace 19. i could see the flags and the crowds of people walking from my kitchen window. having seen kids dressed in costumes all over town that day, i figured it would be a fun occasion to put aliyah in her bumblebee costume and take her up to see what was going on. there were hundereds of families walking around under the warm sun, buying food from vendors and enjoying the live entertainment. aliyah and i saw many different costumes including the usual assortment of fairies and princesses, but also ladybugs, warriors, flamenco dancers and native americans. it was fun trying to guess with aliyah what people were dressed as. aliyah saw her first float, though there wasn't a parade. the float was just parked on the street for people to look at. though there wasn't a whole lot for aliyah to do, it was still a nice way to spend a couple hours on a sunny spring march afternoon.

aliyah's newest slide

just outside of the dhp office is a short set of stairs that leads to the monument gardens. this has become one of aliyah's favorite spots because here she has actually discovered a slide in the baha'i gardens (under her raised foot in the photo). sure, she has to scoot the whole way down and practically wear a hole in her pants, but a slide is a slide and being in the gardens, well, that makes it even more special. ;)

Aliyah's 3rd Ayyam-i-Ha - Day 4

on the fourth day of ayyam-i-ha, there was a field trip to the zoo planned for the moms and babies/tots, but because of bad weather, we went back to tando instead for more (dry) fun.

in the elevator with papa

Aliyah's 3rd Ayyam-i-Ha - Day 3

ok, day three was a busy day.first aliyah went to rose garden, baha'i school for toddlers at the world center. this was a special rose garden because it included an ayyam-i-ha celebration. it was also amelia and shiori's first time to attend.

class photos

cupcakes!

singing















in the afternoon, we went to the Shrine of the Bab and visited the terraces.

family photo

in the evening papa took aliyah to an ayyam-i-ha party for the bwc families at the pilgrim reception centre

checking out the play dough station

that night, aliyah went to the merkaz with papa and friends to surprise mommy for her birthday.

Aliyah's 3rd Ayyam-i-Ha - Day 2

on the second day of ayyam-i-ha, aliyah went to mother goose on the loose, a fun, singing and musical class for bwc moms and babies/tots.

that night we went to an ayyam-i-ha party where aliyah had fun with thomas (aka "cactus!") and got a nike neckband in a gift exchange.

Aliyah's 3rd Ayyam-i-Ha - Day 1

this year aliyah celebrated ayyam-i-ha with a number of activities spread throughout the four days. there was also an orange-picking project at the garden of mazra'ih the week-end before ayyam-i-ha.

on the first day of ayyam-i-ha, aliyah went to tando, her favoritie indoor play/activity center. there, aliyah got to play with her buddy layla.

after tando, she went to the lunchroom and had fresh orange juice with her good friend sisay.

growing up

aliyah hit two milestones last week:

sleeping in her own bed and riding a bike with training wheels.

on the ground floor of the buiding next to ours is a long open area, safe from traffic, where aliyah loves to ride and exercise those legs.

since aliyah never shared a bed with us, this is her first time to sleep outside of a crib. we can't get over how much bigger she seems in a bed. she likes it there better than her crib, though the excitement of being in the "big bed" have having the ability to get in and out of it makes for shorter afternoon naps and earlier mornings. :

gone for a ride

she'll take it any way she can. :)

cowboy hall of fame

there's a museum in oklahoma called the national western and cowboy heritage museum. i still call it by it's old name: the cowboy hall of fame. it's become quite a gem of a meseum with paintings, sculptures, clothing, tools, and all kinds of relics and regalia of native americans and cowboys. they have a few areas that are particularly fun for children, like the mock-rodeo, an actual life-sized town with a saloon, bank, chapel.. just like in the ol west... and a children's play/discovery area... so much fun...

the botanical gardens outing

last week nadi and i took the kids to the botanical gardens in downtown oklahoma city. despite the fact that we were in a glass building designed to trap heat and recieve sun on a 100 degree august day, we had a great time. the kids loved seeing the plants, climbing stone paths along waterfalls, and most of all, talking to a parrot that could repeat their greetings.



















afterwards, aliyah stretched her legs outside a bit. as some of you know, she loves running down ramps (the tunnel, the shopping cart entrance to level 3, the long stone path towards the pilgrim house and pretty much the whole itc parking lot ...) nice that she got to do it on the grass a bit. :)