Halloween with the Ancients

From left to right, that's: Queen Cleopatra, the Goddess Athena, Elena of Avalor, Spartacus, and Spartacus.

On Bromide Hill

On our way back from soccer games and lunch at a little Irish place in Ardmore, Nina and Pablo and I went searching for Nebo, Oklahoma, but didn't find it. We did manage to find Bromide Hill and Veterans Lake at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area south of Sulphur--places we'd never visited before, though we've been to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area many times. Nina's on Bromide Hill in the photos below. Pablo was more reluctant to approach the edge.
That's Sulphur's Artesian Hotel in the distance.
Pablo was not reluctant to rock this walkway onto Veterans lake.

Seven goals for Nina in the month of October

Nina starts at forward in Ardmore.
Nina delivers a lead pass to Brooklyn that produces the first score of the game.

Three minutes after Brooklyn scores, this shot by Nina was on its way to the net when Natalie kicked it. Unfortunately, Natalie was offsides.

Great second half pass by Nina. Unfortunately, the ref said Megan was offsides.
Nina calls for the ball, receives it, waits, and then delivers a perfect pass to Megan. The keeper blocks Megan's first shot. Megan's second shot, off the rebound, strikes the post and is on its way out of the box when Nina delivers a strike with her left foot. Goooooooooool! That's Nina's seventh goal in the month of October, after being held scoreless in September.
We win 4-0.

More Pabi ball!

A week ago, we thought Pablo had played his last game, but on Friday we learned he has three more games to play!
He started at left back in this showdown in Ardmore against the Midwest City Strikers. Pablo defended hard and did particularly well with a series of quick throw-ins: his specialty. Without Oscar--our best player--we were down 2-0 at halftime of a hard-fought game after being victimized by a pair of unfortunately delivered goal kicks that the Strikers returned right up the middle and into our net.
Pablo moved to center back in the second half. That's him behind Logan in the middle of the scrum above. But though he helped shored up the defense in the center, our offense was never able to find the net, and we fell: 0-3--our first loss of the season

Britain's Finest

Nina, Pablo and Emilio joined me at the McSwain Theatre on Saturday night for a performance by the Beatles Tribute band: "Britain's Finest." Emilio and I have seen the Beatles Tribute band "1964" perform two times, once at the McSwain with Mari and once in Norman when he was five, but this was the first time Nina and Pablo had seen a "Beatles" performance. Earlier this year, we bought Pablo a portable CD-Player, and he has been wearing out his Beatles CDs, Nina loves her "Glee Sings the Beatles" soundtrack, and Emilio's Beatles-bona-fides are well established at emiliosdad.blogspot.com (see this, this, and this). This past week, I went online to find a sample "Britain's Finest" setlist and made a CD mix to match. We listened to it multiple times on our way to and from Texas over the last few days, so by the time we arrived for the concert, our foursome knew most of the words of the songs we'd hear.
We knew we had tickets on the first row. What we didn't know is that we'd be sitting next to Mrs. Nelson, who was Emi, Nina, and Pablo's second-grade teacher at Hayes. They were almost as excited to see her as they were to see the band. Pablo joined in enthusiastically in all the sing-along moments.
Unlike "1964," "Britain's Finest" goes through multiple costume changes in order to make it all the way through the Beatles canon.
Pablo said his favorite performance of the night was "I Saw Her Standing There;" Nina voted for "I Feel Fine;" and Emilio liked "Yesterday" the best. After the show, the woman sitting beside Emilio told me that he had a beautiful voice, and she noted that he knew the words to every song.

Fall Break Friday with Aunt Carolyn

Aunt Carolyn met us at the Modern and explored the exhibitions with Pablo.
When Pablo and I went to see "Phantom of the Opera" with Granddaddy and Grandmother, Nina and Emilio went to Aunt Carolyn's house to see Grandmom and go swimming!

After the pool party, Grandmom invited everyone to lunch at the Original.

Pablo meets the Phantom

For Pablo's birthday this year we bought him a ticket to see "The Phantom of the Opera" matinee with me and Grandmother and Granddaddy at Bass Hall in Fort Worth. After eating at Pizzeria Uno near Sundance Square, we walked over to the Bass and checked out the view from the terrace before taking our seats on the first row of the Gallery.
I encouraged Pablo to wear long pants and a shirt with a collar, but the decision to wear a tie was all his. Highlights of the show included the crashing chandelier that ended the first act and the steps which magically emerged from the wall as the Phantom led Christine to a boat on the underground river that he would use to transport her to his secret lair. The show we saw featured Derrick Davis in the role of the "Phantom" (he debuted in this role the night before). Katie Travis played "Christine Daaé."
Pablo told Mari on the phone afterwards that the show was "too amazing to describe."

Nina and KAWS at the Modern

The first time we visited the Modern, I accompanied Emilio, Granddaddy accompanied Pablo, and Mari accompanied Nina. This time, Mom and I shared Nina, Granddaddy went with Emilio, and Aunt Carolyn accompanied Pablo, while Mari stayed behind in Ada working on grant applications.

"Silent City" by KAWS (2011).
"Together" by KAWS (2016).

"Companion (Resting Place)" by KAWS (2011).
"Pass the Blame" by KAWS (2013).
"Companion (Passing Through)" by KAWS (2010).
"Untitled (for you Leo, in long respect and affection) 4" by Dan Flavin (1978)
"BFF" by KAWS (2016). "Twenty-five Colored Marilyns" by Andy Warhol (1962). "Self-Portrait" by Andy Warhol (1986).