Oklahoma Bound–But Only For Some [Travel]

Two weekends ago, Holly gathered all the kids together and headed to Norman to spend a few days with her parents.

Well kinda, Madysen actually spent Saturday through Wednesday at the University of Oklahoma (Boomer! Sooner!) Striker Camp. She had a great week at camp rooming with a friend from her old team. They stayed in the wonderfully decorated and plush dorms and sampled the fine cuisine of university food services–so much so that they ordered pizza most nights! At the end of camp, she received an award of some kind–apparently she wasn’t paying attention to the lead in, but only four campers receive it–complete with a Gatorade prize pack.

Holly and the kids spent a lot of time jumping on the trampoline at Holly’s parents’. Layla accidentally–so she says–bounced Emma off and she landed head-first on the ground. She’s holding a bit of a grudge against Layla, but she’s okay. They all went to the children’s museum in Seminole. After Madysen’s soccer camp was over, all the kids spent the day riding the tractor–lots of fun.

I remained home, working, watching the World Cup, mingling with summer associates, and reading. I finished Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald about the rise and fall of Enron. It is an amazing story written captivatingly by Eichenwald, an investigative journalist. One of his previous books, The Informant, was about the worldwide animal vitamins cartel lead by Archer Daniels Midland (“The World’s Supermarket” at fixed prices!) and was a great book as well. What makes this genre so interesting to me is that the good writers write more like fiction writers but the stories, personalities, etc. are all real-life events.

I also recently finished The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America about the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and the serial murder who took advantage of the chaos involved with the Fair. I’m currently reading Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America’s War With Militant Islam by Mark Bowden author also of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo. All three are absolute page-turners.