Omaha Vacation

We took our first official family vacation as a family of four last week to Omaha! We went and visited my dad's cousin Mick and his wife Joy. We had a great time with them and enjoyed our trip. We can't wait to go back again! Here is a summary of our trip:

Thursday (June 19th)

• Originally we were going to leave for Omaha on Friday morning, but decided to leave on Thursday night so that we could be at the Omaha Zoo when it opened. It was a busy day on Thursday because we met up with our friends Kyle and Brooke and there little girls at Monkey Joes. They bounced around and had a good time. We got home, ate dinner, and finished packing. There is SO MUCH STUFF to pack when you have a toddler and an infant! Just as we were getting ready to leave, it started DOWN-POURING! We waited about 15 minutes and then decided to leave. Lucky for us it passed quickly and the sun was shining most of our drive. The drive went fairly quick and we arrived at Mick and Joy's house around 8:30p.m. . Mick was amazed at all the stuff we kept bringing out of our car. He couldn't believe all the things kids need nowadays! We set the boys beds up and off to bed they went! We visited shortly with them , explained Brody's schedule, and off to bed went.....well most of us. I was up pumping throughout the night. =)

Friday (June 20th)

•  We awoke to the smell of bacon and monkey bread that Joy made. It was delicious! We packed lunch and a cooler and off we went to the zoo! Brody had the privilege of staying home with Joy. I think he enjoyed her snuggles and playtime.=) The Omaha Zoo was great, even if it was 95 degrees outside! Most of the exhibits are indoors or at least covered, so it didn't feel quite as hot as it really was. We saw lots of animals, exhibits, and went on different rides. The zoo is large and there is so much to see.

Joy and Brody at breakfast

All smiles after breakfast.

Ready for the zoo!

"A snake!"

Nolan loved the orangutang and watching him play with the ball.

Python snakes!

Gorillas...they would come right up to the glass and pose!

The carousel was a big hit.

The train ride...that almost broke down! We also went on the skylift but I don't have a picture of that.  I was afraid to drop it!

Looking at butterflies at the pavilion.

Outside the aquarium.

Sharks!

My favorite picture from the trip!

So happy!

All tuckered out after the zoo...and of course we had to buy a giant snake.

How Brody spent the majority of his day.

 After the zoo, we headed back to Mick and Joy's house to get showered and cleaned up. Joy enjoyed her day with Brody and had prepared a wonderful dinner for us of pulled pork, corn, salad, green beans, fruit, and homemade bread. It was delicious! (We loved it so much we got the recipe from Joy, along with the monkey bread and a few others.) That evening after the boys went to bed, we decided to play cards. We played pitch and then Jimmy and I taught them how to play pinochle. It is a bit more challenging than pitch but a lot of fun to play!

Brody learning to play cards!

Saturday (June 22)

• The next day we decided to go to the Omaha Children's Museum. Jimmy convinced Mick to go and we all had a blast! The museum is clean, well put together, and very engaging for kids! On the first floor there was a small town that had a grocery store, hospital, bank, fire station and a house to use for role playing.  There was also a section for arts and crafts, as well as an area for shooting and playing with air and balls. This was probably Nolan's favorite area as he would try to do lots of different things with the balls. He liked to try to balance them on tunnel of air that would shoot up. On the second floor there was a train ride, a carousel, animal slides, and then a whole dinosaur area. Kids could dig up fossils, go through tunnels to go down slides, or build their own dinosaur. I would highly recommend this place for anyone with kids! That night we came back home and had Papa Murphy's Pizza and played cards again. Mick turns 60 this year and we decided to get a little cake to surprise him and celebrate his birthday. Nolan had fun singing and blowing out the candles!
  

  

  Joy and Nolan walking to the museum.

  
  

  

  Nolan loved putting money in and watching it spin down.

  
  

  

  Nolan putting out fires.

  
  

  

  Harvesting corn

  
  

  

  Running up and down the entrance to the farm house.

  
  

  

  Practicing using crutches at the hospital.

  
  

  

  Taking an x-ray

  
  

  

  "Hello Nani? I'm busy at the museum. Talk to you later bye!"

  
  

  

  Bank teller Nolan-he loved pushing the button to make the money go back and forth in the tube.

  
  

  

  Mick taking care of Brody.

  
  

  

  Fixing a car

  
  

  

  Checking the list twice.

  
  

  

  Getting some assistance with the bolts.

Nolan's favorite ball activity.

Trying to catch it.

So close!

Shooting at targets.

Going down an elephant slide.

Does this look familiar to anyone? It used to be at Richmond Gordman's in the 1980's!

Joy and Mick feeding Brody.

Digging for dinosaurs.

I took a picture of this sign because it has the word selfie on it!

Crawling through the tunnels.

Going down the slide.

Nolan's dinosaur....

....Mick's dinosaur!

Brody looking around the museum.

Family picture!

Nolan had a great time at the museum!

Teaching Brody Pitch!

Brody loved his bouncer!

Happy 60th Mick!

We love birthdays!

 Sunday (June 22rd)

• That morning we got up, packed, had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes made by Joy, and was on the road in the late morning/early afternoon. Nolan loved being there and asked if we could go back. It was nice to spend time with family and fortunately we will get to see them again in July for Liza's wedding. Mick had to go out of town for work, so Joy went from having a houseful of people to being all alone. I'm sure it was quiet and a good time to relax! We had a great time!