O-O-Omaha

Labor Day weekend around the Dwyer household can mean only one thing: Zoo Trip! We started this tradition 7 years ago and so far have visited Omaha, Des Moines, Tulsa, St. Louis, Wichita, Oklahoma City, and Kansas City. We debated on our destination this year, and ultimately decided that it was time we went back to Omaha. After all, Sydney & Jackson were only 3 & 2 years old, and none of the other kiddos were born yet. The older kids (along with Kyle & Russ) left early Saturday morning and made their first stop at the Children's Museum, where the kids had a blast exploring, making believe, and creating all sorts of fun.

First, a couple of photo-ops around the museum:

Then it was time to go shopping at the grocery store. . .

. . . with Cashier Sydney ringing folks up.

Calvin took a brief stop to get some milk to drink. . .

. . . and then they created some fun faces out of clay.

Finally they put on a show in the theater. What fun! (Syd & Jack look a little more playful than Calvin & Tyler, don't you think?)

We all met up at the hotel, where the kids wasted no time finding the pool.

Oliver just LOVES jumping in, and it's an added bonus if he happens to splash Calvin in the process.

Our little Miss stayed back in the peace and quiet of the room while the other kids swam.

Part of our "zoo trip tradition" is staying at an Embassy Suites hotel. We all take full advantage of the manager's reception. The kids love the snacks and kiddie cocktails, and we adults force down a cocktail or two, also.

This hotel was so pretty with its huge koi pond all around the eating area. The kids had fun watching the fish as they played.

Once we had our fill, we gathered up the troops to hit the town.

Our hotel was in the Old Town district of Omaha, which was perfect for taking a stroll. We met up with a balloon man, who made some pretty cool animals, including. . .

. . . Calvin's super-cute penguin!

All of the kids got one; I think we ended up with 2 penguins, 2 monkeys, a flower, and a blue dog.

After walking around town for a bit, we had dinner at the Spaghetti Works.

Violet especially liked the garlic toast.

After dinner, we walked a bit more and tried out the whispering wall. This was quite challenging for some of the kids, who haven't figured out yet how to whisper (or at least won't show us that they can!).

Then we watched the beautiful fountain as it danced in all of its colors. We also did this last time we were here. . . Look how small Syd & Jack were!

Now my Oliver is the same age as Jackson was.

After a very busy day, the kids slept well and we woke up early so we could get to the zoo when it opened. Here we were ready to go to the zoo in 2003 (Russ & I with Syd & Jack). . .

. . . compared to today, with 3 kids of our own!

And there are all of the kiddos at the hotel. . .. . . and we finally made it -- Let's go see some animals, already!

I think the only thing that grew more than Sydney & Jackson in the past 7 years is Bambio. When we were here last time, my favorite part of the zoo was seeing this newborn gorilla, as the zookeeper rocked her to sleep. She was SO tiny, and really just looked like an extremely hairy baby.

As you can see, Bambio now weighs in at 118 pounds; should we be concerned about childhood obesity??

I think she was in trouble or something, though, because she appeared to be in time-out the whole time I was trying to get her picture.

Speaking of babies, we really lucked out with all of the little ones we were able to see. First this little monkey was nursing as we walked through (the baby's head is orange). . .

Then the baby walrus did some sunbathing with his mommy. . .

And finally, the baby tiger took a little nap with his mama.

The kids definitely liked to see every little detail while watching the animals.

And these penguins were one of the favorites.

While the boys were busy watching the penguins play, the girls hung out in the stroller -- think Sydney might be a bit big for this one??

Probably the highlight of the day (non-animal) was the air-tram. I wasn't sure if Oliver would really want to do it, because it went pretty high. Turned out, he loved it and wanted to go again. Here they are getting ready to catch their ride:

And they're off!

Sara and I literally ran through the park with the strollers to try to catch our crew coming and we succeeded. Here come Russ and the boys!

And there are the others coming right behind.

Oliver's favorite exhibit of the day was the Arctic penguins. We got there while they were feeding them, so we got to listen to the zookeeper give trivia and answer questions about these fun birds. She told us that some penguins can dive up to 100 feet to get their food and hold their breath for up to 30 minutes! Violet & I could have watched them all day.

After the penguins, we went through the aquarium, where Brynn found the beautiful coral and sea anemones.

And Calvin was so excited to see the sharks! (If you look closely, you can see 2 in this picture.)

Since it was Labor Day weekend, the zoo had some special entertainment with this fun group call the "Stringbeans." They had the kids dancing and singing and each of our kids got a prize for doing such a great job.

My favorite part of the day was this orangutan. She was hanging from the fence when we walked up . . . and smiled as soon as she saw my camera -- such a goofball!

As funny as the cheesy smile was, it didn't have me laughing nearly as much as the begging. You see, I had given the kids a box of Cheez-its to snack on, and as soon as the big monkey saw it, she came swinging over in full force . . .

and immediately stuck her long arm through the fence to ask for some! When we didn't give her what she wanted, she started snapping at us and pointing. It was so funny! She was NOT pleased when we didn't share. (By the way, we confirmed that she was indeed after the Cheez-its by passing the box around and watching her swing next to the person holding it. She made some pretty serious eye contact with that person as she begged, too. It was just SO funny.)

I'll complete this post with the weird:

The scary:

The interesting:

The beautiful:

The strong:

And the sleepy:

(Isn't it so sweet how Violet is holding Oliver's hand as they sleep?)

Definitely another great Labor Day Zoo Trip! Now we just need to decide where we'll visit next year. . .

Going Muddin' . . . Again

After all of the rain last week, the boys once again pretended to be pigs and rolled around in the mud by our new house. You think I'm kidding when I say "rolled around", but you would be wrong. They literally rolled in the mud . . . for the majority of the evening. This time, they recruited Tyler to join in the festivities.

You couldn't wipe the smiles off of their faces!
The purpose of us spending the evening at our construction site was to supervise the fire that was buring all of the leftover "stuff" from our house so far. I thought the boys would think the fire was cool, but I don't even think they noticed it. There was WAY too much fun to be had in the mud.

Oliver was looking a bit Hitler-ish, but we couldn't get him to give the proper salute. . .

Thankfully Grandma Jo & Grandpa Denny showed up to help with the clean-up, which was no easy task. The process basically involved getting them naked and spraying them down with a hose. Thankfully, there aren't many neighbors. . .

The only casualty of the night was one of Calvin's flip-flops. Maybe when it dries up a bit, the shoe will surface. It not, I'm sure Calvin feels it was still well worth it. I'm afraid the boys are going to be disappointed when our house is done; they LOVE the construction and all that goes with it!