Omaha Visit, July 2010: part IV (the zoo)

I think this is the final Omaha post...

I love the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. It has some of the coolest exhibits: indoor rainforest, Desert Dome, a butterfly pavilion, a GREAT aquarium...a bonus being that a lot of the exhibits are at least partially indoors, so you are still able to visit them in the heat of the summer, or even in the winter. We are members of the Houston Zoo, so as a bonus, we were able to get in to the Omaha Zoo for 1/2 off via the reciprocal program. Can't beat that! (ok, St. Louis peeps, I know you can beat that with your free zoo, but for us, this was a good deal :P)

This baby gorilla was born in December.

Stopping for a snack break (while, coincidentally, watching the gorillas eat their snacks):
Lincoln using his amazing strength to move the giant earth all by himself:
"Ish! Ish!" (fish, for all those not fluent in initial consonant deletion):

The zoo is located across the street from Rosenblatt Stadium. We were in town for the final College World Series that will ever be held there--needless to say, tickets were hard to come by, so I made do by taking a picture of the stadium instead. I hear the zoo has plans to buy the stadium, but I'm not sure what they plan to do with it. (note: the CWS will still be held in Omaha, but will move to the new stadium located in north downtown next year).

This provided a solid 10 minutes of entertainment. Much more exciting then the actual birds located inside the aviary...
Grandma came along on our zoo adventure:

Not pictured from our Omaha trip, but still worth mentioning:

• A fantastic dinner at Espana, a local tapas restaurant, with Lucas, my brother, and my sister in law. Just so happens, we went the night Spain won their World Cup game, so free sangrias were had by all :)
• Pub quiz night at the Slowdown. We loved pub quiz when we lived in Denver, so were happy to find one in Omaha while we were there. We didn't win, but were lucky enough to get a few space questions with a rocket scientist on the team...
• Jones Bros. Cupcakes. Twice. A tip for Omaha folks: if you follow them on twitter, they announce a daily free cupcake flavor. If you know what it is and ask for it by name, you get it free (well, the first 100 people to ask do, anyway)!
• Ok, 2 more pictures: Lincoln got to hang out with his "cousin" Suki and attempted to climb to the top of the cat tower with a little help from Uncle Jeff:

And, cousin Suki was so kind as to let Lincoln join her for a spin in the cat stroller (that's right, I said cat stroller). That Suki is a lucky cat!

(note to Lindsay and Jeff: sorry for Suki's crazy looking eyes. I tried to correct the red-eye, and it came out like this. To all those who don't know Suki, her eyes are really not that crazy...)

And that, I believe, wraps up Omaha Visit 2010.

Omaha Visit, July 2010: part II

We took Lincoln to the Omaha Children's Museum during our visit. The train below was perhaps the highlight of his trip. It was also located in the lobby, meaning we could have stayed out there and watched it for free instead of paying to go inside.

Luckily, once we got in, he found a few more things to entertain him : ) Like the mysterious giant red hand:
Or the "tuck" (truck), complete with "oooa" (hose):
The ball room is where we spent most of our time. Specifically, the section below where Lincoln could "drive" the ball to the top of the ramp. He loved that thing.
Here we are, driving again (this time with Daddy):
The giant magnadoodle was a hit, too:
Once again, driving (this time it is a boat):
And now, a smooth segue into park pictures!

Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Jeff came to play one night after dinner:
Lincoln and Mama decided to do some serious slide racing:

As you can see, Lincoln is quite competitive, grabbing the win by a shoe:

More posts to come in the next few days :)

Omaha Visit, July 2010: part I

Lincoln and I spent a week and a half up in Omaha visiting my family the last week of June and into July. Lucas came and joined us for the last half of the trip. We had amazing weather--low humidity, not too hot...such a nice break from the sauna back home!

It was great to spend time with family and friends, as well as visiting our favorite Omaha spots. Lincoln loved having new people around to play with all day. And let's just say that Grandpa won some major points by finding that choo-choo in the basement...I could hear that thing in my sleep for days...

The family

Lincoln and Grandma

First bite of Nebraska corn

choochoo!choochoo!choochoo!choochoo!

So excited!

Building the track with Grandpa

Sunday Beach Trip

Sunday was a beautiful day, so we decided to spend the afternoon at the beach. The air temperature proved to be a bit chillier once we got there, but that didn't stop us from testing the water. Lincoln had a MUCH better time then his last beach experience. A comparison:

No more tears--he LOVED the water this time! He even had a slight fall, where he landed face first in the water, and handled it like a champ--laughing it off without a single tear. So proud of him! I'm so excited to take him back for more swimming and beach fun this summer!

Running back to the towel

Bracing for the "big" wave coming towards him!

Digging a hole with daddy

Not happy about the sand in his shoes...

What a silly guy!

Leading me out to the water. He is the cutest!

Texas State Fair

(this is a picture heavy post...just a warning...)

We spent this past weekend up in Dallas visiting family and attending the Texas State Fair. Lincoln had a great time checking out all the animals, people watching, and his favorite thing of all, the giant Big Tex statue.  He thought that thing was HILARIOUS.  Every time it moved or talked (yes, it talks), he just busted out laughing.  Personally, I found it rather creepy and Lucas pointed out his disturbing head to body size proportions...but to Lincoln, he was too funny!

Here was our day at the fair, in pictures (and maybe a few captions...):

Riding the train from the parking lot to the fair. First train ride!

Angora goat covered in wood chips

Sweet friends

Lincoln and mama in a giant tractor wheel

Scooping up the baby

Giddy up, cowboy!  (on a side note, I can hardly stand the cuteness of those ears on Lincoln's jacket.  If only it could be cool weather year round...)

Lucas requested that this picture be used to make a lame "horse's ass" joke, but I can't come up with anything clever.  Sorry, Lucas.  But, I'll post it anyway : )

Watching some cows munch away.

Can you see the baby in the pouch?  I have never seen that before!  I had no idea they went in there head first!  (side note here--before we got to the petting zoo, I told Lucas I hoped there wouldn't be any kangaroos.  I once saw a petting zoo with a kangaroo in the smallest little pen and it just looked so sad.  It was just lying there, smushed in its pen.  Sigh.  Petting zoos usually make me sad.  But, this one was clean, plenty of room for the animals to move, there were care takers in there constantly cleaning up messes...one of the better ones I've seen.  Still don't like to see large animals like that, but if they are going to have them, I'd rather them be like this one.)

We just missed this mama goat giving birth!  Her new kid is on the top right.  He had just stood up for the first time and we got to see it!  So amazing!

As soon as it stood up, it was already walking around, albeit a bit unsteady.  Wow!

Nursing the babies.

This is a just born baby camel.  Yes, it is alive : )

Just above those pigs is a sign extolling the benefits of pork meat.  Ah, the irony.

Me and Big (creepy) Tex.  Why is his head so small??

Lucas and Lincoln in the mei tai.

Fried butter.  You will never see as many varieties of fried food in one place as at the Texas State Fair.  There is actually a competition.  Fried butter won most creative.  No, we didn't try it.  I hear it tasted like biscuits, though. (picture credit:  Dallas News)

Fried peaches and cream, the winner for Best Taste.  We actually did try to purchase some of these, but the line was about 45 minutes long and we gave up after 10 minutes.  We consoled ourselves with onion straws and 2 funnel cakes instead.  Other fried foods we saw:  fried alligator, fried latte, fried twinkies, fried s'mores, fried pickles, fried chocolate truffles, fried peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and fried moon pies. (picture credit:  Dallas News)

We took Lincoln to see the Freestyle Dancing Dog competition.  These people are serious.  Costumes, tricks, dogs walking on their front 2 legs.  Serious.

A dog and owner doing a football themed "dance."  

At the end of the day...one tired guy.

About 30 seconds later....

Hope you enjoyed our fair photo montage!  We had a great time and look forward to going again!