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 III, 4th of July

Although we weren't in Omaha for the actual 4th of July, we were there for the annual concert and fireworks show at Memorial Park. My aunt Vicki lives 2 blocks away from the park, so we are fortunate to always have a place to park, plus a place to hear the music and see the fireworks and avoid the crowd :)

Lincoln saw fireworks last year, but from waaaaaay far away. This year, we were up close and personal with the BOOMS. He was a little skeptical of their loudness at first, but then got into the fun of saying "Boom!" whenever they exploded!

Vicki has 4 kids, all highschool age or older, but she still had some great toys saved that kept Lincoln quite entertained. This is Uncle Doctor Jeff and Lincoln checking out the doctor kit.

Lincoln watching the fireworks with mama. I am quite impressed with the quality of the fireworks pictures our little point and shoot camera produced. Way to go, Nikon!

Boom!

Mesmerized by the sparkles.

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

New Park Fun (Omaha Visit)

We are currently in Omaha visiting family and checked out a new park tonight. I am considering hauling the equipment back home with us when we go...I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, the adults or Lincoln!

A few videos (don't worry, no grandparents were hurt in the making of these movies...):