Omaha

We had such a fun trip to Omaha!  We decided to go to Omaha while the kids were off track.  To miss the least amount of soccer games, we left on Saturday after a soccer game at 10:30 a.m.  It made for a very late arrival into Omaha.  It has been about 4 years since we last made the journey across Wyoming and Nebraska, and I definitely hadn't missed the drive.  The kids were mostly very good (compared to an earlier trip when Landon cried for almost 8 hours straight).  Alyssa did so much better than her brother did 4 years ago. The kids watched movies, but also played games and even slept!  We couldn't believe they all took naps, and even went to bed (although it was late).  

Jill had prepared lunches so we could stay on the road.  We drove and drove, stopping for gas and small snacks.  As it got late Alyssa got extremely chatty.  She wouldn't stop talking and in my tired state it was just too much.  While it's funny to think about now, it sure was difficult that night. 

We arrived in Omaha about 1:30 a.m. Central time.  We were all so tired.  We got the kids into their cousins' rooms to sleep and Jill and I went straight to bed.  Dave and Jenn were so kind to be there for us as we drove in.  Of course right at 7:00 a.m. the boys were all awake and playing together.  They sure love each other and have the most fun time together. 

It was conference Sunday so we gathered around the TV and watched conference.  Jenn was great to have games to encourage the kids to pay attention.  

Sure the boys love each other, but the girls also had so much fun.  Makenna and Alyssa played and played together.

Between sessions we walked to the kids' elementary school.  It was nice to stretch our legs and play.  The kids played on the swing set and the moms played on this funny modern teeter totter. 

The Buxtons were very gracious and fed us a nice Sunday dinner.  It was a bit odd having conference from 11 a.m. -1p.m. and again 3-5 p.m.

Monday, Dave and I went to work.  I worked from his nice home office, and he went to fly airplanes.  The older Buxton children had school, but Makenna and Jenn took our family to the Omaha Zoo.  It's quite famous and they had a terrific time.  The kids enjoyed seeing the shark tunnel and the jungle and swamp exhibits.  The boys remembered being pretty nervous in the swamp exhibit during our last visit.  They were brave this time around as we walked through the dark room on boardwalks above alligator-infested water.

It was Hayden's Birthday while we were back there.  To celebrate, the boys all went to the local bounce house.  It was huge with so many trampolines.

 Alyssa playing in her cousin's room.

Another outing was to the Durham Museum.  It is in Omaha's former Union Pacific train station.  We saw exhibits highlighting Nebraska history.  The best part, though, was climbing aboard and exploring historic passenger trains.

Sure it was Spring Break for us, but someone forgot to tell Mother Nature.  It was kind of cold most of the time, and one morning we woke up to snow!

Another day we went to Cabella's and looked around at the animals and sporting gear. Sorry no pictures of that outing.

Playing with cousins' toys is so new and fun.

The boys played together very well almost the entire time.  We made them play, but often times boys will be boys!

Friday night was one of the highlights.  The Omaha Storm Chasers had their opening night of baseball and we got to go to the game.  It was freezing cold (temps were in the 30s), but we had lots of fun. After the game there were about 5 minutes of fireworks, so of course we stayed until the end of the game. While there, I looked at my ticket stub and was so puzzled.  There were home games, away games, and "dry games."  I wondered what "dry games" could mean.  We talked to other die hard baseball fans around us asking if prohibition was big in Omaha.  Nebraska isn't exactly on the bible belt, what could "dry games" mean?  Someone else finally looked at the ticket and pointed out that it said "day games."  The printing was quite small, but my laser eye surgery didn't exactly have my back that night.

Saturday, Hayden and Tanner had soccer games.  Hayden's game was an hour a way so we didn't have a chance to see him play, but we did go to Tanner's game.  He did a great job.

Later in the afternoon we drove over to a park and bridge that spans the Missouri River, connecting Nebraska and Iowa together.  The kids played on this grassy hill rolling and rolling down to the bottom, then running back up to the top to do it again. 

On the bridge we came to the state line.

Sunday morning we woke up at 4:00 a.m. Central time to be on the road just after 4:30 a.m.  The kids again slept for a couple of hours in the morning.  It was nice and quiet.  After a couple of hours the wind really began to howl. We kept on the road and made great time.  Right up until dreaded Wyoming.  I hate Wyoming.  Sure enough as we drove into Cheyenne at 11:00 a.m., the road was closed!  Because of the wind a truck had blown over closing the road.  We waited an hour before finally deciding to head south to Fort Collins.  From Fort Collins I gambled and drove back north to Laramie. The other option would have been going south to Denver and driving across I-70 back to Riverton.  As we got to Laramie the road was again closed but only to high profile vehicles.  So we were clear to go and there were no semi trucks allowed!  So, much of the drive we were alone on the road.  It was kind of odd but so nice!

After hours and hours on the road, and because of the 3 hour delay we were going to miss Sunday dinner celebrating Brian and Jake's birthdays.  We decided to stop in Little America for a nice Sunday dinner.  It took the longest time to get our food and was over an hour off the road.  It was nice to get off the road but we lost a lot of time. To make things worse the weather moved in and just before Evanston the roads were getting kind of bad.  Thankfully we made it arriving home at 9:00 p.m.!  What a long day!

There is a good chance Dave and Jenn will move in the next year or so, so it was good we could make one last drive to see them.  While the drive was hard, it brought so much happiness to our family to see the Buxtons. They were the perfect hosts, too.  Now we only have to wait until July to see them again, when they come to Salt Lake City on summer break.