Spring Break

Spring break in our lovely town always occurs over St. Patrick's Day, which makes as much sense to me as starting school at 7:45 AM- TOO EARLY!!  We never seem to enjoy warm weather for spring break, but this year was exceptionally ridiculous- it snowed!

It was fun to bundle up and play in the snow (it was the perfect-for-snowballs kind), but we all laughed that this was the kick off to our spring break.  Classic Iowa.  We also had a bunch of playdates, met Jason and some of our friends for dinner at Hickory Park, spent a morning at the jumping place, decorated cookies, went on the traditional early-spring-perler-bead-creation-binge, and gathered up and delivered purging donations (where we found this awesome basketball hat that has been put to use several times since). 

And after several days of all that lazing around (which was coupled with a good bit of doing absolutely nothing), we headed over to Omaha for an overnight getaway.  Some friends of ours that love, love, love Omaha told us we just HAD to check out this fried chicken dive bar near the temple.  So we did. 

And it was an unforgettable experience.  Maybe not in the best way.  The restaurant had big windows that overlooked a yard full of big fat cats and raccoons that the owners throw the chicken bones out to. The chicken was okay.  The entertainment was great, and the kids named all of the cats they could see lumbering around the yard- Mr. Kitty, French Fry, Cat-Coon (the one that was either a cat or a raccoon, we couldn't really tell), Ghost Cat... it was quite the adventure!  On the way out I had to explain to the kids what the big green table with the balls on it was- we were definitely diving at this dive bar!

We headed over to the temple next, for some quick pictures and a peak inside the beautiful gold doors.  The people inside are always so kind and wave at the kids when they stick their heads in (you have to be 12 to actually go inside the temple).  But we always try to take the kids there when we can.  It is such a beautiful and peaceful place.

 Oh, Emma fell and scraped her knee.  I feel like maybe Noah did too not too many minutes later.

 And Leah took a picture of us!

Then we grabbed ice cream at Zestos, another highly recommended stop in Omaha.  As a kid I remember the four of us kids counting 1-2-3 and then all saying, "thank yoooouuuu" to my parents whenever they bought us something, and this time around I got a very sincere "thank you for buying this ice cream for us" from Adam.  It was very sweet.

Then it was over to the hotel for Jason and the kids, where the ever-so-exciting activity of checking out the room and swimming in the pool commenced.  Hotels are just so darn exciting!

"Mom, can I text on this phone?"

And back over to the temple for me, this time to go inside and enjoy a few hours of quiet contemplation and worship.

The next morning we all headed to the Omaha Zoo, where we have been waiting to go for four years now- we've heard so many wonderful things about it.  Given the size of our family, it made sense to buy an annual membership, which will be more than paid for on our next visit.  Plus, the membership includes 100% reciprocity to our local DSM zoo, so we'll be visiting both again in the next year.  

And the zoo was very nice!  A zoo is a zoo once you're as old as I am, but we all had a wonderful time exploring the many different exhibits and looking forward to going again in the summer when all of the exhibits are open.  The dome is full of the desert animals-

 and the aquarium was my favorite part- 

especially the shark tunnel.  That was Adam's favorite part too. 

We sat and enjoyed some snacks once the day warmed up a bit, 

then headed over to the rainforest, where we ran through the maze of paths,  

and swung on some really hefty vines.  

After that we watched a movie at the IMAX theater about the expedition of Lewis and Clark (which Leah studied and presented about earlier this year in fourth grade), and it became obvious that Noah's nerves are still shot from the wide variety of adventures that we took him on at Disney World.  He climbed right into my lap and asked with his ears covered and his eyes pinched tight, "Is this a ride??"

The whole trip was an interesting comparison to our last vacation (which was to Disney World)- everyone had a comment or two to make about this one versus that one.  Emma wanted to know if we'd be flying to Omaha, Adam wanted to know how many nights we were staying in the hotel, Noah commented that this hotel was just like the one at Disney World, "except dere's no girls room in dis one!", Jason commented on the reasonable price of lunch compared to what we were spending last time around, and Leah and I made a few comments about the Omaha zoo versus Animal Kingdom, which is like comparing the family minivan to that one time you rode in a really nice limo.  Not really fair.  We all had a great time, but Omaha did suffer a bit by comparison.  We'll have to remember that for our next trip- if it's not Disney, don't expect Disney.

So!  After the movie we headed back to the rain forest for lunch, and were lucky enough to snag a table right by the panoramic window that overlooks the monkeys, hippos, flowers and beautiful trees.  Jason was the bathroom hero of the day- Noah was still early enough into potty training on this trip that he needed to go to the bathroom every 45 minutes, and Jason was the one to take him.

After lunch we started the big loop down and around the outdoor exhibits, but only made it about 20 feet before Leah took a ninja-style flip dive off of the concrete wall that all of the kids were balancing on.  It was one of those typical kid things that I really should have stopped them from doing, but it was too late and she banged up her knee pretty good.  So the three of us girls headed back inside to survey the damage while the boys started off without us.  She was definitely bruised, but seemed okay after a few good tears and a bit of rest.  And Emma was so sweet- she had found a stamper earlier in the day and secretly grabbed some toilet paper and quickly stamped out some "get well soon" toilet paper and presented it to Leah with a flourish.  That made us all laugh and we headed back to the boys.

First up was the giraffes, then the elephants, brushing the goats ("Look Mama!  Dis one's pooping!" was Noah's delightful observation), over to the beautiful cheetah, the lions, then into the monkey and big cat buildings before we finally headed home.  Everyone was mesmerized by this peacock for a few minutes, but eventually he ran away from us without even dropping one of his beautiful feathers.  We probably didn't need to adopt the Disney-style approach to the park (by staying open to close), but we had a great day, and the weather was beautiful.  That was a very nice contrast to the snow we had earlier in the week and the gray and rainy days we have had since.

We missed St. Patrick's Day at home, but the day after the kids woke up to a maze of string

that looped all over the house

and eventually led them to the highly coveted annual box of Lucky charms.  I let them eat all they want for that one day every year, and then it's gone.  But boy is it fun!

And that was our spring break!