And so, I bring you Omaha 2011. Since spare moments are still at a premium, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.
The Dinosaur Museum in Fruita was both terrifying and macabre. This T-Rex sported darting eyes that tracked you before it roared fiercely and snapped.
The girls were terrified to even get near.
I can't really blame them for feeling frightened. One of the other dinosaurs spat water while the animated Utahraptor had a brontosaurus head dangling from its mouth. Is this really how we plan to educate the rising generation?
After the terrors of Jurassic Park, we were delighted to arrive safely in Omaha. We made it just in time to meet up with my cousin Monica and her three cute kids during their cross-country move to Colorado. Our little ones definitely look like family!
Speaking of catching up, I was fortunate to meet up with my great friend Heather from high school. We don't see much of each other since she lives in Georgia, but we both happened to be passing through Omaha at the same time.
We made some zucchini bread in Heather's honor.
Oops! I guess it wasn't done. :) Somehow the culinary disaster was perfect for the occasion, bringing up so many memories of similar high school fiascos.
Coming back to Nebraska provided plenty of opportunities to relax at home. Snuggling Zoe was at the top of the agenda, of course.
That is, when her Mommy would give her up.
We sewed...
beaded T-shirts...
played beauty parlor...
and ate lots of yummy food. (Of course, Eli lined up whatever he didn't want before furtively feeding it to the pug.)
When the weather got too hot, we pulled out the double Slip-n-Slide...
and relaxed in the pool.
Every law professor deserves the chance to unwind, right Papa K?
And now, onto our excursions.
The Winter Quarters Temple:
A heavy storm had just blown through so we spent some time gathering leaves to help clean up. At least most of us did. Aunt Callie gathered children instead.
Dressing up like pioneers inside the Trail Center.
Pushing a handcart is harder than it looks!
Choo choo! Here's Talia riding a train at the Henry Doorly Zoo.
The baby goats are always a favorite.
So loveable!
This year we fed budgies for the first time.
(I won't tell you how Eli started sucking on the stick once the birds had finished.)
No trip to the zoo would be complete without lunch at King Kong.
What monkeys!
We viewed these next animals from the safety of our own car while visiting Omaha's very own wildlife safari. We saw hundreds of elk roaming the grasses.
This elk doe was just as curious as we were. It seemed like she wanted to crawl in the car right with us!
Of course, I wouldn't allow that since Eli was already sharing the front seat.
The pelicans gave us pause when they blocked the roadway for several minutes.
The bison were the grand finale.
I thought the previous buffalo was large until I spotted this Big Daddy that made all the other bison seem small.
All in all, this North American wildlife safari was a fantastic discovery.
Continually on the search for something bigger and better, we eventually traveled back in time to the Ice Age to hang out with the saber-toothed tigers, and mastodons at Fontanelle Forest.
Pretty ferocious!
Aunt Callie seized the opportunity to teach her nieces how to correctly hold xylophone mallets.
Glad to finally reconnect, she also caught as many Eli snuggles as possible.
Pretty coy!
Lest you fear that our children were bored, let me show you how they passed one evening at the O! Festival.
Yes, those would be our two little ladies flying high. Here's Talia getting a good bounce.
And Brooklyn, sailing high in the sweltering heat.
***
When I started this post two hours ago, adding pictures was enjoyable. Now it's late, I'm tired, and it's just not fun anymore. So despite the fact that we had much more Omaha fun (and I have the pictures to prove it), I am going to put away the computer and find my pillow.
So to anybody still sitting in front of their computer screen, may I wish you a Dinosaur Good Night.
6 comments:
Looks like a really fun trip! Those dinosaurs sound awesome.
Thank you for sharing the pictures with us ... I enjoyed them very much - especially the last one :)
Kara, Thanks for finding time to post these fun photos. I agree with you that the dinosaur museum in Fruita was "over the top" on the interactive, gruesome, too realistic scale. It is also a bit pricey and really only appropriate for teenage Halloween spook alley visits. [Hint to other readers ... forego this tourist trap]. I didn't learn more than I already knew from reading books about T-Rex, but I must say he is hard to forget now that I've seen him reconstructed in full scale.
It is revealing that Talia is eagerly anticipating a mission call to Disneyland rather than Fruita's Dinosaur Museum.
Finally, who is the person behind the devil's mask in the last photo?
It's fun to see some of what you did during July. It looks like you all had a great time! It also looks like you were busy nonstop! Thanks for sharing :)
I wondered when you commented in an earlier blog about the scary dinosaur museum - not I have to agree. That's the stuff nightmares are made of! Thanks for doing the posts, though. What a busy and fun trip for all of you! The memories are going to be forever!
We went to Hogle zoo this summer and there were some pretty scary looking statue dinosaurs there as well. My kids hated them!- they were so scared, haha.
Sorry about the zucchini bread. Looks like a fun trip over all, though. Love those bird pictures!
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