Omaha Spring Break 2017

I’m afraid that my most recent blogpost about a “Rough Go” sounds a bit pathetic. I wanted to toss something positive out there to let you know that we are all doing just fine. (Although when Brooklyn got back from Brighton Beehive Camp I learned that she too had thrown up all day Tuesday. The camp thought it was altitude sickness so they never called to let me know. Fortunately she recovered quickly and still had a great time.)

Anyway, let’s rewind back to our spring break in April, when we all gathered in Omaha to enjoy everything the city has to offer.

Number one attraction was Anders, of course.  Brooklyn was in baby heaven.

Naturally we were delighted Zoe made the trip as well.  She takes excellent care of her little brother, often keeping watch over his bouncy chair.

Our home celebrations included a decadent bunny cake for Papa Kay's birthday.  Some traditions are too delicious to give up.

Unsurprisingly, our first excursion was to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  While we definitely enjoy Salt Lake's Hogle Zoo, Annika had been begging for months to go back to the "big zoo with the fishies."  

I guess she's missed her turtle.

Eila loved the aquarium as well.


We made it just in time to watch the penguins dine on sushi.

After all that excitement, we were ready for a snack too.  With a pretzel this large, there's certainly plenty to go around!

Eila's first ride on a giraffe...

...and an elephant.

Wait a second, what's wrong with this picture?

Meanwhile, sweet Anders enjoyed most of the zoo with his eyes shut.

So does Eila realize there's a gorilla napping directly over her head?

This time it was Talia who was caught napping.

 A favorite cousin picture of all our monkeys aping around.  Thank goodness responsible Alesia was there since we lost track of half the kiddos right after this picture was taken.  Oops!

All's well that ends well.  Lunch at Firehouse Subs makes everything right, especially when it's courtesy of Papa Kay.

The next day we headed to Lauritzen Gardens to see their new Lego exhibit.

Crazy ants!  (For the record, that's Talia and Annie.)

Note to self: place on Jason's birthday wish list.

Speaking of the handsome devil, he was delighted to have bricks to play with.


The kids, on the other hand, preferred the giant blocks.

What did they construct?  A prison, of course.  Both Annika and Eila spent time in solitary confinement.

The escape.

Proud master builders.  Since not even Alesia has inches to spare, this was as high as they could go.

Eila decided that our entry stickers made for great adornment...

...especially when plastered all over her Dad.  :)  Looking sharp, Adam!

Back at home, there were chores to be done.  Thanks to those pesky squirrels, the tree house is in constant need of a good sweeping.

As a reward for Eila's hard work, we hosted a marshmallow roast in the backyard.

You're never to young to fall in love with s'mores!

As you can see, my daughters take their marshmallow roasting quite seriously.  Anything for the that perfect golden brown.

Before we knew it, it was time for the Wilhoits to head back to their Washington home.  We refused to let them go without a few runs down the giant slides at Gene Leahy Mall.  Eila was a natural!

Alesia takes Eli for a run.

Talia appears to be doing the conga,

Sad as we were to bid farewell to the Wilhoits, Papa Kay took everyone to a Stormchasers baseball game as consolation.  As you can see, Talia came well-equipped with her needlepoint.

Alesia, meanwhile, was hard at work learning how to crochet.

And Annie, well, that rascal decided to repeatedly gnaw on Papa Kay's finger during the fireworks.  Nobody could figure out why.  It really shouldn't have been that funny, but it was late and we were all a bit punchy.

Other interesting highlights of our trip:  Jason and I took a quick trip out to Valley, Nebraska to see how construction was coming along on the Yin residence, a high-end home that Jason helped design while working for Alley Poyner.  Scheduled for completion in the next couple of weeks, it's going to be amazing!

Later that day, Papa Kay met us at Jimmy John's...

 ...before we all headed to the Kaneko for some cultural enrichment.  Talia actually worked with the creator of this exhibit, Therman Statom, during her Girl Scout ArtVenture experience.

While we are glad you like it, Annika, I'm pretty certain they would prefer you didn't kiss the art.

We were so thankful to Alesia for keeping the little ones entertained once they'd had enough art.  She's amazing!

A couple random Annika pictures.  Here she is at the Children's Museum after giving herself a good face paint.

And once more hanging out in the yard in a vest that's two sizes too small.

I know I posted about it before, but next up we have photos from the Zoo, Round 2.  Because really, can you ever get enough of Omaha's zoo?  From the pictures, you'll notice that we added to our crew.  Uncle Lance came to visit us from Chicago for the Easter weekend.  With both Alesia and Lance around, the kids thought they had died and gone to heaven.


Alesia loves all of her first graders, but I have a feeling that Eli might be her current favorite.  She is certainly his!

Eli's actually watching a large bird that landed on a branch directly over his head.  He had good reason to feel nervous from the splash zone.

Polar bear fun.


Brothers!

Even big girls need a snuggle, especially from their grandpas.

Annika displays her Madagascar side as she connects with a lemur.

Even without water, the splash pad's pretty dang cool.


Such happy times!

As usual, thanks for the terrific vacation NomiAnn and Papa Kay.   With adventures like yours, it's no wonder we all love coming to Omaha!