Dwinell Days: Road Trippin!

Back in October we took a road trip up to Omaha, NE. It was kind of a spur of the moment trip and we had SOO much fun!! The kids are at a great age for this sort of thing. No bottles, diapers, pack and plays, etc to pack up. We just packed the essentials and off we went! Addyson had a three day weekend and so we left Thursday after school and headed north. 3 hours later we were there! The kids were so excited about staying in a hotel room! We stopped for dinner and then headed straight for the hotel and to bed!

Friday morning we were up bright and early for breakfast. The kids thought this was just the best thing ever- breakfast at the Holiday Inn!! They loved getting to pick any cereal they wanted and make waffles, etc. They just thought they were livin the life!!

We were at the zoo right at 9:00 when it opened! It was a chilly day and it was not crowded at all! Yay! My little monkey's posing with the monkeys!

The Omaha Zoo is actually rated the number 1 zoo in the US! Wow! It surpassed the San Diego zoo a year or so ago. It was really, really good! You got to see most of the animals very up-close and personal! Below are the lions. As you can see, I could have reached in the cage (if I were an idiot!!!) and touched them if I wanted. There is just a small metal bar separating the cage from people walking up. Pretty cool to see them so close!

The Tigers were the same way. The tiger here was chomping on a large piece of meat, so he wasn't looking for any kids to eat!

The zoo also had tons of inside exhibits. There was a cat canyon where all the big cats were inside and you can see them up close through glass. They put all kinds of interesting things in the cages (balls, newspaper, logs, etc) so the animals were all up and doing something for the most part. They were not just laying in a corner all curled up. This was neat to be able to see as well!

The monkeys were the best I had ever seen! They were so entertaining and active. They made so many noises and it was really cool to see! The kids both loved this the most! Obviously the pictures don't really do them justice here!

There was a huge indoor gorilla area. They had so many and again, you could see them up close! I always love seeing gorillas up close face to face (though glass of course). I always wonder what they are thinking!

Ben was really cooperating well for pictures!

Family pic! Omaha Zoo 2013!

Next stop at the zoo was the new Aquarium. It was great too!

Sharks!

This turtle was so big and cute!

Hello!

We rode the Sky Tram across the zoo and got to see the aerial view! Good thing we didn't fall!

Addy and Daddy!

Another "extra" exhibit they had going on was a Dinosaur exhibit. I think they had something similar to this at the FW Zoo before. It was cute and I'm pretty sure Ben thought the dinosaurs were real! They would make noises and move around very life like.

In the afternoon we were all ready for a little break! We bought tickets to the IMAX show of Africa in 3D. It was really good and both kids sat through and watched the whole thing. Ben did take his glasses off, but he enjoyed it so whatever makes him happy works for me!!

So, before we went to the zoo I had, of course, been talking it up to Addyson. I was telling her all about this huge rainforest they had there (I had been to this zoo about 15 years ago). She was so excited about the rainforest and even wrote about it in her journal at school the week before. Well, we totally did NOT go to the rainforest!! I thought it must not be there anymore but after we had left I saw a commercial about it and realized that I HAD seen it while we were there but I thought it was a restaurant! AHHH! I was so mad at myself, but oh well! I guess it gives us a reason to go back! We stayed until about 3:30 and then headed back to the hotel to swim!

We ordered pizza to the hotel room for dinner and again, you would have thought we had just won the lottery by the kids reaction. They thought this was great-ness!! Ben was O-U-T by 6:30 and he went to sleep immediately. This was not as much fun for Ryan and I because what are you supposed to do in a hotel room at 6:30 with sleeping kids? So, we watched TV on mute and went to bed early!

Saturday morning we got up and did the hotel breakfast thing again and then headed over to the Omaha Children's Museum. It was so great! The kids (and Ryan and I) had a really good time!

They had an area where kids could do an entire theater performance complete with make-up, costumes, etc. Addyson liked this!

Ryan painted her face!

puppet show!

They had some good "science" type activities.

Ben loved the mechanic shop. He could have stayed here ALL day!


working underneath a car!

Saturday afternoon we headed over to visit my cousin Jon and his wife Sara and their 3 boys. We had not seen them since we moved to KC but the kids are all around the same ages and I really wanted to see them! It was great!! They have boy #4 on the way as well, so Ben was in "boy land" with all the toys! They all played so great and it was really nice to see them. I hope we can have more visits with them!