I forgot to add this picture of Holly. She is just cute as 4 bunnies. Somehow she has reached the ripe old age of 6 months *ack*.
Wow! What a quick weekend! We spent Friday at the dreaded kiddie joint- Yucky E Cheese. We went with our friends Jean, Nick, and Baby Holly Banana. Cameron and Nick have been friends as long as they can remember. I met Jean when Cameron was a baby and she was still pregnant with Nick- yes, even though Nick is about a head taller than Cameron (he is actually leaning down a little bit in the picture!) he is younger. Nick will be in 2nd grade this year. Jean and family were out of town most of the month of July, so when they got back the boys were really interested in getting together and this is what they chose.
most tickets with 300, Cameron had 106, and Becca had 68. Cameron bought a mini car, but Becca really brought in a haul. 3 necklaces, a bracelet, and a pack of smarties. Everyone was happy- except the moms, loud noise and marginal food is not really something you want to pay for!
Saturday night we celebrated Emma's 9th birthday. She picked dinner from Applebee's and then we had cake/ice cream. I can not believe that she is 9 already! I can still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.
Friday night we had a wonderful girls night out at Champions on Ice. Becca was SO excited to see the skaters! Stephanie, Emma, Becca, and I all went and picked Pat up at her office and then we headed to Winstead's on the Plaza for dinner. I took this picture before we got our food and it may be one of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken of the kiddos.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot at Kemper we saw some girls that Becca knew from the ice rink. Becca was already so excited to go, and then she became even more excited when she found out that she was sharing this experience with the big girls that she idolizes. It was setting up to be a fabulous night for her. The show started late, but once they got going and she adjusted to the volume of the music she went crazy. She was dancing and clapping like crazy and so excited to see all of the jumps and spins. All of the big names were there except Kimmie Meisner. My favorites to watch were Sasha Cohen and Stephane Lambiel. There was a pair of incredible Russian acrobatic skaters that did their entire routine in slow motion. It was amazing! Becca got a teddy bear, a program, and a group photo for souveniers. I think she had a wonderful time and I look forward to going to Champions on Ice with Becca again!
The other night a spider set up camp on our deck and spun a huge web. David spent a good 3 hours watching the spider and what he did with the food he caught, and how he fixed his web when larger bugs tore part of it up. He ate pretty well that night, but when he didn't show up last night we figured he wouldn't be back.
Shortly after we came home last night the doorbell rang. We didn't hear it, but about 5 minutes later Cameron came downstairs and asked who was at the door. David went and checked, and this is what he found. It was leaned up against our railing and it scared the crap out of the kids. Becca thought that Mr. Zuchini walked up and rang the doorbell himself and was there to eat her. Cameron was very worried that someone was playing a trick on us and racked his brain trying to figure out who it was.
Our first stop on our tip to Omaha was to Rosenblatt Stadium to watch the Omaha Royals play. They were finishing up a rainout from the night before, so we got to see that game. The interesting thing was that since they were playing a double header the second game was shortened to 7 innings. I just don't see that happening in Major League Baseball.
Our first stop at the Zoo was the Desert Dome. It was an exhibit of all different kinds of deserts. There were African, Austrailian, and North American deserts in the exhibit. There were lots of snakes and lizzards, plus some warthog type animals and a puma. It was very intersting to see the differences in desert plant and animal life. Each part of the exhibit had plant life from that desert to go with animals from that particular type of desert.
swamp area with the white alligator and other swamp life. It was quite the switch to go from that exhibit back out to the sunshine!!
After we went to the Desert Dome we saw Hubbard Orangutan Forest. There were so many different orangutans there! There was a gorilla family there as well. We got to see the baby gorilla riding on the momma gorillas back, and when they came out the daddy gorilla got very protactive of them. He had previously been very calm and tolerant of the people looking at him, but once momma and baby came out he started charging the glass at people who were looking in. Becca was not impressed. He was a very big gorilla!
were polar bears, grizzly bears, brown bears, and sun bears. They all looked like they were about to collapse from the heat. It was about 100 degrees and I can only imagine how hot that seems when you are covered head to foot with fur!
After we saw the orangutans we rode the train. It was a 20 minute wait and a full train, but we got on. It took us past the elephants, the rhino, and the zebra. Got off the train at the halfway point and saw the giraffes and some black footed penguins and then headed to lunch at Durham's Treehouse Restaurant. The restaurant is a cafeteria style and the line was so long. When it was all said and done we waited about half an hour to get our food. The food tasted a lot better than I expected though so it was worth the wait!
After lunch we went to the Lied Jungle. It is a rainforest/jungle building with lots of birds, monkeys, and fish. We also saw the baby hippo and a baby monkey in there. There are beautiful waterfalls throughout and I couldn't reist taking pictures of every one of them.
Our last stop at the zoo was Scott Aquarium. We go to see a penguin exhibit that was especially exciting for Cameron after his Penguin report that he did in second grade. They had pictures Emperor penguins, (the species he chose to study) but the largest penguins in the exhibit were king penguins, so he was a little disappointed. In the first picture Emma and Cameron are looking in an underwater window in the exhibit. They got to see a group of penguins swim right past them. It was so neat! There were exhibits about schooling fish, other deep sea type fish and a neat tunnel that you could walk through with a salt water tank filled with sharks,
stingrays, and sea turtles, along with other types of fish. It was the last place we visited at the zoo, and the kids were starting to get tired looking at stuff, so I think that when we go back we will start at the aquarium first.
restaurant called Spaghetti Works in the Old Market District. Parking was crazy in the Old Market District and it took Steph and I about 20 minutes just to find a place to park. Luckily only Emma was in the van with us and we dropped her off in front of the restaurant during one of our trips around because by the time we found a place to park everyone else had waited for a table, been seated, and gotten their drink orders! The food was pretty good, and we were in the back room with a bachelorette party so it didn't matter that the kids were a little rowdy. Over all, we had a great time and I am eager to take the kiddos back to Omaha. The Old Market District is a beautiful area with lots of fun one of a kind stores and restaurants. The streets are
all brick and there are horse and carriage rides. We didn't go there until dinner, but I think that next time we go to the zoo I would really enjoy spending time strolling around shopping. After dinner we all walked down to a candy shop and got some treats and headed back to the car. It was then that I had my first "celebrity" sighting. I would swear that I saw Cezar Milan- the Dog Whisperer. David didn't see him, but I KNOW it was him that walked by.
We had a good time on the fourth. We chose to hang close to home for most of the day, and then we headed out to the band's annual picnic and concert. This year it was just the 4 of us, so it was only me to do child wrangling during the concert. Cameron and Becca couldn't wait for the fireworks to start. They patiently (HA) held off until the fireworks started- at which point Becca freaked out. She informed me that she wasn't watching anymore and begged me to cover her with a blanket. It was such a shock to me that she was scared. She had really enjoyed the smaller fireworks we shot off with the neighbors the night before, and had been so excited to see the big pretties. Cameron has forgotten the years he was terrified of fireworks, and just didn't understand why she was scared. Becca did tell me today that she thought she would like fireworks when she was 4.
