Omaha Vacation - Day 1

Our plan for the first day of vacation was to go to the zoo first, hoping that there wouldn't be huge crowds. It was a gorgeous day, weatherwise, we couldn't have asked for better weather! It was a perfect day to go to the zoo, unfortunately, many other people had that same idea. The zoo was packed! We left here around 8:30 and were there around 9"30. It wasn't too busy then, but around ten is when it really got crazy. It ended up being OK, though. We did all the must-see things when we first got there, the desert dome, monkeys/gorillas, big cats, bears, and aviary.

When we paid our admission, we bought tickets for the new Skyfari that just opened up. It's a sky-tram/ski lift thing from the middle of the zoo to the end and back. We parked the strollers in a little 'parking lot" type thing and got on. Brian took Will and Grace in one car, and I took Xander. I had to admit, I was a little nervous flying 30 feet above ground with only a little bar keeping squirmy 3 year olds in the seats. But, everyone was fine and no one was scared at all. When we started going up in the air, Xander started asking tons of questions like "What would happen if I dropped my shoe." and "What are we doing up here?" We ended up at the far end of the zoo where the elephants and rhinoceros are. That was neat because we never walk that far to see those big animals. We ate lunch in that area, then got back on and "flew" back to our strollers. After that, we hit the butterfly garden and aquarium. That took us until about 1:30. The kids were starting to get tired, so we drove to the hotel on the chance that we could get an early check-in and give the kids a nap.

Luckily, we were able to get that early check-in, so everyone was down for a nap by 3, I don't think they fell asleep until 4 or so, too much playing/talking and too much excitement about being in a new place. In case anyone was wondering, we had a pull-out couch where two of them slept, then we brought an air mattress and sleeping bag for the third. Although, those air mattresses are very noisy and not so comfortable. I don't think we'll use those again.

Once they woke up around 5, we headed for the Amazing Pizza Machine in Millard. Wednesday night is definitely the night to go there. That place would be chaos if it was busy. But, it wasn't and we had a pleasant surprise that all the rides and games were half price. So, everyone got to do twice as much as they would have otherwise. If you didn't know, the Pizza Machine is owned by Valentino's, so the food was pretty similar. We ate in a room that was showing the cartoon network on a huge projection screen, Will was totally distracted by that. I don't think the kid ate anything until we got ice cream sundaes, then he was down to business!

As I mentioned before, there are tons of rides and games that we got to ride for half price. The kids each drove a little train in a small circle, rode a small carousel did other small race car/roller coaster simulation rides, but we saved the best for last. It was called the "Frog Hopper" and it's a little ride where you sit on a bench with a bar across your lap and you go up and down, kind of hopping like a frog (see the pictures). It went almost all the way up to the ceiling. Well, we didn't think anyone would be scared, since they weren't scared on the Skyfari, and we were right. They LOVED it! They screamed and giggled the whole time. When they got off, Xander ran up to me, grabbed my hand and said "We have to do THAT again!" And we eventually did let them do it again. The best part for daddy is that he is sure once they're bigger, he'll have lots of people to go on rides with at amusement parks, because it seems like they are going to love rides.

We didn't leave the Pizza Machine until around 8:30, so it was a late bedtime. Even with a later bedtime, they still took until around 10:30 to fall asleep. It was painful for Brian and I to sit there in the dark yelling at them to stop playing and go to sleep. I think we went to sleep even before they were all asleep. I think once they were alseep they slept OK, although Brian said Will fell off his air mattress several times. Will is a crazy sleeper, I will admit. Maybe he wasn't the one to put on the air mattress! More in the next post about days 2 and 3....