Omaha vacation - days 2 & 3

So, day 2 started off pretty well. The kids slept until about 7, so we got up, showered, got dressed and ate breakfast that we had brought with us (the kids loved this, I brought donuts!). We piled in the car and headed off to Lauritzen gardens. We got there around 9:15 and found out there was a tram ride leaving at 9:30. So, we bought tickets and hopped on. We were joined by a bus load of retirees and their tour guide and those people just loved the kids! Xander fell down while trying to run to the tram and I swear every little old lady wanted to give him a hug and ask him if he was OK.

The tram ride was totally worth the time and money. The gardens are pretty big and there would have been no way to walk all of them with the kids. It did stop at one point and let everyone get out to explore the model railroad garden, which the kids loved. It had several little trains running over hundreds of buildings, tracks, bridges, trestles and more all over. The kids were enthralled. There was always something new to see. The old people loved watching the kids get excited over the trains. We got back on the tram and went to Kenefick park, which has two HUGE Union Pacific engines to look at. Xander was extremely mad he didn't get to ride on them. After the tram ride ended, we loaded the kids up into the stroller and took a walk to the Children's garden, which was OK.

After we left, we ate lunch at McDonald's and let the kids play for a little while. At one point, when all three of the kids had disappeared into the play structure, we saw Will's shorts drop from the sky, followed shortly by a bottomless Will. He looked at us and said "I was jumping too much, my pants fell off." The family sitting beside us got a big kick out of that.

Then, it was back to the hotel for another short nap, too short because the kids were pretty tired by then. I took a quick jaunt out to Archiver's for a little shopping during that nap. Once everyone was awake it was off to CoCo Key water resort for the rest of the day. Boy, did they love that. The only dark spot that afternoon is that Brian forgot to pack his swimming suit! He ran off to find a discount store while I went ahead with the kids. The kids had an awesome time on these yellow waterslides. They weren't huge, but big enough to be fun. Grace and Will probably went down 100+ times each, it's all they did for several hours. Xander also liked them, but spent a lot of time playing with manipulative water features (a series of fountain things and water guns). We also floated on tubes in the lazy river, and played with toys in the small zero-entry pool. We ate dinner at CoCoKey, then swam some more. We ended up leaving around 7:30 for showers and bedtime! Luckily, they were all very tired, so they actually fell asleep before 10. Unfortunately, Brian and I were also exhausted, so we also fell asleep shortly after ten.

Friday morning, we took our time getting ready to go, then eventually packed up and went across the street to a Perkins for breakfast. Xander ordered the kids breakfast of silver dollar pancakes and ate all 5 of then, plus some of Brian and I's breakfasts. Grace got chocolate chip pancakes and Will ate pancakes with sprinkles and whipped cream. I think those were great treats they won't get for a long time to come. At 10 when the water park opened, we did a little more swimming (Will and Grace logged an hour or so more on the yellow water slides) and finally called it a day around noon. Since none of us were hungry, we just drove home, ate a light lunch, then went down for a nap, all of us! Boy were we tired. It was so nice to sleep in our own beds on Friday night.

So, all in all, it was a successful vacation. I believe we will do things a little differently next time with the sleeping arrangements. We know the kids had a lot of fun, so it was worth it.