{Omaha Trip}

This past Friday we enjoyed a trip with my parents to Omaha. We left Friday afternoon for our exciting journey, only to be frustrated at the traffic, due to road work (where were the construction workers?? Never to be found!), and then to our worse fears, a throwing up kid. It was a good thing I had packed several small blankets, for the girls. They are usually freezing from the a/c, so Madison had one around her lap. She started complaining of a headache, laid her head down, then minutes later, said "I've gotta puke", and puke she did. Everywhere! So, we pulled off to a gas station where I had an enjoyable time washing her blanket in the toilet. Gag Gag!

We arrived in Omaha about 4 hours later (again, what was supposed to be a 3 hour journey, probably took us 4 1/2 hours?). We found our hotel room, hit the Hollywood Diner that was next to our hotel. Not many people frequented here, so we were unsure if this was a good sign, or a bad sign. It was a bad sign. My food was dropped, Katie had a hair in her food... blech.

Met up w/ our friends later that night for a little swimming fun, then on to bed. Saturday morning the girls had a dance competition. This competition was a brand new one (the first year), so they had some wrinkles to iron out (sound system, CD player didn't work, etc). It didn't help that it was raining as well. Bummer. Maddie did great, Katie did pretty good. She was disqualified from her sword dance b/c she kicked the sword (a major big no no). Then again, the sword handles were extremely high, so she wasn't used to this. Maddie danced all her dances, then took off playing with her friends, finding lovely caterpillars "Can we take him home Momma?" and eating all the Pringles. Katie did fantastic at her Fling & Seann Trius, but messed up on her Flora. After asking her to practice that dance before she went out, she said "no.". After she came back from dancing it she said "Umm... I think I should have listened to you and practiced it.". UMMM... YES! Oh well... a teaching moment for her.

We went back to the hotel afterwards, changed clothes for the girls, and headed to eat. We stopped at the huge Nebraska Furniture Mart, shopped for a bit. After eating, we went to the Winter Quarter's Visitor's Center. The new temple was across the street, with the cemetary next to it. We took the tour, and learned so much about the pioneers and the things they went through. Katie pulled a handcart, and when the sister missionary put a small stone in front of it, she really had a tough time pulling it. Maddie laid in a bed that was customary for the people on the ship who were traveling. Five people had to share one bed... whether by taking turns, sleeping every 2 hours in it, or what. Scary!

Sunday we went to the famous Omaha Zoo. Very cool, have to admit! They had a huge Desert Dome, and we spent a full hour inside. We saw the bears, gorilla's, and of course, the famous aquarium, where we walk under sharks swimming above our heads. Ultra cool!

We made it home in 3 hours, thanks to mom's speeding (JUST KIDDING MOM!). No, she didn't speed. We had a fantastic time, and a major big thanks to Mom & Dad for going with us!