Weekend Trip

We ran off this weekend and spent a couple days in Omaha. We rented a car since the car we have that will comfortably seat us all for a 3 hour drive is the van and poor ol' Bessie is about 118 years old and we weren't all that comfortable driving her that far... Anywho - we ended up with my very favorite car - a Charger! Here I am lovin' her... Love this car. She is sooo pretty! It was so sad to tell her good-bye this morning....

But, I digress... We spent all day Saturday at the zoo! It was so nice to go through it and not push a stroller or drag a wagon! To not carry a diaper bag was sublime. To be able to read some of the signs or to stay and watch the animal antics for more than 10 seconds at a stretch thanks to super-short attention spans. We enjoyed the zoo for 9 hours Saturday! The weather was gorgeous, the kids were great, the zoo is incredible - a fabulous day!

The Big Cats - Love 'Em!

The kids had a great day! Here they are at the big rope spiderweb...

Me and C in the petting zoo!

There were peacocks all over the place!

The otters were snuggling....

We got to feed the pretty birds in the Budgie Exhibit.

Bears

Love the Polar Bears!

Monkeys & Gorillas are C's Favorite! Look at the size!

Awwww - Baby Monkey...

Our only kid problem was when S got a little frustrated with so much time spend with the monkey when he wanted to go see other stuff - he got a little mopey...

And stayed a little mopey...

Until we were able to tease him out of it and move on! Perfect timing with this sign!

The elephants and rhinos are a hike up a hill in Omaha...

But we were able to ride the SkyRail down! The kids loved it! Daddy and I were nervous wrecks! Very high up!

See?! Waaaaay above the giraffes!

After lunch we got to the butterfly house! T's favorite.

We didn't get a lot of pics in the aquarium. The conditions, low light, lots of glass, weren't great and it was stinkin' crowded in there!!!

The kids got to see a tarantula out of the cage and close up in the educational building.

Next - to the jungle!

Sunday we spent some time at Bass Pro Shop and then off to the Strategic Air and Space Museum - the boys especially loved this!

S and C like pretending to fly some of the planes...

On the way home we knew there was a chance of thunderstorms and we watched some clouds start to build and the sky got a bit dark. We stopped for a snack at a

Sonic in a little town in Southern Nebraska, the air was really thick, we could hear some thunder. As we headed out of town, we saw a storm spotter - radar on the roof, out of the car, pointing, taking pictures, then another, then another. We watched a storm tower build higher and higher - I told B, "that's what they're watching." More spotters, higher tower, could feel the adrenaline building - why didn't we buy the extra insurance on the rental car?! More storm spotters pulled over on the side of the road. Too cool a moment to pass up - we pulled off on a side road and snapped some pictures, then headed out again. Still building, still more spotters including a NOAA weather team and the kids were pretty sure they saw a spotter they recognized from Discovery Channels' Storm Chasers show. We pulled over 1 more time for pics and then we were outta there! Turns out the storm we were watching had a tornado warning on it while we were watching it - no touchdown, but it sure was high interest!

Taking video - probably not the smartest thing?

T would love to chase tornados for real!

Very exciting end to our weekend!