The Saga Continues: Nebraska

(if you missed the first part of our exciting journey, click here to catch up!)

After we visited the world-famous Carhenge (and bought a bumper sticker to put on our cooler to indeed prove that we had been there), we settled in to some fun days in Alliance. The kidlets spent lots of time in Grammy and Pop's backyard, blowing bubbles, chasing each other with squirt guns, and running through the sprinkler. I explored the town with my mom - you could walk everywhere! We hit up the local thrift stores and scored some major goodies - did I mention I bought all of Little Sprout's crib bedding there for $2.00?!

On Wednesday of that week, we headed out to Scott's Bluff for some sightseeing. This was a landmark for the pioneers that traveled the Oregon Trail (yeah, we sort of did the Oregon Trail thing backwards). We hiked around while I tried not to panic about the kids getting too close to the edge and toppling over.

I did manage to get some decent shots of the beautiful scenery though. The Beast was on the lookout for snakes, although much to the Nerd's disappointment, we never saw a rattlesnake despite all the warning signs. The Drama Queen freaked out about "fire ants" and clung to Grammy's hand the whole time.

It was a beautiful view. Later, we descended the bluff and discovered a small, somewhat decrepit natural history museum. Apparently admission was discounted on Wednesdays; so we went in and viewed the many animals that had been positioned in interesting ways by the taxidermist. For its size, the museum actually housed a lot of animals.

Naturally the kids chose to pose by the lions that had just viciously killed a zebra. It wasn't the goriest scene there, either.

Everybody wants a water buffalo, right? The various mounted heads on particle board gave the place a certain vibe. The kids loved it! The town of Scottsbluff also had a Culvers, which made this pregnant lady quite ecstatic. (I made sure to stop there twice while we were there, so as to get as much frozen custard as possible.)

Then we all piled into the van and drove on to see Chimney Rock. This was also a landmark on the Oregon Trail and was so named because well, someone thought it looked like a chimney. I really don't know how those pioneers ever made it to Oregon. It was a 1,200 mile drive for us from Oregon to Chimney Rock, and we took two days driving 75 miles an hour in an air-conditioned minivan.

The kids enjoyed the Chimney Rock museum, which I personally thought was a total rip-off in regards to the amount of money we had to spend. However, if you like lifting lots of heavy objects and pretending to fill a pioneer wagon, you might feel that you got your money's worth. And obviously, my kids enjoyed that part very much. It was a lot like cleaning up the toys after a busy day, only this time the kids actually picked up the toys without complaining or procrastinating. Wow. Maybe I need to make the toy box look like a big pioneer wagon.

Besides our Oregon Trail adventures, we got to visit the pastor's home for a cookout. The kids were also able to enjoy the many playgrounds there in Alliance. Poor Spud was pretty wiped out by the end of our stay in Nebraska. He fell asleep on the kitchen floor right after he asked Grammy for some cheese balls and was out for quite some time.

The kids enjoyed one more snuggle with Grammy while she read nursery rhymes to them in silly voices. I love this picture - I think it is one of my favorites from the trip. All too soon, we were saying a tearful goodbye and loading up the van at 9:00 pm that Thursday to continue on our journey, this time to Indiana.

And the adventure shall continue - in another post, that is.

I'm Back

well.

we drove over 5,200 miles.

we lived out of suitcases for sixteen days.

we visited the states of Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

we saw 8 different relatives and many many friends.

we are officially sick of fast food.

we viewed Scotts Bluff, Carhenge, Chimney Rock, and other touristy places.

we are tired.

BUT, we are back! It was a fabulous trip which I will be sure to detail in many posts to come; but it is so good to be home. :)

and we're back!

It seems a little strange that with the exception of checking my Facebook and email here and there over the last few weeks, my fingers have been largely absent from this keyboard for quite a while now. The Drama Queen and I took a two-week trip up north to Ontario, Canada, to visit my favorite (okay, only!) sister and her husband and of course their darling newborn Delaney Hope. We had a wonderful time, as you can see by the smiles in the photos below:

We talked, laughed, ate, read books, watched movies, shopped, and even worked out a trip to see Niagara Falls. It was a great way for me to spend time with my girl, even if her little body seemed to take up most of the bed every night! During the trip, she cultivated a love for the Nintendo DS, playing it on the plane and throughout our vacation weeks. I have come to realize that this new love will be very advantageous for me - "You can't play your DS until your room is clean" etc. :)

It was also fantastic to see my little sister as a mom. She has confidence and a natural "mommyness" to her that was wonderful to see.

And now, finally we are back in the States and trying to get back into our normal routine. Next week, school starts - preschool for the Drama Queen, special preschool for the Beast, and teaching Spanish for me. I can't wait!

I also can't wait to hop around my favorite blogs and catch up on all the latest news and funny stories. I missed you all.

Happy Monday!

Zooish Happenings with Grammy and Pop

On the last day that my parents were here for their visit, we planned a trip to the Oregon zoo. It was the usual unpredictable Oregon weather - one half of the sky looked like rain and the other half looked sunny and bright. We decided to take our chances and go anyway. It was definitely on the chilly side when we began our explorations that day, but as you can see in the above photo, my two little munchkins are oblivious to the cold and dampness (being true Oregonians and all!)

This is Pop's excited face. Seriously, it is. It's the same as his angry face and his happy face. I promise you, he was having a good time. He's just terrible when it comes to taking pictures. . .

David raced headlong through most of the zoo. His favorite sightings? Rocks, dirt, grass, and mud. We could have saved ourselves some money and taken that kid on a free nature hike for the same thrills. Note how David runs with his head down. His head actually wobbles around when he runs, earning him the nickname "Bobblehead" and "Chickenneck." (ha ha, we're saving money to pay his therapist some day!)

Michael's favorite moment at the zoo was experiencing pickles for the first time at the Zoo food court. He loves them! i'm not sure he was quite as happy that we lost his bottle at the zoo, but that's another story.

We got to see the baby elephant for the first time. Samudra was actually born just a few days before Michael - I remember all the hype in the news while i was in the hospital delivering Michael. Gabi loved the elephants, and the penguins, and the monkeys, and the giraffes, and pretty much all the animals she saw.

Aww, a sweet moment with Pop. Too bad Pop looks like he just ate a pickle himself. :)

We were able to go into the Lorikeet house and get incredibly close to the brightly-colored birds. Chris bought some nectar to feed the birds, and amazingly enough, my normally timid daughter was in birdy heaven. I wonder if the fact that the birds are green with rainbow accents had anything to do with it. . .

As soon as we entered the Lorikeet House, one of the friendly birds landed right on Mom's arm, much to her surprise.

I was only inches away from this lorikeet when I took his picture with my new camera.

Even David got in on the feeding action. He saw how much the bird loved the nectar and decided to try some for himself. Before we could stop him, he had drunk some of the nectar and gotten quite a bit of it on his hands and face. Poor David was now a target for hungry birds, and one of the eager lorikeets bit his finger, trying to get at the nectar.

Grammy's girl. . .

And of course we had to get a final shot in front of the cheesy partying bears in front of the gift shop. Big smiles everyone!