Two weekends ago we went to Omaha with two other families. A couple of months ago we purchased a Google Offer than included a two-night hotel stay at a indoor water park 2 large three topping pizzas, and breakfast buffets for two mornings for up to four people and admission to the water park for $160.00 Let me tell you it was quite the deal! The $160.00 really just covered the cost of the hotel room. Everything else was a bonus. The actual retail value of the deal was over $200.00!
All week Amber, Lisa and I discussed the weekend plans. With the big snow storm they were predicting we decided to change our reservation from Fri-Sun to Sat-Mon. We figured that waiting to leave on Saturday would give us a little more time for the roads to get cleaned up from the big storm that was coming Thursday. Well on Friday morning I woke up to the news that we didn't hardly get any of the snow they were predicting and immediately sent out an email to the girls. It was then we decided to see if we could change our reservation back to Fri-Sun. They would so we all quickly packed up, got ready and we left by 1:30 PM in time for Elsie to take her afternoon nap in the car.
We got there around 4:00, checked into our room and then headed out to get some groceries for the weekend. We got back and had dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was after 8:00 by the time we got back to the hotel room. Elsie was pretty tired and fell asleep rather quickly but it was hard because we were all in the same room so we had to be quiet. John was exhausted from being up early from pushing snow so he fell asleep and I put in my earbuds and caught up a few episodes of Downton Abbey: Season One. The other two families got there later so we didn't really catch up with them until the next day.
Elsie slept pretty good throughout the night despite being in the same room as us. We woke up and got ready and went down to breakfast at Castaways (the hotel restaurant). Like I mentioned before, this was included in our package. Our morning plans included meeting up at the Omaha Children's Museum. We decided to drive around a bit before it opened to see if Elsie would take a little snooze. She ended up sleeping for about 30 minutes while we drove around Omaha.
We got to the museum around 9:30 AM and met up with the other families. It was a great place to go and let Elsie run around, watch other kids (which she loves), and explore. We had Elsie in a hat while in the car so please ignore her crazy hat hair in the pictures. haha
Imagination Playground
We spent the majority of our time at the museum in this room. They had an area called the "Wiggle Room" which was designed for children under 3. It was perfect for Elsie. They had a lot of padded blocks, a padded floor and a wall of mirrors!
Another big hit for Elsie was the water table. She loved it!!
Another area in this room was the farm area. They had a farmhouse that Elsie loved to run between the two rooms and of course the animals and corn were a hit as well.
The staff brought out a big floor puzzle and it was a hit with the two older boys Cayden and Parker. Elsie tried to get in on the action too but she just liked carrying the pieces around.
The slide was also a hit with the two little girls...
Aubrey
Back in the wiggle room there was a perfect size kitchen and the girls loved it!!
Greta-9 months, Aubrey-11 Months, Elsie-14 Months
The girls with their mamas :). It is impossible to get a good pic with all three little girls looking
After spending time in the Imagination room we went upstairs where there was a carousel. I was really excited to take Elsie on it...I took her on one when we were at the Boise Zoo last summer when she was 6 months old. Lets just say things have changed in the last 8 months. She did not want to ride on the animals. I tried to put her on one and she screamed and clung to me. So we ended up on the stationary bench. She was fine and enjoyed the ride as long as she was safe in my arms.
After the ride we went back downstairs to the Charlie Campbell Science and Technology Center aka the ball room. Elsie just loved this area. She couldn't get enough of playing with the ball, chasing after them, and picking it up. They had this thing in the center of the room where all the balls would go to and then every so often an alarm would go off and all the balls would drop down. Elsie loved it!
Not quite tall enough!
We left the museum around 12:45 PM and rushed back to the hotel to pick up our free pizza for lunch. We at with Marc, Amber and the kids in the plaza area of the hotel. It was a really nice area with a lot of tables and chairs. Then we headed upstairs and put the kids down for their afternoon nap. Elsie slept really well. John and Marc went down to the bar and Amber and I stayed in our rooms with the kids. I kept watching Downton Abbey. Elsie slept for a little over an hour. It was so cute...she was in her pack and play and the we put the couch in front of it so it was a little closed off from the rest of the room. Well I was sitting on the bed and looked over at the pack and play and there was Elsie little eyes peering up over the side at me not making a sound. haha I just found it to be so cute.
After naps we headed down to the waterpark. We spent a couple of hours down there riding in the lazy river, playing in the pool, and hanging out. Elsie is still too little to go down the slides but we still had fun. After the water park, we dried off, changed and went down to Castaways for dinner-pizza again but hey! you gotta use up the free stuff right? It was getting late but I think overall the kids did well.
After the water park, we dried off, changed and went down to Castaways for dinner-pizza again but hey! you gotta use up the free stuff right? It was getting late but I think overall the kids did well. It was right around 9:00 PM before we made it back up to the room for bedtime. Elsie fell asleep hard and fast. :) After the kids were asleep it was the girls turn to get a drink so Lisa, Amber and I met downstairs in the plaza again, found some comfy chairs, enjoyed a drink and talked for a while before headed up to bed.
The next morning we got up again, ate the buffet at Castaways, checked out of our room and the went for a drive towards Lincoln. Elsie was out again and got in a good 45 minutes nap. The other two families stayed at the hotel for the morning and went to the water park. We chose to head to the zoo to be there right around opening at 10:00.
We got there at 10:15. Another great thing about this is that it was community days so entrance to the zoo was free!!! We thought for sure it was going to be REALLY busy but surprising it wasn't so much. It was nice and relaxing and there were times where we didn't see any other people. Elsie spent the day switching it up from being in the stroller, being carried by us, or walking around. We went to the aquarium first and Elsie just loved looking at all the fish and she loved the penguins.
After the aquarium we went to the Jungle. Elsie really enjoyed this exhibit. She absolutely loved looking at all the monkeys. I would say this was her favorite part of the day.
After the jungle we went down around to the giraffes and then went for a walk to see a few of the animals that were outside. It was actaully a beautiful day out! Sunny and not too cold. We got really lucky for a Sunday in February. Then onto the Gorilla House. The first time through Elsie wasn't too fond of these animals. She was more comfortable in our arms as we walked through. But can you blame her :)
The had a display of the different monkeys and how tall they were. So we found one that was close to Elsie height-the Howler Monkey. Then we put her next to the gorilla. I don't think she even like the picture of the gorilla.
We also saw the orangatuns, which were mainly sleeping, before heading up to meet up with Marc, Amber, and the kids for lunch.
We ate lunch at the little cafe there and it was pretty cool. It had one wall that was all glass and you could watch the monkeys in the jungle exhibit. After lunch we had only a few exhibits left-the cats, bears, and The Desert Dome.
Family pic
A couple of animals from the Desert Dome. This exhibit was pretty cool. It displayed animals from different deserts from all over the world. Then you could go below the dome and the exhibit was with all nocturnal animals. It was pretty cool.
After the dome we headed to see the cats. There were little baby lion cubs and they were so cute! Elsie really enjoyed watching them play. Then we went outside to see the tiger (which she loves to look at in books lately).
We ended up going back through the Gorilla House as we were trying to get to the exit of the zoo. She was definitely more comfortable with them this time around and would actually get close to the glass.
Amber and I with the kiddos. Missing the Rodgers clan. We split up at the dome and never reconnected.
It was really cute. In the Gorilla House Cayden and Elsie were holding hand as they were walking.
Then Cayden wanted to go and Elsie was left chasing after him :)
Aubrey enjoying her nap at the zoo
After the Gorilla House it was time for us to hit the road. It was already 3:15. We were there for 5 hours!!! I couldn't believe it. Before we went I thought maybe we would go there for 3 hours or so. It was a lot of fun and I think it would be even better when the animals were all outside. I would definitely go back again!
Elsie on the way out to the car-she was exhausted and slept most of the way home.
It was such a fun trip and a great winter getaway! Thanks to the other families that went. We had a wonderful time!!!
Love to see all the pictures of the Olsen's & Sorem's! Miss you guys. xxoo
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