Our trip to Omaha started on May 4th. Lennard was able to take the day off (since he'd had to work Sunday) and so we were off first thing in the morning. We made it to Great Falls in time for lunch at the Golden Corral and then were on the road again until we got to Billings. We made a quick stop at the temple there and let the kids run off some steam after being strapped into the van for that many hours! It is a beautiful temple. We had (a not-so-good) dinner at Denny's and then were in bed the same time as the kids (the joys of sharing a hotel room!).
The next day we made it to Rapid City, South Dakota. It was nice to have a shorter drive (only 5 hours). We went to the Reptile Gardens thinking that the kids would enjoy getting down and seeing the different animals... but they were not impressed! Emma kept wanting up saying, "Scary!". We even tried getting them to just play on the playground, but we had hit it right at nap time and they didn't want to do anything. Oh well, maybe next time!
By the time we left the Reptile Gardens and headed over to Mount Rushmore, the kids were asleep! I thought that we could maybe get away with putting them in the stroller with the seats reclined, but just as we were getting them settled, a couple of motorbikes started up and revved their engines. Both kids popped right up and didn't go back to sleep. We didn't spend a lot of time at Mount Rushmore as it was overcast and chilly, but it was nice to actually see the monument!
We made it to Alicia's late Sunday evening. We were all glad to finally get there! The kids were immediately intrigued with their dog, Scamp. He is just as tall as they are, but thankfully he was great with them! We didn't do much on Monday. We just hung out, read books, visited with everyone and just generally relaxed!
Tuesday morning we over to the Omaha Zoo with Alicia, Sarah, Rigel and my father-in-law. We were able to get a motorized scooter for him to use so that he could enjoy the zoo with us. It was a fun day, though there were a LOT of school groups in the zoo that morning, so it was VERY busy at some of the exhibits. The aquarium was extremely cool, but just way too many kids! You couldn't stay in one place for very long. Ben ended up falling asleep for part of the time we were there, but Emma had a blast. I think her favorite part was feeding the fish and playing on the playground.
Thursday evening was Rigel's baptism. It was a bit of 'fun' trying to keep the kids quiet during the meeting, but it was nice to get to be there for his special day. Friday we did a bunch of odds and ends... Costco, Cabela's, etc. Saturday was Meissa's and Caleb's high school graduation. Since my sister-in-law has homeschooled them, it was a very personal, small ceremony! There were about 35 people there. I'm glad we were able to help them celebrate this accomplishment in their lives. Of course I didn't end up getting a picture of Sarah (boo!), but she made the cake for the graduation ceremony! Such a talented young lady!
We went to church on Sunday and had a great Mother's Day celebration. The kids even cooperated and went to nursery with very little issue (Ben only cried for about 10 minutes). They gave each 'mom' a small box of chocolates (yum!), and at the end of the day, Emma and Ben handed me mother's day cards that they had 'made' in nursery. They were so excited to give me the cards - my heart pretty much melted on the spot! I love that their little hand prints are in the cards. They are the very first Mother's Day cards I've ever gotten!
We headed out bright and early Monday morning and stayed in Rapid City again that night. We made a stop at Wall Drugs on the way there and had a few laughs. Both of the kids got wet in the spash park that they have behind the buildings. The water would 'jump' in time to the music playing. At first they were just wandering around looking at the water, but pretty soon, Emma got the full brunt of a stream of water that landed directly on her head! She was completely drenched! I was able to wring water out of her shirt. She was NOT impressed! Not even five minutes later, Ben got wet too, though he didn't get nearly as much water as Emma did. We wandered around to some of the other things and managed to find the T-Rex that 'comes out to feed every 12 minutes'. We were sitting looking at it when it started to roar. Lights started flashing, smoke was creeping towards us and the kids screamed! They were crying and 'climbing' us trying to get away. We thought we'd be able to get them calmed down, but they did NOT like all the noise. As soon as we got up to leave, the noise stopped. Lennard sort of laughed and said, "Nightmares tonight!"... everyone around us thought it was pretty funny. Thankfully they didn't have nightmares though! If you ask Emma if she likes dinosaurs though, she'll look at you and say "(W)ery Scary"!
We stayed the next night in Great Falls and then were home before noon the next day. It was so good to get home and out of the van! The kids have been enjoying playing in the backyard and sleeping in their own rooms. It was great to be able to see all of Lennard's family and visit with them.
