omaha Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

The first day of our mini-vacation was spent at the Durham Museum, Red Mango and our hotel swimming pool. The next day, we headed to the Henry Doorly Zoo, truly one of the best zoos in the U.S.

I will say that our day at the zoo wasn’t perfect, but that was due to the 101 degree heat that threatened to do us in a time or two, which of course wasn’t the zoo’s fault. And thankfully, there were some lovely air conditioned areas we took full advantage of!

Here we are enjoying the “Desert Dome” (which our oldest said he wished was the “Dessert Dome”, because wouldn’t THAT have been fun!). We saw some really amazing birds, some (not so) cool snakes, and my favorite – a little armadillo that I totally wanted to bring home. Me, the girl who doesn’t want pets. Cutest little armadillo ever, he was. Ran so fast in his little round shell he looked like he was on wheels. Mmm, so adorable.

We only missed a few of the zoo’s great attractions, pumping our legs hard in that heat to make the rounds. We left the Desert Dome and followed our map and we were not a bit disappointed with what we saw.

Isn’t this bear a sweet one? Amazing how sweet they look when they aren’t growling in your face. Kinda sounds like me. I can be real sweet when I’m not growling in your face. It’s true. Just ask my kids.

We stood and stared at the penquins for a long, long time. Ever read Mr. Popper’s Penquins? Oh, you’ve got to read it. And then stare at some real penquins for a while. They’re fascinating.

We saw the biggest butterfly ever. Except that it was really a chair and Malachi and I sat in it to take a little break from walking.

Possibly our favorite area (although it truly is hard to say) was the Aquarium. This place is incredible, with glass all around you so that you can see all of the amazing creatures swimming. Yes, sharks swam over us and beside us, as did sting rays and sea horses. We also made friends with a big turtle, that in my opinion, had a lovely personality. I’d never seen one like him before and I named him Fred.

It was hard to walk away from this round “tube” of fish. Again, we stared and stared…

We left the zoo exhausted and fulfilled…with still enough energy to talk all the way to dinner about “Remember the monkey on that rope?” and “Are you sure we can’t go back and get the armadillo?”. Not really. I didn’t really say that. I’d never contemplate something like that. Really.

Dinner was fun at Ci-Ci’s Pizza where we’d printed off a coupon and were able to feed our family for an incredibly low price. What a treat!

Last but not least, we stopped at Whole Foods, because if I can’t have an armadillo, I at least need to have a Whole Foods fix while I’m in Omaha, right? Thanks to those of you who signed up for Shop it to Me, we had accumulated a few Whole Foods gift cards to use.

Can I tell you what a blessing those are to us, and how much we appreciate those of you who take the time to (painlessly) sign up for the Shop it to Me email? It means a lot to us, and provides us with a few gift cards to spend on wholesome groceries for our family. I hope that you too are taking advantage of the Shop it to Me referral program and telling YOUR family and friends about this so that you can earn gift cards as well!!

Here’s a picture of some of the items we grabbed at Whole Foods. We also got some chicken breasts while we were there, but they were in the freezer at the time of this photo shoot and refused to come out. Stubborn little chickens. (Should have got me an armadillo instead.)

And there you have it…our Mini Vacation. It was a wonderful getaway and I’m so thankful we were able to do this!

Now you tell me – do you have fun travel plans this summer? (And if you’re coming through Nebraska, do you think you could bring me an armadillo?)

Just a little reminder, Friday, June 10 is the final day for our Heavenly Homemakers eBook Overload sale!! Read details here!

First, let me say that I really had no idea I was torturing so many of you by not revealing what our boys’ “surprise” was. On Gratituesday when I was very vague again about what we were doing, that truly was because I had just spent part of forever at our hotel trying to get online and then stay online (my only complaint about our otherwise lovely hotel). Then, once I was finally able to post, my brain was so tired, all I could do was write, “we’re having fun – I’m going to bed”.

Now that I’m going to reveal what we’ve been up to, you are likely to say, “oh, is that it?” because really it was just a little getaway and a fun mini-vacation we surprised our boys with. That’s all. Ah, but it was fun. :)

I had been contacted several weeks ago by Corrie from Visit Omaha about sending our family to the Durham Museum and the Henry Doorly Zoo. We were thrilled with the opportunity! Matt and I decided to plan a little mini-vacation around these two visits, and then we decided not to tell our boys. We thought, why not surprise them?!

Sunday night right before bedtime (yes, the perfect time to spring a surprise on them so they would for sure never go to sleep – duh), we told them that they needed to go pack a back pack with clothes for over-night and be sure to include their swimming trunks. Well, their eyes lit up, but as you can imagine, they were hardly satisfied with so little information. We went ahead and told them part of what we’d be doing, and that we’d be staying overnight in a hotel, which is why they needed their swimming gear. (I had booked our hotel through Hotwire, by the way, and got a great deal!!)

Earlier in the evening, when I’d had the kitchen to myself, I had packed a surprise breakfast for them to eat on the road the next morning…

The next morning, the boys got up and dressed and we all loaded up. I handed them their breakfast bags and we were on our way to Omaha!

Our first stop: The Durham Museum. We really had no idea what to expect there, but wow were we in for a treat! After we ate our packed lunch in their nice lunch area, we got to explore everything from real train cars to an earth lodge to an “old time” grocery store – and oh so much more. We loved the Durham Museum and would highly recommend it if you’re ever in this area!

Malachi made a new friend while we were there, and carried on a lively conversation. I have to wonder what family secrets he shared.

Asa did his best to look like a wooden soldier on a train station bench. Except for the long hair and lack of uniform, I think he pulled it off quite well.

After we left the Durham Museum, we headed to the hospital to visit our friends whose son has been undergoing intense medical care for over a month. It was great to see them, and we are so thankful we could make that a part of our get-away.

From there, we told the boys we were headed to check into our hotel (which we were), but on the way, we stopped to surprise them with frozen yogurt from Red Mango. Have you ever been to Red Mango? Matt and I had discovered this fun treasure when we’d gone to the Weekend to Remember conference a few months ago. It’s so much fun and comparatively, a healthier treat than most!

The boys were able to choose from a large variety of frozen yogurt flavors, then stand in line to fill their bowl with toppings ranging from crushed candy bars to fresh fruit.

We hardly ever splurge on things like this, so yeah, this was fun!

From there, we checked into our hotel for a little pool time. Matt and the boys all had fun swimming. Me? I watched them from my very incredibly relaxing spot in the hot-tub. Ahhhhhhhhh.

After we dried off, we went out for a late dinner, then headed to bed so that we’d be ready to hang out with some sharks, gorillas and armadillos the next day.

To be continued…

Our Mini Vacation (Part Two)

Our Mini Vacation, Part One