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!