Our Adventures in Omaha - Day 1 & 2

Last week Westin and I had the pleasure of flying out to Omaha, Nebraska to visit one of my best friends and her family, as well as my older brother who just started law school at Creighton. Allie, Mitch and their three boys have been in Omaha for four years, so my visit to see them was long overdue. I'm just glad I finally made it out there. And to visit Chris in the same trip made it all the more special.

I was a little nervous going into this trip because I haven't flown alone with Westin since the beginning of the year - and that was only a 90-minute flight to Utah. This trip, however, we had a three and half hour flight to Minneapolis, a one hour layover, and then another one hour flight to Omaha (each way). I know that's not as bad as what some of you have experienced, but with Westin's activeness (i.e. inability to sit still), I didn't really know what to expect since he was supposed to be sitting on my lap the whole time. Luckily, none of the flights were full and Westin was able to have his own seat on each plane. That saved me.

Ok, so back to the trip - Westin and I left early Tuesday morning. We had been talking about riding the airplane for a couple days before, so W was pretty excited to get to the airport and see all the planes on the runway. Each time a plane would come by or take off, he would yell out, "There's another one, mom! Another one. A big jet!." He couldn't take his eyes off the runway.

Watching the planes at LAX before our first flight.

The flight itself went pretty well. During the first leg of the trip we had the entire row to ourselves, and Westin took complete advantage of the extra room. He was all over the place. He seriously couldn't sit in one position for more than a couple minutes.

Here's proof...

During our layover in Minneapolis, Westin discovered the thrill of riding a moving walkway. Lucky for him, we had about five of them to ride to get to our next terminal. When there wasn't a moving walkway, however, I was usually chasing him down the hallway. He wasn't being bad or anything, the kid just doesn't like to walk.

Of course there was no napping on any of the flights, but in spite of that, Westin did really well. I even had a few minutes here and there to look through a magazine.

Once in Omaha, Allie and her youngest son, Easton, (who is just five days younger than W) picked us up from the airport. We headed straight to their house to let the boys play and have some dinner.

Taking no time at all to get acquainted... Jackson, Creighton, Easton and Westin

Once the boys were in bed, it was time for us girls to start catching up. And what better way to do that than while baking chocolate chip cookies?

Yum!

We had lots of fun activities planned for our first full day in Omaha. After Allie took me on a run through part of the city, we walked over to the Botanical Gardens near her home to see the miniature trains. The little trains run through a miniature old-town Omaha, with replicas of historical buildings. It was quite cute.

After the trains it was time to meet up with Chris to head over to the zoo. Here he is (all 6 feet, 3 inches of him) in the back seat with Creighton, Westin and Easton. What a good sport!

The Omaha Zoo was awesome. Next to San Diego, I think it's the best zoo I've ever been to. We only had a few hours, so we made sure to hit up all the good stuff...

Here we are in the jungle - an indoor area that was super humid and totally felt like a jungle (from what I'm told... since I've never actually been to the jungle)

Next was the aquarium, with the penguin exhibit - an absolute hit with the kids. Westin could have watched the penguins all day. He kept saying, "Look! Penguins swimming!"

Westin and the E-man. (As you'll soon notice, we couldn't get a single picture with all of the kids looking at the camera at the same time.)

Checking out the fish and sharks in the water tunnel

Our friend Jerry (that's really his name) taking a nap in plain site for us (thanks for the close up, bud).

Westin trying to feed the random roaming peacock (the kid has no fear)

Allie and Easton in front of the black bear (back left corner)

See? Trying to take a picture of all the boys at once was impossible (I soooo need a better camera!)

We also saw a polar bear, an elephant, seals, giraffes, zebras, and a few rhinos. I was so amazed that all the animals were actually out and visible. After walking around the park, we had a picnic lunch and then headed home. It couldn't have been a better zoo visit.

That night Allie and I enjoyed a girls night at dinner and a movie, but before heading out, we got the boys bathed and ready for bed. Doesn't get much cuter than this...

There's more to come... lots more!