Our "last fling" of the summer was a vacation with the Powell and Perkins' families to travel to Nebraska and visit the Omaha Zoo. Unfortunately, I think that everyone else in the region had the same idea because the zoo was CRAZY crowded. But did we let that ruin our fun? Heck no! It was a fun way to wrap up our summer vacation.
We started our visit by going through the desert dome. This was probably a mistake -- it took us an hour to get through it because of the crowds on the narrow little paths. In the basement of the desert dome is a cave exhibit. Chris was enamored of the bats. I do not like bats, but could appreciate the display. They also had this awesome "bayou" swampland where you walk through a very cool replica of a swamp with live animals all around you. Very cool and kinda creepy.
The Omaha zoo has an amazing ape habitat and I especially enjoyed the gorillas. I mean, look at these guys... they were practically putting on a show for us.
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| Gun show! |
We stopped for lunch at the big cat exhibit. We had packed a picnic lunch, so it was neat to be eating our lunch just a few feet away from the lions. And they would occasionally roar and act up, so that was special.
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| The highlight of any trip is getting to RIDE on a tram or train or whatever gets us off of our feet! |
We managed to make it to the aquarium for shark feeding time. Again, the crowds crammed into this place were nuts. They were so bad that Emily and Josh got fed up and took the emergency exit before they even made it to the shark tank. :) Those of us that braved the crowds weren't disappointed and got some really cute group pictures in there!
Next we rode the train to the back half of the park. The train is a favorite for the kids. We had to wait in a long line to get on (again, crowds were crazy) and just as our train was coming into the station, Ledger announced that he had to pee. Of course. So he and Emily RAN to the nearest bathroom and RAN back where we were holding their seats just in time for the train to depart. Nothing like a little last minute excitement! At the back of the park, we waited in (another) long line to get on the skyride -- a ski lift that carries you over the zoo. Ledger rode with BoomPa and BoomMa and Locke rode with Chris and I. I was pretty nervous at first and had a strong hold on Locke -- but once we were in the air, it was going really well and we were able to loosen up and take some pictures. :)
At the end of the day, we decided to visit the "Dinosaurs Alive" exhibit. We weren't sure how the kids would do with the giant animatronics, but (as usual) they surprised us and didn't act scared of the dinos at all. Ledger liked trying to "activate" them and get them to move. :)
By the end of the day, we were truly exhausted. We went to dinner and then back to our hotel for a little swimming and SLEEP. Although it was a short weekend, we enjoyed getting to spend some time together.
