I drove from Colorado to Nebraska by myself with the boys. The first half of the trip which should have only taken about 3-4 hours took 6. Luckily, Alexander and James napped most of the second half and the 3 hour drive only took about 3 hours. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the boys at a rest stop so I could relieve myself because it was too hot with no shade to leave the boys in the car. I was almost at the point of sitting Benjamin on the floor with James in his lap, when a lady walked into the restroom. I said, "I know this is a bit unorthodox, but will you hold my baby?" James had been crying at everyone who held him except me until this lady. I told her that she had "the grandma's touch" and she said she had just left her 8 mos. old granddaughter in CO. Other than that, the trip was uneventful. The portable dvd players and Benjamin's new Lightening McQueen laptop (Thanks Gram/Grandma!) definitely helped to pass the time.
It felt like coming home when I drove into Papillion/Bellevue. I pointed out landmarks along the way and I was surprised about the things Benjamin did/not remember. It's also interesting to me that there are so many things to point out on a short stretch of state highway that still is lined, for the most part, in cornfields. We arrived after 2100 so it made for a late night.
Originally our trip was scheduled because Ryan had Army training and was going to be gone in the middle of July. The dates were changed, but we decided to make the trip anyway so that I could see my brother and his family and get together with the Bradlies for a 5th birthday party. (I can't call them "the bradley girls" anymore since now there are more boys than girls. Benjamin was originally the only boy.) It's hard to believe it's 5 years and 15.5 kids later.
We spent the afternoon with our friends Ms. Erin and Hope and figured we'd get to see them a bunch more, but things got crazy for them and Benjamin got sick, so it didn't work out. Hope is fascinated with Baby James, so it was sad we didn't get to see them more like during our last visit.
We were going to have s'mores at the library, but Mrs. B's (the children's librarian) mother passed away and so it was cancelled (It was probably better that we didn't go because the boys were exhausted). We were glad to see her at Baby and Me/Preschool Storytime on Thursday.
Benjamin went to Tatum's princess birthday party. He enjoyed wearing a crown, but was still very interested in the girls' tiaras. Alexander fell asleep on the way so I stayed with him and James in the car. He woke up just in time for cake.
The Early Childhood Center is one many reasons that I miss living in Bellevue. The sad thing is that I didn't take advantage of it as much as I might have, but there is SO much to do in Omaha that we went there often enough. I had forgotten that this is probably why Alexander walked at 10 months and not at 13 like Benjamin. I think if James had more than an afternoon with his brothers racing him around the room in the walker he would be walking by now. As I write this (on 17 July) he's already walking a few steps just holding on with one hand and balancing on two feet by himself (until he gets excited and falls over), so it won't be long.
Benjamin said he wasn't feeling well so we went home early. It turns out he had a 104.2 degree fever. Taking a nap when it peaked (Fri-Sun afternoons) was his only symptom so I'm not sure what he was sick with. Luckily, he didn't pass it to Alexander nor James.
Trisha played a mean game of Settlers on Sat evening. I'm not sure where the photos went, but I'm guessing they're on Ryan's phone. I had forgotten my camera and he brought it when he arrived for Army duty on Weds evening. (This post is getting way more in depth than I intended, but since I've gotten this far, I'll just go with it.)
Grandma and Poppa the Greats stayed home with Benjamin on Sunday. Their dog, Daisy, was terrified of the fireworks so they didn't want to leave her alone. It was nice to see everyone at church again... but I still miss our previous ward too.
James wasn't as anti-daddy as when Ryan was gone in May. It probably helped that he saw Ryan in the middle of our trip. The Army didn't bother to tell Ryan there was no money for tickets to June battle assembly until last minute and Ryan had things that needed to get done so he scheduled the trip at his convenience which coincided with our trip. He took the 4th of July off to spend with us.
We had a yummy barbeque. Ryan's mom made a delicious trifle for dessert. I spent a long while talking to (Ryan's surrogate) "Grandpa Rick" about his AF career. He flew on the same plane I did, but 20 years earlier.
Here's Poppa the Great with one of many of his namesakes. We didn't get a photo of them together at Christmas, so I'm glad we got this one. It almost didn't look like Grandma and Poppa the Greats were coming because Grandma was in the hospital the day before they were supposed to leave. I'm grateful they were able and willing to make the trip after all.
I'm glad we're not trying to rent a new storage unit now because it sounds like they're all full from the Missouri river flooding. We were planning to go up to Hitchcock Nature Center to look at the flooding from their tower, but with Benjamin sick, we didn't make it there.
This is Ryan looking grumpy outside our storage unit. We are NOT looking forward to unpacking this beast in a year. I keep going back and forth about cleaning out and getting rid of stuff. I have a goodwill (DI here in UT) bag ready but I can't seem to get it out the door... and I need more like 100s of goodwill bags. At least our crib is on craigslist (James co-sleeps) and I got our baby swing out the door (that I don't want to store for the next baby -- To quell all rumors, I am not expecting again YET... and don't plan to be for a while... 3 are giving me a run for my money).I brought our vacuum home with us (glad to not be borrowing one from the office anymore... not that we vacuum anymore often) and a couple other boxes. There was no chance I could get to the extra vacuum bags which I am sure are at the back of the storage unit. I hope we're not too late putting more decon out b/c it looks like the mice had a feast on the decon that was there.
We were originally going back to CO on Tues, but Ryan had another trip the next weekend and it is easier for me to keep the boys entertained in Omaha than anywhere else, so we stayed a couple extra days. We went to the children's museum on Tuesday.
I'm glad the museum still has the Gordman's playsets up. Alexander really enjoyed playing on them. He once again didn't tell me he was poopy though and some of the kids in the area were complaining about the stench. I'm wondering when he'll stop hiding and start telling me he needs a change. I'm thinking potty training is still a long way off.
Benjamin had been fever free since Monday morning, but he fell asleep in the stroller for at least an hour. (It was very un-Benjamin-like). I was afraid whatever he had was in a latent stage so I called the Dr. again when we got back to Ryan's parents' to make sure we didn't need to take him in. The nurse said he was probably just exhausted from being sick.
I had a moral dilemma with our zoo trip...I have this thing where it's in my nature to try and get good deals even if the ethics of the situation dictates otherwise. I had a friend who offered to let us in on her zoo pass, but I'm trying to overcome my natural tendencies and become "perfectly honest"... So I went to base to get us military discount tickets. I also figured we love the zoo so much that it was worth using our money to support it.
It was so nice to have "Grandma Ellie" with us. She even took Benjamin and Alexander on the train and bought them popcorn. They were in heaven. I took James to the petting zoo while they were on the train and we saw some peachicks. I didn't realize that peacock was only the name of adult male pea... birds?! Females are peahens.
Alexander kept saying he was scared the crocodiles would eat him. I kept blinding us trying to get a photo of the beaver in Kingdoms of the Night.
Benjamin said over and over that he wanted to go to the desert dome. He didn't tell my why, but after the desert dome, he said it wasn't what he wanted to see and by his description of pools of water and stepping stones, I knew he meant the rain forest, but it was already 1645 when I figured that out. We compromised and quickly went through the top part. We were at the zoo from about 10 a.m. and didn't get home until 1730. It was a LONG day and we still missed the butterflies, baby animals, gorillas, aviary, bridge, etc,etc. We could have spent 3 days at the zoo if we had the time.
