Nebraska

September 27-29
I was pretty excited to take Kingston back to Nebraska.  It had been over a year since our last visit and he has changed a lot in that time!  We were going for my cousin Adam's wedding but we were flying out late on Sunday to go to the Omaha Zoo.
Friday morning was early...really early.  Our flight left at 7 am, which meant that we had to leave our house at 5:30!  I thought that I would be carrying out a sleepy kiddo but he was wide awake and ready for his airplane adventure.  We met Lindsay at the airport but we boarded at different times so we weren't able to sit together.  Kingston did great on the first flight and by the time we got our cookies, drink, spilled our drink, cleaned up, and changed clothes, the first flight was over.  Daddy slept through most of it. 

Joel had flown in from New Mexico so he met us at the gate as we were getting off the plane in Denver.  We got breakfast and some frozen yogurt before it was time to catch the next plane.  Kingston liked to watch the planes come in.

He was pretty sleepy for this flight.  Before take off he colored a few pictures and then we was fast asleep. He didn't wake up till we landed in Omaha.

We got all of our stuff and headed to my cousin Jamie's house to see her and her new little baby girl, Juliana.  We stopped at Jason's Deli for lunch and Kingston had a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which we followed up with an ice cream cone.  We showed up at the wrong house, but got it on the second try.  Juliana was beautiful and it was fun to hold a little baby.  We visited for quite awhile and then headed to Nebraska City.
We got checked in to the Lodge before venturing out for dinner.  We unanimously decided on Valentinos and had a good buffet dinner, followed by delicious dessert pizza and of course more ice cream!

Saturday morning Mom and Dad arrived and we explored the Lied Lodge and the Arbor Day Farms.
  It was so pretty and green.

These geese were pretty funny to watch and so was their trainer!  The were very obedient and dressed to the nines!  Kingston even tried to chase them.

We followed the trail and there were fun little activities along the way.  Here Kingston is getting through a web maze.

Listening to the sounds of the forest...and looking silly.

Here we are at the top of the 50 feet tree house.  It was a little wobbly at the top. And Kingston got an easy ride down.

Kingston had fun on the giant spider web.  Jonathan tried to convince grandpa to build one at his house!

Another tree house with lots of material to tie up to make hammocks.  Joel made Kingston a pretty nice place to hang.

Building with things found in nature.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Lindsey!

The two construction gurus trying to teach Kingston about building.  Kingston was more excited with kicking the tower over!

Grandma and Kingston playing a wooden xylophone.  They had pretty good rhythm.

Lots of apple orchards and Kingston even found himself an apple. He played with it for a long time and then eventually he did eat it all.

We had lunch with giant fresh squeezed lemonades and then after feeling the feet of a raccoon we went through the greenhouse to pick out our trees.  We each took home a white pine to plant.

It was a pretty adventurous day so we headed back to our room for a nap before the wedding.
The wedding was under a big oak tree.  It was a nice ceremony and Kingston did relatively well.  There was a little boy in front of us with a ton of little tractors that Kingston couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of.  But he did share his pretzels with our entire row! 

It was a fun night and I got to see all my cousins.  I didn't get in much visiting chasing around a 2 year old, but that's okay. Kingston enjoyed his time on the dance floor and wasn't shy about showing off his moves.

Sunday morning we headed back to Omaha.  We stopped in Iowa at a Starbucks for breakfast before going to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  It was such an incredible experience!  Our first stop was into America's largest indoor rainforest, the Lied Jungle.  I felt like we were walking through a real jungle with trees and waterfalls all around us and monkeys swinging from trees.  Jonathan bumped into a branch and heard a squeak, only to discover a fruit bat hanging right in front of him!

This rope bridge was really cool with a waterfall on one side.

And we wonder where Kingston learns these things...

There was an upper part and a lower part where you were right up close with the animals.

Back outside, we saw lots of neat animals.  White rhinos, hippos, ostriches, giraffes, and okapis (giraffe/zebra mix).

We went into the butterfly pavilion and saw lots of butterflies and hummingbirds.

And we also walked through an Avery.

My favorite was the aquarium.  They had penguins swimming all around and a cool tunnel where the fish, sharks, and turtles were all around you!

Here we are in the tunnel!

We walked across the bridge and feed the koi fish.  There were so many fish trying to get the food!

We stopped for an ice cream snack along the way! 

Gorilla Valley was really cool and Jonathan and Joel got up close with one of the gorillas banging on the glass!

Kingston found a little friend with just as much energy as him!

We made it to the cat house before Kingston crashed!  It was neat to see all the cats close up.

Then we made our way through the desert dome.  It was a lot bigger inside than I was expecting.  it is the world's largest indoor desert in the world's largest glazed geodesic dome.

Under the dome was an exhibit about the nocturnal animals.  Jonathan said it was really cool, but we missed it so we will have to catch it next time.
It was a full day and I don't think we made it to all the parts, but hopefully we will be able to come back and see the rest another time!
We headed to the airport and waited for our flight home.  We had plenty of time, but somehow I managed to misplace the tickets so we were hurrying to board.  And then once we got to our seats in the very last row of the plane, I remembered that I had forgotten Kingston's trains in the terminal so I had to try to get through everyone to go back and get them!  But, he did great on the flight and from Denver to Boise he fell fast asleep and didn't wake up until Monday morning.