Back to Omaha

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff had business in Omaha.  He asked us if we wanted to join him on the road...of course!  Most of our friends were out of town or volunteering as YW camp leaders so we were on our own.  Jeff had a conference the first morning.  The kids and I swam,  this seems to be our rountine.  He also had a late afternoon reception he wanted to attend. It  would be quick and was downtown at the new stadium.  So, we made big plans to go to a College World Series game.  The new stadium is sa-weet.  So sweet infact, that all of Omaha and  much of the rest of the country was in town to see it.    While Jeff was at his reception I tried to score some tickets.  Arhg...Sold out.  Not a chance.  Not even a scalper on the corner.  I was hoping Jeff was connected to some tickets while at his meeting, and he was hoping I had found some.  No luck.  But, we were already down town on site so we stayed to play.  Several city blocks around the stadium were converted into a games alley and food booths.  It was clearly designed to capture all the tourists dollars.   Whew, we hardly recognized our old city.  We walked around, ate stadium style food and surely left with that all american baseball experience.   Next year...we hope to actually get in and SEE the game.

Brilliant idea

We've been doing a lot of traveling by car lately.  South Dakota is still new to us and so are the little towns and destination spots around this part of the country.  When we get the chance we love to take weekend trips and explore.  Or just leave Sioux Falls for a bigger city.  The kids are really good in the car.  Infact when the twins were toddlers,  I remember the car was one of the "easiest" ( I use that term loosly as they were rarely described as easy) places for us.  But we do still load up a big fat entertaining "car bag" for our trips.  It's typically filled with  paper, crayons, school workbooks (Avery's thing) ipad, ipod, books and magazines.  And now... pipe cleaners.  One quick stop at Target and we have hours of entertainment. 

Pipe cleaners let their creative minds run loose!

Avery made scuba gear complete with a mask and snorkle.   I didn't think to take a picture of the finished product.  I should have.  It was so cute. 

oh dear, looks like Avie could use a mani....Gigi, my girls need you.

Zachary made a weird long pointy thing. He named it the "booger picker 3000" Of course he did.

(Ellie wasn't with us on this trip, she was at girls camp.  We sure missed her though.)

A note to mention: we have bought the more expensive, trendy "toy" version of pipe cleaners called "bendaroos". Don't waste the money. Good ol fashion pipe cleaners will do wonders.

Disney World

We are big Disney fans in our home.  It started clear back when the twins were 3.   They fell in love with the Disney characters (there was nothing cuter than Ellie's love of Minnie Mouse) and we fell in love with happy giggles that Disney brought to our children.  We spent many years vacationing at the Disney Parks.  But, then life got busy.  And, we chose other vacation spots.  This year we realized that Avery doesn't remember much of our Disney days.  Avery spent 3 trips sitting in a stroller, so we can't think she really got much out of her experience there.   It was time we show her the magic of Disney.  After our original disney date was bumped due to the cancelled flight we rescheduled to the tail end of our vacation.  It was hot and crowded. And, happy nevertheless!  While Avery doesn't share the same passion for Minnie Mouse that Ellie did, she quickly became a fan in her own right.  She was in awe of  "It's a Small World"  Immediatly following the ride, she proclaimed it to be her favorite of all time...just like her mama.   So you see, we are STILL Disney fans.  I guess we always will be.


Here a few pics from the day.  If you've seen one Disney picture, you've seen 'em all.  But, here goes anyway...

Did I mention we were hot and sweaty?  I don't think we will ever have one of those famous family Micky shots where everyone looks good.  Oh well.  Here we are in all our glory.

I've got a couple of "possers"  Two girls who love the camera, and a son who can't stand it and will stay 10 feet away from any camera. 

This is one of my all time favorite moments caputured.   No mater how big or small, this is the way we leave Disney, with Zach being carried out.  I remember several  phots that I have in this same scenario different years.  We have different shots of both grandpas, two differnt trips being carried out of the park piggy back style.   This precious boy gets so tired, tries so hard to keep up that at 10:30 he is plum tuckered out.  Take one look at his sweet tired face and your heart will melt.   

Amusement Park Weekend

 Can I tell you how much we loved Universal Studios, Island of Adventure?  Yep, we thought it was AWESOME!   The kids loved it so much because the rides were "thrill" type rides  Big roller coasters!  And, I loved it because the park was so well done.  I mean, it truly rivals Disneyland.  It's creative, well maintained and takes you away to a fantasy place.  I get why the twins love roller coasters.  They are 12.  It's all about speed and thrill.  And, being daring and senseless.  They are middle schoolers for petes sake.  But what about Avery...my 7 year old, soon to be in 2nd grader, she really shouldn't be allowed to LOVE roller coasters as much as she does.   She's tall enough for all the height restrictions and would most often seek out the "front car". So you see, I stand on the sidelines watching my lil family race through the air at record speeds, screaming and laughing with arms in the air.    It's all about the roller coaster for this group.



The Hulk rollercoaster was our first ride of the day. Followed up with Dr. Doom drop.

Thankfully, the park is filled with lots of water rides and little splash park sprayers all around. It was hot, but this was a fun cool down.

Suess landing.   So cute, this land was all about Dr. Suess.  Silly fun.

Zachy with Betty Boop.   Marvel landing. Comic-ville.

The wizardly world of Harry Potter.  This town was spectacular! 

We loved it.  All of it.  Thanks grandma and grandpa for coming with us.

saying goodbye to the cruise

We disembarked the ship on Thur. We were sad to leave but eager to spend the remaining days of our vacation at the area theme parks.

                                                  Avery picked up a little pal.  "Build a bear" a la cruise.

Jeff's parents were in town visiting Debbi and kids. We were lucky to coordinate with them and meet up in our Orlando hotel.  But before we did, we spent the morning in Coco Beach.

  We spent just enough time in this beach town to dip our toes in the ocean and enjoy breakfast at a darling little cafe. 

Really you can't keep my kids away from swimming and slides!  Even here at the hotel in Orlando with grandma and grandpa.

The Bahamas

We spent several days in the Bahama Islands.  Our first port was Freeport Island. Not our favorite island and definatly less than desirable.  Infact, it's very industrial, NOT friendly and an overall tacky island.  With that being said..."show us a beach and we will show you a good time".  After an expensive cab ride, we played in the small town, and enjoyed our day at the beach.  At the beach itself was beautiful.

I spy a tourist...

Thankfully, the island of Nassau was much nicer.  And, it was one of those days where everything just "works out" for the best.  We  orginally planned on the dolphin excursion at Atlantis.  But, after talking to well informed lady we decided to take the ferry over to a small island nearby.  We caught the ferry just in the nick of time.  Wow, the dolphin experience was incredible.  I am so glad we did it.  Avery loved it so much she suggested changing her dream career from veternarian to dolphin trainer.  To save money, I didn't do the excursion...being that I just did  the dolphins last year in Punta Mita, I was fine with it.  Unfortunately, that meant I really couldn't snap any photos either.  I snuck a few while watching on the dock.  Wish  I had more.  The remanider of the day we played at the beach.  I personally loved the hammocks stretched between 2 palm trees lining the beach.  But, the kids loved the water park inflatiables in the bay.  We were so happy with the little island, Blue Lagoon that we stumbled upon.  What a pleasant surprise!

We love combing the beach for seashells.   In this case, a huge piece of coral.  Time to run and catch the ferry back to Nassau...and then cruise back to Orlando.

What a vacation

What can I say about a vacation that lifts you right out of the post winter blues and into the warm ocean breeze and bright sunshine.  Except it was perfect and exactly what our family needed! 

It was the middle of May and just one day before school let out for the year.  It also marked the end of our time in the temporary twin home which we were desparate to see end.  I've come to love these 4 little words that come out of Jeff's mouth..."let's take a vacation".  We arranged to take the a family on a cruise to the Bahamas.    Omaha to Orlando to Bahamas back to Orlando.   I was beyond excited, the timing was ideal and it was the perfect get a way.   

 We drove to Omaha, spent the night and planned an early morning departure flight to Omaha.  Only to find out our flight was canceled due to weather and we were bumped to an available flight the nex day.   Not the end of the world...we spent one unexpected day in a city close to our hearts.

We moved on to Orlando, one day short of the original plan.  We spent the day the remainder of the day swimming instead of Disney.     It was really hot so the pool suited us just fine.   

 


How do you explain a cruise ship to your children? At this point their only reference is that of Disney channel's "Zak and Cody on Dek" ..They really had NO idea what was in store for them. And we couldn't wait to show them the ship in all it's grandeur. 

They were in awe.  They were in heaven.  You should of seen them.  Big eyes and even bigger smiles.

We boarded the the ship and hit the lunch buffet.  Let it be known cruise food is not my favorite.  But, it was enticing to the children.  Anything and everything...they liked it all.  I must say, I prefered the dining room to the buffet.  Most nights however, the girls were at their clubs and didn't join us in the dining room.  I think this was the only night with all five us at dinner. And it was my favorite night. 

Boy, the girls sure loved the clubs.  What a new experience for them.  They spent the evenings with their age "club."  Many activites, games and crafts were planned.  We couldn't pry them away.  One night, Ellie got up on stage and did some kareoke. "  Really, Ellie did what?"  Like I said, new experiences.   Zach and I would tuck in the cabin early each night while Jeff and the girls enjoyed midnight buffet.   Neither Zach nor I cared much to miss it.   Zach was so exhausted by the evenings and I was happy to snuggle him to sleep.  And lucky for him, he was first to meet the new towel buddy each night.   Zach loved 'em!


 Boy oh boy, did we ever soak up all the fun the ship had to offer. So many activites to keep us busy.

of course, we love water slides.

A new game for Zach.  Shuffle board. 

swimming.  at twillight. 

golf on the top deck

Ahh, relaxing together, on deck,  in the sunshine    The best of it all .  

stay tuned for the islands...

on the road again...

Since we were driving to Denver to surprise Papa, we took advantage of the drive and  soaked in the sights.  Jeff had work to do in Rapid City which is 5 hours from home AND on the way to Denver. The timing was perfect and we all tagged along.  While Jeff worked, we played.  We went to the pool to pass the time.  The kids will always love swimming.  A hit everytime.  

and Zach's favorite spot, the hot tub.

The next day we became "tourists."  Off to Mt Rushmore we go.  It was truely an amazing and awe inspiring sight.  The mountains made such a picturesque backdrop for the masterpiece. We appreciate them more now as we are away.  The unpredictable March weather cooperated with us.  It was warm enough to enjoy but still cool enough that we were alone in the park.  We had the whole park to ourselves.  We like it that way.
Sadly, I don't think Zach could really see the Presidents heads in the mountain  But, he did master the binocular  looky thing.  

Mall of America

Who goes to Minnesota in the middle of February?  We do.  Over President's weekend we took off to Minneapolis to the experience the Mall of America.  I have always wanted to see it and being in the midwest it's only a few hours from home. But, it was Feb...weather would be an issue. We were doomed for snow.  Sure enough a giant blizzard covered the city of Minneapolis while we were there.  Don't think for one minute it stopped us, sure, it slowed us down a bit but we explored all the same.
The Mall of Amercia was exactly as I had imagined.  Hundreds of stores and endless hours of shopping. Right up my alley (and Jeff's  too, but he's not as willing to admit)  The kids loved it also.  We are raising good little shoppers. They come by it naturally.  Ha. Ha.
    We made a beeline to the American Girl Store. A dream destination by any girls standards. 

But, really the highlight for the children was the Nickolodeon theme park.

Big roller coasters were the name of the game.  Avery is tall enough to go on every ride in the park so there was no stopping this trio.  The bigger, scarier, twistyer, faster,  crazier........the better.  Endless hours of amusement for the Anderson children.  

You can't really tell from this picture, but in this photo the kids are flying through a giant loop, full speed.  Avery can barely keep her head up straight.  The force is keeping Zach's head  pulled to one side. Yikes.  Jeff and I stayed behind, happy as can be with our feet planted securely on the ground.

One of my favorite afternoons was on Saturday.  In  middle of the storm we ventured out for breakfast, and made a quick stop for some movie treats.  We returned to our hotel for a day of a movie watching snuggle fest.  All 5 us changed into jammies, snuggled up on the 2 queen beds (complete with chocolate and popcorn) and watched the movie Nannie McPhee returns.  It was a cute movie, we all liked it.  But, mostly I liked the close knit togetherness. The older my children get, the tighter I want to hold on.  "Together"  is my favorite place to be.  Cheesy, I know.
and since I don't have a picture of this snuggly afternoon.  Enjoy one of Zach asleep in the hotel.  With kiki.