Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo was the next place we stopped. It was really just lots and lots of fun. (you can click on the name above to check out their website)

First let me tell you why we decided to stop here. About a month before we were planning this trip, Vance was watching the show on TV called Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy and on the episode that I actually paid any attention to, Larry was at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha and it looked sooo cool. So a month later when we were planning our stops, I thought about that show and wondered how well Omaha would work. We had to drive a really long day (which thanks to major traffic if Chicago ended up being 2-3 hours longer) but it worked out to stop there. I'm so glad we did! And I'm so glad I saw that show with Larry the Cable Guy (I never thought I'd say that statement!). This was a really fun zoo, not too big, but not small either. There are lots of animals outside, but a lot is inside (with air conditioning!!!) Most of their displays/animals are set up in a way that makes you feel like you're actually in that environment. Just really cool.

Here's just a few of the highlights that this zoo can boast about:

The Desert Dome, the world's largest indoor desert, which is under the world's largest geodesic dome. This place was even bigger than it looks.

America's largest indoor rainforest, the Lied Jungle

Simmons Aviary, the world's second largest free-flight aviary

Kingdom's of the Night, the world's largest nocturnal exhibit

Scott's Aquarium, the largest aquarium in a zoo, with a 70 foot shark tunnel

The kids, mostly Myshel, took hundreds of pictures. I've tried to narrow it down to a few of my favorites.
The meerkats were super cute.McKaylie and Noah (2 of my favorite animals) The koi pond was pretty amazing. I couldn't believe how many fish were there and how big they were! There was food there to feed them, which created a fish frenzy. The kids loved that. The fish would literally jump over each other to get to the food. The aviary was neat. Lots of birds I had never seen before and a few I had. There was also several animals in there to create a natural habitat for them. That was fun to see. They must not feel "caged" at all.

The sea lions were fun to watch. They were swimming the whole time we sat and watched them and didn't come out of the water until after we left. We sent Myshel back to take this picture.

I always think the gorillas are cool. They were all sleeping, which was rather funny to see.The polar bear was swimming most of the time we saw him, but came for a brief photo op

The cats were McKaylie's favorite! She took lots and lots of pictures of them. She got some really good ones. This one was probably my favorite picture of the zoo. That big 'ol lion was just all worn out! Here's those two cuties again.......they must be following me! The other too (old) ones weren't nearly as willing to get their picture taken. This was during our lunch break.

Here's the very top the the Lied Jungle. It was really cool to look down through the rainforest and see animals and waterfalls. My 5 favorite people! Myshel's favorite place was the butterfly pavilion. I really enjoyed this one, too. I mean how cool is it to see butterflies everywhere you look and have them flying around you. So many different types and colors. These were pretty amazing, too!The penguins were Myshel's other favorite exhibit. I love penguins too. They really are just so cute! This was my favorite penguin spot, though. It just seemed, I don't know, interesting, that these penguins and the giraffes were together. It made for a fun picture, anyway.Here's the kids in the desert dome when we first got there. Like I said, this was a fun place to stop and take a break. I'd love to go back sometime. It was well worth it

Niagra Falls

The first stop on our trip was at Niagara Falls. It was a fun stop and a nice end to a day of driving. It's beautiful there and really quite amazing!At night they turn on the lights. Chad took the older kids down to see the falls at night while I went back to the hotel with the younger ones. After I saw their pictures, I wished I'd gone with them.

We're Moving

Ok, my family and I were super lucky this August. We were able to take 3 weeks and drive out to Wyoming to see family. It was a trip that was long over due. We stopped at several places along the way (and the way back) and stayed really busy while we were there. I have LOTS of pictures to post and lots of fun to post about. It's going to take awhile, so I think I'll do a lit=ptle bit each day until I get through them all.

BUT, I'm going to start today by posting our most recent news. We are finally moving down to Virginia to be with Chad. It's been a little crazy and ridiculous and has taken us a lot longer than we had planned (thanks Navy Housing), but we finally have housing now!
Can you guess which one is ours??? It will be sad to leave Maine. We've really liked it here and we have great friends. The kids have had wonderful schools, too. But, we need to be where Chad is and right now that's in Virginia.

We'll be living in Virginia Beach this time, so that will be something new and different. We'll be in a duplex, which is ok. I'll miss having our ranch house with no one of the other side of the wall, but I'll have my family back together again, so it will be ok. My friend down there took some pictures for me. Very sweet of her~~ So, now I can share them with you guys.
(By the way, it's the blue one, on the right--ha ha) We even get a 2 car garage with this house--aren't we lucky! It sits behind the housing. We'll be moving around the middle of October. I have tons of things to get ready and I think it will be here before I know it.

The Cone of Shame

Vanilla had a cut on her paw that we couldn't get to heal, so she had to wear "the cone of shame" for a few days. It didn't seem to bother her, but she was running into everything, including our legs! It was really quite funny to watch. The vet said she was so good that she gave her a sticker on her cone. ha ha!

Tower of Cups

When I drove Chad down to Rhode Island McKaylie and Noah kept sending me pictures of the towers they were making. They were pretty impressive. They were also accompanied by texts saying "we're bored" and "we miss you".

Noah's New Bike

Noah's never had any interest in riding a bike. No matter what Chad did or said to get him to ride, he wouldn't do it. He wanted nothing to do with a bike. So, it was surprising that this summer Noah decided that he wanted a bike. We took him to the store and let him pick out the one he wanted (secretly hoping that that would make him want to follow through with it) Noah came home and went straight out to learn to ride it. I don't know if I've ever seen him more determined to do anything in his life. He was going to learn to ride that two-wheeler! With very little help, and I mean very little help, he was off and going. Now he's all over the neighborhood with it. You'd never know he just learned to ride less than a month ago. This is yet another example to me, that Noah will do things in his own time and when he does, he will do it magnificently.

Maine Wildlife Park

When Chad was home in June we also went to the Maine Wildlife Park. We've been there before with Debbie and really enjoyed it then, too. The park is full of animals from around Maine that have been injured or were sick. Here's just a few of our favorite animals we saw.

The moose, of course, the big bull moose was off in the back hiding, though. These little guys are everywhere, but what makes them so fun is their fat little cheeks. They'll gather up the corn, or feed until their little cheeks look like they'll explode! They were so cute! This one hardly cared that any one was around him. He was just too busy! The bears. We fed them dog food and they ate every last little piece we threw. I love the turtles. They were super cute in their little pond. This eagle is beautiful. It makes me sad that he can't fly. This little porcupine was the cutest! He's albino and he was just laying there on this log, legs dangling down, napping---not a care in the world! I love this picture of the kids at the fish hatchery. You had to shade your eyes to see inside and they would look, run to the next door, look some more. Chad and I strolled along behind at our own pace. It was fun to watch them. I don't know how well you can see them, but all those brown spots in the water are fish. It was really cool to feed them. You'd throw the feed and the water would just explode with fish. McKaylie and Noah--humoring mom! It was a fun day. We missed Myshel, though. She chose to stay at home.

Strawberry Season

Yummy, Right!!!! We also picked strawberries while Chad was home and made jam! When I have all my canning stuff out, I always try and do as much with it as I can. That way I don't have to keep getting it out over and over again. So, here's a list of all the jams we (I) made:

10 - pints strawberry jam
5 - pints strawberry syrup
4 - pints and 8 - 1/2 pints strawberry/lemon marmalade
8 - pints strawberry/kiwi jam
8 - 1/2 pints cherry/almond jam
7 - 1/2 pints jalapeno jelly

Makes me tired just thinking about it!