Omaha

We had so much fun this weekend! Thursday night we hosted the Murphy's for a BBQ since Libby and David were in town. It was a great time and everyone enjoyed catching up, talking sports, talking wedding plans, and giving Miss Riley way too much attention! We were sad that we missed the rest of the weekend with them and their engagement party.

Friday afternoon we loaded the car up and headed to meet Grandma and Grandpa Burch in Omaha. My brother, Nick, and his family - Casey, Kennedy, and Addie - were planning to meet us all Saturday morning. Riley slept the entire trip there and was rearing to go once we were there. We had a nice lunch/dinner at Granite City and then headed down to the Old Market to do some walking around. Once we finally made our way there we realized that there was so much going on that it would probably be too hectic to enjoy with an 11 month old. We headed back to the hotel and took Riley swimming instead. She loved every minute of it! After 20 minutes or so of swimming we decided to get Riley out - just in time before the 12 8 year old boys jumped in to begin their birthday party! We had a relaxing night at the hotel and enjoyed a late night pizza delivery!

Saturday morning the rest of the Burch clan arrived around 11am to start our day at the zoo. Turns out we picked the only free day of the year. There were tons of crowds, free entry, 25% off everything in the zoo, and the best people, I mean, animal watching of the year! Parking was ridiculous and we eventually decided to pay to park in somebody's yard several blocks away. We had a blast, all of the kids were great, most of the animals were awake and moving, and we were able to see most of zoo. After the zoo we headed back to the hotel to swim and eat. We were all exhausted so we decided to order carry out. Here are some highlights of the trip:

• Riley decided to only take one nap each day all weekend long. She only slept for 30 minutes before heading to the zoo and refused to nap while we were there. Number of meltdowns: 0...but we came very close to one at the zoo.

• Grandma Burch pointing to an unknown animal and saying "look girls, there's a...big animal...with antlers." This reminded me of road trips when we were kids and she'd point to animals in a pasture and say "wow, look at those big dogs!" They were cows.


• Our dinner Saturday night was great. Just wish I could remember the name of the restaurant. We all loved our meals and the chocolate fondue was even better!


• We saw more pregnant women in one place than I've ever seen! Most of them were under 25 with tattoos on their biceps. There was even a human baby born at the zoo. Apparently, the mom thought that walking at the zoo might bring on labor!


• Riley's favorite animal of the day: Rhinos. She absolutely loved the rhinos.

• Watching the elephant take a 2 minute drink from the water spout.


• Seeing the monkey's picking at each other. We had fun laughing at them.

• Riley got to wear her cute new sun hat. She outgrew her other one.


• Watching two of the apes fighting. Then, watching Riley pound on the glass in excitement.


• Riley peeing on Daddy half way through the day.

We really had a great time and were exhausted all Sunday afternoon. Nick and his family went back to the zoo Sunday morning...I don't know how they did it! We plan to go back next year when Riley will love the zoo even more!