The Omaha Zoo: Catch Up Post

I mentioned recently that I'll be posting a few catch up posts since I took a blogging hiatus from Oct - Dec. Oops! My blog is a virtual photo album of our lives so I hope to update on those months over the next few weeks.

This year for the first time ever, ever, ever, ever, I missed Thanksgiving with my family. Because we are here at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for one year for Honey to attend school as required by the Army, we are at the mercy of his school schedule. And that of course limited our options for traveling "home" for Thanksgiving.

So we decided to use what little time we had to take a family trip to the Omaha Zoo. (Oh and I cooked my first ever Thanksgiving feast for us to enjoy! More on that later...)

The Omaha Zoo is unrivaled, except maybe by the San Diego Zoo, as the best zoo in the country! And it was hands down the most amazing zoo experience I have ever had!

We left on a Tuesday afternoon and drove 2.5 hours to Omaha, Nebraska. 

Of course Cash came with us, he always goes where we go whenever possible!

My little seasoned traveler...

Shameless selfie...

We stayed in downtown Omaha at a surprisingly chic dog-friendly hotel. Honey made our accommodations and he knocked it out of the park!! I was super impressed with not only our hotel but the whole downtown district of Omaha. I wish we could have stayed longer! We went to a fabulous restaurant in the adorable downtown square.

Our hotel was very kid-friendly as well and gave Parker a travel bath toy set!

Parker loved how the door to the bathroom (right), bedroom (middle), and coat closet (left) were all in this little hallway and he showed Honey and Cash how to open and close each of them.

The next morning we were SO excited to go to the zoo!! We had a quick pancake breakfast, one of Parker's favorites, and then we headed out!

The zoo was amazing! iBecause it gets very cold in Nebraska during November, the zoo is equipped with indoor and outdoor exhibits. All of the animals have indoor enclosures for this time of the year so we didn't miss a thing!

First up was the rain forest. Parker was so overwhelmed he didn't know where to look first!

The animals were not in cages so they were all around us! It was like we were in their world. (The dangerous ones were safe distances away.) We saw all different kinds of monkey's, birds, bats, anteaters, and crocodiles. The walls and ceiling of the massive enclosure were camouflaged like an actual rain forest. It felt so real!!

There were plenty of fish and turtles in the rain forest exhibit too.

We spent most of the morning in the rain forest and then quickly made our way to lunch.

We ate in a restaurant perched at the top of the rain forest exhibit so we had a great view of the monkeys playing in the tops of the trees! (Parker also took a quick 30 minute nap in my arms. After that he was ready to go again!)

After that we headed to the gorilla enclosure. It was unbelievable to be so close to these massive creatures. The large male was very curious about everything and came very close to us several times.

Parker loved watching them! There was one young gorilla who was putting on a show for all of us! He even got in trouble by his mommy and then made up with her. It was amazing to watch them interact!

It seemed like the gorillas were Parker's favorites.

We were thankful for the indoor exhibits. The high was in the upper 20's so we had to bundle up when we walked outside!

Another incredible exhibit was the desert! It was a huge dome enclosure. Once again many of the animals and birds were not caged in so they ran freely around us!

There was a sign at one point encouraging visitors to "feel the desert sand" which of course I gladly did. Then I asked Honey if he wanted to feel it (it was so soft!). His reply... "No thank you. I've felt enough sand like that to last me a lifetime." I guess any veteran would say that huh?!

Parker was so curious about everything! We loved watching him.

We saw so much more that I didn't include here... the big cat exhibit was one of my favorites! There was a group of year-old lion cubs playing while the pride of adult lions watched. Beautiful tigers and leopards, pumas and cheetahs. So beautiful! The bear dens were another great exhibit. The polar bear seemed very happy in the frigid temps and came nose to nose with our Parker Bear! We also loved seeing the giraffes. We got very up close to them and were just amazed at their size. The night kingdom was really neat. The exhibit is "switched" so that it is dark all day for all the nocturnal animals that live there. The lights are on at night when these animals sleep. After our eyes adjusted, we were blown away watching all the night critters play and swim!

We left just as the zoo was closing after a very full day. Parker slept most of the 2.5 hour drive back home. We are so thankful for the time we have here in Kansas to explore a part of the country that we would most likely not be able to see otherwise. The chance to visit this amazing zoo was such an incredible experience for our little family! We will surely never ever forget it!

Our Valentine Weekend

Date night, family museum trip, and plenty of sweet gifts and adorable crafts! We had such a fun-filled Valentine's weekend!

We kicked off Valentine's Day by exchanging cards and gifts. Parker made his Daddy a special Valentine's Day card with his thumb print and artistic coloring skills.

Here he is concentrating on his artwork:

His finished product!

Then Parker opened his Valentine's Day treats from us. He got farm-themed flashcards, a book, a Thomas the Train DVD, and a set of rescue trucks! First he read the card with Daddy:

 Then he opened his present:

 Checking out the farm flash cards...

Of course the tractor card is his favorite!

But he liked looking at the animal cards too! 

 Then Honey and I got dressed up for our DATE NIGHT! We used a sitter for the first time since arriving at Fort Leavenworth. Parker absolutely loved her so we felt comfortable leaving for two hours!

 We went to a nice restaurant in town that was offering a 5 course dinner special for Valentine's Day. It was so nice to sit and relax and eat and talk. Of course we love going to dinner with Parker Bear too but this was certainly a special treat! It was a great Valentine's Day!

On Saturday we headed out for a family fun day! We went to Fritz's Railroad for lunch and then to Wonderscope, a fabulous children's museum in Kansas City!

Fritz's is such a neat place! You order your meal by a phone at your table, then a train delivers your meal to you from a little train track that circles the restaurant! There were choo-choo trains everywhere and Parker was in heaven!

 Even while he was eating his little eyes were taking it all in!

 All the train tracks led to the busy kitchen which you can see right behind my Honey!

Parker was so excited about watching all the trains!

 And even though Parker wasn't a fan of the train conductor hats they handed out, Honey and I wore ours... just for pictures!

When our food arrived by train, a little lift lowered our basket of food to our table. It was pretty neat!

 Parker was very unsure of the lift...

But he quickly forgot about it and focused again on all the trains!

It was so much fun!

After lunch we headed to Wonderscope, a hands on children's museum. Parker is very into animals these days and was so excited to see that there were two guinea pigs to greet us at the front door!

Then we headed to the "Small Wonders" room created for children two-and-under to explore and crawl around. To say Parker loved it would be an understatement!! First he found the cars and the track:

 Then he explored high...

 He explored low...

 He walked with Daddy...

 He found Mommy out of this window...

He crawled up...

He crawled down...

 He crawled over this window...

And found me below it looking up at him!

He really thought that was funny!

 He was extremely busy exploring every possible square inch!

 After all of that playing, we checked out a few other rooms at the museum. Most of them were for children a little older than Parker but he loved watching them play!

 It was such a fun time! Little Parker was asleep in his car seat moments after leaving. What a fun Valentine's Weekend it was!