The Zoo - Part II

We took a million pictures at the zoo so I had to split them between the two posts.  I saved some of the best for last.  There was a gorilla at the zoo who found Marc's charm irresistible.  Honestly, how could anyone not?  Had it not been for the glass barrier he might have been staying behind in Omaha.  I think the kids enjoyed playing on the gorillas more than any animal they saw.  Nice to get the wiggles out before climbing back in the car!

Thank you Nancy and Bruce for such a wonderful but much too short visit!!  Maybe we can try again for longer visit on the way back!

The Zoo

The Zoo in Omaha was huge with lots of indoor as well as outdoor exhibits.  Since it was a bit chilly, we stuck to the indoor exhibits but did take the ride across the zoo to see what we were missing but also to see just how large it really was.  Here are a few pictures of some of the wild animals we saw

Omaha with The Louthans

Before we reached Nauvoo - we were able to spend time with our wonderful friends - The Louthans!  Nancy and Bruce are friends of Aimee's from SUU.  They were so fantastic to take the time out to visit with us, feed us and treat us to a fabulous trip to the zoo.  Nancy and Bruce have four amazing kids and are excited about the beautiful baby girl that will be joining the family in a few months!  Lance, Allison, Rachel and Mark were such fun playmates for the kids.  It was a wonderful time only much too short.

We started out with a wonderful lunch at the Louthan's home - and time for the kids to run around.

Nancy was the perfect hostess!  Coleman was eager to show off his tall tall tall tower!  Nancy and I used to talk in college about our kids playing together and it was so fun to see how well they all got along.  

Coleman, Campbell and Addison were so happy to play with Rachel and Mark.  Lance and Allison were at school but we were happy to hear they would join us at the zoo.

Coleman is here showing off how strong he is - look how much weight that little guy can lift!!!

On The Road Again

The road trip out wasn't so bad.  One instance of puking - Campbell commented on how colorful it was thanks to the Fruit Loops.   My month long preparation of trinkets and toys was a HUGE success resulting in very little crying or fussing or fighting on our 8 long days in the car.  We only watched a handful of movies the entire time.  The biggest winners, which were quite a surprise, was coloring in a US map of the states we had driven through and finding all 50 states on license plates.  As each car passed us (the moving truck only went 40-65mph) they would shout out, "What state is that one?"  Marc got into it as well and we would be shouting into the walkie-talkies, "Check out the plate on your left - what is it?"  We ended up only needing about 7 or 8 plates.  We found Alaska and Maine but no Vermont or New Hampshire and we've all but given up hope of ever seeing a Hawaii.

Addie did so great!  She never even fought having to get in or stay in her car seat.

 

After the Colorado pose (encircling the sign in their arms) the boys thought that was how they were supposed to pose for every picture!

This is my boys showing off their buff muscles in the snow.

We actually had to hurry and pull off the side of the road as we were going down this canyon.  There was hardly any space to pull off and it was frightening every time a big semi passed us.  But when you gotta pee - you gotta pee.  And these two little guys sure had to pee!

                                      Our last sight of snow until we come home for Christmas.

NEXT STOP NAUVOO!

On Our Way

We drove through Colorado and got out to stretch our legs at the Welcome sign. 

We planned to take pictures at each state line but that proved to be beyond our ability with three little ones and an enormous truck.  But we tried to take pictures throughout our trip.