How Did I Miss Omaha?!

As I was just looking over my blog, I realized that I didn't write about our trip to Omaha.  We weren't able to make it to Devon's baby shower, so we went up in mid July.

Kristin, all four kids, and MeMaw squeezed in my mini van (or "swagger wagon" as we call it in our family) and we headed up there for a few nights.  The day we arrived, it was Uncle Mike's birthday.  We went out to dinner to celebrate.  I don't think I got a picture of Uncle Mike when we were in town.  Here he is walking Devon down the aisle last October.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and the kids got to unwind a little after a long day by playing in the pool.

The next day, we went to the Omaha Zoo.  Here's a picture of the girls near the front of the zoo.

The zoo has a really awesome aquarium.  It's probably the coolest one I've ever been to; it was definitely the largest.

 Uncle Mike knows someone who works at the zoo and he called her to say that we'd be visiting.  Here are some pictures of the strings she pulled for us on our "back stage" tour.

We got to visit the giraffes in their shelter.  This one is Sammy.  Notice a mommy and baby in the background.  They were too scared to come over to us, but Sammy was loving all the attention and treats we gave him.

Yes, that's correct....it's MY hand you see feeding Sammy right now.  Ella was too frightened to feed him, but Reagan and Brady got to feed him as well.

It was really neat getting to hand feed the giraffes and see them so up-close.  After that, we went to see African penguins.  The zoo was a really neat experience for all of us.  Here are some pics from the acquarium. 

Later we went out to dinner at Cheddar's, a restaurant I LOVE now, and then took the kids back to the pool to swim.  I was creeped out by a man who came to the pool, so sorry kids, but Mommy/Aunt Carla made you get out after only 15 minutes of fun and bribed you with a "surprise" to go back to the room.  The surprise was a bath, and then we had to figure out a real surprise...wait!  There was a little shop next to the lobby.  How about ICE CREAM JUST BEFORE BEDTIME!!!  It was so special and the kids thought it was a real treat instead of just a bribe away from the pool. 

The next day, we went to visit my Grandma Revenaugh in her nursing home.  This was not a pleasant experience, but it went as I expected it to go mostly.  I knew Grandma wouldn't recognize any of us, especially without Dad.  However, my plan was to try to tell back to her MY favorite stories she told me growing up.  I figured she MIGHT remember something from her childhood, and if not, then it'd be nice just to reminisce about the stories she used to tell us.  I also brought pictures of Eli's birthday party.  Last resort, without fail, was Ella.  She's a talker, so I KNEW I could lean on her to carry the conversation in awkard moments, right?  Well pretty much.  That was the plan...here's how the visit went: we found Grandma's room and asked that someone bring her to meet us in a dining room-ish family area.  Just as she's being wheeled down the hall, both girls decide they MUST use the restroom at once!  I wasn't even going to be there for the hellos.  The bathroom trip lasted about 5 minutes.  When I got back, Kristin had already gone through all the birthday pictures with Grandma.  What? Are you kidding me?  Where was her conversation story? Apparently, conversation was awkward and she was desperate, so she pretty much went through all of her ideas very quickly.  It was as I expected, Grandma didn't recognize us.  That's okay, I can deal with that.  I talked about my memories of Grandma's stories.  She remembered some, or acted like it maybe.  The kids made it hard to carry on conversation though.  But I was right about Ella, she talked and talked and talked.  There wasn't really a moment of silence.  Eventually it was time for ust to leave.  We wheeled Grandma back to her room.  I wanted to help her in, but an orderly said she'd handle it.  She turned Grandma to face us.  We gave her hugs goodbye and told her we loved her.  And then the moment that will never leave me, we walked away.  Kids, I don't know if you'll understand until you have to do this; I'm not sure that I can describe it.  It's just the feeling of leaving, of walking away from someone you love.  The feeling was very similar to leaving both of you as babies for my first day back at work.  Logically, you tell yourself, "I gave hugs and kisses and said, 'I love you.' I am coming back."  But the logical part of my brain is never what wins over the emotional part; it's the fear of walking away and thinking, "But what if something happens before I come back?"  It's a wretched feeling and one that I can never shake.  I walked away, crying, trying to hide it from the kids to avoid the endless questions that would follow.

Afterwards, we met up with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike one last time for lunch before heading home.

All-in-all, I think the trip was a major success.  I had a great time visiting everyone.  As always, I just wish we'd had more time to visit with everyone.  <3