Mini-Vacation to Nebraska

We took a long weekend and headed to Nebraska for a mini-vacation. Hubby's cousin graduated from high school so we took it as an opportunity to get away and also attend her graduation party.

{A beautiful ombre sky on our drive.}

It was great to get away and just spend time together as a family. We spent the night in Sioux City and did a little shopping the next morning before heading out to the graduation party.

Little Miss Sunshine was super excited when she spotted this carousel at the mall. So of course I had to take her for a ride while daddy shopped at Scheels. She loved it.

She doesn't like having her picture taken and will turn her head away if she notices me taking a picture...

After the graduation party, we headed to Omaha. Fun fact--I was born near Omaha, Nebraska. We didn't have a lot of time to do any exploring, but it looks like it could be an interesting place to visit and spend some time in the downtown area. 

The next morning, we headed to the Omaha Zoo. Hubby and I visited the zoo shortly after we were married and that has been almost 10 years ago! It's a really nice zoo and rated one of the top zoos in the world. Little Miss Sunshine was so excited about going to the zoo.

The mom of the year award goes to me--I packed everything we would need for this trip and then left most of the essentials at the hotel. Way to go, huh? 

So we ended up having to spend $10 for sunscreen at the zoo and to buy Little Miss Sunshine a hat too! It was a really sunny day and I didn't want her getting burned! I felt so unprepared! As you can see, she didn't like the hat and wouldn't keep it on--so more money wasted.

We got to see the two baby elephants at the zoo--they were so cute!

I didn't get a lot of pictures, which is fine because we've all seen zoo animals before.

It was super busy the day that we went. I heard one person say, "I haven't been in a line this long since Black Friday at Walmart". Hahaha. Yep, pretty much explains it!

One of my favorite parts of the zoo is the butterfly exhibit. You walk into a greenhouse type environment and there are all different kinds of butterflies flying around. There are these beautiful bluish purple butterflies that live in South America. It's so pretty in there!

We made it through most of the zoo, but not all of it. There's only so much that a two year old can handle before she's ready for a nap! We did a lot of walking, but would you believe that I didn't even get credit for it on my fitbit? Ugh--I hate that it doesn't track when I'm pushing a stroller and I forgot to put it in my pocket!

I guess the trip to the zoo really tired me out too because we went back to the hotel and I took a four hour nap. Whaaaattt? I felt great when I woke up though.

We stopped at Jethro's BBQ in West Des Moines on our way home. I've always wanted to give it a try but we're usually in the Des Moines area on the weekend and the wait is too long. It was pretty good, but nothing spectacular. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if Little Miss Sunshine wasn't being so naughty! So is the life of a parent...

So that was our trip! Nothing too exciting, but it was so nice to get away.

Road Tripping

This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. I was sent Blue Diamond almonds—opinions are my own.

This weekend we made our way up to Madison, WI for the night. Hubby has been perusing the internet for the perfect vehicle at the price he wanted and after quite a few short trips to local-ish dealers without having any luck on dealing, he decided to expand his search. So off to Madison we went!

I hadn’t eaten much for lunch, so I was hungry when we left. Luckily enough, I had just received some Blue Diamond almonds in the mail! Hubby and I snacked on the Blueberry flavored almonds and were both surprised at how good they tasted. We were both a little unsure about trying them but they reminded me of the taste of blueberry pie. They were delicious!

I’m not going to lie—the trip out there was a bit of disaster and I was wishing I had just stayed home. Baby girl had just woken from a nap and so she had all kinds of energy and did not want to be sitting in her car seat so she spent the majority of the trip telling us about it.

The trip was only about three hours and we had to stop about four times. One of the stops involved a diaper blow out and wardrobe change. Hubby was getting upset from the yelling coming from the backseat and so I had two unhappy campers to deal with.

Baby girl’s favorite song is The Wheels on the Bus and so I sang the song for about the last 15 minutes of the trip to keep her entertained. By the time we reached our destination the bus was carrying people, a puppy, a kitty, a parrot, a donkey, a truck, a cow, an owl, and anything else I could think of that would make an entertaining noise.

When we finally arrived, hubby discovered that he had forgotten to bring our vehicle registration so there was a brief moment of panic when we realized we may have made the long drive for nothing. After a quick consultation with Mr. Google, we learned that having your vehicle registration is not required to buy or sell a vehicle. Whew!

The good news is that we had some hotel rewards and hubby booked the room and surprised me with a King suite for almost free! It was perfect since it had a bedroom area and a living room area so baby girl could sleep in her pack-n-play in one room while we slept in the other and we could all get a good night’s sleep.

Hubby was up bright and early to clean our Jeep and go to his appointment at the dealership. Baby and I slept in and then headed to the hotel lobby for breakfast. It was crowded, all of the tables were dirty, and it all just made me feel panicky. So I grabbed our food and we went back to our room to eat it. Baby girl spilled hers all over the floor, staying in beat with the tune of the trip.

But finally everything started turning around when hubby arrived to tell us he had traded in our Jeep and purchased a new vehicle and a warranty for less than he had hoped to purchase the vehicle for. Take that, local dealers who wouldn’t budge on their prices!

It’s going to be so nice to have more room. I loved my Jeep but it got very small when baby girl joined our family!

This was promptly followed by an iced latte at Starbucks and a trip to Trader Joe’s. See? Things were turning around.

We ate an early lunch at a local place called the Pancake House. It was super yummy and our waiter was awesome. I ordered pecan pancakes and they were delicious.

By that time, baby girl was worn out and ready for a nap. She promptly fell asleep and slept until we were about an hour from home. I spent the trip reading the vehicle manual to hubby so we could learn about all of the features and how everything works. It was actually an enjoyable ride home!

For a little snack, we tried the Salted Caramel Blue Diamond almonds and were just as delighted with the flavor.

It turned out to be a good trip after all, I just wish I had taken more pictures to show you!

How was your weekend? What’s your favorite Blue Diamond Almonds flavor?