Labor Day Weekend

Doug & the kids went to his parents house on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend. I went to a movie with a girlfriend of mine and then went out to their house. The kids had a fun afternoon because their cousin Shaely was there with a friend. The water in the lake was already cold, so Doug took the kids on a paddle boat ride, which they thought was so much fun! They had supper and cleaned up and then played inside for the rest of the evening.

On Monday, Doug & I took the kids to Mahoney State Park to play on their huge outdoor playground. First we climbed the lookout tower. The kids thought that was fun, although Samantha was pretty scared when the tower started moving in the wind. Alden loved to look at the trains from above and liked breeze blowing through his hair. After my 81 steps to my seat at the Husker game, the steps up the tower were pretty exhausting for me! But, I made it! After the tower, we drove to the playground and the kids had a good time playing on all the stuff. Samantha decided to be brave and went down the big slides over and over. Alden followed her up the steps, but then decided he wasn't brave enough when he got to the top. There were quite a few pieces of equipment perfect for Alden, so he mainly stuck to those. After they were exhausted from playing, we drove to Gretna for lunch at McDonalds.

Husker Opener

Saturday, September 5th - GAME DAY! After nearly 9 months of waiting for Husker football, the day finally arrived. Samantha & Alden got new Husker gear after outgrowing last year's models. Samantha was very proud of her Husker Cheerleading Jumper and Alden showed off his Husker Football Jersey in the same manner. I searched for many days to find a Husker maternity shirt or even just red - but resorted to wearing my old "Future Husker" shirt that Doug had made me when I was pregnant with Samantha. Doug opted to wear his "old school" University of Nebraska shirt instead of getting a new football shirt this year. Once we were all outfitted in out Husker gear, we drove to Nebraska City to drop Alden off at my parent's cabinet shop. My dad got Alden a red balloon to entertain him while we were gone, he also got to ride lot of coin-0operated rides in the mall. :) We took Samantha with us back to Plattsmouth, where we caught a ride from Doug's dad, Aunt Jodi & friend Nancy to Lincoln. Samantha went to the Jr. Blackshirts (daycare program at the campus rec center while the parents are at the football game). She had talked for almost a year about going back to Jr. Blackshirts again - so we gave in and signed her up. I was tickled to get to go to the game because I usually don't get to go to Husker football games when I'm pregnant. (When I was pregnant with Samantha I almost passed out from heat exhaustion and claustrophobia during a game and we had to leave in the 1st quarter!) Because I had been working out so hard during this pregnancy and due to the forecasted high temperature of 79 degrees - Doug allowed me to go. Climbing the 81 stairs to our seats was not the most delightful being 8+ months pregnant, but I made it. And, I only went down 1 time to use the restroom - a huge accomplishment! The game was a lot of fun, even though I was very sore the next morning (actually I still am sore now - 3 days later). Samantha had a great time with the other kids at Jr. Blackshirts and Alden had a wonderful time with my parents.

Money in the Bank-

Last Wednesday, the four of us took a trip to the bank to open Alden a savings account. Almost 2 years after he was born - he now has a regular savings account. Our goal was to get it accomplished before the new baby arrives next month, so we did accomplish that. (He has had a College Savings Account since the day he was born.) We emptied both his piggy banks, which were quite full after almost 2 years of saving! Samantha also emptied her piggy bank into her savings account (which we opened for her a long time ago). Alden was not too fond of the bank taking his money and not giving it back. He kept saying "money - bank?" like maybe they would give it back. It was very cute, but I don't think he quite trusted the bank. :)

CoCo Key Water Resort - Our Summer "Staycation"

We went on a little "Staycation" at the Omaha Holiday Inn last Thursday - Friday. Debra & Greg gave us tickets to CoCo Key Water Resort for Christmas and a gift certificate to the hotel, so we saved them until now. :) We checked into the hotel on Thursday evening after Doug got off work and then we drove to Chili's for supper. After supper we picked up some supplies at SuperTarget (doughnuts and milk for breakfast) and headed back to the hotel ready to go for a quick swim before bed time. The we all got our swimsuits on and I called to check on pool towels. That's when I learned that the pool was closed for "cleaning" for 4 days!!! Crazy!!! No one told Doug when he checked us in that we couldn't swim at the hotel pool or anything. It was pretty heartbreaking to the kids, who were jumping around the hotel chanting "swimming, swimming...." We broke the news to them and instant tears flowed from both of their eyes. :( After a bunch of "brainstorming" we decided to go on a walk around the hotel. We luckily found an indoor playground right next to the "closed" indoor pool!! It was the perfect size for both Samantha & Alden, so we let them run around and get rid of a bunch of energy! Then, we headed up to the room again and got ready for bed. We debated on where to put the kids for the night. We got a 2 room suite with a king size bed and pull out couch. Samantha & Alden told us they wanted to sleep together on the couch, so we thought we'd give it a try. We did the normal bedtime routine and then told them goodnight and shut our door. Amazingly.....they slept the whole night!! 10:30pm - 7am!! I kept waking up in the middle of the night wondering if they were still asleep, but no sounds, so I went back to sleep. Then, at 7am, our door opens and in pops Alden followed by Samantha. :) It was too cute! Samantha woke up and then told Alden to wake up too!

A little after 9:00, Debra met us at the hotel and we got ready to swim. Alden didn't need his ticket because he was under 2 years old, so we volunteered the ticket to Debra. We were outside the doors of CoCo Key Water Resort at 10:00am - right when it opened! We were the 2nd or 3rd family in the door! The kids ran to the kiddie pool and spent a lot time there with the fountains and other water features. They had to close the kiddie pool a little later for awhile because of something with the chlorine levels, so we moved over to the larger area. Samantha attempted to go down the slide, but after much debate she backed out. (She did go down the little yellow slide 2 times in her lifejacket though.) Alden went down the yellow slide and went right under water, but it didn't seem to bother him. Doug even went down the slide to show them it was fun. (see above picture). The kids liked spraying water at people from above the most. We also enjoyed the "lazy" river and completed many loops with the kids on our laps. There was also a pool with basketball hoops that Alden could play with when Doug lifted him up to shoot hoops. Doug was the only one who went down the "big" slides, but said they were fun. Debra enjoyed a few minutes in the hot tub, too. We had pizza hut for lunch and then returned to the water for a few more hours. We were all exhausted when we left about about 2pm that day. It was a great Christmas present - Thanks Debra & Greg!!

Samantha's 1st Day of Preschool!!

Samantha started preschool this morning at St. John's Catholic School in Plattsmouth. She was so excited! She has 5 other kids in her class - 4 more girls & only 1 boy. Alden did not want her to go. We left the school with him screaming "Ammy" "Ammy" "No, No" once he figured out that she wasn't going home with us! Poor boy! I was holding up just fine until he started crying....then my tears just started flowing! :( We went home and spent some quality mother & son time together!

Spray Park Take 3

We went back to the spray park last week to play. It was our 3rd trip there this summer! The kids just love it and the best part is - it's FREE!! :) We stopped at Target to grab some stuff for sandwiches and had a picnic when we got there. It was a very hot day, so the water felt very good to the kids. I wanted to run through the water, but didn't bring my swimsuit! Samantha has gotten very brave at the spray park and will now run through all of the water features! I think it even helped in the pool a little bit. I'm sure it will be a frequent place for us next summer.

Touring UNL Campus

Last Tuesday, I took the kids to Lincoln to show my brother, Chris, around Campus. We went to Lunch with Doug and then afterward, I showed Chris where all his classes would be at. We also got his parking pass (which was way across campus) and his books. It was a VERY hot day, but the kids did great! Alden didn't want his picture taken that day, but Samantha was all about posing for every picture! We took pictures in front of the statue in front of Westbrook Music Building because Doug & I spent a lot of time in that building for our marching band days. We also saw the "letter" sculpture in which at some point during the day, it shows every letter of the alphabet with its shadow. Samantha thought that was pretty cool, and decided to make a "Y" with her hands to show she could do it too. Then, we walked to the stadium and I tried to get Alden's picture, be he was actually scared of the black statues of football players and cried. As we were walking away, he realized there was a "bootball" (aka - football) with the statues and wanted to go back, but it was WAY to hot! :) After the stadium, we walked to Parking Services to get Chris a parking pass and then all the way back to the union for books. We were all exhausted after our walk around campus! :)

Cass County Fair

Doug took the kids to the Cass County Fair on August 6th after he got off work. (I'm not really a "county" fair type of girl - so I stayed home! :) When I told Samantha that she was going to get to go to the fair with her daddy, she started crying hysterically! She thought the animals would be loose and they would attack her. Poor girl! :) haha. She decided it would be okay, since I convinced her they would all be in cages! They looked at all the animals. Alden touched a sleeping pig! They saw some parachuters and thought it was pretty cool! To end the evening, they watch some of their friends do the "Mutton Bustin' " and Alden is pretty sure he's going to be able to do that next year! Samantha on the other hand probably doesn't want to even go back to the fair. :)

Member Day @ the Zoo

Wednesday, August 5th was Member's day at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. After Doug got off work, we drove the kids up to the zoo. It was a packed house that day, so we just did a few things that we normally don't get to do. We got to go above the aquarium and look down on all the fish and sharks, which was pretty neat! Samantha tried on a "dive pack" that a scuba diver would normally wear. She almost fell over because it was so heavy! Next, we headed through the actual aquarium, however it was quite disappointing because all the penguins were asleep! We walked to the giraffes next and got to go above them where they are fed. The kids loved this, as giraffes are one of their favorite animals! It was really fun to watch the giraffes strip the leaves off a branch with his tongue! We were sick of all the crowds, so we decided to head for McDonald's for supper and then continue home.