I had been a little nervous all school year because Kaylin has been completely in charge of her own homework. I have literally not looked at one paper or asked her about studying or ANYTHING. I told her I'd keep off her back, but when the first progress report came, if it wasn't good, things would change. Kaylin insisted she was getting everything done and promised to come to me if she didn't understand something. Progress reports were sent home yesterday. Four As and one B. Yes!
As I have stated approximately 12,000,000 times, I hate parental involvement in homework. I hate homework period, but stuff that requires parental involvement particularly burns me. I in no way feel it is the teacher and the public school system's lone job to educate my children. I take them to all kinds of educational places and am constantly teaching them everything from nature and animals to how to load and put away dishes from the dishwasher or the potential evils of credit cards. We apply math and reading to everyday life. Gene shows them how to build and fix things. Gene and I are involved with our children and care deeply about all aspects of their education.
However, don't force me to spend 30 minutes helping my son color a picture. My evening time is extremely limited and valuable. I have approximately 2 1/2 hours to make, serve and clean up from dinner, take showers, do laundry, deal with the pets, deal with correspondence from school and help with homework. I also have a very physical job that keeps me on my feet all day long and I mostly want to sit down and relax. I believe required parental involvement results in a whiny, crying kid who expects the parent to do everything for them. No. My kid needs to learn to read better. He needs to read and answer ALL of his own questions. He needs TIME to practice spelling and reading (I will certainly help with spelling.) When he spends 40 minutes on a gigantic word search that I end up half doing because it takes so long and is so frustrating, he has NO time for spelling and reading. Logan's teacher is probably the most regimented and organized teacher we've ever had. We get a homework list at the beginning of the week with all assignments listed. It is too much homework for a 2nd grader. And all of it requires at least some effort on my part. There is literally not enough time in the day. This is going to be a long year!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Giant Word Search
Yeah! I've lost 11 pounds and my feet have been MUCH better! I have a lot more weight to lose, but so far it's coming off pretty easily. I haven't had any fast food or candy this month. I haven't even gone through the McDonald's drive-thru for a sweet tea! I've been doing my best to satisfy my sweet tooth with fruit, and peanut butter has been my special treat if I'm really craving dessert. I am failing miserably at giving up Diet Pepsi. I haven't been cutting back at all. I recycle all of my plastic bottles, but I know it would be much better if I'd just switch completely to tap water that would make no waste. I'm probably also harming some major organ by drinking so much soda, but man, I love it.
We're finally falling into the school routine. I need to work harder at making Logan read and practice spelling, but it's so hard to spend valuable evening time working on even more homework. Logan's teacher loves time consuming pointless homework that makes me want to scream from the rooftops that she's an idiot and he doesn't have to do it. Instead I pretend like the ginormous word search that takes over an hour is the most important thing he could be doing in life. You know, just in case word searches help him with his future career. I have no idea what Kaylin is doing in school. She supposedly does all of her homework right after school. I have never seen any of it and don't plan to until after she proves she can't do it on her own.
Kaylin's going to play trumpet in band. I was really surprised. I thought she'd play flute or clarinet. We got my old trumpet out of the attic and the valves are completely frozen. I'm too tired tonight, but tomorrow I'll try to get it in good enough working condition to use for a couple weeks until I can either get my other trumpet from my parents' house or else rent her a better one. Maybe I'll start playing again. Or not.
I think I write this every month, but I can't believe how fast this month has gone! I've been a blog slacker once again. We have tons of stuff going on, but I either can't or won't write about it :)
We're finally falling into the school routine. I need to work harder at making Logan read and practice spelling, but it's so hard to spend valuable evening time working on even more homework. Logan's teacher loves time consuming pointless homework that makes me want to scream from the rooftops that she's an idiot and he doesn't have to do it. Instead I pretend like the ginormous word search that takes over an hour is the most important thing he could be doing in life. You know, just in case word searches help him with his future career. I have no idea what Kaylin is doing in school. She supposedly does all of her homework right after school. I have never seen any of it and don't plan to until after she proves she can't do it on her own.
Kaylin's going to play trumpet in band. I was really surprised. I thought she'd play flute or clarinet. We got my old trumpet out of the attic and the valves are completely frozen. I'm too tired tonight, but tomorrow I'll try to get it in good enough working condition to use for a couple weeks until I can either get my other trumpet from my parents' house or else rent her a better one. Maybe I'll start playing again. Or not.
I think I write this every month, but I can't believe how fast this month has gone! I've been a blog slacker once again. We have tons of stuff going on, but I either can't or won't write about it :)
Friday, September 17, 2010
Pants
I'm mentally exhausted from a week of stupidity. I never thought I'd have to ground my children for something this ridiculous, but alas, Kaylin called Logan "Pants." I think Logan was playing Wii and Kaylin wanted a turn. "C'mon, Pants, gimme a turn." And then later "Nice one, Pants!" And then "Hey Pants, you're up." Meanwhile, I was doing the puzzles in the paper and ignoring the kids. I should have continued ignoring them, but asked "Why are you calling him Pants?" "Because pants are the most boring thing I could think of, just like Logan." I then made Bad Parenting Mistake #7 and laughed. Logan also thought it was funny and wasn't at all offended by being called "Pants" or by my laughter. However, my laughter encouraged Kaylin. Now instead of calling him Pants once every 10 minutes, the game turned into "Hey Pants, it's your turn, Pants, c'mon Pants, Pants, Pants, Pants." In seconds, Kaylin escalated Pants from funny to annoying to infuriating. Then Logan whipped a Wii controller at her and it smacked her hard in the chest. Kaylin was bawling in pain, Logan was sent to his room and both kids were grounded from playing with the neighbor kids for their entire Saturday. I had to stop doing my puzzles to lecture Kaylin on how while violence is never ok, Logan wouldn't have hit her if she hadn't driven him to it. And then talk to Logan about never resorting to physical violence over words. I did get to reward myself with a day off free of the neighbor kids, though!
Wednesday we went to the Pumpkin Festival. Before kids, I was always overtaken by nostalgia and would excitedly drag Gene year after year for pumpkin porkchops and pumpkin ice cream. We'd stroll through the merchant's tent and pick up free junk. We'd do a quick walk around the grounds and check out the window displays and giant pumpkins. We'd avoid all the really crowded ride and game areas and be done with the whole experience in about one hour. I'd laugh at myself for loving the mediocre food and "needing" to grab up the free sewing kit and pens. Gene would roll his eyes and go to Farm and Fleet so at least the drive to Morton wasn't a total waste.
The first few years of taking kids was fun. Especially when both were old enough to go on two or three kiddie rides together, but young enough to be happy with two or three rides. Now that they're both in school, going to the festival is more of a pain than it's worth. It's now ALL about the rides. Now we're submerged in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, waiting in the forever-lines, trying to figure out how to use up all of the tickets so we can leave at a decent hour to get the kids to bed for school the next day. No more window displays or checking out the fire trucks and ambulances. No more looking at the giant pumpkins. Just rides and lines and crowds. And worrying about how on earth we're going to finish homework when we get home so late at night and have to leave so early the next morning for school. The Pumpkin Festival is awful! And compared to the county or state fair where you buy an unlimited ride armband for $20 (and the money goes to charity) and there are WAY more rides and virtually no lines, the Pumpkin Festival is a rip-off! Oh, and I had talked for DAYS about the importance of getting all homework done at Latchkey so we wouldn't need to worry about it later. I asked Logan if he got everything done? His reply? "I thought you said DON'T get my homework done." Yes, my brilliant snowflake, that makes complete sense!
Last night was Kaylin's back to school night at her school. We spent 8 minutes in each of her 8 periods, running around from one side of the school to the other. (English and math are each double periods, so only 6 changes.) Most of the teachers were normal, one was frightening and two were insanely enthusiastic to the point I could hardly handle the 8 minutes. The social studies teacher was my personal favorite. She made a point of allowing the kids to make and learn from their own mistakes and not hover and helicopter. The math teacher was one of the enthusiastic ones, but I think she'll be great for Kaylin. She has all kinds of games and learning tools I think Kaylin will embrace. Overall, it was a good experience and made me much happier with my choice to send her to this school.
Wednesday we went to the Pumpkin Festival. Before kids, I was always overtaken by nostalgia and would excitedly drag Gene year after year for pumpkin porkchops and pumpkin ice cream. We'd stroll through the merchant's tent and pick up free junk. We'd do a quick walk around the grounds and check out the window displays and giant pumpkins. We'd avoid all the really crowded ride and game areas and be done with the whole experience in about one hour. I'd laugh at myself for loving the mediocre food and "needing" to grab up the free sewing kit and pens. Gene would roll his eyes and go to Farm and Fleet so at least the drive to Morton wasn't a total waste.
The first few years of taking kids was fun. Especially when both were old enough to go on two or three kiddie rides together, but young enough to be happy with two or three rides. Now that they're both in school, going to the festival is more of a pain than it's worth. It's now ALL about the rides. Now we're submerged in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, waiting in the forever-lines, trying to figure out how to use up all of the tickets so we can leave at a decent hour to get the kids to bed for school the next day. No more window displays or checking out the fire trucks and ambulances. No more looking at the giant pumpkins. Just rides and lines and crowds. And worrying about how on earth we're going to finish homework when we get home so late at night and have to leave so early the next morning for school. The Pumpkin Festival is awful! And compared to the county or state fair where you buy an unlimited ride armband for $20 (and the money goes to charity) and there are WAY more rides and virtually no lines, the Pumpkin Festival is a rip-off! Oh, and I had talked for DAYS about the importance of getting all homework done at Latchkey so we wouldn't need to worry about it later. I asked Logan if he got everything done? His reply? "I thought you said DON'T get my homework done." Yes, my brilliant snowflake, that makes complete sense!
Last night was Kaylin's back to school night at her school. We spent 8 minutes in each of her 8 periods, running around from one side of the school to the other. (English and math are each double periods, so only 6 changes.) Most of the teachers were normal, one was frightening and two were insanely enthusiastic to the point I could hardly handle the 8 minutes. The social studies teacher was my personal favorite. She made a point of allowing the kids to make and learn from their own mistakes and not hover and helicopter. The math teacher was one of the enthusiastic ones, but I think she'll be great for Kaylin. She has all kinds of games and learning tools I think Kaylin will embrace. Overall, it was a good experience and made me much happier with my choice to send her to this school.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Pretending to be moving across the country
This week has been overwhelming with back to school nights and getting kids up early and remembering homework and forgetting to practice spelling words. Friday mornings used to be relaxing and wonderful. The kids got to sleep in and poke around until 8:45am. Now Kaylin's school starts at 7:30. Ugh. As I pulled in to drop off Kaylin, my car started beeping that it was running out of gas. (Seriously, I can't BELIEVE how much this car beeps. I call it Beepy.) I went from last second spelling practice to Logan freaking out that we were going to run out of gas. I immediately headed to the gas station and filled up, but it was too late. Logan was focused on the gas and not the spelling words we should have been practicing the past four days. Ugh again. Another spelling F.
Back to school is incredibly stressful for me. I hate the homework. I hate the morning nagging to hurry. I hate the bedtime fights. Then everything else in my life piles up and I go crazy. The clutter in my house is probably the biggest thing bugging me at home. I decided to go through EVERYTHING and get rid of stuff like I'm getting ready to move. But not just move, move across the country. Every single item has to be judged as if I was moving to California. Would I keep this if I was moving to California? If not, it goes to Goodwill, is recycled or goes in the trash. The end.
This morning I did the kitchen cabinets. I filled a large laundry basket and a garbage bag of stuff for Goodwill. I can't believe how much excess stuff I had in the kitchen! I'm going to make my way around the house and do all the rooms, all the clothes, all the toys. The garage is going to be a huge job. I'm wondering if we'll need a dumpster!? It's beyond amazing how much crap can be accumulated in 10 years of living in one place!
Back to school is incredibly stressful for me. I hate the homework. I hate the morning nagging to hurry. I hate the bedtime fights. Then everything else in my life piles up and I go crazy. The clutter in my house is probably the biggest thing bugging me at home. I decided to go through EVERYTHING and get rid of stuff like I'm getting ready to move. But not just move, move across the country. Every single item has to be judged as if I was moving to California. Would I keep this if I was moving to California? If not, it goes to Goodwill, is recycled or goes in the trash. The end.
This morning I did the kitchen cabinets. I filled a large laundry basket and a garbage bag of stuff for Goodwill. I can't believe how much excess stuff I had in the kitchen! I'm going to make my way around the house and do all the rooms, all the clothes, all the toys. The garage is going to be a huge job. I'm wondering if we'll need a dumpster!? It's beyond amazing how much crap can be accumulated in 10 years of living in one place!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
First day of school
Sunday we went to the Topeka Zoo. One of Meghan's former coworkers gave us a tour of the whole zoo, including many behind the scenes areas. We got up close to the adorable baby hippo. I got to pet and feed mama hippo and had some good photo ops. In case you were wondering, hippos feel like rubber. That was one of my favorite zoo experiences of my life! We also got to see their baby giraffe up close. The tour was great, but the kids were exhausted and acting like zombies. They weren't complaining or whining or anything, just wandering around with blank faces. There was no joy. I wore them completely out with 8 hours at the Omaha Zoo.
We then went to a really cool animal sculpture playground across from the zoo. It had many sculptures the kids could climb and play on. We didn't stay too long because it was 95F, but that perked the kids up quite a bit. We stopped at a really cool toy store and a Target before eating lunch at (blech!) CiCi's Pizza and heading home around 2pm. I had no idea if I'd be able to make the entire drive, but the kids were ready to go home. We stopped at a rest area where Kaylin roller skated and Logan and I played catch. We stopped for dinner and then made a final stop at the Meijer store in Springfield for gas and walking around to wake me up. We finally made it home ~10:30pm. I was the zombie yesterday. I was almost too exhausted to move :) The kids were up early and running around all day. Kaylin complained that we didn't have anything "fun" planned for the last day of summer vacation. Ummmm...
Tuesday was the first day of school. Everyone had new haircuts and new shoes and new backpacks full of supplies. Both kids woke up early and got ready without complaining or fighting. Kaylin's school starts at 7:30am and Logan's doesn't start until 9. That means Logan has to go to morning latchkey, but their schools are very close so I can drop off Kaylin and then take Logan before heading to work. I was planning on having Kaylin take the morning bus, but getting her out the door at 7:15 is going to be hard enough. I can't imagine the fights that would accompany her having to be completely ready and at the bus stop at 6:40am! Not worth it! Especially since I always left at 7:25 last year to drop them off at latchkey.
I didn't get a lot of information, but both kids had a good first day. Kaylin was disappointed she didn't get a locker assignment because she was unable to open her padlock. It was discovered too late in the 2 1/2 hour day that her padlock was defective and the teacher couldn't even open it. She got a working padlock on Wednesday and is thrilled to have her first locker. Even if it is one of the stupid smaller ones. Logan appeared happy with his teacher and classmates. Today is the first full day of school with lunch and latchkey and "real" switching classes for Kaylin. Last night's homework was all about ME filling out emergency cards and personality profiles and after school stuff. Ugh!
I was dreading having Kaylin and Logan at different schools, but it seems like it will work out ok. At least until the fundraisers start...
And finally, and very off topic, we got to see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile at Hy-Vee on Tuesday! It was the kids' first time seeing the Wienermobile. I was disappointed they weren't giving out wiener whistles or selling Wienermobile stuff, but seeing it and getting our picture taken was good enough :)
We then went to a really cool animal sculpture playground across from the zoo. It had many sculptures the kids could climb and play on. We didn't stay too long because it was 95F, but that perked the kids up quite a bit. We stopped at a really cool toy store and a Target before eating lunch at (blech!) CiCi's Pizza and heading home around 2pm. I had no idea if I'd be able to make the entire drive, but the kids were ready to go home. We stopped at a rest area where Kaylin roller skated and Logan and I played catch. We stopped for dinner and then made a final stop at the Meijer store in Springfield for gas and walking around to wake me up. We finally made it home ~10:30pm. I was the zombie yesterday. I was almost too exhausted to move :) The kids were up early and running around all day. Kaylin complained that we didn't have anything "fun" planned for the last day of summer vacation. Ummmm...
Tuesday was the first day of school. Everyone had new haircuts and new shoes and new backpacks full of supplies. Both kids woke up early and got ready without complaining or fighting. Kaylin's school starts at 7:30am and Logan's doesn't start until 9. That means Logan has to go to morning latchkey, but their schools are very close so I can drop off Kaylin and then take Logan before heading to work. I was planning on having Kaylin take the morning bus, but getting her out the door at 7:15 is going to be hard enough. I can't imagine the fights that would accompany her having to be completely ready and at the bus stop at 6:40am! Not worth it! Especially since I always left at 7:25 last year to drop them off at latchkey.
I didn't get a lot of information, but both kids had a good first day. Kaylin was disappointed she didn't get a locker assignment because she was unable to open her padlock. It was discovered too late in the 2 1/2 hour day that her padlock was defective and the teacher couldn't even open it. She got a working padlock on Wednesday and is thrilled to have her first locker. Even if it is one of the stupid smaller ones. Logan appeared happy with his teacher and classmates. Today is the first full day of school with lunch and latchkey and "real" switching classes for Kaylin. Last night's homework was all about ME filling out emergency cards and personality profiles and after school stuff. Ugh!
I was dreading having Kaylin and Logan at different schools, but it seems like it will work out ok. At least until the fundraisers start...
And finally, and very off topic, we got to see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile at Hy-Vee on Tuesday! It was the kids' first time seeing the Wienermobile. I was disappointed they weren't giving out wiener whistles or selling Wienermobile stuff, but seeing it and getting our picture taken was good enough :)
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
Yes indeedy, this place was everything I hoped and more. What an awesome day! We arrived at 9am, left at 5pm and still didn't see quite everything. I'm trying hard to remember if I've spent 8 hours at a zoo before? Maybe Sea World or Disney's Animal Kingdom, but if so, it was due to shows and rides, not 8 hours of animal exhibits. We did see a 45 minute Imax movie (Bugs! in 3-D) and ride the Sky Tram one way because our legs were so tired. Otherwise, we hoofed it the entire time. And no one complained because the place was so awesome...
Since babies are my favorite, I'll start with them. A tiger cub, an orange baby langur, a tiny sea lion pup and a pair of adorable fossa pups. The fossa pups were being hand raised in the nursery and we happened to see them at a time they were being bottle fed and then allowed to run around and explore the room. It looked like about the most fun job ever, wrestling the squirmy little things while they nipped hands and wiggled around to escape. Too cute! The sea lion was the smallest I've seen and beyond adorable. I always love tiger cubs and who doesn't love a bright orange baby monkey?
The exhibits were all new to me, but new to the zoo was the Madagascar exhibit. It. Was. Amazing. First, we walked through a huge outdoor walkthrough with red and black and white ruffed lemurs free to jump on the visitor boardwalk. They did! I have several photos of the kids within touching distance of lemurs who just sat there. They also had large outdoor enclosures for ring-tailed lemurs and sifakas (those lemurs who leap sideways on the ground.) The indoor building housed zillions more lemurs, many birds, reptiles and amphibians native only to Madagascar and my favorite animal of the day- aye-ayes! Aye-ayes are creepy-looking, shaggy lemurs with a weird skeletal finger on each hand and are considered an omen of evil or bad luck when seen by the native tribal people. They're incredibly cool and only housed in 3 US zoos. I can't remember for sure if this was the first time I've seen them, but I'm positive this was the first time I've seen them well. I didn't get any photos because they are nocturnal and their exhibit was very dark, but they were running all over the exhibit and came close to the glass many times. We even got to see their weird fingers. Google them and look at photos! They're awesome!
The rainforest and desert dome were mindblowing. The cat building was HUGE, with the most cats I've ever seen at one facility. I'm not usually crazy about great apes, but the gorillas had a tiny baby who was riding on mom's back and then scampering all over the place. I spent more time watching gorillas than I ever have before. The aquarium was cool, but way too crowded. The butterfly building was pretty great. We all enjoyed riding the sky ride directly over the rhinos and the lake full of koi. The whole zoo was fantastic.
We set out from the zoo and drove directly to Topeka. That wasn't exactly intentional, there just wasn't ANYTHING between Omaha and Topeka! It was shocking! About an hour into our drive we happened upon a small town that had a Pizza Hut. It was maybe the size of Eureka, Il and was by far the biggest town right on the highway. There was another small town with a Super 8 motel about 30 miles out of Topeka, but I thought since we were so close already, I'd like to get 20 miles closer. Nope. Topeka doesn't have suburbs! At least not to the north. We had to go all the way into town to find a hotel. Oh, and the dink town we stopped at to eat at the Pizza Hut didn't have cell phone reception!
Today we're going to Topeka Zoo to see the baby hippo and giraffe. It appears to be a fairly small zoo so I'm thinking maybe two hours instead of eight. The kids both have bad colds so I don't think we'll stop at Kansas City Zoo. We'll see. I have no idea if we'll drive all the way home tonight or find something else to do and come home Monday. Again, we'll see :)
Since babies are my favorite, I'll start with them. A tiger cub, an orange baby langur, a tiny sea lion pup and a pair of adorable fossa pups. The fossa pups were being hand raised in the nursery and we happened to see them at a time they were being bottle fed and then allowed to run around and explore the room. It looked like about the most fun job ever, wrestling the squirmy little things while they nipped hands and wiggled around to escape. Too cute! The sea lion was the smallest I've seen and beyond adorable. I always love tiger cubs and who doesn't love a bright orange baby monkey?
The exhibits were all new to me, but new to the zoo was the Madagascar exhibit. It. Was. Amazing. First, we walked through a huge outdoor walkthrough with red and black and white ruffed lemurs free to jump on the visitor boardwalk. They did! I have several photos of the kids within touching distance of lemurs who just sat there. They also had large outdoor enclosures for ring-tailed lemurs and sifakas (those lemurs who leap sideways on the ground.) The indoor building housed zillions more lemurs, many birds, reptiles and amphibians native only to Madagascar and my favorite animal of the day- aye-ayes! Aye-ayes are creepy-looking, shaggy lemurs with a weird skeletal finger on each hand and are considered an omen of evil or bad luck when seen by the native tribal people. They're incredibly cool and only housed in 3 US zoos. I can't remember for sure if this was the first time I've seen them, but I'm positive this was the first time I've seen them well. I didn't get any photos because they are nocturnal and their exhibit was very dark, but they were running all over the exhibit and came close to the glass many times. We even got to see their weird fingers. Google them and look at photos! They're awesome!
The rainforest and desert dome were mindblowing. The cat building was HUGE, with the most cats I've ever seen at one facility. I'm not usually crazy about great apes, but the gorillas had a tiny baby who was riding on mom's back and then scampering all over the place. I spent more time watching gorillas than I ever have before. The aquarium was cool, but way too crowded. The butterfly building was pretty great. We all enjoyed riding the sky ride directly over the rhinos and the lake full of koi. The whole zoo was fantastic.
We set out from the zoo and drove directly to Topeka. That wasn't exactly intentional, there just wasn't ANYTHING between Omaha and Topeka! It was shocking! About an hour into our drive we happened upon a small town that had a Pizza Hut. It was maybe the size of Eureka, Il and was by far the biggest town right on the highway. There was another small town with a Super 8 motel about 30 miles out of Topeka, but I thought since we were so close already, I'd like to get 20 miles closer. Nope. Topeka doesn't have suburbs! At least not to the north. We had to go all the way into town to find a hotel. Oh, and the dink town we stopped at to eat at the Pizza Hut didn't have cell phone reception!
Today we're going to Topeka Zoo to see the baby hippo and giraffe. It appears to be a fairly small zoo so I'm thinking maybe two hours instead of eight. The kids both have bad colds so I don't think we'll stop at Kansas City Zoo. We'll see. I have no idea if we'll drive all the way home tonight or find something else to do and come home Monday. Again, we'll see :)
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Vacation meant to be spent alone
My title means nothing. My last two titles were Go-Go's lyrics to their song Vacation so I'm continuing for my own pleasure. I'm having a blast with the kids and don't actually want to be alone.
We left home Friday morning at 8am, hit no real traffic and only minor road construction and following a quick lunch and gas stop, pulled into Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines around noon. I had been expecting a small zoo that would give us a nice break from the car ride. I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised. We loved the place! We fed ducks, baby swans and zillions of koi at the pond. The koi were so thick around the feeding area they looked like you could walk across them. We happened upon a tiger when she was being very playful and jumping on the windows and interacting with the kids. We played with the tiger for probably 20 minutes before another family came and I made the kids leave so the other kids could have a turn. They had a budgie feeding area with nearly 300 parakeets. You couldn't even go inside unless you bought a stick of food for a buck. We spent another 30 minutes covered in birds. The zoo had some great exhibits (NINE ostriches!) and we had a great time.
We drove on toward Omaha. I had expected to stop in Council Bluffs, but had no idea how big it was. I was confused by the sudden multi-lane highways and no hotel/gas/restaurant signs. Suddenly we were over the bridge in Nebraska and I saw the dome that could be nothing other than the Henry Doorly Zoo Desert Dome! It was "rush hour" so I exited just to get my bearings and found a Comfort Suites that's actually called the Comfort Suites at the Zoo. Indoor pool and breakfast? Check. Perfect! I can see the zoo structures from the parking lot. It will be a 2 minute drive this morning.
The kids swam for a good hour. So far everything's gone well. Now I just need to somehow pass the next 2 1/2 hours before zoo time. This is the number 1 zoo I've wanted to visit the past 15 years! I've always thought we'd do a train trip to Denver "next year" and make a stop in Omaha so I just never made the drive. I'm crazy-excited! I just read about a new sea lion pup and a tiger cub that are on exhibit. I hope this place lives up to at least some of my expectations :)
We left home Friday morning at 8am, hit no real traffic and only minor road construction and following a quick lunch and gas stop, pulled into Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines around noon. I had been expecting a small zoo that would give us a nice break from the car ride. I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised. We loved the place! We fed ducks, baby swans and zillions of koi at the pond. The koi were so thick around the feeding area they looked like you could walk across them. We happened upon a tiger when she was being very playful and jumping on the windows and interacting with the kids. We played with the tiger for probably 20 minutes before another family came and I made the kids leave so the other kids could have a turn. They had a budgie feeding area with nearly 300 parakeets. You couldn't even go inside unless you bought a stick of food for a buck. We spent another 30 minutes covered in birds. The zoo had some great exhibits (NINE ostriches!) and we had a great time.
We drove on toward Omaha. I had expected to stop in Council Bluffs, but had no idea how big it was. I was confused by the sudden multi-lane highways and no hotel/gas/restaurant signs. Suddenly we were over the bridge in Nebraska and I saw the dome that could be nothing other than the Henry Doorly Zoo Desert Dome! It was "rush hour" so I exited just to get my bearings and found a Comfort Suites that's actually called the Comfort Suites at the Zoo. Indoor pool and breakfast? Check. Perfect! I can see the zoo structures from the parking lot. It will be a 2 minute drive this morning.
The kids swam for a good hour. So far everything's gone well. Now I just need to somehow pass the next 2 1/2 hours before zoo time. This is the number 1 zoo I've wanted to visit the past 15 years! I've always thought we'd do a train trip to Denver "next year" and make a stop in Omaha so I just never made the drive. I'm crazy-excited! I just read about a new sea lion pup and a tiger cub that are on exhibit. I hope this place lives up to at least some of my expectations :)
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