Mini-Vaca, Omaha!

 Planned a minivacation to Omaha with the kids. It was great in theory and even better in person. We arrived Friday to see some of our very best friends the Schafer’s. We were warmly welcomed into their home on Friday night. We watched the Cats lose in the first game of the NCAA, then Josie and the kids jumped on the trampoline, eating our delicious cheese platter made by Josie. Man, I love cheese. The kids jumped and jumped, Molly practicing her newly learned jump, butt, stand trick she learned at gymnastics.... Josie and I then took the kids to the arboretum ands a short walk down to the park.
Molly wanted to help push the stroller, nope.... she could walk and play with her buddies..... Josie is super mom, at one point Rexy was on her shoulders while Josie was holding Molly/Liv and ran up the hill. That Momma ya skills. Paddy was content riding in the stroller. The Guys cooked dinner and we enjoy some delicious steaks and asparagus 😍! The sitter got there, and we headed a short walk down the stairs to the local lounge type bars. We laughed and drank and had a Merry old time!
The next morning we walked back down to the same district of little shops and had a delicious breakfast of breakfast sandwiches.  Packed up and headed on our next adventure.
Chris drove, we got to the Ramada which also houses Coco Keys, water park and respite. The hotel had less than nice things to say about it... but we ended up being upgraded to a suite, which was nice. We all took a little nap. Chris on one queen bed, me on the other, and Molly on the floor insisting she’d like to sleep on the floor... haha. Paddy in the pack and play in the corner. When we all got up, Molly and Chris went for a stroll looking around the place. They found the water park and my very, introverted, husband was immediately shocked about how nuts it seemed inside and of course, was reluctant to go. We got ready and took the kids down. It was full full full..... and we eventually found a spot to grab some beers and to take the kids swimming. Molly was overwhelmed with excitement and some uneasiness about the crowd. She jumped right in, and began swimming with her floaties on. And we went to the splash park part, molly ran around and went down the little kid slides. I forget that she still is a little girl and i try to push, when I should let her explor to her comfort level. Paddy was chill and explored and went down one slide once. But it was okay. He like splashing in the water but stayed close and just liked sitting on Momma’s lap in the kid  swimming pool... while we watched his sister go down the slides several times... The Schafer’s joined a few minutes later. We all got in for a few
Minutes, Chris stayed in the kids while I went to order.... And Paddy stayed back with me....but not for long. Paddy was so funny, the guys sitting next to us, had tortilla chips. And he walked right over to them and did the ‘please geature’ To get a chip. The guys laughed and would give him a chip..... and loved how sweet Paddy was to them. The pizza was finally done for all the kids and us.... kids ate and everyone went back in the pool. Josie took the girls while Patton and I stayed out of the water, he didn’t love the life jacket I made him wear... eventually Chris went back to the room to grab dry clothes for paddy...... we all walked back to the room.... and got changed and settled back in the hotel room.  Chris went to the bar to watch basketball with Molly. I got paddy ready for bed and he was singing and trying everything not to have to go to sleep. Haha. Oh Paddy. I got the monitor out and met Chris in Molly in the large gathering area. Molly ran around playing with kids in the open area..... changed into her Pjs. Eventually Molly got tired and so was Momma..... Chris stayed and watched more of the KU basketball game (they lost 🙌). And the downs Family was down for the night.  In the morning we loaded up, what looked to be our whole house of bags..... and met Jordan, John, Elliott, creedin, Lux, Ronnie, Rusty, his son, aunt Shari and baby Bently for breakfast. It was a shit show. But we all ate and it was a great time seeing all of them. Molly was very happy to see her cousins. I loved watching them play and giggle together at the end of the table. Paddy was generally happy and eating lots of ice. Ha.  On the way home the kids and I took a snooze, and turns out Chris drove 45 minutes too Far East. Adding a fun 1.5 hours into our original 2.5 hour trip. All is well that ends well.. more van time for the family. Everyone is happy and healthy. We had a great mini-vaca.