County Fair

Ever since Brooks saw some carnival rides in a parking lot downtown earlier this summer, he has been talking about riding some carnival rides.  He was so disappointed when we I said we couldn't go to that downtown carnival this time because it would be too expensive.  I told him to save his money so he could buy some tickets to ride the rides when the county fair came to town later in the summer.  He would help me pick up toys to 'earn' money for rides.  So a week before the fair came to town, I bought some tickets at half price and told Brooks that fair time was almost here and he would get to ride some rides soon! We ended up going Friday night and he was super excited to go.  We walked around and looked at animals first. 
Both Brooks and Keely enjoyed the petting zoo.

 Brooks' and Keely's babysitter, Paige, was helping out with the animals, so I think that helped Brooks be a little braver in touching the animals.  Otherwise, I don't think he would have touched any of them!

 Keely liked the dog that looked like Cheyenne!

 Brooks got really excited when he saw the carnival games.  We let him play a few, and of course he chose the basketball one first!

 He made his first shot and we were thinking, great! he might actually win something decent! But then he missed most of the other ones.  I think he ended up making two or three.

 He got to pick out a prize, and of course he picked dice so he could roll them at home.

 Brooks chose skeeball next.  This one was a little harder for him.

 Blake helped him roll in the first game.

 Then Blake tried a few on his own and I tried some too.  We weren't doing too great! Thankfully Blake did good enough in the last game and Brooks was able to get a small prize.  He got a green snake that is shown in another picture, and Brooks has named him Cucumber.  He actually plays with him quite a bit and uses him as a fishing pole :)

 The last game he picked was the floating duck game where you just pick a duck and look on the bottom to see what prize you have won. 

 He won a ball at the ducks, and you can see the green snake around his neck.  He was having a blast!

 Brooks could have stayed playing games all night, but after spending $12 on just 3 games, that was our limit! We decided to have him pick out a ride to ride and use the tickets I had already spent money on.  He was not as excited about the rides when he saw them close up and we had to coax him pretty hard to pick one to try.  He finally chose the car ride where it just goes around in circles in a car.  Blake got him to pick a car and climb in and Blake even walked away and Brooks was still fine.  You can see him in the car right under the lightening mcqueen sign looking at Blake.

 Before the ride started, some kids in the car behind him started honking their horn.  I think this may have scared Brooks because he just lost it! He was crying and trying to get out, so Blake went in and got him out before it started.  We were disappointed he didn't stick it out and try the ride because he was so excited to ride them.  I think just having to ride by himself and the loud noises must have been just too much for him.  Oh well, maybe when Keely is old enough to ride with him, it will be better!

 After giving away the rest of our tickets to Paige since we obviously couldn't use them with a screaming terrified kid, I bought some cotton candy and we headed home.  Brooks got to try the cotton candy at home and sort of liked it.  I think he liked the idea of it more than the actual eating of it!

So overall it wasn't a terrible fair experience, we just had no success with riding any rides! The games were much more in line with what Brooks enjoys doing!

A Weekend Trip to Omaha-The Zoo

After a late night at a baseball game, we still decided to leave fairly early and go to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  We got to the zoo around 9:30, and even before we went in, we could tell it was super busy.  We started at the north entrance of the zoo, which proved to be a good choice because for the first couple hours looking at animals, it wasn't terribly busy.  It was when we went to the main part of the zoo where the aquarium, Desert Dome, and Lied Jungle were, we found out just how busy it really was.  I have never seen so many people at that zoo all at once! Walking through the aquarium was literally a zoo of people.  It was wall to wall filled with people and moving at a very slow pace.  It's a good thing none of us suffer from an extreme case of claustrophobia, because it was horrible!  Needless to say, the kids didn't enjoy this part much (neither did I since I'm not a fan of crowds of people...I'd rather it be us and maybe 10 others at the whole zoo, but oh well), but overall I think they had a pretty good time!
 Here they are at our first stop, the petting zoo and the goats!

 Keely pointing at the bears...she's always loved bears for some reason!

 Brooks was really excited to see the polar bear! He was waiting to be fed so he didn't swim at all, which would have been fun for Brooks to see, but at least he was up and moving!

 The gorillas...Brooks is here saying, "I don't know what he's doing??"  I think the gorilla was looking right at him!

 Brooks liked checking out the map to see where we should go next! :)

The giraffes...one of my favorites!

 And the butterfly house was also a favorite, but super packed with people! At least we saw more butterflies here than we did at the Lincoln zoo!

 The aquarium was next.  I always think it is one of the more fun places for the kids to watch the fish and bright colors, but with so many people, we really couldn't watch much and didn't really want to stop and look real long either!

 The desert dome...one of Blake's favorite because he likes the dark kingdom underneath it.  Not sure why, but he likes the bats! I didn't take any pictures of it though because it was so dark.

After the zoo, we relaxed at the hotel for awhile, then went out to eat for supper.  Keely thought sleeping on the cold tile by the fridge was a good idea...she was just being goofy and didn't stay laying down much longer than for me to take a picture, but it was cute!

 Brooks and Grandma relaxing with iPads..

 We decided to eat at Joe's Crab Shack, and Brooks finally fell asleep for his first nap of the day on the way there.  He can be so stubborn with naps if we are anywhere but home!

 Blake getting ready for his crab legs

After supper, we went to the hotel pool.  The water was FREEZING!! It was pretty ridiculous, but Brooks was so excited to go that we had to stick it out for at least a little bit.

 Blake and Keely look pretty cold in this family picture!

 On Sunday before we left Omaha, we decided to drive out to the pedestrian bridge over the Missouri River to check it out since none of us had really been there before.  Here is a picture of Keely in Nebraska and Brooks in Iowa...the states they were born in! The kids were getting tired by this point and were not too impressed so we didn't make them get out, but we at least got a picture of them in the stroller over the state line!

 Blake and Brooks checking out the water

 On the way out of town, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast.  It was actually lunch time before we got in to eat, but we all still enjoyed a big breakfast! I guess except for Brooks and Keely who had chicken fingers, fries, and corn!

It was a fun and busy weekend, but the kids did really good considering there were no normal bedtimes or nap times.  It was also nice to just get away for a little bit even if it wasn't very far away!

A Weekend Trip to Omaha-Baseball Game

A couple of weeks ago, we took one of Blake's weekends off and planned a trip to Omaha with Blake's parents.  We went to an Omaha Stormchasers baseball game Friday night and then the Omaha Zoo on Saturday.  Brooks was really excited to spend the night in a hotel again, and both kids did really well the whole weekend.  We stayed at the DoubleTree Suites and so both rooms we got had a separate 'living room' from the main bedroom.  This worked out perfect for our family because Keely could sleep in the pack n play in her own room in the living room of our room and Brooks could sleep on the pullout sofa bed in Grandma and Papa's room.  Having the kids have their own sleeping space separate from ours worked out really well...especially with Keely!
Here are some pictures from the baseball game

 Brooks was really excited to go

 We were pretty close to the field, so we had to pay attention to the game so we wouldn't get hit by a foul ball! A few were hit our way, but not close enough to catch one for Brooks.

 Keely did well for the first part of the game, as long as she was snacking!

 Papa bought Brooks a blue slushy...he loved that it gave him a blue tongue, and definitely gave him a sugar rush to make it through the rest of the game!

Towards the end of the game, Grandma got Keely to finally fall asleep.  The game started at 7 and by 10, we started making our way out of the stadium since it was getting so late for the kids! We started walking out at the end of the 8th, but ran into a couple of Blake's college friends (JD and Clint) on our way out, so we stopped to talk to them for a little bit.

 As we were leaving the stadium, we heard a loud bang on the roof of the stadium, and when I turned around to see what it was, it was a foul ball! There wasn't really anyone else around, so I started running towards it, and about that same time, Blake realized it was there too.  He was holding Keely, but took off after it too.  I quickly realized I am pregnant and can't move real fast, and stopped running, letting Blake run the rest of the way to get it! Brooks was super excited to get a foul ball! I don't think he realizes how rare it is to get a real foul ball, but it was still special! This picture was from Sunday on our way home, but he still was excited!

 I have a ton more pictures from the weekend, but I'll put them in the next post as I need to go get the kids down for nap now!