Omaha 2015

 What fun would eating oranges with out making funny teeth out of them!? This one barely fits in his mouth! Ha!

 Of course, Gabe's didn't fit well either!

But of course, Ivy tried, but she just wanted to enjoy the fruit.


















 Athena is so happy when it's time to eat anything. She can certainly hold her own when it comes to eating a meal! So glad she isn't picky either! With the exception of BBQ beans.

 

 What good is a selfie with the children if we aren't being silly! Gabe is so good about just smiling, not making funny faces, but Ivy and Noni were squealing.

On our visit to Omaha, we did have an opportunity to go to the Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. . I do remember that it has always been a great zoo. Exceptionally so since it runs neck and neck going back and forth from 1st and 2nd place over the years. Their competition? San Diego Zoo.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see.  All the enclosed exhibits are open. However, there is SO MUCH construction of mostly the entire outdoor animals so we didn't have an opportunity to enjoy seeing any elephants, rino's, etc...

BUT-- We did get to enjoy the Skyafari, Aquarium, Gorilla's and Sting Ray Beach.

We (3 adults) were in tow of 4 children ages 1 to 8. Yes, we had brought a double stroller! Surprisingly enough, our sweet -2 months shy of being 3- year old walked A LOT of the way! Kien, our 8 year old took his chance for a free ride! Naturally!

Being that our ultimate goal was to reach Sting Ray Beach to feed the Manta Ray's, it was CLEAR across the Zoo. Normally, there would be two entrances, which would have made it  1,000,000,000% easier to just go start there! The walk was good for all of us, we did realize in the massive inclines how out of shape we really are. Yes. Three days later I am sore. My actual hip feels fine, but  EVERY. SINGLE. MUSCLE. I have in my legs and back are SO SORE!!!  (This also includes a two mile walk the very next day and then sitting in the car for 8 hours the day after that!!!) LOL

Back to the story... Both Kien and Gabe had a fish to feed the manta ray's! Kien did it with no hesitation or problem and even said with a grin ear to ear, "That felt weird but soft!"

 This was a photo of Gabe's hand jumping back ever so quickly because the manta ray actually came out of the water to eat the fish!!! It made Gabe jump back and drop the fish! We were NOT expecting THAT to happen! It must have been famished! Gabe wasn't too sure what to think, but he did end up putting his hands back into the water to pet them as they swim by.

Ivy and Kien both thought it would be cool to feed the free roaming peacocks with crackers. Ivy threw her's down when it came close, but Kien let him take it out of his hand. They are not agressive at all, but don't prefer to be pet in any way. 

 Over all it was a FANTASTIC DAY with my parents and children. I can't wait to go back in Spring/Summer 2016 when all the construction will be finished so we can enjoy seeing their other animals!

We've Moved!

So, as many of you knew from this past Christmas, our address has changed. Not to a different Texas address, but to Oklahoma! If you happened to miss why, you can read that here.

You know, if you haven't already figured it out by testimony or first hand experience, GOD IS GOOD! All the time. Even when we stress about it. He doesn't. Our move was not a simple --everything falls in to place with out sweatin' it a little-- move. It was very involved and hoops to jump through. I can only make very clear that even though we were on the edge of the cliff with the timing, we sure did have a very awesome buyer (who was able to close in 2 weeks) and those we purchased from (who let us start moving in before the papers were even signed). Yeah, when does THAT happen?

Answer is simple.

God's plan.

It. Is. Amazing.

Every. Time.

So of course, we had to tweak the place to fit our own. So we turned it into a four bedroom rather than three! Great for us, the planning was simple because the builder created this layout for a 3 or 4 bedroom anyway. It worked out perfectly!

During...



And after...

Can't even tell it was an open formal dining area. Works perfectly!

One thing I have to say that has been a culture shock (mild for me, major for Greg) is the amount of work it takes to upkeep 2 acres. There is NO way it could be done with the push mower we had in Texas. No. Stinkin'. Way!

Thankful the owner let us purchase this riding mower with the house!!

Then we needed to buy two truck loads of gravel.

It was quite fun watching it dump out and then the tractor used to spread it all pretty-like.

Trust me, this is HUGE because...

 ...prior it looked like this. Nice that it was all clear, but-- can you imagine the dirt/mud/sand/clay that would be on the vehicles going in and out of the shop?! Yeah, this was a great purchase!

It would not be uncommon to find this site on the land through out the year. PJ's? Maybe not a norm. But the boys in the bucket while being chauffeured around to pick up sticks, rocks, move dirts... you know, the things that you do in the country. 

Then... Greg felt we needed one of these. He is correct. We DO need one of these, and can we actually biggie size it?! With all the dead tree's and limbs we will need to get rid of, this is much easier! We have enough burning to do we could totally keep warm for a few Christmases!

Ah, dirt. For the love of dirt. We will need a couple trucks loads every 2-3 years (kidding. kinda). Sand is a very bad thing if it's not on the beach. We will have to keep a constant leveling with how much rain we have had.

There remains to be a few stumps that need burned out. My dad came down and led the boys to cutting down dead tree's and making lots of firewood. We have probably 7 more stumps to burn.

Having a Koi pond has been awesome. Except when someone's dog (and ours, too) jumped into the pond and put a leak in the liner! So, we waited as long as we could. Can you believe a liner for a small pond like this was $200.00!!! Crazy! But we did it. We put the 5 fish in very large bins and clean the place up a bit. I had cleaned out the landscaping because Bermuda grass is terrible and it took over the decorative grass. I put 15 bags of mulch in. All. up cycled. Then, 15 more bags of mulch!

That's all for now. There will be more to blog about. Stay tuned.