Lions & Tigers & Bears...Oh My!

So with all of the summer activity we finally got a chance to sneak away for a quick family vacation weekend up to Omaha, NE. While it may not be the most glamorous of vacations, it was a perfect fit for the boys and we had an overall fabulous time!

Gram and Papa were brave enough to travel with us on the road trip and through the flood lands that extended our road trip by about an hour each way. The only thing that I can say is thank goodness for portable dvd players...maybe that is why I didn't go on many road trips growing up! :)

We left early Friday morning and were able to hit up the Children's Museum Friday afternoon. What a great place to take kids! There was tons of hands on activities that both boys absolutely got a thrill of! Splash tables, plastic balls, face painting by mom followed by a science show that included blasting off a "rocket" using water and alka seltzer! It is a must to go see. AND...this summer they also had a dinosaur exhibit on the 2nd floor where the boys got a chance to see dinosaurs up and close. They both had a ton of fun, but it took Kieran some warming up before he took his eye off the dinosaurs!

We ended up staying in this cute little hotel downtown called the Magnolia Hotel. It was in walking distance of the Old Market. It really surprised me how beautiful Omaha was! Not sure what I expected, but the Old Market had brick paved roads and carriage rides going on...it was full of hustle and bustle both nights we were there! We must have tuckered Kieran out because we had just sat down for dinner in this nice little table in the corner when Kieran got out of his seat. I thought he had dropped a toy on the floor that he was reaching down to get, but the next thing I knew he had fallen asleep on the floor of this restaurant!!!! Even the manager of the restaurant had to come over to take a peek.

On Saturday we loaded up the car and took the boys to the zoo. What a great zoo...and the weather turned out to be perfect! The highlight reels were: Aiden loved the gorillas most - Papa even got to see one run up and 'slap' the viewing glass window sending kids into a frenzy...if you can imagine that! A short second to that would be the aquarium that we walked through an underground tunnel and saw a stingray and sharks swimming right above us! Kieran loved the train ride throughout the park. My personal favorite was the Kingdom of the Night exhibit, which included a swamp exhibit that Aiden kept repeating "Mom...these crocodiles are freaking me out!". I think Gram's favorite would be AFTER the zoo and the ice cream parlor we found that only serves HOMEADE ICE CREAM!! Yummy! Similarly, Chris would also chime in that he enjoyed the nightly cookie buffet at the hotel that he got to indulge in his love of White Chocolate Macadamian Nut cookies!!

Overall, it was a great weekend of fun! On our way out of town we stopped at the Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge that crosses over the Missouri river. Did I mention the flooding? It was crazy how high the water was - including the views we got on the drive up of the flooding through the farming fields.

Here are a few pics from the trip!

What's up Doc?

So...what else has this crazy family been keeping busy with? Here is a short debut of the fun we've had.

In April, I kicked off the month Rockin the Parkway! I completed my PR 1/2 marathon with a finish time of 1:52:57 finishing 43rd out of 301 women in my age group. Here is a pic of me with my awesome sweat sisters!



Then in the month of May we were busy busy busy with end of school activities! Between the kindergarten musical (which my camera ran out of batteries for!!), the end of school parties, and the spring soccer and start of baseball season we had a jam packed calendar! Here is Aiden on his field day...



Check out AB in the back with the flipped up visor...



and here he is on his last day of school...my how he has grown!

We kicked off the month of June when I ran a 10-K run with my dad! It was the Hospital Hill run, which is a HARD and HILLY run to say the least. How proud was I that my dad ran the entire way with me...although he was pretty proud of himself that he crossed the finish one second before me. What a memorable experience...just wish I had some good pics to share from the event.

Aiden has been busy at summer camp going to the pool every day. He is desperately trying to get us to let him go off the high dive at the pool, but not sure I can stomach that without being there to watch! My little cautious son is ready to embark on some adventure! We've been spending a lot of time at the baseball fields, which is ok given that it's Aiden's favorite sport (although Kieran much prefers the playground than cheering on his brother at this point!). We've also been spending a lot of time on our bikes and staying active, cheering on Chris in both the Tour of KC as well as the Tour of Lawrence. And for those of you following Chris's blog, you'll know that Aiden also debuted in his 1st bike race at the Tour of Lawrence! GO A.B.!!!

Where has the time gone?

WOW!! That is the beginning of this crazy 'catch up' blog posting. Sometimes life takes us and grabs us by the horns and all we can do is try to hang on. That is kind of what I feel like the Smith household has been like for the past several months. Although I'm certainly not complaining - we are all happy and healthy, and our calendars have been full of activities of fun!

So...going back to March...hard to believe the big man is a full 6 yrs old. We hosted a gym party up at Lifetime Fitness again, which the kids had a blast playing games of capture the flag and dodgeball (especially when it was the kids against the adults!). Aiden really enjoyed getting his big boy bike from mom & dad, which he has put a few miles on this summer! Here are a few pics that sum up the big day!