Today is Aug 25th , day 7 We
drove 230 miles today from North Platte, Nebraska to Lincoln,
Nebraska.
Our Big Move continues today as we woke
in North Platte, NE. The Howard Johnson turned out to be a decent
place, despite the shouting match outside our window at 2am. I don;t
think anyone heard it but me so thatch good. The kids had a good night
in the hotel; again for the most part. This time change is really
killing us, but we've all got to start getting onto the right time
zone. We actually passed a zone marker late yesterday meaning we're
now officially in Central time. Those two hours are causing some
small havoc with the kids, but we'll get there.
Calum woke up around 4:30am our time,
pretty upset. That's just one of those things you get with kids, no
real explanation, just bad nights every once in a while.
Just like Alec the night before though,
by the time the kids actually got up for the day Calum was back to
his sunny disposition. Both kids were incredibly dirty and we haven't
had a chance to bathe them since the Hot Springs, And even then we
didn't get to really wash them, so we dumped them both in the tub for
a quick scrub. Soon they were clean and ready for breakfast.
The kids and Erica headed down to the
free continental breakfast, while I packed the car. Alec did well
with with his breakfast, he ate one and a half hard boiled eggs a
piece of toast with peanut butter and jam,and a small box of Fruit
Loops. No wonder hes growing so fast! Also he loves Fruit Loops
because we don't give them to him; he just got them at daycare. Calum
on the other hand played with his food and didn't eat anything. Every
day its something new...When I joined the rest of the family
breakfast was almost over so I grabbed a quick bowl of porridge and a
muffin. Unfortunately I forgot where we were. There is a big
difference between porridge and the gravy for the biscuits.. I
apparently just served myself a big bowl of gravy... yuck.
We packed into the car and started East
on the 80. As we got on the highway Alec made sure to let let know
that the on ramp bridge was his most favorite bridge ever. Pretty
impressive North Platte!
Onto the highway then and its all grey
skies and flat fields. Corn and farms. This is Nebraska. The
threatening rain finally broke as we headed towards Lincoln. Mostly
sputtering, not too bad, but then with a few patches of slightly
heavier stuff. Not enough to spoil your day or anything, but you'd
definitely have to call it scattered showers.
worst store name ever! |
Calum fell asleep and Alec did a good
job playing with us and by himself with his toys. Alec told us the
story of the Three Little Pigs a few times and then had his
Incredible Hulk toy get into some serious adventures with his
firetruck toy. This kid really has a great imagination!
I got two odd text messages from AT&T
today and decided to call them to see what was up. The texts seemed
to imply that I was passing my data usage limits. But I'm on an
Unlimited Data plan with my iPhone, so that can't be right... I hate
dealing with this stuff :( Anyhow I called AT&T and found out
that I was using too much data from their partner networks. Since
they did away with all roaming charges domestically a while back this
has been their thing. Basically I'm using too much bandwidth from
networks other than AT&T and its costing them more to pay the
other companies for it than I am paying them. So what I asked? Its an
unlimited data plan, are you going to charge me for it? No, they
can't charge me, but according to some fine print somewhere they can
stop me from sing networks outside of AT&T. Really! So basically
this is warning number 1, if I get two more warnings they'll restrict
my data access to only AT&T towers temporarily, and then if it
happens again they'll restrict me permanently! Well, what exactly am
I supposed to do? I'm traveling around the country, and AT&T
doesn't have coverage out here?! God, these people make me crazy...
I'm glad I'm leaving. Hopefully I'll never have to deak with AT&T
again. I'm sure the Canadian telecom companies are way better ;)
Then one of the greatest plans ever
came together! You see last night Erica and I were looking for
something to do to spruce up the trip out to Lincoln. Erica's
suggestion was the Pioneer Prairie Museum, which I'm sure would've
been fine and all, but its not super exciting. I was looking around though and found probably the most fun thing to do ever: the
Nebraska State Fair! Yes the State Fair has literally just opened for
the season, and it just happens to be right on our route.
Now I've been to a few County Fairs in
my time, not as many as someone who grew up in the country but I'm
certainly no rookie. Erica.. Well I'm not sure about Erica, she did
grow up on a farm but I don;'t think fairs were really her family's
kind of thing.I know the kids have seen some of this stuff before.
But I don't think ANY of us have been to such a big fair before. This
is a really huge event, and getting a chance to check it out was
pretty cool.
They had so much stuff that I wanted to
see that we ended up not getting a chance to, and most of the things
we did see we're just by happenstance. Having a plan, but then being
able to throw that plan out the window is the best way to go about
these things in my opinion.
We started out at the fair in the Main
Expo Hall. Mostly because we wanted to find some restrooms :) The
hall had a TON of vendors in it. And honestly a surprisingly
eclectic mix of people. I had gone in imagining this to be a far more
Agriculture focused fair but found it a lot closer to an As Seen on
TV fair. And that was none more apparent than in the expo hall. There
was everything from reclining chairs, to artisan crafts, cutlery and
cookware demonstrations, tires and life insurance. From hot tubs, to
the latest horticultural advances, kitchen cleaning solutions, and
cell phone service providers; the vendors in this hall ran the gamut.
Alec found a little artisan boutique
and some cute little “love bugs”. We got one for him and one for
Calum although Alec has mostly been taking care of Calums for him. We
also wandered past the John Deere store and picked up a pretty cool
tractor toy for him. That's out of sight for the moment though, I'm
sure we'll need a toy for him soon enough and giving these kids too
much at once can be a bit difficult. If you're a parent you'll
understand that sentence, if not, you will.
Moving back outside int the drizzly wet
weather Alec immediately was drawn to the hay bale dressed up like an
Angry Bird.
From there we moved onto the Hendrick's
Petting Zoo. All of the animals here were behind bars, but they were
the kind that you could reach through. Really this was a very cool
little zoo area, Alec and Calum got a chance to get right up close
and pet alpacas, zebras, cows, and a lot of goats. As we arrived at
the crowded goat pen we saw why there were so many people there. A
baby goat had been born literally within the 5 minutes before we got
there. The goat was still covered with gunk and the mother was
licking her clean. It was pretty amazing to see this little thing that
was actually just born trying to stand up and suckle with his mom.
Pretty awesome for us, I'm not sure Alec understood.
Outside again we walked along and tried
to regroup ourselves and get a plan of action in place. More or less
the plan involved getting the kids food. The only issue at these kind
of events is of course the lines. Thankfully a solution presented
itself in the form of a fake apple tree. We stumbled onto the Kids
Fun Zone play area and all went in. This was a cool spot under a tent
where they'd set up some dress up clothes, and a few kid games. Lasso
the fake cow, pretend to go fishing and win a prize, collect fake
eggs from under fake chickens, and Alec's favorite: picking fake
apples off fake trees. Alec apparently LOVES picking apples. I mean
to the point where I think he should probably just be a migrant
worked when we arrive in Canada. He's certainly got a knack for it.
Alec and Calum played with the apples
while Erica ran off to get us some recommended local Nebraska pizza.
What made Valentinos pizza so “Nebraska” is beyond me, but that's
what we were told...Anyhow, when Erica returned we all ate a bit,
well all except Alec who seriously would not stop picking apples!
This was one of those situations where
we ended up having to literally drag Alec away from the game.
Thankfully once we were outside and on the move he got into a better
mood about it all and soon forgot his fake apples. Instead he focused
his energy on the Midway and the rides!
We walked the midway and the kids we're
in total shock and awe. There are so many lights and things to see
and hear; I'm sure they were on super sensory overload. We walked
until we found a good ride for Alec. He is at the height that he can
ride on lots of the stuff as long as he's got an adult present and
Erica was willing to brave the Crazy Plane while I stayed firmly on
the ground with Calum. Its a bit insane how expensive tickets for
these rides can be when for the most part at Alec's age he'd be just
as happy picking fake apples... ah well, its all a good experience,
just funny.
Alec had a great time on the plane
ride. He had demanded that they sit in the front and he was the
captain. Actually he wanted Erica to sit in back while he sat in
front alone, but mom wasn't having any of that. Alec is such an
independent little guy sometimes!
Calum on the other hand was upset mom
was out of site from start to finish. Thankfully the ride was short
and we all headed back together to slowly make our way towards the
car. Before we got there though we had to stop into the Sheep Pavilion.
We strolled into the Birthing room
first, and while none of the animals there were actually giving
birth at the moment, we saw some 2 day old piglets, and a calf that
had just been born that morning (fast asleep).
Heading into the Sheep Pavilion
properly though we we're greeted by rows and rows of sheep and
chickens. We walked up and down a row or two but made a point of not
petting anyone there. This is where they hold the cattle shows, and
the pig contests. The even had a pen set up with some bleachers for
spectators inside the hall. All pretty cool stuff.
On the way out we walked through the
chicken and goose area. Alec managed to get himself a really cool
chicken hat for the road as we headed back out of the fair to finish
up our trip and get into Lincoln.
We strolled through the Expo Hall one more time and then took the tractor and trailer shuttle
service out to our car and I wonder if that may have been Alec's
favorite part. He's pretty easygoing on most of this stuff.
Hopping into the car we hit the road
for one last time headed out about one more hour to Lincoln, NE.
We're planning on seeing my cousin Travis, his wife Denae and their
new 2 month old baby girl.
In the car Alec played funny games
pretending to be a chicken, then asking us where Alec went and for ua
to call him chicken. And then he also played a lot with his new
ladybug toys. He's also taken to asking us to talk with his toys.
Then he responds as the toy. Its pretty cute, until of course you
find yourself talking to the ladybugs for 10 minutes about their work
schedule and when they can come out to play with the firetruck and
Incredible Hulk. Its really just scheduling at that point..More rain
started in as we drove but again none of it was too heavy.
Finally we reached our destination for
the day, my cousin Travis' house where he lives with his wonderful
wife Denae and their 2 month old baby girl Emersyn. The baby is so
sweet. She let both Erica and me hold her and didn't get upset, and
Travis and Denae have been wonderful hosts. We all had a great home-cooked chicken dinner,
then Travis's brothers Todd and Tab came over with their families for
a quick visit. I'm not going to go into a ton of details on the visit since I'd like to
get this posted before we get too far into the next day, but suffice
it to say we had a great time. Alec got a chance to ride very fun a rocking horse named Cactus, I was introduced to Tomato Beer, Alec played Candyland and Chutes and Ladders (sort of...), and we had fantastic homemade cherry cheesecake!
We expect to spend tomorrow morning
in Lincoln, relaxing and visiting before heading off for a big
drive out to Iowa City.
1 comment:
I wish I lived somewhere with a hot tub, I would literally spend all my free time in it!
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