Where the Wild Things Are: Our First trip to the Omaha Zoo(Weekend Recap)

 Whew! What a weekend! 

Most weekends in the DeMoss household tend to be nothing short of crammed with fun activities for this family of three. Since Hubs and I both work full time, Monday through Friday, we tend to try to fit in at least one fun activity for the family to enjoy compensating for the hectic work week filled with day care drop offs and pick-ups, cooking dinner and of course working the traditional 9-5 job(in my case 8-4). One of our really good friends from high school moved to Blair, NE a few years back, and each year we make an effort to go out and visit him and his family for a weekend. They actually live only 30 minutes away from the Henry Doorly Zoo(Omaha Zoo) so after careful planning the DeMosses and Smiths decided to plan a trip out to the zoo. 

I ended up being off work  on Friday due to me needing to attend a memorial service for my uncle that had passed away in December during the heat of the pandemic here in Iowa. I dropped off Lou at day care around his usual time and then headed straight to the service that was located in Kamrar, IA(which was about a hour drive).  I was driving solo(Hubs needed to work) so to bide my time and make my hour drive a little more bearable I put on Bailey Sarian and listened to her episode about a twisted love triangle. I always joke to Hubs that he would never be able to premeditate a murder because I would see it coming with all the true-crime shows/podcast/movies I watch.

 It was a lovely memorial service, and it was nice to see how loved and celebrated my uncle was. He most certainly will be missed. After the memorial service, I ran home to finish up some last minute errands(post office, grocery store, etc.) before packing for our trip. I'm a BAD procrastinator when it comes to packing and always wait until the very last minute to pack up everything Lou and I will need for the weekend. 

Luckily, Hubs got off early himself and was able to help gather everything we needed and load it up in the SUV. We opted to bring our big stroller instead of our pop-up, umbrella stroller we use at our local zoo and of course we couldn't forget the pack n' play for Liam. We also had ordered a stroller fan from Amazon due to the weather being rather steamy the past few weeks. Here is the one that we purchased, we liked it because it had a rechargeable battery and was able to wrap around the stroller(or any base) securely. 

The original plan had been to pick up Lou from day care, hang out at home for about a hour, and then drive the 2.5 hours to Blair, NE. Since Josh had gotten off earlier than expected, and we were already loaded up, we saw no point of unloading Lou only to load him back up again 30-45 minutes later(and risk a nuclear toddler meltdown). So we decided it best to just drive to day care together and then head out from there. We ended up stopping at a Casey's just before we headed outside of town to pick up the essential snack items(which can be also be found on the impromptu anniversary weekend getaway post) with a few alternations(a juice for Liam and nerds rope for me-been craving them lately) and checked on our tire pressure before making our trek to Nebraska. 

Honestly, I'm so surprised and happy with how good Lou did on that long car ride. Usually after about a hour in the car seat he gets a little restless and wants to be out of the car. I really can't blame him because I'm the exact same way(I've never been a fan of road trips). It probably helped that we also had his iPad charged up and plenty of snacks on hand in case he needed them. I totally recommend the following apps for the 2+ age range, they keep Lou entertained and also have some educational value to them so it feels like he's not JUST playing a video game: DuckDuckMoose's Fish School & DuckDuckMoose's Trucks are two of our favorites(and the best part is they are 100% FREE). 

We made excellent time and were at our friend's house around 7 PM. By that time we were ALL ready to get out and stretch out legs as we started to lug in everything to the house and get Liam set up before we could relax and visit with our friends. Hubs and his buddy, Smitty, ended up popping out to the local grocery store to grab a frozen pizza for us, milk and some adult beverages for the weekend. While the boys were out running that errand, the girls(and Lou) hung out downstairs and just caught up(which we joked there really wasn't much to catch up on because it felt like there really hadn't been anything new or exciting happening in our lives). Lou and I ended up tucking in relatively early for the evening, opting to get some rest for our big day ahead of us. 

The next morning was a fairly early one since we wanted to get to the zoo right when it opened. So after we were showered, dressed, and I had a cup of coffee in me(I cannot function without at least one) we were already to load up into our vehicles and head out to the zoo where we were meeting another set of mutual friends with their two littles. If you ever have the opportunity to go to the Omaha Zoo, DO IT! Seriously, this place is massive and they keep adding onto it with attractions and exhibits. Since we are members of the Blank Park Zoo, we got 50% off our tickets and Lou got in for free due to him being only two. We also opted to add on the String Ray package for an addition $4 per person leaving the grand total of our zoo visit to be just a little over $33(that's a steal!). 

The first year that Hubs and I went to the zoo together(about three years ago) they hadn't completed the Safari Exhibit where they were getting elephants, so that was totally on my priority list to go see. We ended up working backwards through the zoo exhibits, leaving the desert dome and the aquarium for last as we left the zoo. The weather was honestly perfect, it never getting about 85 degrees, but needless to say I was happy we had purchased the stroller fan and I got a little bit of sun on my shoulders. We ended up breaking a couple of times, once around 11 AM to grab a hot dog and another time around 1 PM for the littles to have a snack break. The really cool thing about the Omaha zoo is they allow you to bring in your picnic lunches, so if you're looking for a way to cut cost that is totally the way to do it! 

After our little snack break(I might've gotten Lou and I a strawberry sundae to share) we headed towards the aquarium(my favorite exhibit). The aquarium is MASSIVE and has an array of fish as well as other sea creatures and aquatic animals(puffins and penguins). The place was crowded, so unfortunately we did more of a quick walk through much to my disappointment, but by the time we exited the aquarium Hubs and I both agreed it was time to probably head out...so we decided to skip the desert dome. Besides, Lou was tuckered out and was in dire need of his nap that had been pushed off an extra 30 minutes in favor of finishing up the zoo. 

We ended up meeting our friend's back at their place and we grilled steaks, potatoes, corn on the cob and asparagus for dinner. After a busy, fun filled day Lou didn't even fight me to go to bed at 8 PM and I followed suit around 10 PM after visiting with our friends a little while. 

(I think it's safe to say someone got spoiled at the zoo with TWO new stuffed friends-Thanks Uncle Smitty!)

Hubs and I ended up sleeping in a little later than we had wanted to(albeit the brief wake-up period at 7 AM that Lou thought we needed) and rose up around 10 AM. We showered, got dressed, and I made myself a cup of coffee as we gathered up our things and got ready to pack up for our long trip home. On the way out we ended up stopping at a gas station to fuel up(jealous of the gas prices over there!) and stocked up on some more snacks before it was time to hit the road. 

We really did make excellent time, other than the brief detour we had to take to avoid construction, and all three of us were happy to be home(our dog was especially happy to see us!).  I always joke that the worst part of vacation is coming home from vacation and doing all the odds and ends things to get ready for the work week ahead of us, such as: laundry, getting our house back in order and decompressing from the weekend. 

Needless to say, we had an amazing time and cannot wait to visit with our Nebraska friends again!(hopefully we'll get to see them soon and not wait a whole year!).

Weekend Recap: Looking at the Silver linings

 Oh buddy! 

It was kind of a tough one in the DeMoss household this weekend! 

Do you ever have those days where once something just starts to go wrong, it ultimately tailspins into pure and utter chaos? Well let me tell you, this past weekend was one of those moments! 

It all started Friday afternoon while at work. Lately we've been having CRAZY weather in Iowa and Friday was no exception. I was sitting at my desk going through my typical duties when all of a sudden the weather radio we have located at my desk in reception up front started going off. It all started with a severe thunderstorm with the mixture of hail in there. Fun. Hubs checked the radar and all looked well until it wasn't. 

It was wild! 

All of a sudden, little pellets of ice just started falling from the heavens, mixed in with golf ball sized chunks! It was insanely loud as it hit the awning, and all I could do was stand at the window of my office building and watch as my SUV got pelted with hail. Fortunately none of the ice made it through my windshield, but unfortunately like many in my state I will be filing an insurance claim since my roof looks like a golf ball now and piece chipped the paint all the way down to the primer. 

In addition to that I found out I was part of a security breach at my old eye doctor's clinic and had information compromised. It was all underneath my maiden name, so the notice got sent to my parent's home address that had information on the identity protection the clinic was offering. Which is fine, I often have things mistakenly sent to that address often; however, the post office misplaced my letter and I had to jump through some hoops to get information to the identity protection company, so I can have my monitoring for the year they are offering it for. 

When it rains, it pours....am I right? 

Luckily the storm cleared up in time for me to safely drive to pick up Liam at baby school and Hubs went to get stuff for dinner, and I was greeted with a bottle of my favorite wine. The perfect accompaniment to our 'lazy' dinner we had(grilled hot dogs-we've been on a HUGE kick lately!). 

The next morning Liam and I woke up fairly early for his first tumbling class! 

I decided to enroll Liam in a toddler Mommy and Me summer program class at a nearby dance studio to get him out and about and meet more kids. I thought it was a good way to see if it was something that he might be interested in the future, and if anything I was getting him out of the house for a bit of exercise. 

It honestly was a great program, and they had A LOT of little obstacles for the kids to go through, but I think I might have underestimated my toddler's patience. We ended up spending the first 10 minutes of class in the bathroom for a little bit of quiet time before we were able to return to class. Which to be fair, it was new, exciting and had A LOT of fun things to climb on and jump....it was practically sensory overload! 

We get to go back on Saturday, so I'm hoping we do better at class number 2. 

Once class was over, Liam and I headed home to shower up and get ready for Uncle Charlie's birthday party a few towns over. He was celebrating the big 3-0(welcome to the club, bud!) and we got to see a lot of people we hadn't in a very long time. We ended up having to leave earlier than we wanted to due to a very grumpy, tired kiddo, and it was a good thing too since we were heading in for another storm! 

Hubs ended up running to the store real quick to get a few supplies we were dangerously low on, and we decided on a quiet evening filled with frozen pizza and watching The Sandlot(which I hadn't seen before!). I noticed that Liam wasn't eating a lot that evening and usually pizza is his go-to(even for a picky toddler), but didn't think much of it until later on. About 3/4 of the way into the movie our power started to flicker on and off a couple of times before we heard a big BOOM and then.....DARKNESS. 

Great. 

Just Great. 

We gave it a little while before we began to get our puck lights that we use for power outages and checked with my in-laws that live in town to see if they had power. Liam and I ended up heading over to their house while Hubs waited for the power to come back on. While Liam and I got settled in at my in laws, I noticed that he started to feel a little warm, so I decided to take his temperature. Little man had picked up a bug, and luckily I had kept his medicine bag in his diaper bag so was able to get him something to help him sleep through the night.  Needless to say I didn't get a good night's sleep that night and neither did Hubs. 

Our power ended up coming back on at 1 AM and I ended up spending the night at my in-laws with Liam. 

The next morning Liam woke up still having a slight temp. He really wasn't eating, but he was acting a little bit better. I decided to gauge it for a couple of hours and if he still had a slight temp I knew we probably should bring him into Urgent Care. 

Now I know what you are going to say. 

"Why take him into Urgent Care for such a low grade fever?" 

Unfortunately, Liam's had some bad luck with some pretty nasty ear infections and Hubs and I were suspecting that that was the culprit for Liam's elevated temp. The last ear infection he had had had started out exactly out just like this, so figured we should just bite the bullet, take him in and get some antibiotics in him before it got worse. 

Three hours.

We ended up waiting to be seen in urgent care for THREE hours. 

I couldn't check in early, and two of those three hours were spent in the car waiting for our name to be called in. I'm happy to report that Liam does not have an ear infection, but instead he had picked up a virus(tested negative for strep throat).  Needless to say? I was a little bit of a mood after waiting all of that time to find out our suspicions had been for naught...especially since Liam was acting perfectly fine and running around the clinic like a crazy person. 

Liam was hungry and cranky. 

I was hungry and cranky

 

And our grocery store trip was miserable. 

I ended up picking some of those Uncrustable sandwiches for Liam and gave it to him frozen(he likes them this way and probably felt good on his throat) and I picked up some Triple Meat Pizza Rolls and a bottle of wine. I've been trying to make better eating choices and sticking to a 1600 calorie deficit(and drinking less), but after this weekend? Mama needed a bottle of wine. 

Hubs ended up having a bit of trouble himself with a little project he had started whilst Liam and I were away. We ended up getting a brand-new door to help with security and our energy bill. Our house is actually over 100 years old, and we are starting to find little....quirks to it that are making remodels a little bit of a pain. The new door was put in, but still needs to be capped and sealed. 

We ended up finishing the night with a late dinner of smoked ribs and baked beans and I FINALLY got to finish The Sandlot(and we started watching The Mighty Ducks). 

It was a wild, whirl wind of a weekend, and I'm honestly happy this one flew by with how insanely chaotic it was; however, I had to look at the silver linings out of this crazy, stressful weekend. 

1. The damage on my car could have been WAY worse. 

2. I was warned about the security breach and was able to take preventative measures before it got REALLY bad. 

3. Liam was excited and really enjoyed his tumbling class. 

4. Our house was safe, and we had somewhere to wait out until the lights came back on. 

5. Liam was okay and nothing serious was wrong with him. 

At the moment it all felt awful, but now that I'm looking back and reflecting on it all I can do is just shake my head in laugh. 

Fireworks & Lions & Tigers Oh My!

It was a wild and crazy holiday weekend for the DeMoss family! Liam got to spend a lot of grandparent time due to day care being closed the majority of last week and got his first multi-night over stay down at my parents. For those of you who don't know, I'm from a rural town in Southern Iowa, and when I say rural, I mean RURAL. My hometown is one of those that if you blink you'll miss it traveling on a main highway and oftentimes growing up I would have to find the next nearest, biggest town to tell people where its general location was. 

Although I'm totally a city girl now, occasionally I like to go back and spend a good, long day there enjoying the open, country fresh air and see the livestock and of course have our annual Fourth of July celebration at my parents house. I remember growing up it would very much be a huge event my parents would put on. My dad would grill, and my parents would invite our neighbors and closest friends and their families to come and celebrate. It was kind of like a potluck, people would bring side dishes, chips and BYOB, and they'd swim in my parent's ginormous above ground pool(RIP). There would be sparklers, snakes and other 'kid friendly' fireworks and once it got dark the real show would begin. 

At the time fireworks weren't exactly.....legal in Iowa, but somehow the trip to Missouri would always be managed, and my dad would put on a good show. 

Then all of a sudden it stopped for some reason or another. I imagine people got busy, lives changed and people moved away from home until a few years back I pleaded for my mom to bring back the family tradition and I would help her host it(with the help of my best friend) and now here we are. 

I didn't mange to take any photos that day after chasing around a two-year-old and helping set up, but it was an amazing time. My cousin Travis made a brisket and his brother Jeff made pulled pork. There were chips, salads and lots of other goodies to graze on. Just right before the fireworks Hubs made a fire, so the kids could make Smores, and then it was time for Hubs and Ben(my Bestie's husband) to start the show. 

My Bestie and her husband LIVE for the fourth of July, so much so that they have a yearly budget allocated to splurge on fireworks. Needless to say, they did not disappoint this year, and even Liam enjoyed them as we sat up on my parent's upper deck and watched them. After the fireworks were done it was bedtime for bonzos, and we tucked Liam in before heading back outside to help clean up after the party. 

We ended up spending the night at my parents house in my old bedroom(one of them, at least) and woke up fairly early to head back home. The rest of Sunday was spent basically hanging out until later that evening when we went over to a friend's house to grill hamburgers and shoot off more fireworks. I think by that time Liam was done with fireworks and wanted to be in his dad's arms because he was starting to get a little scared of the noise(to tell you the truth I  really don't care for the loud ones). I ended up taking Liam inside and he cuddled on the couch with a blanket to watch Scooby while Hubs and K-Bear finished shooting off fireworks. 

Needless to say, after two jam packed days of running around, we were ALL ready to go to bed. Liam had no trouble going right to sleep, unfortunately our dog was a little too anxious from all the big booms going on outside, so we spent at least a couple of hours snuggling her and letting her know it was going to be okay. That's the only downside about the Fourth of July, each year animals and soldiers who suffer from PTSD have to bear through the festivities. I would like to say people are respectful with shooting off fireworks, but like most situations there's always a few bad apples that shoot off way too late or aren't courteous enough. 

Lake City 2021

 Hello Everyone! 

I know I know it's been a HOT minute since I last wrote(honestly it was another vacation post if I do remember correctly). Like everyone, the beginning of 2021 spent me on a tailspin. Between learning the ropes of mothering a toddler(I'm still sobbing knowing my baby is growing up) to everything that was going on in the world pandemic wise, my blog kind of got tossed on the back burner for a hot minute. 

For those of you that are new to the blog, my father-in-law and mother-in-law(Hub's dad/stepmom) bought a fixer upper in Lake City, MN almost two-ish years ago. The house was in rough condition, but with a little TLC and lots of time it's starting to be a great little family getaway place for the family to have weekend getaways to spending a week at the lake. The real estate alone was worth the investment. You can see the lake from the upstairs of the house, and it's about a couple block walk away from the lake. 

Lake City itself is a charming little town, equipped with lots of family friendly restaurants and cute little boutiques to pick up souvenirs. They even have a grocery store in town for the weekend supplies for those who don't want to eat out every night and has loads of listings on the VRBO website to rent your own little lake house for your stay. 

Since we had a long weekend, hubs and I packed up our bags once we got off work and loaded up Liam and ourselves for the long car ride up to Minnesota. For us, it takes about four hours to drive, of course that is with us stopping to stretch our legs at our 'Halfway Point'(totally probably not half way) to stretch our legs and grab some McDonald's for a quick dinner. Liam recommends the 4 piece Chicken Nugget meal with fries and apple slices. We arrived to Lake City around 10 PM and took little man straight to bed to rest up for a fun day full of adventures. 

On Saturday, hubs and I wanted to do something a little different from our usual route when we go up to the lake. So when we woke up and were fully caffeinated(as if there is such a thing), we got Liam ready for the day, got him some breakfast and then took him to Lark Toys, which was about a 20-minute drive from Lake City. 

With a two and a half year old, we really didn't get to look a lot at the displays, but OF COURSE we had to snap a quick picture of Liam with the dinosaur. Then we wandered through the toy shop to check out all the wares that Lark Toys had to offer. This place is literally a child's wildest dream! Toys line the walls of Lark Toys, from market items(puppets, stuffed animals, etc.) to the ones that they make themselves. They even have a little section filled with books for those who would rather their little ones have a book instead of another toy to trip over(totally get it). We probably ended up spending WAY too much there, but Liam was totally enamored by this little pull plane toy and a little wooden tractor toy that was made right there in the toy shop. We even got him a kite to fly if the wind and weather were permitting and a cute book for my little dinosaur lover "MAMASARUS".

Once our treasures were paid for and packaged up, we went towards the attraction that brought us to Lark Toy Store, the carousel. The carousel at lark runs every 30 minutes, and you have to purchase little tokens(tickets) to ride. Ages 3 and under are free with a riding adult, otherwise tickets cost $2.00 per person to ride. We had about a twenty minute or so wait until it was our turn to ride the carousel, so what better way to bide our time than to share a scoop of Zanzibar Chocolate Ice Cream from The Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream. For starters, WOW. Like, there are almost no words to describe how yummy this ice cream was. It was rich, thick and not like store bought ice creams(sorry Blue Bunny, you're coming in last place here) that you can get at your local grocery store. Needless to say, I think hubs had more of the chocolate ice cream than Liam and myself, but it was tasty nonetheless. 

FINALLY, twenty minutes were up and Liam was almost plowing through kids to get to the carousel. After much deliberation, we decided to ride the dragon for our ride. I think it's safe to say....he had a BLAST! 

After the carousel ride was over, it was time to head back to the lake house so that we could get ready to ride Great Grandpa's boat. We packed up an uncrushable, some fruit bars and of course plenty of water(and adult beverages) before making our way down to the marina. Let me take a moment to really reiterate how important it is to have a properly fitting United States' Coast Guard approved life preserver for your little ones. Accidents can happen within a blink of an eye, and it is required for all children to be wearing their life vest at all times. Before even stepping on the dock, we made sure that Liam's life best was properly secured to his body because accidents can happen on the dock too and with boats coming in and out of the marina, it's always important to practice proper safety procedures to make sure that everyone is safe. 

With the boat loaded up, we made our way out of the marina and onto Lake Pepin for a nice little boat ride towards one of Wisconsin's finest restaurants along the lake, The Pickle Factory. Cheese curds were a MUST! Being on the Wisconsin side of the lake, cheese curds are practically a staple on every restaurant menu, whether they be fresh or fried. I personally love to dip my fried cheese curds in ketchup(yeah I know I'm weird) and ranch is a go to for hubs. Liam prefers them plain, but maybe I can get him on the ketchup side. ;) 

What do you love to dip your cheese curds in? 

For our main courses, Hubs got a mushroom Swiss burger with their homemade potato chips and I got a pulled pork sandwich that I shared with Liam. Tummies happy and full we made our way back to the boat with a grumpy toddler who had too much fun for that day.  Luckily his Papa was able to rock him on the boat a little bit to get a little cat nap in; however, it was short-lived once we got back to the lake house. After a bit of relaxing(and a failed attempt at a nap, we all decided to spend a little time outdoors on Papa's new patio. 

Since we had eaten a bit of a late lunch, we decided to just order a pizza to munch on while we all sat around the fire pit and watched Liam run around in the yard a bit. Luckily, since he had skipped a nap, he was able to lay down really easily for an early bedtime so that husband and I could have a little alone time before the two of us tucked in for the evening. 

Now for the not so much fun part of vacation that we encountered. At 2 AM we woke up to a crying kid and his pack N play covered in vomit. We're not really sure what had happened that night, whether it be too much dairy(he honestly had more than he normally does), a strange place, a tummy bug...who knows! All I know is mom-mode fully kicked in and dad-mode did as well. Hubs took care of cleaning up the pack N play and I took care of getting Liam out of his dirty PJ's and washing him up as much as we could. Unfortunately, he did puke again, but after tummy was settled and another new set of PJ's we cuddled in the bed Hubs and I were watching and spent the next couple of hours watching Disney Plus shows until Liam and I finally fell asleep. 

The next morning? Perfectly fine! Just like a fairy godmother had settled Liam's tummy, my two-year-old was acting as right as rain; however, mama wasn't convinced and put him on the BRAT diet for the rest of the day(at least until the morning). After a rough night, and a little bit of rest, Hubs and I decided to jet off for a couple of hours for a 'day date'. We typically start off in Red Wing, MN to wander around and explore the local shops, but this time we needed to run to Target to grab a few basics before we could go back to the lake house....plus a double shot espresso was kind of a must after a night like we had. Supplies replenished, coffee's in hand and a full tank of gas Hubs and I decided to just pick a general direction with no real plan and just wander around Wisconsin/Minnesota. We had sort of planned on stopping in Stockholm for lunch, but after having a BIG breakfast(and the restaurant being busy) we decided to just keep driving(oh well, next time!). 

We managed to get ourselves lost in the beautiful hills of Wisconsin, happy to have a full tank of gas and happy just to talk and relax together. Hubs and I absolutely love the Wisconsin countryside and have a pipe dream of moving up there ourselves in a little cabin surrounded by farmland. Who knows, maybe we'll retire up there some day! 

When we finally made it back to Lake City, a lot of the shops were closed due to them coming back from the pandemic, but my favorite shop(Treats & Treasures) to visit there was still open even at four in the afternoon. They have goodies for literally everyone! From t-shirts to local honeys, it's a one-stop shop that everyone will enjoy. I snagged myself a cute little boutique hoodie, a Lake City crew neck, and a new Pepie Monster(Lake City's version of Nessie) t-shirt for Liam. Soon it was time to wander back to the lake house, Hubs needed to help his dad with the grill and I had a load of puke laundry to do at the local laundromat(fun). 

We decided to head back the next day about mid-morning after grabbing some breakfast at Perkins in Red Wing. The gathering up things and shoving them in suitcases before heading home is always my least favorite part. I'm always worried about leaving something or losing something important. Luckily, Hubs has an eagle eye for that sort of thing and ensured that I had packed up everything that needed to come home with us. 

We were able to grab just a little more outdoor sunshine before being crammed in the car for the next four-ish hours. We both decided to not have to stop unless we had to(we ended up stopping for potty breaks twice) and pack up snacks and a PBJ Uncrustable for Liam to eat on the drive back home. Car loaded up, another cup of coffee and snacks all packed away we said our goodbyes to the lake house and are already planning for another trip up in June during our anniversary weekend(just Hubs and I) and then again during Labor Day Weekend with the family. 

How did you spend your Memorial Day Weekend? Did you go on any trips or did you just spend it at home with friends/family? 

-xoxo Midwest Mommie.