The Start Of Our New Adventure-Part 4- more Omaha

So warning, another long post.  Omaha was really fantastic!  I think it was the company just as much as the fun things we did and saw but either way, it made for some great pictures and some really wonderful memories that I treasure!  Being able to visit family made my transition from California to Virginia much easier and a whole lot more smooth!  Stacey, and Sara you two are the PERFECT hostesses!  So now to pick up where I left off. Still with the fishes.  We saw penguins and the kids played in a little play area. 

They were feeding the penguins.  Natalie really like this part.

 The first picture above is neat because you can see how close the penguins were swimming in front of us.  They were a lot of fun!  The next one is the little play area next to the eels.  You can't see it in the picture but it was a projector type thing that showed on the floor.  It was an aquarium type scene that when you put your foot on it the water rippled just like water would if you were standing in it.  There were fish that would swim away from you so the kids were chasing them, or in Conner's case above, trying to kill them....

On the way out....sea horses.  :-)
Now onto the butterflies!  Alyssa loves her some butterflies!  This was really beautiful and sort of serene in a way!  The colors on some of the butterflies was so pretty and vibrant.  Here are some of those.  I tried to get my kids in these shots but they were too excited and all over the place!

They had this orange sitting out and you can see the butterfly sucking out the juice with whatever that long thing is....tongue?  anntenna?  Not sure.  I'm sure if I asked Natalie she could tell me......

The sad thing about the butterflies was that there were so many, yellow, purple, orange, etc.  They fly......which makes it difficult to capture on camera.  These above are the cacoons.  There were a bunch of different ones.  Really neat.  After the butterflies we went to the...gulp....insects...this one was neat but I HATE bugs.  I'm not sure if I can stress that enough.....I have gotten to the point, because of Nate being gone all the time, that I CAN squish them, but I really, really don't like it.  AND if it's huge.....I struggle.....motivated only out of absolute FEAR of waking up with something crawling on me or my babies I plug my ears (so I don't hear any crunching) and yell,  "lalalalalalalalalaalla" and go after it with a fury I rarely have.  My thoughts at the moment are usually something to the effect of, "die you disgusting creature, this is what you get for coming into my house!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Anyway, sorry for the rant but you'll see in the pictures that these bugs, some of them, were HUGE.....caged....but huge.

Ok so you get the idea.  I think they are fascinating and disgusting all at a the same time. After these we walked over to the jungle.  The jungle....was SUPER AWESOME!  Again, you are walking thru it, not around it or by it.  We hung from vines, walked thru caves, under a waterfall, and got dive-bombed and nearly pooped on by a ginormous bat.  A complete sensory experience!  Here it is:

Walking to somewhere.  Alyssa HAD to hold Emelia's hand.

We are in a building for this remember.  Can you tell?  Walking thru it you can't tell.  You forget that you are in a building.  You are completely surrounded by animals and vegitation that would be typical of a jungle!

Ok, this picture of those adorable monkeys I love because if you look closely you can see a little baby monkey, clinging to it's mama!!!  We went at a good time because there were baby animals everywhere....

There's the waterfall I was talking about.  It was really nice and cool under there.  The cave up ahead housed a cage of vampire bats....

Yes, that is a vampire bat, and yes, it is drinking blood out of a dish, and yes, it was gross.....

Hippo above and the one above that is a fresh water sting ray.....I think.

The picture above that's kinda dark is a tray of fruit being attacked by bats that were flying free in the jungle.....seriously we walked right by them, as you can see.  I would be lying if I didn't tell you that this part freaked me out a little bit.  These bats were swooping down and one nearly flew into the side of Alyssa's head.  I don't think you can see it in the picture but one of the bats measured about 14" tall and the wing span had to be about 3 ft. wide.  Honestly, I"ve never seen a bat that big!  These things were hanging from rocks and crawling all over these trays of fruit.  We were pushing a stroller with Ethan in it, (thanks Sara) and before we escaped the bat cave, that's what I called it, the stroller, right by the handles where you hold on to push the thing got pooped on......YUCK!!!  They were EVERYWHERE!  I couldn't believe that they let them just fly free without a net or anything but it was cool too.  Then the last picture was us leaving the zoo.  Alyssa HAD to hold Emelia's hand.   Like I said, my kids LOVE this girl!

Uncle Brian and Aunt Sara too!!  Our kids didn't want to walk with Nate and I.  No, they wanted to walk with their cousin and aunt and uncle!  I was ok with that.  I think they are pretty great too!

And just like that, the next morning, we left.  Leaving was hard for the kids and I.  I loved being there and for me I was one step closer to ending this vacation we were on and starting our new real life.....Not scary, just overwhelming......Thank you Sara and Brian for being such great hosts and entertaining us.  We had so much fun with you and look forward to doing it again sometime.  We promise to stay longer this next time!!