Nature's Floor

We had fun hiking at Mahoney State Park, while we were on our Staycation!

Some of nature's floor was pretty interesting!


These two shots are not the same thing at, but they look similar. One shot is a mushroom, the other was something growing on a tree trunk.

We saw a few creepy, crawly things. My favorite was a snail. The boy's liked looking at it!

This bird got super close to Isaak.

Plants and flowers.

I'm pretty sure this plant is illegal to grow in the state of Nebraska! It was all over the park.

Mica and Daddy captured these shots when they went off trail.

Back on the trail.

Both are steps. We hauled up the roots. They were our steps.

Hiking

I have to be honest, I did not think Isaak would hang in with the whole hiking part of our Staycation! He picks to ride in the stroller whenever Aunt Terra walks to go get cousin Evan from school. He's not like his brother Mica, who is always walking ahead!

We hiked at Mahoney State Park.

I thought this was a perfect photo to show my art students; foreground, middleground and background.

Mica was so ready to go! He loves hiking!

The order was Mica first, Daddy second, Isaak slightly behind and holding me up and I was last (shooting photos).

They heard a train! We stopped to check it out.

 It was hauling a bunch of coal. Then it had to stop because a passenger train was coming.

This reminded me of Grover's skit about near and far.

Mica was hiding behind a tree in the second shot. He loves to scare people!

 Roots were literally our steps.

Sitting on a bench. It was water and snack time.

Mamma with her boy's.

Papa with his boy's. Sometimes they are just better behaved when they are separated! I sing that song, "Gotta' keep'em separated!" by Offspring a lot!

Then it was time to go back. We walked all morning. We didn't think Isaak would make it back, so Isaak and I found a picnic spot to sit at, while Daddy and Mica went to get the Pilot.

Safari Zoo

Another part of our Staycation was to visit the Henry Doorly Zoo Wildlife Safari. We've been to the Henry Doorly Zoo MANY times, but I've never been to the safari part. It's in a totally different part of Omaha. It's hard to top what we've already seen. If you've never been to Omaha, Nebraska, you have to visit Henry Doorly Zoo I have never met anyone that was disappointed.

With the safari, you drive around SLOWLY to see animals. The only animal I could not find were the wolves. Here are the animals we saw:

I have never seen a white buffalo before. I'm not sure if it was an albino buffalo or not.

Do you see the turtles?

Mica thinks he's going to grow up and grow horns like a moose. It's a story I told him. We call him Mica Moose a lot.

Do you see the deer? It was a little hard to point out to Isaak. Of course with a camera you can zoom in a bit.

Walter Scott Jr. Observation Tower

This 70 foot tower stands on a high river bluff above the Platte River at the north west corner of Eugene Mahoney State Park, midway between Lincoln and Omaha.

There's a great view in all directions of the river, I-80 and the wooded hills of the park.

We went there right after playing in their water park for three hours. I had Crocs on, so I only went up once. The boy's went up twice.

The view from the top, which is above the trees, 70 feet in the air.

The view from below. My boy's are up there.

Just a little story about this tower. When I was in 6th grade we had to package up eggs any way we'd like to drop them off the top of the tower. The objective was to not have the egg break. Mine was safe.

Pony Ride

Part of our Staycation included a pony ride for the boy's at Mahoney State Park.

Isaak was so excited to ride the cute pony's! Isaak was all smiles the whole ride. He kept saying, "He's so cute!" and giggled. He rode a horse named Rusty that had floppy hair just like Isaak's! ;)

Mica said right away that he did not want to go on a horse. He said he was too shy to go on a horse around other people. Well the other people left. Mica chose to ride "Buck". He kept pretending to be a cowboy.

Staycation

I learned what a Staycation was from the blog, What I Did Today. We wanted to go on a vacation. Ideally we would have picked Colorado, but were willing to stay closer and go to South Dakota. With all the flooding going on outside of Omaha, Nebraska and the recent status of our nephew Emerson; we decided to stay home and go on a Staycation. 

We got a hotel, and did things that we normally wouldn't do.

We spent a good two days at Mahoney State Park. I will blog with pictures about all the things to do there later. Only I have been there.

The kids rode pony's for the first time. I felt very comfortable about it because the horses were tied up and they just went in a circle.

We spent 3 hours at their water park. I really did not get pictures of our water park experience because I wanted our camera locked up. It didn't top our Great Wolf Lodge experience in Kansas City last year, but certainly was fun! One thing Mahoney State Park water park had that the Great Wolf Loge didn't was a wave pool. Mica tried attacking the waves with karate chops! LOL Then we climbed a huge tower. That I do have pictures of. The boy's climbed it twice. I had Crocs on and it hurt my feet; I only climbed it once.

We went back home to eat left overs. Then got a hotel. If we were thinking ahead, we would have scheduled to get a cabin at Mahoney State Park. We didn't want to mess with a tent because this year there are lots of bugs with all the flooding water.

The next day we went hiking at Mahoney State Park. I have lots of pictures of us hiking. I was so impressed with Isaak! He hiked with us without complaining too much about walking. Mica of course was ahead almost the whole time. We then went to the paddle boat area. A 1/2 hour of that was fun! We went to the Henry Doorly Zoo Safari. We've been to Omaha's main attraction Henry Doorly Zoo many times, but only Daddy's been to the Safari part. We like the actual zoo better. We went back to Mahoney State Park, so the kids could play on their playground and we visited their playground.

In the evenings it was cable TV. We don't have cable TV, so it's staycay for us! We watch Three Men and a Baby. Both boy's liked it. Then the next night it was the newest Indiana Jones. The boy's stayed up later then I! We swam in the hotel and they had a kick butt continental breakfast!

We went to dinner at The Cracker Barrel the second night. Mica loved their little store just as much as I did!

Day three we fit in sleeping in, watching more TV, Cabela's, The Brass Armadillo Antique Mall, we went home for a very needed nap and watched a movie called Rango. Rango wasn't rated the highest, but we liked it! I think it wasn't rated the best because it had a lot of adult humor. Johnny Depp was the main star, so it was sort of twisted/artsy like many of the movies he's in are.

Day four is relaxing at home. I did most of the laundry yesterday late afternoon and before bed. We may go someplace later. We're sort of winging it.

I asked Daddy if he felt like he was on vacation? His answer, "Yes!" I was glad about that. He was the one at first was the most disappointed in the idea of staying here. He loved Mahoney State Park! The boy's liked everything! I liked not having to drive, drive, drive.

Mica's Birthday is Coming Up

Mica's birthday is August 10. I'm still struggling with ideas for him. One things that I saw that looks fun is this:

It's The Cosmic by Build a Dream Playhouses.  Boxes rock! New Age Mama is giving away a playhouse (winner's choice)!