Lions and tigers and bears....oh my!!!

Tyson and I spent Labor Day weekend in Omaha with the Malcolm's and my parents.  We all left on Saturday morning, made a pit stop in Des Moines, and continued on our way.  After changing and freshening up, we spent some of Saturday evening at a small pond.  Ava shared her Goldfish crackers with the ducks and swans.  When Tyson arrived (he had to work until 2:00 so showed up a little later) we went for a boat ride around the pond.  Ava was being a little too brave and probably would have jumped in the water if we let her! :)  After the boat ride, we walked to the Old Market and ate at Spaghetti Works.  It was delicious!!  We went to bed early that night because we had a BIG day planned for Sunday.

On Sunday, the Malcolm's picked us up (they were staying at a different hotel) and we headed to the Henry Doorly Zoo!!!  I don't think any of us were dressed appropriately.  It was cold at 9am and we had all planned on a warm day!!  Eventually it did warm up and if we stayed in the sun, the shorts and tank tops that Wendy and I were wearing felt pretty good (in the shade was a different story).  We spent the whole day at the zoo!  We saw everything from an orangutang that spit at my dad, to a gorilla pounding his chest, to a pond FILLED with Koi fish! 

After the zoo, we headed to the Old Market for ice cream and then back to the hotel to relax!  Darren wasn't feeling well, but Wendy and Ava came to our hotel so Ava could go swimming with nana and papa and to order pizza.  Ava then spent the night with nana and papa, allowing Wendy and Darren to enjoy their king size bed without a kicking toddler (the pack-n-play they requested never got delivered!!).  After pizza, we played a game of Farkle (which I won) and then it was off to bed.

On Monday, we slept in and headed back to Cedar Falls around 10:00am.  Family weekends are so great...we were sad that Josh wasn't able to make it!