The Grannies in Omaha

Our first week in Omaha - Frank tells me that he has to go out of town (just to Des Moines) for the night on Wednesday night -- do you get the irony? We have finally moved our whole family to Omaha to all be in one place and he "leaves us" during the first week!

But, we were not all alone! My mom and Frank's mom flew out on Wednesday morning. The kids and I picked them up at the airport (something else I probably would never have done in chicago...) But, just like everything's bigger in texas -- everything's smaller in omaha! We went back to our house, did the "grand tour" - had some lunch and then the kids went down for naps. Later in the afternoon, we went downtown (yeah, I know -- I drove to the airport and downtown on the same day!) to see the Old Market -- just a quaint section of downtown with brick streets and lots of restaurants and shoppes (not shops... shoppes). It rained a lot while the "grannies" were here, so we did a lot of indoor stuff. We went to see the furniture mart. That is good for as many hours as you're willing to spend there -- what a huge place! Everytime I go, I see parts of it that we haven't seen before... it's amazing. We also drove past the club, the preschool -- all of Omaha's higlights for us. We did manage to squeeze in a trip to the neighborhood park, which is fine despite the sand instead of woodchips and the fact there is "7th grade" graffiti all over the place. The kids like it well enough, so it's fun. On the way to the airport on Friday morning, we stopped by the Ryerson plant to see Frank in action -- the kids love it there, because they "get to" wear little hardhats to go into the warehouse part and I think the moms were impressed, too.

It was a VERY fun couple of days for us -- I hope the "grannies" had fun, too - even though the house is still not quite the way we would like it to be (OK, not even close!). They did unpack all of the boxes in the dining room - that was a job well done! Now we just have the office and the garage -- maybe we'll get to those this weekend. They were also good sports about sleeping arrangements -- the first night, Ellie and my mom slept in the same bed (Ellie didnt' want to sleep on the floor, and my mom said she "didnt' have to give up her own bed...") and Frank's mom slept in Nathan's "big boy bed" while nathan slept in his crib...in the same room! It was crazy, but everyone was very adaptable. I hope that they had enough fun to bring back positive reports to Illinois -- and encourage everyone else to come out and visit. My mom said that Omaha was "bigger than she thought it would be..." -- just like me on my first trip out here - "Oh, they DO have target here..." I know we've only been here for a week, but it was fun to show people around - it was sad to say goodbye all over again when they left.

We are anxious for our next visitors... the Hilts are coming for the fourth of July -- we are so excited -- I am already making a list of Omaha attractions to see and groceries to buy for when they are here!