Family Ties

A couple weeks after we had moved in, a welcome wagon arrived! My family – my mom, aunt from Spokane, and aunt and uncle from Texas. It just so happened that my aunt and uncle happened to be nearby (she is from this area) and drove the rest of the way to have a mini reunion here in Omaha, a week after the ‘real’ reunion we had missed in Oregon. It was so nice having everyone here and really made the house feel more homey and familiar. My mom drove up to Spokane and picked up Aunt Naomi, and then they drove all the way here via Mount Rushmore. Long drive for folks that don’t like to necessarily drive. At least it was just one way and they flew back home. This has got to be the funniest picture and so sisterly, too. Gotta love how funny mom thinks it is that Naomi is sleeping.

We tried to do some fun things here - Vicky was a great source, since she knows this area pretty well. We ate at traditional Omaha places like Runza and the Bohemian Café, and visited the Old Market and the Henry Doorly Zoo. This weekend was also the College World Series, and although we didn’t go to any games, we saw the lines and heard the crowd from the zoo that day.

There is a new pedestrian walkway that spans the river from Nebraska to Iowa here, and we walked it. Halfway. Well, over the river at least, maybe not halfway. Anyway, we walked on it dammit.

We hit the casino one night - a lotta dinner and a little gambling, and we all won beads. Not in the traditional sense, at least not me – maybe the others did, hee. That’s all I won there. At least this time Cujo wasn’t kicked out – that’s a bonus!

One night we were getting ready to go out for dinner and we all ended up in the same outfit – it was our uniform for the night. Yup, we DID go out in public like that. And it WAS funny.

Poor Aunt Naomi, who would run through the zoo exhibits with snakes and wait for us at the end, was graced with an up close snake in the yard. I had only seen snakes here on the ground – which I don’t particularly enjoy either, but this guy was up in the tree one day while we were looking at the flowers and took us all off guard. Funny now, not so funny at the time. Okay, yeah, it was funny.

There’s a place here that we call the best deal in Omaha – it’s taco night where you can get a taco for $1 and a pitcher of beer for $4. And the tacos are not your traditional Taco Bell taco. In fact, tacos here are pretty different than anywhere else I’ve been. They are almost all warm deep fried flour shells, then packed with meat and cheese and toppers. I haven’t seen a regular corn shell or just a plain soft flour shell anywhere. And there are lots of taco places here, too. Anyway, you can get pretty full off of two, but the fact that they are a dollar that night makes you think you can eat three or four. Which yeah, you can, but then you feel like shit later. But hey, you got a great deal, which doesn’t make it worth it… or does it?

Their last night was a bbq night and we all ate and drank and were merry. Of course our very own kitemaster made kites with the kids and introduced them to Taiko 101, which she was so awesome to bring with her. A wonderful visit - can't wait for next time!