Rainy day at the Museum

Monday it rained.

 

And rained.

 

And rained...

 

So, I figured we could go one of two ways. 

 

We could either hole up in the house all day watching Hocus Pocus and eating junk food, or I could make an attempt to be one of those really cool moms who always makes sure that her children are engaged in learning and that their little baby brains are stimulated.

 

Plus, I didn't want to clean the house, so I figured leaving the spider hole was the "win win" option.

 

Now to decide where to go...

 

Me and my two little ladies gathered around the laptop to look up "Fun stuff to do with kids in Omaha/Lincoln".  We had it narrowed down to the Lincoln Childrens Museum, the kids area at Barnes and Noble which could very well keep my two littles busy for hours, or Morrill Hall at UNL.

 

 

As soon as I said the word 'dinosaurs' they were bouncing off the walls and running around like cats with scotch tape on their backs...

 

...never tried that?? It's entertaining...

 

So we got dressed, put on coats and shoes, got the diaper bag full of gear and Goldfish, put their socks and shoes back on after they decided they were going barefoot, and we were off.  Six miles down the road, my phone died...

 

*queue the Cathy comic... AACK!*

 

So I turned around, grabbed the charger and then we were off, again.

 

After driving around downtown Lincoln, lost, for a good 20 minutes, I finally figured out where the heck I was.  We pulled into the UNL campus area and we had arrived. 

Outside Morrill Hall there is a giant metal Mammoth and lets just say, that really got them amped up...

 

 

 

We walked up the long front stairs, I gave them a responsible parental speech on the importance of going to college, and we entered the building.  We paid a whopping $6 to enter and then it was on to the first attraction...

 

 

The Mammoth Room.

 

Off they went!

 

 

This is by far my favorite part of the museum, as well as my children's. It's in a word, Amazing. 

 

Truly.  To know that these giant creatures were once wandering the continent, and are now preserved in this room for us to be in awe of, is, well, awesome.

 

 

The only downside...explaining to my 3 year old where Manny's fur went...

 

 

He got a haircut baby...

 

Moving on.

 

It was time to venture on to another room.  I pointed the girls to the room next door and they were happy to oblige.  I looked up to see Lucy stopped dead in her tracks...

 

 

Mom, the giant camel is staring at me... MOM?!

 

As much as I wanted to have a little fun with her and say "RUN" like Laura Dern in Jurassic park...

 

 

 

 ...I decided I better not...

 

I instead assured her it was not going to leap off of its stand and chase her, and we continued on into the room to see a bunch of little ancient barn animal skeletons....

 

I just realized how many times I had to explain the concept of skeletons to the girls that day...as well as why the animals fur or skin was gone...and why they were so still...

 

Mother of the Year...again.

 

We passed through the Barnyard of Terrors and made our way over to a display of ancient animal replicas.

 

Meet Table Saw Mouth Shark.

 

 

 

And, "Ugly Pig" as Lucy so lovingly named him..

 

 

 

And the "Shakastickadupidupistickastackasaurus"...

 

Again, Lucy... she gets me :)

Mom, do I have a bug in my hair?!
 

 

 

 

After myself and the rest of the visitors in that room had heard Lucy's genius theory about where the Ugly Pig and Stickastackawhateverasaurus had lived, worked and what movies and snacks they liked best, we decided to move on.

 

Next stop, creepy underwater creatures.

 

Olive loved this one.  Can you blame her?

 

 

It's a path made of a skeleton for goodness sake.

 

 

Oh, hello there terrifying fish skeleton that will inevitably haunt my dreams...

 

Can you imagine the caveman that had the job of fileting and deboning that thing? ugh.

 

After peeling Olive away from the mesmerizing Skeleton path with the promise of mini corndogs from Runza on our way home, we were finally able to move on to our final stops.

 

Giant Armadillo...

 

Another member of the Ice Age crew that somehow ended up trapped in the museum..

 

 

RIP Armadillo from Ice Age.

 

 

And lastly....

T-Rex head...

My little Olive was so excited to get her picture taken with the T-Rex head that I almost couldn't get her to stand still.

 

On a serious note... How incredibly awesome is it to think about how this amazing creature was roaming the Earth millions and millions of years ago, just doing its thang, then it died, stayed underground for millions and millions of years, some archaeologist came along and dug it up, and now, in 2013, my tiny little dumplin' cheeks is smiling for the camera with this awesome creatures massive skull.

 

It really baffles the mind when you think about it. 

 

Anyways, I had really wanted to blow their minds with a planetarium show but there weren't any going on while we were there, so it was time to say Goodbye to the dinosaurs.

 

If you haven't taken your children to Morrill Hall, you really should. My mom took me there countless times when I was young and I was always in awe.  Just as I had hoped, my little girls were as well. 

 

We will go many more times during their childhood and I'll do my best to answer their questions without leading them to believe that the entire cast of one of their favorite movies was murdered.

 

So far so good...

 

:) Ashley

 

 

 



The Welch's take on Valas Pumpkin Patch

Saturday was a great day.

Oh, wait..

WARNING:
***Very long post with lots and lots of photos to follow.
If you are in a hurry or on your way out the door, save this gem of a post for later***

So, anyways.. 

We woke up to a beautiful, cool Fall morning and it only seemed fitting that we should take the kids to do some sort of outdoorsy Fall related activity.

 

So naturally, since it's October, we decided to go to Valas Pumpkin Patch.

 

As many Eastern Nebraska natives know, a trip to Valas requires a level of planning and preparation usually demonstrated during a Casino heist or a Black Ops mission, but if you are feeling really lucky, and maybe just a little unhinged, then you will attempt the trip in a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants fashion.

 

We were these people, and I must say, it went rather well.

 

 I got home from work at 8:00am on the dot, and right as I walked in the door my two little ladies were just waking up. They ambled down the stairs with their usual "Where's my coffee?" looks on their little sleepy faces.  They wandered into the kitchen looking for food, and right when my husband left the room, that's when I decided to steal the glory of telling them we were taking them to the pumpkin patch that day....

 

 

...the half asleep excitement...
 

 

"Wha..? What did she say? something about a pumpkin patch?"

 

We got the girls fed and clothed, waited it out through a couple shoe related meltdowns, and we were on our way.

 

Luckily we live somewhat close to Valas and my husband knows the back roads, so we had the benefit of bypassing the 37 mile long line of cars that had been waiting in line for 2 hours to enter....

 

...I felt really bad....

...no not really...

 

So we get into the parking lot, and after the 7th "Turn Here" arm signal from the security guards directing traffic, we were finally parked...

 

...It kind of feels like you are visiting a relative in prison with all the guards and checkpoints you have to go through just to get into this place...

 

We gather the girls and our survival pack and we start the 2 mile trek up the parking lot to the ticket line.

 

 

We got up to the ticket line, and despite the length, we hand our tickets in hand in just under 15 minutes, which as anyone can tell you, isn't that bad, and luckily the girls stayed pretty chill the whole time we waited.

 

 

HOORAY! We had finally entered through the gates, and were on our way to a morning full of fun, Halloween excitement.

 

First stop. The Haunted Graveyard. 

What haunted graveyard is complete without a skeleton Mickey Mouse?

 

 

 They were so excited that they couldn't stop wiggling around, and no Apple product out there would have been able to take a clear picture, so this is the best one I could get.

 

We continued on through the graveyard, oohing and aahing over the cute headstones hidden amongst the trees and the ghosts hanging above their heads.  They were having a blast skipping around, basking in the creepy fun, until the coffin behind them started clanging and shouting, stopped them dead in their tracks, and snapped them out of their "This is SO FUN!" mood and right into

 

"What the hell was that?!"

 

 

They were only mildly concerned....

 

Nolan and I decided that in order to counteract the terror of the coffin incident, we better take them to see some light hearted attractions, so we headed over to one of the hundreds of goat pens that inhabit the place. 

 

 

Naturally, I forgot my wallet that had all the designated "goat food" quarters, so my children had to bask in the glory of the other children who's mothers were better prepared...

 

.... I found my wallet in the diaper bag later that day but at that point my children were unwilling to forgive...

 

Next stop, Storybook Maze (or something along those lines).  Now, right when you enter the Storybook Maze, there is a sign that says, "Don't worry parents, Nothing scary in here!"...

 

...this couldn't be farther from the truth.  I'm sorry Valas, but the characters you have inside the Storybook Maze are the most frightening in the whole place.  Its basically a fairytale garden of demented dolls and disfigured puppets. I swear I could feel them watching me, but I neglected to take any pictures because I was too busy capturing this precious moment...

 

 

Hand in hand on a little brick road...

Does it get any cuter?

 

Oh my God they're skipping...yes, yes it does.

 

Next stop, a snack.

 

I was thinking a pretzel or maybe a turkey leg, but my husband was begging and whining for cookies, so I caved and let them have it.  The little shack that the cookies are sold in smelled amazing, and looks even cuter, but then your state of chocolate chip bliss vanishes when you see the prices... $3.50 for a little cone of mini cookies, not bad, but then below that it reads $13.00 for a small bucket... 

 

... hey, if people like my husband will pay it, then more power to ya' Valas. 

 

 

Daddy! Cookies! NOW!

 

Now that the girls had their cookie fix, we moved on to head over the giant "Jumpy Pillows" that Lucy loves.  First we had to climb up to the little windmill with the sketchiest looking railings ever...

 

 

Thank God she made it without falling through the gaps.. My heart was seized up the whole time she made the climb...

 

 

Olive made it back down from the windmill and we continued on, stopping at the giant teepee for a quick game of Peekaboo, a tractor slide, and the little Bunny Village.  Next it was on to the Old Mine.

 

I have always loved the Old Mine.  It was one of the earlier attractions ever put up at the place, and it reminds me of a simpler time in my childhood when Valas was much smaller and more, well, like a family run pumpkin patch and less like Mall of America on Black Friday.

 

She has no fear.

 

We made it through the Mine, and it was finally on to the Jumpy Pillows.

 

Ok, the newer area of Valas is towards the back of the whole place.  It gets a little "un-Halloweeny" back this way, and sports more of an amusement park feel rather than a Fall wonderland, but the kids like it, so you have to go. Right before the Jumpy Pillows we decided to take a ride on the train.  It's about a 10 minute ride that weaves you through a little Old West style town.  Nothing overly exciting, but again, the little kids like it, and it gives the tired parents a chance to sit and relax, not to mention make it hard for the children to escape a photo or two...

 

 

Love those cheeks.

 

The train ride ended, and it was off to the Jumpy Pillows.  A short walk later we had arrived, and proceeded to stand in line for about 20 minutes just to have the chance to jump on a giant ground pillow for 7 minutes.  The only good part of this was the Valas employee who would have been better suited as a corrections officer than a Jumpy Pillow supervisor. 

 

Let me explain.

 

There are 3 giant pillows. One for adults and kids over 13, one for kids 12-6, and the last one is for small children who can jump with the assistance of their parents.  Every line was ridiculously long, and had at least a 15 minute wait.  They were going in 7 minute intervals to allow for everyone to have a chance to jump.  Now, standing in line is never fun, but the young girl who supervised the area was a hoot and a half...yes I just said that.  Every two minutes she would bust out her mega phone from her holster and yell...

 

"PARENTS. THE ORANGE PILLOW IS FOR CHILDREN 6 TO 12 ONLY! THE YELLOW PILLOW IS FOR CHILDREN 5 AND UNDER.  PARENTS, LETS MAKE THIS A GOOD TIME TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT HONESTY, AND DO NOT TELL THEM TO LIE ABOUT THEIR AGE SO THAT THEY MAY GET ON ANOTHER PILLOW. IF WE ASK THEM THEIR AGE, AND THEY ARE ON THE WRONG PILLOW, WE WILL ASSUME THEY LIED, AND YOU WILL BE BANNED FROM THE PILLOWS FOR THE REST OF YOUR VISIT."

 

Seriously, I fabricated none of this...she meant business. 

 

I felt like I was in line in a cafeteria...in prison...

 

So the line started moving and we were inching our way towards the front and right when it was our turn, they latched the rope...ugh, had to wait another 7 minutes, oh wait, 5 minutes. The lines had gotten so long that they had to lessen the jumping time to accommodate all the lying children. 

 

I won't even tell you the fury that came over me when this mom carrying her 2 year old wandered up to the front of the line as if she didn't see the half mile long string of aggravated parents waiting behind her.  Seriously, my husband and I were at the very front of the line with the front our legs practically touching the rope that separated us from the giant Jumpy Pillows, and she just strolls up to the front, wedges her way in front of us and just stands there...

 

My husband and I didn't know what to say...

It was one of those moments where you are in such disbelief at another persons actions that you don't know whether to just laugh off the situation, or to flag the drill sergeant with the mega phone over to put her in her place. 

 

In the interest of not making waves, we decided to just let it go, and a few minutes later the mega phone yelled out...

 

"EVERYBODY OFF THE PILLOWS! NEXT 20 PEOPLE IN LINE MAY ENTER! TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES! YOUR 5 MINUTES STARTED 7 SECONDS AGO!!!"

 

...or something like that...

 

Either way, Lucy had a blast for those 5 minutes...

 

 

SIDE STORY... 

 

My husband will kill me for telling this, but last year he decided it was a good idea to do a flip on the Giant Pillow thing (keep in mind it was the toddler pillow) and he got kicked off...

 

 ....hehehe...

 

...if the drill sergeant girl with the mega phone had been there that day, she may have very well picked him off with a sniper rifle for daring such an unruly maneuver...

 

Anyways, back on track...

 

So our 5 minutes went by in a flash and luckily our wonderful little angels didn't put up a fight when they had to get off.  We hurried out from the Jumpy Pillow area and continued on, finally, to the hayrack rides to go get our pumpkins. 

 

First, one quick stop for a photo op....

 

Oh, Moooommmmmmmmm...ughh

 

Just smile, ok?!

 

 

 

 

Ehhh, well, that will have to do... 

 

 The hayrack rides have always been my favorite, because no matter how gigantic and corporate Valas begins to feel, the tractor ride back to the pumpkin patch remains unchanged.  We hopped up onto the hayrack, claimed our spot in the corner, and away we went down the dirt road, through the trees, along the corn field, and up the hill.  We had arrived!  We hopped down and the hunt was on.

 

 

I love picking pumpkins from a real pumpkin patch.  I have never been a fan of going to the grocery store and selecting one from a giant box out in the parking lot... It's just not right.  I know there is more hassle and cost associated with going the pumpkin patch route, but I feel like it's a memory that every child should have. 

 

 I'm a huge advocate of creating storybook-like childhood memories, and I'm sorry, but if my children look back and all they remember is rummaging through a Walmart pumpkin bin with a display of Hanes socks to their left and discounted Jack Daniels to their right, then I feel like I have failed as a mother...

 

I mean no offense to those who love Walmart...we all know I keep their wine in stock, but please parents, take your babies to a pumpkin patch.

 

Anyways, the hunt was on.  We each ventured off and found our own pumpkin. 

 

 First, Lucy found a giant pumpkin that was heavier that her...

 

 

We found out later on when we left that he weighed 64lbs. 

We named him Stewart.

 

Next was my husbands wart covered beauty...

Ashley, don't type "wart covered."..people will think things...

 

 

The girls thought it was pretty awesome and of course we had to have one ugly one, so we snatched her up lovingly, and named her Griselda.

 

 

Then came Olives two little pumpkins, one little and taller, and one little and flatter. 

She wouldn't smile for a photo because at this point both of my children despised me and my camera, so instead I channeled my inner Ansel Adams and snapped a pic of this lovely little pumpkin flower combo...

 

 

I was the last to decide on a pumpkin.  We had already missed two return hayrack rides and my children were showing signs of a Pumpkin Patch meltdown, so I decided I better just grab one and go...

 

...and then I saw him. He sat in the middle of a small clearing, perfectly placed, as if set there by angels....

 

...or a person who had picked him up then quickly said "Screw this, I'm not carrying this heavy thing back"...

 

Regardless, it was meant to be.

 

 

I call him Walter.

 

We figured it was the right time to call it good on pumpkins because not only was our wallet going to hurt, but so were our backs, so we attempted to carry all the pumpkins and two little girls who had somehow lost the ability to walk, back to the road where the hayrack would be arriving soon. 

 

We made it back to the road with all 150 lbs of pumpkins and 60 lbs of little girls, sat them all down, and waited for the hayrack. When it arrived, we first hoisted the giant pumpkins up over the edge and back into our corner seat.  We started to walk up the little staircase into the hayrack when it happened...

 

Olive stepped in an old, rotten, squished pumpkin and got her cute boots dirty...

 

She wasn't happy about it...

 

 

 

I grabbed her blankie and scooped her up onto my lap and she came down off the ledge. 

 

 Nothing like a nice hayrack ride on mamas lap with the cool breeze in your tiny pigtails to bring your shoe related stress levels down a bit.

 

We arrived back, and exited the hayrack. With the help of a nice fellow rider, we loaded up the 150 lbs of pumpkin into the jankiest pumpkin cart they had, and headed for the registers.  We had planned on stopping for a nice, leisurely snack before we left, but just like all the other attractions, the lines were so long they had started to weave together and we couldn't tell where one line ended and another line began, so we just headed for the exit.

 

But first, we had to look at the baby pumpkins..

 

..because, you know, 150 lbs of pumpkins isn't quite enough...

 

 

 

Now, when a tiny little dumplin baby walks up to her daddy and says

 

"Dada, look! It's a bebe one!"

 

and then proceeds to nonchalantly place it in the cart with the other giant pumpkins, you leave it there.

 

Finally, we were done for the day.  We headed for the checkout and nervously waited to find out what we were going to have the leave off the Farmhouse in order to afford these gargantuan gourds.

 

As I waited in line I saw a cute Halloween book that I thought the girls would love...

 

 

then I flipped it over...

 

 

$17.00??? Put it back, Put it back, Put it back

 

It was our turn at the register and that's when our pumpkins got weighed and priced.

 $60... not as bad as I thought it may be.

 

I can wait another few weeks to buy a new pair of jeans, even though my current ONLY pair has paint spots all over them...

 

I know many parents out there would think I'm crazy for allowing such a price tag, but again, it's all about the memories. 

 

 I have fond memories of Valas as a little girl, and although I do wish it was still small and cozy, and had less high price tags and long lines, I do still love the place, mega phone toting teenagers and all.

 

I just hope my little girls remember it as warmly as I do, and that they never let their children pick pumpkins from a grocery store display.

 

It's all about the memories people, so go... make them happen.

 

Happy Pumpkin Patching!

 

:) Ashley