Staycation!

Josh's job allows us to go on some pretty fun adventures. I have been to places I probably never would have been otherwise. This particular time it had to do with the new business we have started, High Country Propane. Josh needed to complete a week long training certification class in Casper, Wyoming and we decided we would go with him. I have been to Casper before so this wasn't new but we stayed in a hotel for the week and while he was in training I took the kids to a park I could find. I'm not going to lie or try to make it sound easy and fun because it was quite challenging, the whole week. Trying to keep kids quiet in a hotel room at night, taking all three kids to the complimentary breakfast each morning by myself, keeping said kids in a confined space when it's too hot to go outside, trying to drive around to find a park while also needing to hurry so I can feed a hungry baby. It was just tough. Thankfully Josh had an hour lunch each day and got out around 2:00 each day so I didn't have to battle it for too long by myself but I did question if it was a good idea for us to have come. The week seemed to go by pretty fast, thankfully. There were some fun times though watching the girls play, that is always fun to watch.

Josh found a crane truck that we would need for setting tanks for our business while browsing online, it was located in Des Moines, Iowa so we decided instead of going all the way back home we would just leave from Casper to go pick it up.
Even though paperwork hadn't been finished we thought we would make a little trip out of it and take our time getting there while we wait. I have to tell you I was quite nervous for this road trip after the experience in Casper, but thankfully it went great and the kids were so good We left Casper Friday afternoon and headed towards Iowa, we knew we were going to split the trip up but just didn't know where we would stop. We ended up staying in a place called Ogallala, Nebraska for the night. We didn't do anything fun here just stayed for the night. Saturday morning we got up and started the drive again. We stopped in Kearney, Nebraska for some gas and found a little museum. The Great Platte River Road Archway and museum. It was way neat, we all had a great time!

That is not a real person! Everything was so life like!

There was a little speed detector so we got to see how fast the cars were going.

So much fun!

After we left Kearney, we stopped in York, Nebraska for some dinner at a cute little diner that was absolutely delicious! I love small town diners! 

Then we ventured to Omaha, Nebraska to stay for the night.

The next morning we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium where my lifelong dream came true! 

Best. Day. Ever! I couldn't even believe it I was so happy!

Kanzis didn't have to wait as long as I did. :)

Such an awesome place!

We ended up staying in Omaha again that night and then made our way to Des Moines the next day.

We found a Cabela's and decided to go in, we love looking at the displays!

We also visited a Bass Pro Shops store which was absolutely amazing. The displays were awesome!

We thought we would probably be able to get the truck and be able to head back home by Monday maybe Tuesday but both days came and went and we were still waiting for last minute things to go through so we did a lot of checking out and in to hotels. 

In the midst of the waiting we did find a few things to do, we found a Botanical Garden which was so pretty.

We also found a huge park, It had like 4 different playgrounds with a path around the whole thing and a pond with ducks!

We were able to get the truck Thursday morning and make our way back home. I was pretty nervous to drive with the kids myself that far, I knew we would have to make lots of stops so I could feed Krimzon but surprisingly the kids did wonderful! 

We stopped and visited the Omaha, Nebraska Temple on the way back. We like to visit the Temple when we go to new places so I am so glad we were able to stop.

We still split the day in two and stayed in North Platte, Nebraska which was about half way in between. 

I was so excited to get home! That was a long vacation! 

Memories were made and it was fun to get a way with just our little family.