We're in Omaha today, as we have been for the past two days. Miss Thang, who just woke up, is grinning at me from her bed, then burrows under her blankets again. We have lost her little black poodle doll, who she calls Blackie. I'm getting a little concerned because we still haven't been able to find it. I was outside tearing through the car last night, but no luck.
Anyway, while my husband went to the big meeting, the kid and I went to the zoo. I took her there when she was 2, and she still remembers bits of it. If you happen to come to Omaha, go to that zoo. The aquarium is amazing. We spent some time watching the penguins dive through the water, silver streams of bubbles in their wake. There's a little bubble-thing you can sit inside and watch them. When you tear up little scraps of paper and put them over the air vent inside the bubble, the paper dances around and the penguins come over and try to eat them, and the penguins are within arm's reach, though technically you can't touch them of course. So neat. Then you go into the tunnel under the aquarium where sharks glide over your head.
My favorites were the raccoons (I gave the kid a snack so I could sit there and watch them for as long as possible ... she got bored with me pretty quickly) and the bats (there was a baby clinging to the wall near where I stood, and Mama bat kept zipping around in front of my face). There was a lady in there who was kind of freaked out by the bats, but they have such bad press from Hollywood when they're actually really great animals to have around. Listen, any creature who can catch 600 mosquitoes an hour is tops in my book.
Two downsides to the zoo: by the afternoon, I was wishing we had a little moped to drive around because our legs were falling off. The second one: Miss Thang and I saw the wallabies from the train and then I got stuck with a Raffi song in my head: "Willaby, wallaby, woo, an elephant sat on you," etc.
Haven't made it down to Jackson Street Books yet. Dammit. I'd like to do that today, but my sister has a baby shower at 1. I'm tempted to cancel ... I only get to visit the Old Market once a year. Already have the kid's gifts: "If You Give a Pig a Party" and "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!" Always books. But they're good books.
Miss Thang is hanging off the bed with her head on the floor. Guess I'd better sign off for now.
3 comments:
Now that would make for a heck of a story! How on earth did she escape?
I love the Omaha zoo. I grew up in Omaha and have enjoyed watching that zoo grow. We try to get there once a year too. I hope KC follows suit since we have the former assistant director from Omaha.
Hope you had a nice time.
It would be nice if KC fixed up Swope Park that way. Fingers crossed! I really do need to check out the KC zoo. Maybe this'll be the year.
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