This past weekend we took a trip to Omaha to celebrate our niece, Callie's first birthday. While there we took a trip to the zoo for Kase's first visit, as well as some hotel swimming! I had some BIG hopes that this was going to be a great weekend filled with great activities!
Someone was WAY too excited at 5:30 AM!!!
One would think that he would fall asleep after being awake so early, right?
one
would
think
little stinker was awake for the entire trip!
All of the animals to look at and all Kase wanted to do was play in the playground. We literally had to strap him down in his stroller and bribe him with a cookie to get him away from the slides.
You may be thinking, "Aww, Kase is so excited to be by the monkey he can't even look at the camera!"
But that would be wrong.
Buddy was TERRIFIED.
After "the monkey" incident, he spent the remainder of the trip glued to Keith's shoulder.
While Daddy loved the snuggle time, it was not so pleasant in 100+degree heat.
The aquarium (our last animal exhibit) provided some brief happiness for Kase. His favorite stop was...the fish. THE FISH. Regular, tiny, pet-sized fish.
The penguins also provided some good entertainment.
We think it was maybe because they were small animals rather than the typical large zoo animals.
If you've been to the Omaha Zoo you know what comes next in the Aquarium...the over-your-head tunnel. Here's how Kase went through the tunnel.
Many times throughout the zoo visit Kase would say "I safe with Daddy." Precious :)
The last stop of our zoo visit was Kase's favorite by far...the train!
This was one of very few smiles we received from Kase all day.
Like I said, this was the end of our zoo stop.
He had been up since 5:30 AM.
He had not taken a nap.
And he fell asleep on the train!
After a nap and a Sietstra family supper, we went swimming in the hotel pool.
Don't let this smile fool you either...he was NOT a fan.
He was much more content sitting or walking on the side of the pool.
I'm sure a lot of his swimming dislike was because of the many, many rambunctious kids who were also swimming!
We tried again in the morning, but he wasn't real interested.
Callie's party was in the afternoon, and provided us with the most humbling parenting experience we've had. I had big hopes that Kase would be awake and happy for his cousin's first birthday party. That he would giggle at her getting messy while eating her cake, would watch contently as she opened her gifts, and would play nicely with the other kids who were in attendance.
Boy was I ever wrong.
Our first mistake was waking him up early from his nap. We tried ice cream, cookies, blueberries, ANYTHING that would make him be happy...nothing worked. He proceeded to cry scream for the next hour. I'm sure the other party guests appreciated having to talk over my child's screaming. Thankfully, they were all parents, so they've all either been there. Like I said, what a humbling experience.
We thought the drive home would be terrible. Again, boy was I ever wrong. He was a perfect angel and traveled great.
It was a weekend filled with moments where we were proven wrong!
Maybe one of these days we'll get the hang of this parenting...maybe :)