Spring Break

This past week Lexie has been out of school for Spring Break. We have tried to do lots of fun activities to keep the kids entertained. We have a membership to the Henry Doorly Zoo here in Omaha, and of course we took a trip to check out the animals. The zoo is so big that we try to see different things each time, and Tuesday we checked out the amazing all-indoor rainforest, as well as giraffes, zebras, the aquarium, and “Kingdoms of the Night” where the alligators are (Gavin’s favorite.) I didn’t take any pictures this week, because we have been so many times and taken pictures in the past! The kids love the zoo and animals, and it is such a good way to expend some energy.
Wednesday we wanted to go swimming at the YMCA (where we just got a membership last month.) The pool downtown here was closed that day, so we ended up driving out to the Sarpy County YMCA in Papillion (20 minutes away,) that has a shallow entry area. It is a fairly new building and the kids now have a new favorite place to go swim. Lexie is used to jumping in with her buckle-on flotation device to buoy her up…so this time she thought she was an expert swimmer without it and just started taking off into the deeper area. Despite her paddling, she started to sink. She spluttered for a second before I grabbed her and we decided we still need flotation belts for a while. Lexie and Gavin both got swim goggles for their birthdays, and it gives them new courageousness in the water. Gavin likes to play “Whale” or “Sea Monster” and have me support his belly and have him surf the water while he dips his face under to blow bubbles and then come up to take a breath, then keep doing that like he is on a wave. Yesterday was the last swimming lesson for us. Lexie is moving up one class and Gavin is moving out of the Parent-Tot class and into the first level swimmer with a teacher. His teacher told Danny a couple of weeks ago that Gavin was ready for the next level and “had no fear.” We have had a lot of fun swimming for the last couple of months indoors. It gives us a great way to go play while it’s cold outside. I signed the kids up for one more 6-week session of swimming lessons…it will end the last Saturday in May, and then we won’t start up again for a while until after baby brother is born!
And the rest of the week we have spent running around doing lots of other activities…never a dull (or relaxing) moment! We are glad there are so many friends and activities around!

The kids and I in the rain forest last summer at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.

Top: The sharks swim over our heads in the walk-through aquarium tunnel.