Blue Bunny ice cream

On our way back from Omaha we took the long route and stopped in Le Mars, Iowa to see where our favorite ice cream is made and sample the yummy Blue Bunny ice cream. 

Throughout the whole town there are ice cream cone statues each decorated differently. We saw some that were decorated with pizzas, Girl Scouts, and this one that we parked by. 

It really wasn't what we expected. There was a small museum upstairs of this gorgeous building full of marble and woodwork but it was basically a beautiful ice cream parlor with gift shop. 

 

Oliver had to get a chocolate ice cream cone, a chocolate fudge brownie one to be exact. 

I got a mocha almond fudge ice cream waffle cone. YUMMY!

It was good! 

Omaha vacation

Last weekend Oliver and I along with my parents went to Omaha to see my sister and her family. My sister had ordered tickets for The Rose Theater which is a Children's theater to see a play based on the book Knuffle Bunny by Mo Williams. I  did not know how Oliver was going to do because we've never even taken him to a movie before so I didn't know how he'd sit for it. He LOVED it. It was funny to see his reactions. It was great that it was a children's theater too because it didn't matter that he laughed at awkward times or talked to me during it about how the Trixie (the main character) was sad because she was poopy. 

You couldn't take photos during the play but it was a gorgeous theater

Sunday we knew that it was going to be hot and when I mean hot it was a sweltering 96 degrees so we headed to the Zoo early in the morning just as it opened.  

Even though our plan was to do the outside stuff first and hit the buildings last as most were air conditioned, we stopped at the aquarium first since it is always so busy and the Zoo wasn't too busy yet. 

The penguins came up to say hi

Oliver had been talking about going to see the sharks all summer long so he got up close and personal with them. Good thing Uncle Darrin is tall and that there is a few inches of glass between them. 

Ian and Oliver were great buds at the zoo. They are roaring together on the rhino. 

Seeing the bears

Before going to the Petting Zoo at the Zoo, we had a picnic lunch in the shade with a nice breeze. Oliver liked petting the goats but this time that was pretty much all you could pet because the other animals were in the barn to keep cool. 

Oliver had been wanting to go on the train the whole time at the zoo since the first time he heard its whistle blow. See his excitement but he wouldn't let go of my sister and my hand the whole time. 

As if we hadn't had enough of the 96 degree weather, we stopped for a short visit at the botanical gardens to see the giant UP trains. 

The kids had the best way to beat the heat... playing in the sprinklers!

But nothing beats playing in the air conditioning

We had a great time as always in Omaha thanks to Colleen and family.

Happy Birthday Oliver!

Can't believe that it has been 3 years today since that beautiful 4lb 6oz little miracle came into our lives. I took today off of work too to spend some quality Mommy and Oliver time together to celebrate. We played a lot of Play-doh that he had received for his birthday, and played with a lot of his other new toys. 

When I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday he said "go to the new Elkader park." So we went in this morning and spent about and hour and a half there. 

Then we went to another park and did another favorite thing of his - a picnic lunch. 

We picnic'd next to the river so we had to look at it although he was upset that I wouldn't let him go fishing. 

Then we came home and he took a 3 hour nap just to wake up and play Play-Doh again. Tonight we're having his favorite foods: chicken, mashed potatoes, and sweet corn. 

Happy Birthday my Sweet Boy!

Oliver's 3 year old train themed birthday party

We celebrated Oliver's birthday yesterday with family at our house. It was a train themed birthday party and well I probably went over the top with the cutesy train themed decor but I had to, when would I ever get to again? We had a breakfast party since which also worked out well since Oliver's favorite food is pancakes. 

The cake was made by my coworker. 

Our CHEW CHEW table full of coal (sausage patties), train tracks (bacon) and wheels to the rails pancakes along with assorted fruit and whipped cream. 

The CHUGG CHUGG station had rail road crossing fruit kabobs and beverages: Water Tower (water), Gasoline (apple juice) and diesel fuel (coffee). 

All of his presents!

He once again loved opening presents but wanted to get them out and play with them after each one and had to be encouraged to keep opening the next.

This his him excited and jumping up and down when we were singing him happy birthday. 

Blowing out the candle only took 2 blows. 

The train on it is from the Thomas the Train collection named "Oliver"

While mom was away getting a knife I think some family encouraged him to take a bite of it. 

Good cake!

Tractor just his size

Oliver can finally reach the pedals of Ian's tractor and ride it at Grandpa Dave's and Grandma Sandy's house! Now we just need to work on steering and backing up.

Clayton County Fair

I haven't been over the Clayton County Fair in maybe 7-8 years and Shawn goes every year with his Dad to watch the tractor pull on Sunday so I thought I'd bring Oliver over for him to experience this generational tradition with Grandpa Chuck and Daddy. My Dad also came with Oliver and I as he has joined Chuck and Shawn many times over there too. I thought for sure Oliver would be scared of the noise and of the tractors but he LOVED it. Shawn sets up our canopy tent every year as well to stay in the shade but it was beautiful this year.

He loved the smoke they made I think the most

He didn't mind holding his hands over his ears for most of it

And he got to eat Cheetos for lunch 

But Oliver by far loved walking around the see the animals the best. We walked through all of the barns at least 4-5 times during the 5 hours we were there.  

He cocka-doodle-dooed to the chickens and hens and got to see that chickens make the eggs he eats by seeing eggs laying in there.  

We saw the noisy pigs. He thought the pigs that were black and cream colored were cows and didn't believe my Dad and I when we said they were pigs. Guess to an almost 3 year old the color of the cows in our backyard and those pigs are similar and they were big pigs.  

And of course the cows. He would always stop and look at the brown cows the most, probably because we always see Holstein cows.  He got a kick out of their tails and how they cows swung them around to get the flies off of them.

And he even got to pet one after walking around asking me if he could touch them all day and me saying no until we ran into my coworker who obliged him. 

We saw sheep and learned that they like to climb up the fence and eat anything 

And every time we walked out of the cow barn we had to go see the firetrucks too 

We of course had to stand in line at the Dairy Bar for some ice cream too but I forgot to take a picture of his chocolate ice cream. The rides this year were not geared for kids his age so he didn't go on any and really they didn't have much for rides at all. We had fun though and I think next year we'll go over again as Oliver keeps talking about it still and how much he loved it.