Indiana (and a little bit of Ohio)!

Continuing with our tour of mid-western/fly-over states in 2013, we recently went to Indiana to visit Matt's side of the family. Grammy Melanie is from Union City which borders Indiana and Ohio, and Grandpa Jerry is from Columbus, IN. Here is my attempt to capture the trip in photos. I missed out on getting pics with everyone we saw, and we saw ALOT of family! Cousins, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, great great-aunts, and great-grandmas oh my! Oliver had a blast and now thinks that pretty much anyone he sees must be related to him and warrants a beeline for a hug (it's a little unfortunate for some that he is directly at crotch-level right now)! :)

Outside of the Maid-Rite restaurant in Greenville, OH (Why yes, that IS gum.)

Great Uncle Don (he and Great Aunt Cindy brought O some great gifts)

Great Grandma Mangas (look at how tough she is - banged up and still entertaining 3 year olds.)

Grammy and Banjo. Sorry for the doggie private parts!

Who knew such fun was waiting in store at Great Great Aunt Ginny's House?! 

Stickball with the Coles men.

Awesome indoor play area in Columbus, IN

Sweet cousin Leigh. She's a doll and Oliver LOVED her!

Great Grandma Coles gets a smile.

Omaha!

I am sorry that I am perpetually 2 weeks behind in blogland (at least). It makes it really hard to remember all the good stuff to tell you! I will try to hit the highlights of our very first family vacation! (Vacation just for fun anyways - not traveling to see family).

We picked April for our trip to the Omaha Zoo, b/c, well, we wanted to make sure we went before it got too hot. Well, we definitely beat the heat! It was freezing! As all of spring has been! But, that was really okay, b/c it turns out the Zoo has a ton of indoor exhibits. We stayed at a Holiday Inn downtown that had an indoor water park. It was perfect for entertaining an almost-three year old!

Things we learned on this trip:
1. The Omaha Zoo is great! But you know what, for its size and price, the Topeka Zoo is pretty great too!
2. Oliver still needs naps.
3. Nebraskans are big. Like, just big in general - height, stature, girth. I mean, I know there's alot of cornfields there, but jeez.
4. Oliver will sleep in a sofa bed all by himself just fine. All through the night!
5. The aquarium at the zoo is AWESOME! Favorite thing.
6. IMAX 3D movies are entertaining for about 20 minutes (of 40) to an almost-three year old - at least when the movie is about butterfly migration.
7. Oliver does not like root beer (weirdo).
8. Omaha's Old Town area was really nice and had lots of restaurants and bars that looked nice.
9. Don't go out to eat in Omaha's Old Town area on prom night.
10. I love family vacations!