Dinosaurs4Dinner

Time for Wine

Posted on August 2, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

Time for Wine

After the Corn fiasco I decide it is time for Wine (it really should have been time day 1) so I make a pit stop on the way to the hotel. We are in the store for 10 minutes and manage to knock over the peaches, spill water, 2 of them end up on the ground wrestling and the cart gets crashed into an end cap… who are these kids – this doesn’t happen at home! I grab the only bottle of cold Chardonnay they have & get out of the store before we burn it down. At the hotel 1st things 1st – OPEN the bottle of wine! Half way through opening it the bottle opener literally cracks in half leaving the cork still completely wedged in the bottle. From the way things have been going, I am not really phased that this just happened but I am desperate so I tell the kids to keep the door locked, don’t let anyone in I have a very important mission to accomplish. I find an employee who informs me that the bar is closed, explaining my story along with the look of desperation on my face he says “Follow me!” He unlocks the bar and opens it up for me! $6.99 Sutter Home never tasted so Good!!!

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The Crazy Corn Palace

Posted on July 31, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

The Crazy Corn Palace

The Corn Palace is…well, I am still trying to figure this one out myself. Pretty much it is a Palace made of corn, or someone went a little crazy with a Hot Glue Gun gluing corn cobs to the exterior of a building. I am still trying to figure out why it is not constantly surrounded by birds. Arriving after 4 hours of driving, 1 hour of time change and 1 hour of I am not sure where that hour actually went, the boys jump out of the car like little exploding dynamites. I tell them to go stand in front of the Palace so I can take a picture with my new wide angle lens. I cross the street, a one lane street which takes me all of 15 seconds to cross, I turn around and Beckett’s stroller is leaning all the way back on the ground (yes, he is in it), someone is opening the door to go in and someone else is in the street….seriously!!!?!?!?….I just want 1 Picture!!!

The Corn Cornceige (I made up that title) tells us to simply follow the yellow corn cobs on the ground like the yellow brick road and it will lead us on a self guided tour. So off my boys go like The Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man.

I put my camera away and start to follow them, when I turn the corner they are not there, no one is there, so I continue forward until the prints lead you into the center of the building which is a basketball court temporarily turned into a gift shop, still no boys. I think great, how am I going to explain to Scott I lost 3 out of the 4 in a building made of corn?!?! I was going to keep following the corn prints hoping to stumble upon Oz, the great and powerful when I heard their not so quiet voices in the bleachers. Phew! I tell them “You need to calm down! We are here to look at corn!” -as soon as the words left my mouth I knew I sounded ridiculous and it was time to wrap things up.

Now most importantly, who of my family and friends will be lucky enough to receive this Beautiful Corn Doll arrangement for Christmas!

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Day 1 Omaha

Posted on July 28, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

Arrived at the Hotel at 9:30 p.m. – WHAT!?!!! happened to my 8 o’clock arrival time? – I’ll tell you what happened, there is no such thing as a ‘quick’ stop with 4 kids. A 10 minute quick go to the bathroom and grab a drink is at least 30 minutes. Someone inevitably can’t find a shoe and it takes 10 minutes just to get out of the car. How can you lose a shoe in a 2×2 space?!!

Good Morning! – Our plans were to be at the Omaha Zoo by 9 and hit the road again by 2:30…it’s 11:00 and I still haven’t left the Hotel. I can’t believe how long it is taking me to gather everything and pack up again- we have only been in this one room for less than 10 hours!!

Scratch the Zoo – we meet our friends for Ice Cream who are also in Omaha. We go to one of the top Ice-Cream Parlors in America (finally a little planning and research may pay off) Yeah!!! Ted & Wally’s – Check out these flavors:

My boys each got a double scoop which is equivalent to 2 pints of Ice Cream so I decide NOT to order anything because I will be eating their left overs…needless to say I did not get any ice cream. (But I did try the Jalapeño and it was weird hot but good)

Now it’s 1:30 and I haven’t eaten all day, only a 1/2 of cup of coffee, logged hours of confided space in the car and logged hours behind schedule. On top of it the boys are really being obnoxious, and I am exhausted. It hasn’t even been 24 hours and although I don’t want to admit it, I text Scott and tell him “Things aren’t as fun as I expected, this is very hard, I want to come home.” Just then at the car I was putting Beckett in and turned around to close the back when I almost bumped into a guy. He says to me “I just had to meet the person driving this car. I am a pilot for the military and we pack our planes but I’ve never seen a plane or car as packed as yours! and, I bet you know exactly where everything is.” Quickly the boys poked their heads out and within a matter of minutes he knew our story. He looked at me and said, “That is the coolest thing I have ever heard and you are the coolest mom I have ever met.” After he walked away I had a smile on my face and felt recharged. I honestly don’t even believe the guy was for real but only a messenger from God giving me a little push forward.

Next stop: The Corn Palace

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Master Card Priceless

Posted on July 27, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

Master Card Priceless

This is like one of those Master Card ads that goes on and on about prices of things until they get to the item that makes you go “Awe” as they say “Priceless” I am going to skip right to where they say ‘Priceless’ – “Finn meeting his BFF in Nebraska and hanging out for the day”

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And Off We Go!

Posted on July 24, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

And Off we go… sort of…The Plan was to leave NO Later than 8 a.m. and arrive by 6 p.m. Here we are leaving at 10:45 a.m. (at least it was before noon) – BUT WAIT! — Realized Vehicle sticker expires soon so stopped to pick that up – BUT WAIT there’s more -they would not issue it until I had a current emissions test. Finally at 11:45 with a Venti Starbuck’s in hand we are on the road.

Now entering Iowa This is a picture of the sign welcoming you to Iowa – do you see it now? I know it is an absolute horrible picture! When I spotted the sign I quickly grabbed my camera and while carefully steering with one hand my other hand held the camera and blindly aimed outside while clicking away in hopes of getting at least 1 picture of the sign. 1 out of 15 isn’t bad…