We decided not to drive back to Illinois for Thanksgiving. There were several factors, not the least of which is our dog Sam. Being new to city life, I didn't even think about boarding him, so when I called the Monday before thanksgiving, all the kennels were full.

That would have meant that we would had to have taken him with us, which isn't really a bad thing, other then it meant we couldn't have brought much stuff back with us. It also meant that we would have had to change our plans. We were planning on staying with Holly's aunt Joyce for a day or two, which would have obviously been difficult with Sam.

So, we decided to stay here and take advantage of some of the local stuff.

Wednesday night, a mall near our house had a lighting ceremony that we went to. It had Santa, Rudulph, Frosty, and other characters walking around. We also got a fair amount of snow on Wednesday, so everything was really pretty!!

On Thanksgiving day, Holly made a great dinner and we headed downtown to see the lights downtown Omaha. It was so pretty! We walked around the old market which has some really nice shops and found a big slide.

On Friday, we went to the Omaha Children's Museum which was a lot of fun. It's not the biggest one we've been to, but they have a huge ball area which the kids loved.

After that, we went to McDonalds for lunch and then headed out to the Strategic Air and Space Museum. They have lots of airplanes (some of which, this was one of only a couple left). They also had a flight simulator that Broderick and I flew... well, Broderick flew it. Whenever I took the controls, it would going into a spin.. Not me, something was wrong! This is one of those simulators you ride in, so if the plane is spinning, so are you!

Saturday, we didn't do much... checked out a local bookstore and went to go get Library cards. Turns out that we aren't in the library district either, so we have to pay an annual fee of $25.

Today, we checked out the local Vineyard Church to see what it's like. We're on the church hunt! Unfortunately, it really didn't jive with us. The service lasted 1 1/2 hours. I appreciate the fact that this is just a small portion of the week for church, but 1 1/2 hours is just too long to sit there. The sermon was OK, but long. :(

After church, we went to The Pizza Machine which is like Chuckie Cheese on steroids. We were there for a few hours and the kids loved it. When we got home, I took Sam on a nice walk and then hung up some of our Christmas lights before it got dark.

Holly found something where the kids can take skiing lessons. Something like $200 gives them a season pass, 6 weeks of lessons (once a week) and rental. Compare that with the normal kids season ticket price of $200 and it's a no brainer! Lessons and rentals for free basically!

Well, I have to say it's been a good first week of work. Of course, a fair amount of time was spent setting up my computer, learning where a handful of conference room were, getting my fitness evaluation, etc.. but I am starting to get a feel for the place.

I've already started working on a couple of issues here and solved one, which is nice. Since I am supporting finance, which is one of my weaker areas, there is a lot to learn, but that's a really good thing!

The kids had their first day at school yesterday and generally liked it. Coming in so close to breaks, there are some things the classes are doing that they can't participate in, but that will change after Thanksgiving.

Gallup paid me today, which I wasn't expecting. They pay on the 1st and 16th, and since I just started, I didn't think I'd receive a check, but I did! That's a huge help for trying to go home next week.

Today, we visited Fontenelle Forest which is a private not-for-profit 1,400 acre forest a few miles from our house that borders the Missouri River. We only walked a very small portion of the trails, but even that really wore us out!

I am so impressed with the amount of things to do not far from our home here in Bellevue, NE!

We still have quite a bit to see (like the aquarium, a few museums, etc)!

Yesterday, we went to the zoo for a couple of hours (I had to go to work briefly to sign some paperwork) and we went back today. We really enjoy zoos and we've been to a couple of dozen over the years, but this is hands down our favorite!!

It may not be that animal friendly (some of the enclosures were not that big) but you could really see all the animals. One thing we read stated that the zoo is rated #1 for North America and #5 in the World.

They have so many neat things to see, that I have no doubt we'll be spending lots of time there. Also, it is right up the road from us, so we bought a family pass.

OK, for our favorites....
Brett- Desert Dome basement (nocturnal exhibit) and the Aquarium.
Holly- Monkeys
Broderick- Rain Forest
Bridget - Rain Forest

We also took a train ride. I can't wait for people to come visit us so we can experience it with them!!

Omaha Zoo

The next morning (well, the same morning, Tuesday) we got up and started unloading the truck. Neither Holly or I really had recovered from loading everything, so we were really dragging.

Our landlord Robert came over to do a walk-through of the house and he helped us unload the hot-tub. A very nice guy, I think he'll be a great land-lord.

Robert showed me the hot tub hooked up that Michelle told us about and it was 2 small wires coming out of the wall. Looked about the right gauge to run a floor lamp. :( So, I'll have to call an electrician to hook everything up. I hope it's not too expensive.

We spent a chunk of the day unloading and getting supplies, driving around just getting a feel for everything. Overall, we really like the house, but some of the rooms are a lot smaller then we are used to. The layout is nice though!

By and large, the unloading and unpacking has gone well, but slow. We just don't have the energy to do everything at once. I hope by the weekend, we'll have pretty much everything unpacked and the garage cleaned out. :)

Ok, we knew that this move would be big... but in retrospect, I had no idea just how big it really was going to be!!

So, we picked up the 26' truck and trailer Saturday morning. We had quite a few things already packed at that point, so I thought we had a good start on things. The kid's birthdays were coming up, so Holly let them each invite a friend and took them bowling while I loaded what we had packed, we also had a family b-day party that afternoon. (Thanks Scott for helping me carry down the vanity from Bridget's room). So, I worked for a couple of hours on Sat.. nothing too special.

Sunday morning, we went to church, took Sam to the groomer (he looks great!) and ran some last minute errands. Most of the afternoon was spent packing and loading. We hoped to have pretty much everything done Sunday night to leave first thing Monday and I thought we had a good bit done.

Monday morning, of course, I am exhausted by this point. Even though I thought that we had basically everything done, it seemed like there were still tons of boxes and Holly kept finding more things to bring out. We decided to bring our hot tub, which I measured and found that it would fit in the truck.

So, around noon on Monday (remember, we were wanting to leave early), we put the hot tub on dolly's, pushed it up the ramp and found that it wouldn't fit!!! So, we backed it back down, repositioned everything and we were just spent... we fought and fought and finally, 30 minutes later got it in.. Mom ended up showing up and helped hold down one side (nothing serious) to help stabilize it. OMG!!

After this was done, Holly was going to run up town and pick up supplies for the road, shut the sliding door to the van and heard a 'click'. Of course... of all times, the keys were sitting on the front seat (our only set) and the doors locked. I tried to get in myself, but the car has an alarm, so when I did manage to use a wire to unlock it, the car automatically locked itself again. We ended up having to call a lock-smith ($50) to get back in.

Then, we got our beds all loaded and finished packing the car. So, instead of leaving town Monday morning, we hit the road at 4 PM!

Of course, when I got about an hour away, I realized that I forgot to do a bunch of stuff... turn off the water to upstairs, turn the heat back on, left the Robert Jordan book I was reading in front on the fireplace, food in the fridge.. ughhh. At least we'll be home around thanksgiving to take care of some of it.

So, we are on the road, driving straight into a 30 MPH wind out of the west. Holly and the kids went ahead and Sam and I drove along at 55 (60 if I was really lucky). Also, I swear I could see the fuel gauge moving we were sucking down so much fuel. I filled up once on the East side of Des Moines, IA and put in $150 in fuel and again just before hitting Omaha.

When getting fuel in IA, I took Sam out for a walk and it was snowing! Incredible.

Sam was great on the road and spent much of the time with his head and front legs on my lap (nothing like an 83 lbs lap dog).

I caught up to Holly a couple of times (she stopped for dinner and such) and she ended up getting to the house about 30 minutes before me. Our land lady gave me the code for the Realtor box on the garage. unfortunately, I misunderstood her. I thought she said 'sun', turns out she said 'fun'. So, I had to call and wake her up at 1 AM to get the right code.

Since I put the beds in last.. we pulled them out right away to sleep. Of course, most of the bedding was not put in last (another uggh!), but we made due. Finally, we got to bed at 2:30 AM Tuesday morning.

Man, this is a huge job. Holly has been packing up most of the week, when Lucy allows, and I've been helping out at night. I *think* we have the vast majority loaded up. We're saving the beds for last and I still have to load the fridge and the hot tub. But, we hope to be on the road late tomorrow morning.

We dropped Maisey off at Mom's today (Amber is going to take him) and finally found a new home for our horse, Lefty. I think he is going to a really good home. He sent me an email today. :)

"Dear Dad

Thank you for letting me come to my new home. So far it has been fun, but busy. I have been brushed and groomed....all the while eating treats. All my new friends were trying to welcome me here, and they ALL brought treats for me! I am loving all the attention and all the petting I am getting. They tell me I get to meet my new vet on Tuesday and have my feet done on Thursday. So it looks like I will stay busy.

Here are some pictures of me in my new home................ I am gonna love it here!!

Oh and you may come visit me anytime."

And I also have some pictures...





So, wish us luck with finishing packing up. Loading the hot tub into the back of the truck is going to be an interesting trick. :)