Fall trip to Omaha

Call us crazy, but we had back to back travel weekends.  We have returned from a quick, fun weekend up to Omaha for my cousin, Luke's, wedding.  We hadn't been up to Omaha since Memorial Day and we were looking forward to a little Grammie and Papa John time for Gabe. 

We left St. Louis very early on Friday morning.  We wanted to get as much time on the road with Gabe sleeping as we could.  It is a 7 hour drive up to Omaha and everyone gets restless in the car that long. 

Gabe managed to sleep all the way to Columbia, MO and we stopped for diaper, bathroom, and coffee break.  We were back on the road and heading to KC.  Gabe was awake for most of that 2 hour leg.  We stopped for gas and a walk around Wal-Mart to kill a little time.  My parents didn't get on the road until later than we had thought and so we needed to kill time in order to meet them when they arrived. 

We had lunch in St. Joe and then took another walk around outside.  It was just too nice to be stuck in a car but we managed.  And Gabe slept a lot.  We got to my parent's hotel around 2 and waited for them to arrive.  Gabe had a blast crawling around the hotel and listening to his hand make squeaking noises on the floor.  

Once my parents arrived we, my mom, Scott, Gabe and I, needed to do a little Husker shopping.  We went to our go-to store, Husker Hounds, and found new shirts for all.  There were so many choices for Gabe, but I think he is happy with what we found. 

We dropped my mom back off at the hotel and headed to my aunt Pam's house.  We caught up with her and got ready for the rehearsal dinner.

The dinner was at a small Italian restaurant close to the zoo.  Gabe did pretty good at dinner.  He was very tired and there were a lot of new faces all at once.  Scott and I took turns eating and hanging outside.  It was nice to catch up with a few cousins.

On Saturday, Scott went for a long run, 8 miles, while Gabe and I played.  

We met up with my parents for brunch.  Then it was time to see how Gabe likes to swim. I figured the indoor pool at the hotel was perfect.  The pool was a little chilly so we started in the hot tub and then moved to the regular pool.  I think we might have a future Olympic Swimmer!

We headed back to get ready for the wedding.  The wedding was in Iowa at at winery.  It was a beautiful location for a wedding.  The ceremony timing was perfect with the sun setting.  My cousin looked very healthy and strong, a lot better than he did at his brother's wedding 3 months ago.  Gabe did great during the wedding.  He would make noises whenever he saw one of his cousins.  That boy just wanted to play.  

 The down side to a sunset wedding was a fussy baby.  He was completely over it and just wanted to go to bed.  Scott and I snuck in line for food and then quickly said our good-byes.  I hated leaving early and not getting to talk to a lot of people, however Gabe was over the weekend and the travelling. 

We got up early on Sunday to drive home.  The Chiefs were playing the NY Giants at home at noon and we knew we would have a lot of traffic there.  We tried to avoid it but we arrived in KC in the mist of tailgating.  KC really knows how to tailgate. 

We arrived home around 1, just in time for Scott to get fitted for a tux for Mike's wedding in a month.  It's a crazy busy fall and I love this time of year.