Mom of Two Boys: Omaha

Another trip for the Sandage family, this time to visit the Grandmas and Grandpas in Nebraska. The adventures of this trip technically start the night before the trip, Thursday, July 3rd, when Bob and I chose to go to bootcamp graduation and an Ale Atlanta beer sampling meeting (me: bootcamp, and Bob: beer tasting) instead of packing. The inside joke is that Bob brings beer to his AA meeting!

Anyway, so after our night out, the next morning we wake at 5:30am to go run the Peachtree Road race, the foremost 10K in the country where 55,000 runners run down Peachtree Street. The first runners finish hours before the last ones start! Bob and I had different starting groups (randomly selected), I was Group 3 and Bob was Group 8. I was finishing just as Group 8 was starting ... poor Bob!

So after running 6.2 miles, we walk home and started to pack for the trip. Going out the night before took priority to packing! But we made it and were on the plane at 1:40pm to Kansas City where my folks picked us up for the 3 hour drive to Omaha. A quick trip to Bob's folks house to let them know we were in town (it was a surprise visit for them!) and then off to Rosenblatt Stadium to see the fireworks. Whew! What a day!

In the car on the way to Omaha from Kansas City, we had Colin call Gramma Mary to let her know we were coming. It was really cute, Colin said, "Grandma, can I come over? I'll bring pizza!" She must have thought he was going crazy, but then Bob got on the phone and explained everything.

It was interesting as we drove around Omaha on Friday, July 4th. Everywhere you turned was a giant inflatable gorilla or dragon indicating another fireworks stand. "Gorillas and dragons, oh my!" There were also family picnics and bbqs going on in every other yard that we passed. Tents set up, wading pools in the driveway, and families and friends getting together everywhere you looked. The spirit of the fourth seems to be much more celebrated where there are fireworks. Back home in Atlanta, you just don't see that many get togethers. I don't mean that Atlanta is un-patriotic, just that there is no comparison to the quantity of gatherings in Omaha. However, I like that there are no firework sales in Atlanta, and would not want anything to change in that respect. Fireworks are just too dangerous and not respected enough for the general consumer. I saw many examples of that during our stay.

Anyway, the kids really enjoyed the fireworks. Nathan had his hands over his ears most of the time and a huge grin on his face. Colin was very impressed with the huge fireworks at Rosenblatt which were the work of the Grucci Brothers, one of the most respected pyrotechnic companies in the world. There resume of firework displays is impressive including displays done by the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and many many more.

From our vantage point, the whole sky was filled with the awesome show, and after a while created the optical illusion that the fireworks were coming right at us. Colin was a little un-nerved by this and kept asking if it was going to touch us. He was also very vocal with a lot of questions. At first it was "Is Grandpa doing this?", repeated over and over, very loudly, then "Who is doing this?", over and over. Then he would hide (that was probably when the optical illusion started). Nathan would just sit there with his hands over his ears. Although after I brought out the dried fruits, Nathan was too busy eating to cover his ears.

Grandpa and Nathan.