Nebraska

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Jasper and I flew to Nebraska last week to meet his Great-Grandmother. It was my first time traveling with an infant on my lap in an airplane. Jasper loved it. On the flight over, he seemed thrilled by so many people in one place. The plane was full to capacity and we were cramped, but he was so into the experience, that it made the trip easy. I held his hand as he walked down the aisle making friends and smiling all the way to first class. I had to carry him back to our seat.

My cousin Jill and my Grandma met us at the airport and we drove to Lincoln to stay at my Uncle Kenny's house. Jasper "talked" a lot once we were in the car, "da-da-da-ing" to my Grandmother's delight before he fell asleep. 

We spent 2 days in Lincoln. We got to visit my cousin Jenn's newest Paint Your Own Pottery shop (she has two.) We met a very interesting distant cousin and her husband. She was incredibly artistic and he was incredibly flexible for a man of his years (and just a man in general- he could sit cross-legged on the floor and quickly get up to stand - that impressed me.) Kenny's wife, Aunt Judy, made a wonderful dinner and had many of our family members over for dinner. Jasper was completely taken with my cousin Kevin's son, Eli.

We then returned to Omaha and spent 2 nights at my Grandma's apartment with her husband, Art. Their place was Jasper's dream come true - electrical cords everywhere! :) 

Grandma took us to the Zoo where we visited two indoor exhibits; The Jungle and The Aquarium. Jasper was fascinated with the water in the jungle and seemed to follow the monkeys when they were active, but came alive when he met the Macaws squawking loudly with their bright colors. But most fascinating was the aquarium - which actually brought vague memories forth in me from visiting when I was a child. 

We both had a wonderful time. Flying home was easy. Jasper slept most of the time - but when he woke briefly as we put him into the carseat for the drive home, he saw his Daddy and smiled with absolute recognition and proceeded to sleep soundly all the way home.