It has been a month now since we came to Omaha. We had high hopes for this new stage in our lives. Every one of our expectations has been exceeded. We love Omaha. We love our new home. We love our new neighborhood. We especially love the amazing neighbors and friends we have met here.
This has definitely been one of the busiest months I can remember. Dave had to leave soon after we signed on our house to finish his residency in Vegas. Fortunately my parents were there to help me when our moving truck finally arrived. They left the day after we unloaded the truck. So the kids and I were on our own for about three weeks. We missed Dave but we had fun in our new house. I had multiple neighbors help me in various ways. We were brought cookies, invited to family nights, outings with friends and dinners. I have been overwhelmed by all the love and kindness our family has been shown. We LOVE Omaha!!
Dave came back on Father's Day. Best Father's Day Ever! His kind brother Kenny helped him power through another long drive back to Nebraska. We are so grateful for his help!! It was fun to have Kenny here, our first official guest in our new home.
Dave has started his job as a pediatric gastroenterology fellow. So far he is really enjoying it (phew!). I got a new job too. I will be working about one day a week at Omaha Children's Urgent Care. I'm excited to get back to nursing and grateful it is just one day a week when Dave can be home with the kids.
So here is what we have been up to for the past month or so....
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| Unpacking.... |
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| The bike/running trail just down the street from our home. We spend a lot of time here! |
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| More time on the trail. Checking out the little creek and picking wild berries and grapes. |
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| Visiting the Doorly Zoo with new friends from church. This zoo is INCREDIBLE! |
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| We found our new library |
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| Story time at the lake. I love this lake. It is just a couple miles from our new house. The librarians read the kids books about boats and taught them how to make paper boats which they launched into the lake. By far our favorite story time. |
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| Exploring and chasing squirrels |
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| Dave and I fell in love with this little white house. Poor thing has been a little neglected and needs a lot of love...But it is coming along. We fixed the landscaping in the front, put in new porch lights, painted the front door, put on new door handles. We still need new windows, fixed siding, painted shutters....This home is trying to teach me patience. |
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| One of the things we were most excited about leaving the desert was getting a BIG garden! The one we got with this house was a big hot mess. It was FULL of weeds, bushes and flowers. But after hours and hours and HOURS of work we finally have our garden planted! |
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| There is also loads of work to do inside the house. Even though Dave was away I had all kinds of help. |
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| The kids were a lot more excited about the painting than mom! |
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| First room we finished. Amazing what some paint can do! |
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| My handsome helper... |
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| Our next project was the kids bathroom. I did not get a decent "before" picture. This is actually a picture of the master vanity but it is identical to what the kids bathroom looked like. Again just lots of oak, nasty gold hollywood light, horrible old faucets and fixtures. My mom got this ball rolling. When they were in town our moving truck came about three days late so while we waited she painted the vanity. I couldn't stop there. |
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| Dave built the new mirror frame, replaced the faucets on the sinks and in the tub, put in a new shower head and put up all the new wainscotting, baseboards and molding. We replaced the old built-in 1980something shower door and upgraded the lights and all the hardware, touched up the grout and painted, painted, painted. I am so happy with how it turned out! |
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| In between the endless yard work and home projects we have been trying to get out and enjoy our new town. Here are the kids at the Mormon Trail Center. |
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| Another Trip to the Zoo |
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| Check out the pink birds in the tree. This zoo is one of our favorite places in Omaha! |
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| In case you can't tell the kids really love Omaha too. |
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| The Prairie Preserve just a short walk from our house. |
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| So many amazing places to explore. |
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| Walking across the bridge to Iowa. |
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| Uncle Jeff came to town to bring Great-Granddad. We explored downtown/old market. It is also one of our favorite places in Omaha. |
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| We are so excited to have Granddad here. We had to take him fishing! |
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| James caught the first little fish |
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| Maddie catching her first fish! |
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| It really is a beautiful little lake. We are so excited to have it so close. |
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| When Granddad comes there is a LOT of baking in the house. James' favorite thing to make is an apple pie, it also happens to be Granddad's favorite dessert. |
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| Watching fireworks with the neighborhood kids. James and Maddie have made some really great friends here. We are especially lucky to have kids right nearby around the same age to play with! |
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| Fourth of July kids bike parade. |
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| We have been really amazed with how much the people of Omaha LOVE the fourth of July. There have been fireworks going off every night for over a week. Serious fireworks. HUGE exploding in the sky fireworks. It is amazing. |
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| Enjoying Ice cream in the park after the bike parade. |
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| Holiday photo booth with their cute buddies. Happy Fourth! |
There was our first month in Omaha. I hope to be able to share lots more remodels and fun adventures soon!
