The middle of June found us road tripping to Omaha with Danny’s baseball team. They played in the Battle of Omaha tournament in conjunction with the Men’s College World Series. The team opted to let families choose whoever they wanted to stay and we found a unique little AirBNB that seemed to be 15 minutes or less from anywhere we wanted to go. The building used to be an electric house for historic southern Omaha. Hubby was saying that coal was kept in the basement and the furnaces were up top. We loved the mix of old plus new and it worked out great for the four of us. Yes, not everyone came along. Kate was on the fence and eventually opted to stay home with Grandma because she missed Piper. Michelle was already signed up to attend an overnight Summer Music Academy at our local college so stayed home in order to still attend that with her friend, R. Luckily R’s parents could drop the girls off together since we were already out of town and then I was set up for pick up duty after we were back. They also managed to earn some babysitting money in the neighborhood while we were gone as well. I was impressed. Natalie was more than happy to miss some Dyslexia Base Camp days to come along!
Day 1 of baseball began with an 8am game against the Kansas City Royals. Yes, that name should give you a hint as to how the game went. Those boys did not make errors. We later found out we were lucky to score against them at all. We lost 1-12 but the Jaghawks and the Thunder didn’t score anything against them. Our boys beat the Jaghwaks from Iowa (those moms were really nice) that afternoon 12-4 but some of the players had warned our boys their team had literally formed just to come to Omaha. That evening the teams got to participate in a skills challenge and trade team pins with each other. They earned points by having different players compete in things like bunting, throwing relays, and running the bases. Danny and W. ran the bases and they sure were fast! It was a fundraiser of some sort so I don’t think they even bothered to declare winners. We appeared to be the only team from the Mountain Time Zone and seeing heat above 80* for the first time since last fall. I read a news article saying that our home area hasn’t ever gone this far into June without hitting 80 since records began being kept in 1872. We also experienced the 2nd wettest 6 week time period since 1876. No wonder we kept being reminded that even though the school year was over it wasn’t officially summer yet. So we were all happy to get food from the food trucks and rest in front of the tv in air conditioning at where we were staying that night. The hammock was also much appreciated this trip.
Day 2 of baseball began with another 8am game. With 7:00 warm ups and the time zone difference we felt like we were waking up at 5am and that was much harder to do the second time around. But our boys were there to play and took down a team named Palos Thunder 8-0. Our guys were playing well and happy to be doing so. Head coach seemed happy to rack up another win. We had until 1:00pm to get ready for the next game so Hubby dropped Natalie and I off at the Durham Museum while he and Danny checked out stores and booths near the stadium and ate a nice lunch. The Durham Museum is housed in a beautiful art deco style train station and *spoiler alert* the trains (both model and real) ended up being mine and Natalie’s favorite part. All of a sudden the movie White Christmas made a whole lot more sense and I could see why Bing Crosby was so mad at Danny Kane for giving away their sleeper car. Those things were nice back in the day! One thing we noticed throughout the museum was that in the past items were well made, beautiful and expensive in contrast to today were we place importance on being cheap and functional. One example was the lunchbox exhibit. When Thermos made the first lunchbox targeted for school children in 1915 for $3.50 that is the equivalent of $104 in 2022. When I told Hubby that he said that lunchboxes back then were the Nike shoes of today. I agree. (By the way, my next audiobook is Shoe Dog.) We girls ended up enjoying the museum in time to be picked up by our guys for the second game of the day. It was time to play the Kansas City Royals again. Danny’s team put up a fight and scored one run again. BUT we later found out we gave them their best competition. They actually only had only 3 runs scored against them the entire tournament and 2 of those were runs our team made. They actually mercy ruled another team so 1-10 didn’t seem so bad. After resting at the AirBNB we headed to Winter Quarters and took a tour of the Visitors Center with a missionary named Sister Benson. She was new and wonderful and handled us well. Lol. Of course I couldn’t make it out of there without tearing up. This statue of parents burying their child really got to me. Sister Benson had no idea about Natalie’s friend passing away and I appreciated her testimony about how death is part of the plan. Sometimes I miss the days when my testimony was simple but I am grateful for the things I have learned that have allowed me to be more Christlike and less judgmental. Afterwards we went to a pizza place Kelly D recommended called Sergeant Peffers that was Beatles (the band) themed. It was great! We took a picture to send to Kelly and then headed back to where we were staying to rest up for more baseball.
We were grateful to not have to be to the ball park until 10am to watch Danny’s team play against the Gladiators for 3rd place in the tournament. It was a low scoring game with a 4-2 finish. Everyone seemed pleased with how they played and glad for the opportunity to play against teams from other states. I think (based mostly on license plates in that parking lot) we saw teams from Wyoming, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It was a great tournament and time to clean up and enjoy going to the LSU vs Tennessee game with Danny’s team. That game was so much fun! Kelly had told me the LSU fans were the best and we agree! I’ve never been to Tennessee but loved Hubby and my trip to New Orleans years ago so it was easy to root for purple before even entering the stadium. We got there plenty early to go around looking at all the shops and activities near the stadium. So much fun. Danny mostly stuck around his teammates and with one Dad’s encouragement they went and found better seats near the LSU dugout. And then when those ticket holders finally showed up in the 5th inning they were able to find seats over by Tennessee. Most of the parents stuck with our assigned seats under the jumbo tron but I think no one minded all those boys in their uniforms since these college games are so inspiring for ball players. LSU was winning most of the game but Tennessee put up a fight. And at one point Hubby noticed that one of the Tennessee players, Dylan Dreiling, was from Hays, Kansas so I shouted, "Hays High Alumni right here!" and a man in the row in front of us said he was from Hays too! So fun. Some of those LSU catches were incredible. At one point the first baseman literally did the splits to get the out. We all loved being at the game (complete with live organ player) and sorry pro baseball, but we are college baseball fans now. In fact, we liked going to the game so much that we decided to go again the next night!
The rest of Danny’s team left Omaha Father’s Day morning but we had opted to stay because our sister-in-law had told us about the zoo and we wanted to see that before going home. I am so glad W recommended the zoo to us because it is amazing! I was hooked only two exhibits in. The kids wanted to go to the Desert Dome first (why wouldn’t they?) and the Mahoney Kingdoms of the Night ended up being mine and Hubby’s favorite part of the zoo. I was grateful we got to see everything we wanted to — it’s so easy to go to the zoo with Danny and Natalie! — and eat next to the rain forest at Durham TreeTops Restaurant. If you’re in Omaha, don’t forget to see the #1 rated zoo in the country! Yes, some of the team parents didn't believe me when I told them earlier in the trip but Google backed me up. Thanks again, W! It would have been even more fun to have you there with us.
After the zoo I watched my family eat rolled ice cream for Father's Day and we went back to the stadium to catch more neat things to do like get autographs from players. This time we got to watch Florida vs Oral Roberts University. Of course with all my many trips to Florida I decided it was time to buy a souvenir of a Florida MCWS shirt and Danny got a MCWS hat to put the pins he had traded on. Don’t you love the jersey Natalie picked out? I honestly think watching A League of Their Own before this trip helped her enjoy the College World Series every more. This game we were across from the jumbo tron, near yummy nachos, and young baseball boys were filling in the empty seats near us. The game was impressive and if it wasn’t for Florida’s home runs we think ORU might have been able to beat them. We were so glad we spent an extra day in Omaha and Hubby reported it was a great Father’s Day. I think going to those two MCWS games ended up being the favorite part of the trip. Danny is already begging to come back next year and Natalie is game! Of course we are thinking we are going to have to check out the Women’s College World Series with her sometime too!
Juneteenth found us heading most of the way home. We stopped to spend the night camping at Lake McConaughy. We had heard so much about the place I felt like a trip to Nebraska wouldn’t be complete without being on the lake. We set up our tent at Cedar View Campground, spent time paddle boarding around branches in the wind, enjoyed the super soft sand on the beach, and ate dinner at Boxcar. I can’t recommend that place enough. The service was the best ever, we got to watch the LSU vs Wake Forest game on the tv, the food was great, and we met a family from Colorado with cute little kids. The Grandma had worked in the hospital Michelle and Natalie were born at to boot! We knew we wanted to pack up early to get home in plenty of time to get ready for Natalie’s double header softball games and Danny’s baseball scrimmage against the Slammers the next day but it was kind of hard to sleep in a tent. I was glad we were only staying for one night. Hubby opted to sleep in the hammock so the three of us had plenty of room in the tent but the side I was on keep blowing in and touching me. When I woke up the next morning I realized one of tent poles had worked it’s way out of where it was supposed to be and explained why I kept getting bopped by the tent. Remind me to duct tape that pole next time. Lol.
I think this trip to Nebraska is going to be a highlight of the summer for the four of us. I’m so glad we got to go! And Michelle reported loving orchestra camp immediately (can’t wait to hear more) and Kate was happy with the decision she made to stay home. We felt like she was super responsible and we are proud of her!
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