Christmas in Nebraska

For Christmas 2011 decided to leave Florida in search of snow again but this trip was just an out and back to Nebraska to visit Grampy and Lovie. Since Owen was over 2 years old he got his own seat and loved it. We flew out of Tallahassee to Atlanta and on to Omaha. We were on an early flight out of TLH so we grabbed Owen out of bed and brought him to the airport in his pajamas. Everyone loved his Elmo slippers. We allowed a couple hours in ATL, plenty of time to stretch legs and explore.

Owen on his seat on the plane to Omaha

After Owen had a great time opening presents for his birthday we were all looking forward to the wonder and excitement of Christmas. We had been talking about Santa, his visiting on Christmas Eve, and presents. Luckily, Santa was able to find us in Nebraska.

Santa's footprints at the fireplace where the stockings were filled with goodies

Owen had a good time exploring what all was left Christmas morning but was slightly distracted by the first train gift.

Exploring what Santa left behind on Christmas morning

We had a nice relaxing Christmas Day opening presents and enjoying each others company, it was the first time we had all been together since our sailing trip over Christmas 2008.

Owen and Lovie eating blueberries for breakfast (this was a daily routine)

Owen learning about "eh-los" from the Lego Master

Owen and Grampy reading the Owen book

Of course a trip to Omaha wouldn't be complete without a day visiting the Great-Grandpas. Owen was much more interactive this time around and not only played with his trains but was also curious about both the Great-Grandpas.

Visiting with Great-Grandpa Miller

Visiting with Great-Gramps

Showing Great-Gramps how to use Mama's iPad

While we were there we made a batch of kolaches and Owen loved them. He had at least one every day for breakfast, and you can guess who got the last one.

Loving kolaches, even the toasty ones

Since Owen was so into trains, we decided to visit the RailsWest Railroad Museum, The museum was great, it had a small model train that Owen got to drive around the track, which of course he loved. They also had a larger model train of the whole Omaha-Council Bluffs area. Owen's favorite part were the old engines and cars outside that he could climb on and walk through. He even got to sit up on the engineer's seat and ring a couple bells.

Driving the model trains

Exploring with Uncle Paul (which sounded a lot like apple pie all week)

 

Even though we didn't see snow again this trip we had a great time in Omaha. It was a relaxing, low key vacation and the best part was spending time together. Although Owen would likely say the best part were the trains he got for presents and the trains he got to explore.

A Choo Choo Train... and a Candy Cane

After Thanksgiving, talk about Santa started out of the blue. At school they started singing Christmas songs and "learning" about Santa. Whenever talk about Santa came up we asked Owen what he wanted and he always answered with a sold answer, "choo choo train."

Instead of heading to the mall this year to see Santa, we went to a local photo studio that has Santa and Mrs. Clause for kids to meet. Everyone there was very nice and Mr. and Mrs. Clause were wonderful.

Now, if when you look at this picture you are thinking Owen looks a little terrified of Santa, he was. As wonderful and jolly as Santa was, Owen was much more interested in the pink flamingo next to him. We were surprised he wasn't more excited to see him because he talked about Santa non-stop and couldn't wait to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Santa being Santa, knew the secret to Owen's heart and pulled out a candy cane, Owen quickly warmed up to him (but still wouldn't sit on his lap until right before we left).

In the days and weeks after we visiting Santa, Owen still talked about him quite a bit and stuck with his wish list of a choo choo train. A few days before Christmas, we were talking about Santa and what he wanted for Christmas and out of the blue, Owen proclaimed that he wanted, "choo choo train... and candy cane." You got it son, I will let Santa know!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

With Owen's love of all things that go, we decided that for his 2nd birthday we would have a Planes, Trains, and Automobile themed party. The invitations and some of the decorations were ordered from Nounces Design. The invitations were made to look like a boarding pass, complete with tear-off sides. For the envelopes, we made map envelops centered on Tallahassee.

At the Filling Station we had mostly plane, train, and car themed food including Choo Choo Chips, Southwest Airlines pretzels, Go Fast Pasta Salad with wheel pasta, and Cloud Parfaits. We also had turkey, ham, and roast beef sandwiches and chocolate cake.

We were very fortunate again this year to have a wonderful day outside so we kept the food inside to keep the bugs away and the kids outside to keep the house standing.

The Birthday Boy "helping" set-up

For the decorations outside we had a Happy Birthday banner, some road signs, and paper airplanes and cloud hanging from the pergola. We also had lots of balloons and a bubble machine. The tables were covered with brown paper with roads and railroad tracks drawn on them and matchbox cars on the roads.

For the activities for the kids to play with we had them play on Owen's new swingset and we had bubbles set out. We also had some planes, trains, and cars made out of cardboard boxes for them to play in. As an activity and party favor, we had foam planes set out with markers for them to color on. The markers were washable since we did have a bunch of two-year olds running around, but as it turns out, the birthday boy was the only one who managed to get most of the color on him instead of the airplane.

We had a great crowd, several of our friends here in town and in the neighborhood along with all but one of Owen's classmates (she woke up sick that morning). Jed's parents were also here for the party and were a great help.

After plenty of play we opened up the sandwiches, followed by the cake. We brought the whole cake out for Owen to blow out the candles and take it back inside to cut it. Owen was so excited to see the cake and couldn't figure out why we were taking it right back away.

At the Railway Station (the front door bench) we had goodie bags set up for the kids to take home with them. For the bags we made suitcases out of brown paper bags. In them were suckers in the shape of a plane, train or car,  cotton candy "clouds," Happy Birthday Owen M&Ms and plane, train, and automobile crayons and coloring pages.

At the Baggage Check-In we had guests leave their gifts and we opened them later that afternoon. The party took a lot out of our little two-year old so we laid him down for a nap shortly after cake.

Owen had a great time opening presents and it didn't take him too long at all to get into the groove. He was very excited about his toys and wanted to play with everything right after we opened it. We took our time and let him enjoy it.

We all had a great time at the party and were so glad everyone was able to come celebrate Owen's special day with us.