No Rossdale This Year

I was super excited to see a second performance of one of my favorite concerts from last year, Gavin Rossdale, again at the Whiskey Road House in Council Bluffs. Unfortunately I found out yesterday that the concert has been canceled and my money is being refunded. Oh well hopefully he makes his way here again in the future because he put on a great show.

Been Awhile

Well it has been awhile since I have posted a entry. A lot has happened, went to concerts, WWE wrestling twice and a football game. Big thing, we went to Vegas a in February and saw Garth Brooks. The Garth concert was amazing and we had a great time in warm ad sunny Las Vegas.

Recently, we just got our Zoo pas from Sara's work for 2010. We are really excited to go again. It has been awhile since we have been to the zoo we are going to have to go soon! Also I just got tickets to see Gavin Rossdale at the Whiskey Roadhouse at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, IA again in June. This time I got a ticket for my buddy Aaron to go with me.

I am hoping to keep this a little more up today with posts, we will see how that goes.

Planting Flowers and Getting Dirty

On Tuesday Sara had a half day off and decided to buy flowers for all of our planters.  She loaded and unloaded from the truck all 40 lbs of potting soil that she bought all by herself.  Then she planted and placed all of the planters strategically around the house, except for the big planter that I carried to the back for her when I got home.

By the time I had got home Sara had planted all of the pots and had started in on planting the hostas we had for the west side of the house.  I helped her plant one and then we started spreading the mulch and finished laying out the landscaping fabric.  When we were finished we were both covered in mud, straw and mulch and we were soaked head to toe.  But thanks to Sara our house now looks beautiful and spring like, now we just need to keep them all alive.

Also here are some pictures of my grasslings.

Growing Grass Is Hard Work, But Hopefully Worth It

This spring I (with a lot of help from my Dad) started my front yard over from scratch.  We tilled up the front and side yards with Dad's lawnmower tractor used a roller to flatten the dirt back down and then put fertilizer, grass seed and straw down on the yard.  That was hard work but nothing compared to the tedious work of trying to keep it all water.  Constantly moving hose and sprinklers trying to get all of it wet every night is more work then I thought it would be.  But after a couple of weeks of hard work I am starting to see green grass pop up all over the yard.  It is very exciting to see.  Now hopefully with more watering it will spread and we will for the first time since we have lived in our house have a nice green lawn you can walk in with out twisting our ankle.  If things continue to go well with this year we may have to try this in part of the back yard next year.

More Concerts

We got more concert tickets in the mail yesterday.  We got tickets to go see 3 Doors Down and Sheryl Crow at the Stir cove this summer.  We are very excited to go to both of shows.  We now have tickets to 5 different shows hanging on our fridge right now.  We have tickets for Wicked at the Orpheum, Gavin Rossdale at the Whiskey Road House (Mark is the only one going to that one), 3 Doors Down at the Stir Cove, Chicago at the Stir Cove and Sheryl Crow at the Stir Cove.  It looks like it is going to be a busy summer when you throw in our many trips to the zoo and my 30th Birthday.  Football season will be here before we know it.

Husker Rant!

Why is every one so excited about Greg Paulus visiting campus?  I mean really this guy hasn't played football in 4 years, he doesn't know out system and he is from Duke!  The only way he could have made it worse was if he spent 4 years playing basketball t Creighton!  I don't know why people think this guy would help our team at all.  If something were to happen to Zac Lee during the season do you want a one year wonder who doesn't know the offence to play or do you want Cody Green or Kody Spano who has three years left to play to get the experience to help future seasons?  It seems pretty simple to me what I would pick, I just hope he goes somewhere else.  And don't even get me started on the Miami QB Marve the last thing we need is another cry baby QB I think we have a had a few to many of thous in the past couple of years.

Day Two at the Zoo, Then on to the Casino

We went to the zoo on the afternoon of April 18th after Sara got off work. we were hoping we could ride the new Skyfari.

Unfortunately it was still not open but we had a great time at the zoo anyway. We started out by going to see our pictures we had entered in the photo contest from

the last time we were there in March. We both entered a photo in the Plant category and it look like there were only about 25 pictures in that category so our chances of making it to the final five are pretty good we hope. We proceeded to vote for our photos in the plant category and for a photo on every other category before heading over to the Desert Dome.

Some people think the Desert Dome is boring or uninteresting but I like it a lot. There are so

many interesting animals and plants in there and the sand dune when you walk in is so neat. They have so many cools snakes and reptiles in glass cases and I wanted to get pictures of them all (Sara didn't really care for them so much). Sara usually waited for me at the end of the reptile sections because

I took too much time looking at each one. They also have a large array of birds in net cages and free flying. Sara got this great picture of a bird while I was lingering in the snakes still. The plants are another great part of the Desert Dome. We got a lot of great pictures of different plants in here, some of the cactus where huge and sharp!

Next we went under the Desert Dome to the Kingdoms of the Night. It was hard to take pictures down there because it is so dark but it might be my favorite exhibit at the zoo. A large section of it is made to look like caves and they even have a section full of bats.

The last part is walking through a swamp at night where they have Beavers, Alligators and Bullfrogs. They even have an albino alligator down there. It seemed so bright when we headed back outside after being down there for so long but after letting our eyes adjust and grabbing a drink we were ready to head over to the Hoof Stock.  Our first stop in that direction was the Giraffe complex. They had just feed the giraffes when we got in there so they were eating. A sign said that one of the giraffes was born last year but we could no longer tell which one he was; they were all so tall.

As we headed through the hoof stock we saw some warthogs but only for a second before the went behind a fence where we could no longer see them. We did get to see the bongo (the animal not the drum) and some very interesting looking birds. The antelope had just had babies and they had a sign up to not get to close to the fence because the mothers were very protective and could charge the fence if they felt threatened.

Next we stooped in the garden of the senses, although there wasn't much there to look at since the flowers had not bloomed yet. They did have some beautiful fountains and fun animal sculptors to look at. As we made our way towards the elephants we crossed the bridge next to money island. None of the monkeys were out yet but the fish in the pond were very active. When we finally got up to the elephants they were not out yet either but we did get to see the sea lions. We also overheard the tram driver talking about the new Madagascar building they are working on near the sea lions that is suppose to open up next year. The only animal we heard the guy mention was going to be in there were lemurs but I am sure they will have some more interesting animals in there as well. As we were rounding our way back towards the bears and cat house we came across some prairie dogs looking out of their hills to see what was going on.

The bears were not nearly as active as they were the last time we were there, most of them were sleeping. The same went for the cats in the cat house. I don't know if you can see it in this picture the the white tiger was actually drooling in his sleep.

After we got done at the zoo we meet Sara's parents at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs for dinner and some gambling. After eating and gambling for awhile we were up a few bucks so we decided to head over to Ameristar Casino for a few more hours of gambling. All in all we did pretty well at the casino. We didn't win any money but we didn't lose that much either. All in all it was a pretty fun Saturday afternoon and evening.

** Update - Here is a link to all of our zoo pics from this trip or as always you can see more pic on our Facebook pages.

Thanks For Getting Me To Drink Kelly

I went up to Allen Nebraska this last weekend for Easter Dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  While I was there I was talking with my cousin Kelly and told him I had gotten some Hoegaarden Beer at Beertopia last time I was in Omaha.  I learned about both Hoegaarden Beer and Beertopia at Kelly's rehearsal dinner for his wedding last Thanksgiving.  I also mentioned that I had a hard time drinking them because I didn't want to waste them on just any old meal or night, they cost $9 for a six pack but they taste incredible!  But then Kelly deliver me these wise words "Drink it, it's not like they won't make more" and so I cracked one open on Sunday afternoon while playing Domino's with my In-Laws and it was delicious!  I plan on doing this on a regular basis until they are all gone and then seeing as they are making more I will have to go buy some more next time I am in Omaha.  So thanks Kelly for getting me to drink again, now all I need is a nice Hoegaarden glass to drink it out of!

Chicago Here We Come (The Band Not The City)

We got tickets to go see Chicago at the Stir Cove in Council Bluffs, IA today.  We are very excited to go see them, they are one of Sara's favorite bands.  Also it just so happens that they are coming on Sara's Birthday so that will be a fun Birthday night for her.  When I had heard they were going to be here on Sara's Birthday I contacted our friend Aaron to see if he wanted to get tickets with me and we could surprise our wives with them.  Unfortunately Amy heard about them coming and mentioned it when we were together with them last weekend so the cat got out of the bag.  But that is OK Sara is super excited now and it will be so much fun we can't wait! 

Thanks A Lot Mother Nature!

We had a full weekend planned that required a lot of traveling and good old Mother nature has made us cancel them all.  On Saturday we were suppose to go up to Sioux City, IA for Sara's Uncle Wayne's 88th Birthday Party.  Then after spending the evening with her family we were going to stay over night in Sioux City and then take I29 down to Omaha on Sunday morning to meet up with our friends Amy and Aaron and get our second trip to the zoo in.  But now we have decided to cancel all of because Mother Nature thought a snow storm in April was a good idea.  I guess it will give us a chance to catch up on some TV we have saved up on the DVR and to watch some Netflix movies we have sitting on the entertainment center.  But the Zoo would have been more fun.

How I Know I Am Becoming My Dad

That's right I have realized that I am becoming my Dad because I am wearing hats from places that I have been. As far back as I can remember my Dad has always worn hats from places he has been like fire school or other trips my family or parents have been on.  I didn't realize it until recently but I have been wearing my hat from Soarin in Disney world since last year when we got back and when I haven't worn that one I have worn either my Nebraska hat or my Mickey Mouse hat (also from Disney World). Then just recently when we went to the zoo I got a Omaha Zoo hat to wear as well. I am not saying that this is a bad thing being like my Dad is nothing but a good thing. Maybe I will even get some his handyman superpowers in the near future, I know that seems a little far fetched but anything is possible (OK maybe not that).

Gavin Rossdale

I got a ticket to Gavin Rossdale at the Whiskey Roadhouse in the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs Iowa this morning.  I am pretty excited I was always a big Bush fan back in the day and when I heard he was coming I picked up his new CD Wanderlust and I really like it.  It has a very Bush feel to it.  Sara is not a big fan of Bush so it worked out great that it is at the Horseshoe so she can meet her parents there and do some gambling while I am at the show.  Unfortunately it is not until the end of May so I have a long time to wait but it should be fun!  Also I am hoping maybe his wife might be there with him, the beautiful Gwen Stefani, it would be cool to see her since I can't make it down to KC to see the No Doubt Reunion tour.

First Trip To The Zoo

We made our first trip to the zoo this last weekend with our new Zoo Pass. We were going up to Omaha to have lunch with Sara's family for her aunt Lu Lu's 86th Birthday so we decided it would be a good time to use the zoo pass since we were in Omaha already. On the way up there we were talking about who was going to get to take the pictures which lead us to the conclusion that we needed another camera when we went to the zoo. Well it just so happened that Sara saw a decent camera in the Best Buy ad for cheap and we decided that after we ate we would swing over there and pick it up. When we were almost to Sara's Aunts house to pick here up we received a text from our friends Amy and Aaron asking us if we wanted to meet them for supper after we got done at the zoo (They had seen we were going to the zoo on out Facebook pages). So we called them and invited them to come to the zoo with us as well. So after lunch we stopped and picked them at their place, then got our camera at Best Buy and also made a quick stop at Target for a camera case and a new zoo purse for Sara before heading to the zoo. It was a little overcast and windy but the temperature was nice,  it was good zoo weather.

First thing we did was head to the Rainforest, it is one of my favorite things at the zoo. I had forgotten how incredibly humid it was in the Rainforest but after a minute or two you get used to it, plus it made going back outside at the end seem cool outside. We made our way through the top of the rainforest watching all of the animals and looking at all of the beautiful foliage, and taking lots of pictures. I forgot to mention before that the zoo was having a photo contest in the month of March so we were trying to get some good ones to send in for that. Down on the floor of the Rainforest we wound through the streams and ponds and Aaron and I got dive bombed by an exotic bird, sorry I didn't get a picture of it.

Next we were going to head into the new Butterfly pavilion but there was a bit of a line so we decided to go through the Aquarium first. They were feeding the penguins when we got there so we sat and watched them for a little while before we headed into the rest of the aquarium. As we made our way by the Jellyfish tank Aaron wondered how fast you would die if you jumped in the giant jelly fish tank they had. We thought about seeing if we could get him dropped in there but he didn't seem like he wanted to. Sara got this great picture of the coral reef in one of the tanks with her new camera and we saw an amazing array of color fish as we made it the rest of the way through the aquarium.

 The line at the butterfly pavilion was much shorter so we made our way over 

with our large pops we had just bought and waited in the shorter line to get in. Lucky for us we noticed while were standing in line to get in that there were not food or drinks allowed in the butterfly area. So we quickly chugged our pops before we went in. The Butterfly Pavilion was really pretty. They had butterflies everywhere and some of them were HUGE!  The butterfly area lead into the insect pavilion. There were lots of insects and spiders in this area and the girls made their way through pretty fast but Aaron and I tried to find all of the bugs in each case before we left.

Next we headed down to see the Orangutans and the Gorillas. There were two cute baby Orangutans  playing with blankets and a big plastic drum. There were lots of people crowded around watching them as they played and jumped around. One baby would crawl inside the drum then the other would climb on top and jump up and down until he fell off it was so cute. Then we went to visit the gorillas, they weren't as active but we got some great pictures of them!

 Our final stop was in Bear Canyon. This is the most active I have ever seen the bears when I have been at the zoo. I don't know if it was the temperature or the time of day but they were are very active. The grizzly bear in particular; I have never seen him moving around much. He always seems to be sleeping when I am there! So we spent along time watching the polar bear swim back and forth in his tank and the grizzly bear gnawing a a big log near the front of his cage.

After Bear Canyon it was starting to get late and they were closing some of the exhibits so we all climbed back in the car and headed out to eat. After Aaron threw out

 a lot of different restaurants with not much interest from the rest of the car Amy offered up

 The Old Mattress Factory and everyone agreed that sounded good. The food was especially goo

d for a sports bar and in Sara's case quite large as well. She had the Pork tenderloin sandwich and as you can see it was HUGE and she claims it was delicious as well, that night and the leftovers. I had a thin crust Buffalo Chicken pizza  and it was superb! We watched the end of the second round of the NCAA basketball tournament while we ate and the we dropped Amy and Aaron off at home before we rushed home to look at all the pictures we had taken.

As I mentioned above the zoo was having a Photo contest during the month of March and you could submit one picture per person. They had 4 categories Animals, Scenery, Gorillas and Plants. We both choose to submit a plant picture that we took and here they are.

Sara's Entry Photo

Mark's Entry Photo

Over all we had a great day at the zoo and are looking forward to going back again in a few weeks when we will be passing through Omaha after Sara's Uncle Wayne's 88th Birthday in April.  To see some more pictures look on our Facebook pages and all of the photos we took are in our Snapfish album.

Day Off

I had yesterday afternoon and all of today off and boy was it nice.  I watched the first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament for most of the day today and tweeted about it the entire time.  It was a lot of fun and there were some great games.  I also spent some quality time with my laptop trying to clean all of the junk off of it and getting it to run better so I could tweet, update my Facebook and chat with friends while I watched basketball all day.  I even got to have lunch with Sara when she came home for her lunch.  I had some Mac & Cheese and hotdogs sitting on the counter when she walked in the door.  Over all I had lots of fun tweeting and watching all of the great games today so much so that I think taking off the first days of the NCAA Tournament might be an annual thing for me.

Zoo Pass

We got our zoo pass in the mail yesterday!  We are so excited to go, hopefully it will be soon!