Everything is relative in Nebraska

After spending more than a week in the east, it was time to head into the middle of the US and catch up with Grandma Susan and a host of other relatives, including Eli's Great Grandma, in Nebraska. As soon as we arrived, Eli, like me everytime I see it, was blown away with the huge front yard and the thick lush grass at Grandma Susan's place. So much so that we just had to go looking for a ball to play on it. I think it must have been a while since Grandma Susan and Grammie (Eli's Great Grandma) have played ball sports in the yard, so we had to put a ball and a bat or some sort on the shopping list. In the meantime, we had a nice walk around the neighbourhood and spotted quite a few big orange squirrels like the one in this photo.

Later in the evening Eli took to showing Grandma Susan and Great Grandma all of the new tricks he's learnt on the iPad (which a gift to 'me' just prior to leaving for our trip). He had them wrapped around his little finger, although he might have lost them a little later in the trip, when he started taking photos of everyone and then morphing their faces into hideous shapes!







 


Here is a really nice photo of Eli 'morphing' his Great Grandma's face right before her eyes - I don't think she minded too much, but then again, Eli has a cheeky way of getting away with things that the rest of us wouldn't even dare to try.















The next day we headed into downtown Lincoln, where we visited the Lincoln Children's Museum, which is actually a bit like a combination of museum and playground. There was heaps for Eli to do, including dressing up like a prairie dog and running through a burrow system - I happily played the hungry fox and scared the life out of him! Eli also dressed up as a King and sat on a very large chair - see the photo to the right - which I thought looked very cute, if not utterly hilarious.

The highlight (at least for me) was a new interactive light show, in which you can modify what appears on screen just by using your shadow. It's a bit hard to explain, but hopefully these photos and the video will help.

After a busy and fun time at the museum we were happy to be greated by a warm afternoon, so after purchasing a soccer ball and a baseball and bat from the local chemist, we were ready to make the most of Grandma Susan's yard! I don't think the resident cottontail bunny enjoyed our antics - it must have wondered what the heck had happened to it's peaceful home!














Eli and I had a lot of fun out in the yard (NB in this context 'fun' means that Eli scored lots of goals [perhaps with some assistance from me - but don't tell him, ok?] and also hit the baseball onto the road for a brace of home runs).

We really enjoyed our brief stay in Nebraska, especially catching up with our relatives there, but it was soon time to pack our bags (yet again) and head further west for the next stage of our adventures...