A Very Special Trip to Lincoln

On Saturday, we loaded up and headed north for one final midwestern day trip. We were Lincoln bound!

I’ve mentioned a handful of times before that my second cousins live in Omaha, and about a year ago we all met for the first time. I don’t think any of us expected to click so instantly, but throughout the last 10 months we’ve tried to squeeze in time together whenever we could despite the 3.5 hour distance, school schedules, work schedules, and general life happenings. We found ourselves not spending time together because we’re relatives, but simply because we immensely enjoyed our time together.

We knew Saturday would be our last chance to be together for a while, so we decided to meet in Lincoln and have a fun day!

Saturday was extra special because my great-aunt and uncle joined us from Chicago. My Uncle Norris is my grandmother’s only sibling, and because she passed before I was born, I’ve always felt like staying connected to him was a sweet connection to the grandmother I never knew (my mom’s mom). I couldn’t wait to see them and introduce them to Jamie and the girls. He made several comments about how much his sister would have loved being my grandmother and knowing my family, which made me really happy, and a bit sad too.

He has the prettiest, deepest eyes, and looking at him felt like I was looking at pictures of my grandmother. His eyes look so much like hers (at least from pictures), and it was a special feeling knowing that she probably would have looked at me the same way he did. I can’t explain it; It was neat though.

After a long lunch of catching up and listening to stories, we headed downtown and spent a couple of hours at the children’s museum.

Whenever we are with my cousins, Jamie and I get to be totally hands off! Ha! They are so sweet with our girls, and Hadley and Sadie think each of them hung the sun, moon, and stars.

If you’re ever in the area, I’d recommend running around this museum for a bit. It was great!

Around 3ish, we headed down to the University of Nebraska campus. It was the most beautiful day (sunny and 73 degrees), so we walked around for a little bit and indulged in some ice cream from the creamery on the agriculture side of campus.

Did I fail to mention that Sadie powered through all day without a nap?! When we were planning out the day, there really wasn’t a window to squeeze in a nap, so we just figured we’d roll it and do the best we could. We figured she’d fall apart in the museum, so we brought a stroller along so she could snooze while we walked around. Did we need it? Nope! Girlfriend totally knew how to hang.

While we waited in line for ice cream, she found a nice little spot on Mallory’s shoulder to nuzzle into, but of course perked right back up when her strawberry ice cream was given to her. “Sadie, what kind of ice cream do you want?” “PINK!”

Of course.

The goodbyes were quick because otherwise it would have been way too painful. They always say that painful goodbyes are a good thing because it means you were so lucky to have found what you did, and in this case, that’s absolutely true. We will miss these relatives dearly, but we are so grateful for the opportunity to connect like we did. Now we just have to be intentional and creative about connecting again just as soon as we can. 🙂

As we rolled out of town, we did a quick drive-by of the Huskers stadium. We always enjoy seeing other college’s stadiums, so we were glad to cross this one off of our list while we had the chance.

Let’s chat!

Have you been to Lincoln? It seems like such a neat city!

Have you (re)connected with any new family members recently?