Hidden Omaha......revealed!

So....I know you are all on pins and needles regarding what there is to do in Omaha when you are not pumping pureed fishsticks down your daughter's gullet (that is actually one of the sixteen foods she is being taught to eat..and no, they do not puree tarter sauce with them....no wonder she's not loving it).  Here's the skinny on Omaha fun......sorry....bad choice of words given our situation.... :(

 During breaks at food camp there are two playgrounds.  We share these areas with a camp for children with special needs and the other half of the program at our clinic.....children with severe behavior disorders.  I haven't been able to photograph the clinicians who work with the kids with behavioral disorders but they wear padded suits straight out of American Gladiator (I'll post one if I get it).  Just about every five minutes on the playground someone loses their shit, starts screaming and punching things and has to be carried out in an arm lockdown position by two bulky bodyguard-ish therapists.  It adds to our time on the slides.  There are also mandatory times when we can't be in the hallways as dangerous children are transferring from therapy sessions.  I am making a shiv out of Mabel's Frozen magnets just in case we need it in the halls.

 

We went to a pizza place behind the hospital that has been on Jeopardy. 
The Question: "Our head Writer says the best pizza at LaCasa Pizzaria on Leavenworth St. in this largest Nebraska city?"

Answer: Omaha

The place is called "La Casa"  It’s pretty yummy....thin crust...family owned..... and has this guy on the sign.  I ate half a pizza by myself.  I don't think I am proud of that......

 I have also eaten a disgusting amount of cheese curds in the past week.  So has Nico.  What can I say...they're squeaky.  Neither of us plan on shitting for the next month.  Thank you Midwest.

 The Omaha art museum is free this summer. It was pretty great to give Nico his first George Seurat/Ferris Bueller experience with impressionist paintings.  He ended up explaining how to view an Impressionist painting to all the patrons that entered the gallery to show them, too, the magic of getting close and seeing a mess and then backing up and seeing an idyllic water garden.  Super cute.
 
  It was not as fun to have to explain Jesus shooting blood in cup and breast with skull.....OK...it was fun making up reasons for both paintings.  Kind of like art Madlibs.....

We also got to draw on each other's faces with marker through a window and make a stop motion animation movie where two dinosaurs ate just about everything in the vicinity.  The fun never stops!

Pre-getting yelled at for playing in the fountain outside the art museum

Post getting yelled at for playing in the fountain.  I blame me and my bad parenting.

 OK...this was weird.  In the "Mall that time forgot" (No joke...this mall had no stores and the food court was boarded up.  There was a man doing a radio show from a former Payless shoe store,  a Radioshack that was now home to a Thai eyebrow threading operation (but was still called "Radioshack", and a kiosk that was manned by absolutely no one selling $7 sunglasses and sadness.)  But one of the stores is now a Czech and Slovak museum.....they had a sign saying they were only open form 12-5 on Saturdays and Sundays due to lack of volunteers!  Seriously considering donating my time and Czech-i-ness to making this summer a little something special for the Czech community here in Omaha.

 Also, if you cross the river in Omaha, you end up in Iowa....which is kind of like a great big Omaha.....and what do they have to offer in the great town of Council Bluff, Iowa?  Well funny you should ask.  You could go to the "Squirrel Cage Museum" and have this guy tell you about the infamous squirrel cage prison that was the world's only rotating prison until the 60s.  It was supposed to be more secure because you only had to access to one inmate at a time because it was revolving constantly around the outlet.  It made a lap every ten minutes.  Yep, we learned about it today.  Wow Council Bluffs!  That's crazy!  But what else?  Oh, you are home to Black Squirrels and have a law against tampering with them.  I love this place!

 I know you are all now turning green looking down at your i-phones on the beach reading this....or from your sat-phones on your camping chairs sitting next to mountain lakes after rafting all day and fuming with jealousy.  You should be.  Oh yes....you should be.