Flirting with summer

 

The weather in Omaha seems to be flirting with summer, so we got to experience some hot and humid weather on Saturday as Vivian and I dropped by Nick and Lisa's new place to help them move in. Nick and Lisa were the leaders of a small group bible study that seemed to end unofficially last year as everyone in the group started having babies. After squeezing inside a one-room apartment for a couple years, they finally got their own house far out in West Omaha (so far west that if they were any father they'd be in Gretna).

We also hadn't seen them since they had their little boy Noah, so he and Hannah got to meet each other and shake hands while rolling around on the clean, new carpet. A bunch of other friends and relatives dropped in to move cribs, couches, and other things, and then we ate lunch together once we were all done.

That evening, Vivian and I were in the mood to do something downtown, so we managed to grab Anne and crashed at Ted & Wally's for some ice cream with Hannah. We took an extended walk around the Old Market afterward, and Hannah got to have her first trip down one of the big slides by the Gene Leahy Mall. We made a couple obligatory stops at some candy shops on the way back to the car. Hannah's just recently learned how to reach and grab for things, and she put this skill to use grabbing at candy in the open jars at the Old Market Candy Shop (dare I say she had "sticky fingers?") We dropped by the Hollywood Candy shop before going home, where we discovered a shelf full of vintage lunch boxes that brought back memories of elementary school and Saturday morning cartoons.

On Sunday, Vivian and I went to church and then headed up to Aksarben Village for the afternoon. I had a meeting with the Omaha Area Objectivists at Godfather's Pizza, so Vivian spent an hour or two dancing with the jitterbugs at Lindy in the Park.

On Sunday night, we dropped by Jon's house (still under construction) to celebrate Ben Anderson's birthday. We had a cookout in the backyard and got to catch up with a couple old friends, including Corey, who I don't think I've seen in a couple years. He apparently had a two-year-old boy now, who joined several other happy kids in our little group. Once it got dark, we went back inside to have a high-tension game of Clue while devouring a couple of ice cream cakes (we had one for Anne since it was technically her birthday, too).

Among Ben's assortment of presents was a DVD of Sweatin' to the Oldies, so we naturally, we had to pop it in for a workout to burn off our sugar together with some Richard Simmons zaniness (right after a brief silly string fight between Ben and Jon, of course). Hannah just watched us in bewilderment, likely trying to figure out whether these people were supposed to be the grown-ups.

Monday was a bit of a catch-up day for Vivian and me. I took Vivian out on a "day date" and we watched The Avengers together at the Twin Creek Theater. It was a decent superhero film, but not quite the "ZOMG best movie evar!" squee-fest I was expecting. We went to Culver's afterward and spent the rest of the day doing laundry and resting up.