Omaha Zoo/Coco Key Family Weekend

The Omaha Zoo coupled with the Coco Key Waterpark is definately a worthy place to take an active young boy. We were up early and going non-stop except to eat from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. We were so tired that we skipped the Imax movie thinking that it would be a waste of money -- we all thought we might fall asleep.

We arrived Friday about 7:30 pm and hit the waterpark, then the hotel pool, then off to bed. But, Dylan did not want to sleep. Our first meltdown of the weekend. Dad handled this one -- it was not pretty. I pretended to be asleep (as if anyone in the hotel could sleep through that kind of screaming). What a will that child has.

Unbeknownst to us the former dweller of our hotel room had set the alarm for like 5 am. After laying in bed for another hour trying to fall asleep gave up, got up and took a shower and planned the day. I woke everyone else up at 7 am to get dressed, we went to eat and went to the zoo. It worked out perfectly, we got there right after it opened.

The zoo was pretty empty to start with we saw the Cat's, Bears, the list goes on. It was incredible. The thing that sticks out about Saturday was the gorilla exhibit. This gorilla actually came up to our son, stared him down eye-to-ey for a while, did his King Kong thing and kicked the glass. I don't know what that was about, but I'm hoping it was a show of dominance by the gorilla and I'm hoping our son learned a little something from it -- if nothing else too fear the gorilla. Our son was really not effected by this at all -- I expected a freak out, but thankfully no. We watched some gorillas and monkeys play together -- it was so hilarious.

We rode the sky tram which I thought would be fun. Oh was I wrong -- something about not being enclosed in midair nearly elicited an anxiety attack.

The Desert Dome was awesome (and getting there put an end to the perseverating that had been going on all morning by our son about going to the desert dome). They had authentic sand. We were all entranced by the experience. The nighttime, underground part of the desert dome was equipped with an experience of the senses for us humans, many nocturnal animals, a cave, and a swamp with real crocs (dad's fav). The swamp was by far the creepiest with its music and crickets and the looming danger of crocs under fence.

Then the train ride. I'm sure there was more that we saw Sat., but I have forgotten already.

We left for our hotel and some much deserved dinner. We seemed to have a ton of trouble with our child at mealtime. He acted up at breakfast, lunch and dinner. We finally told him to act as if he were with his grandma while we were eating out -- didn't help but at least we planted the idea.

After dinner we were off to Coco Key Waterpark. I rode the waterslides with my son -- they were fun. There was one that was dark, no lights, can't see what's coming -- you get the idea. My don was scared to death, and don't tell him but so was I. I sucked it up for his benefit though. Then we told dad that he had to go down it -- it was the coolest. You get the idea -- he was not pleased with our small fib. Needless to say we did not visit the dark waterslide again, but we rode the heck out of the light one.

After the waterslide fun wore off my son decided to play somewhere else. So the adults sat in the spa for a while -- about 5 minutes. Then it was off to watch over our pride and joy, i.e., yell at him to stop running (we remember the concussion and ER trip from an Oceans of Fun accident a couple weeks ago, but evidently he did not). Dad had to get onto the boy many times to no avail, but he didn't have it in him to make him leave the park like he had threatened. Dad getting onto the boy spurred the boy to yell back at him and one of the things he said was "Dad, I'm not a baby anymore -- I know how to be careful -- I don't need you to tell me everything!" This is the same child who a few days ago wanted his mommy to get him a shovel out of the shed because he was afraid a spider or wasp might get him. Well, guess what about 5 min after dad gave up our son got hurt and had to go to first aid. He scraped a bolt and tore the skin off his heal -- nearly needed stitches, but thankfully did not. We did have to leave the park though (hopefully the boy learned his lesson the hard way). The manager was nice and gave up a card to play in the arcade for free the rest of the night -- what a guy! So that's what we did (I snuck out about 1/2 hr before close though). Evidently our son was NASCAR racing an older lady who lives about 5 minutes from us and my hubby said she was awesome and had done some racing in real life -- a super challenge for our son.

Our plan for Sunday was to get up and go the same time and hit all the other cool exhibits that were too busy Sat afternoon. And, that's what we did same arguments by our son a breakfast too.

The first stop was the Aquarium. Oh what a wonderful thing. Sharks and sting rays swimming all around you. Beautiful colors, coral, fish of all kind. The jellyfish were very cool, very relaxing to watch -- like a psychodelic thing. Oh and the penguins all types of penguins. It was at the aquarium that I took the best pic of the trip, as voted by the family. This fish was so ugly it was cute and I caught it at just the right time.

On to the Butterfly and Bug exhibit. Oh my how peaceful! This by far was my fav. The flowers and the hundreds of butterflies. I just can't explain it.

On to the Lied Jungle -- lots of monkeys here. The baby and mom monkey captivated me. It was so interesting to see the families of monkeys interact. I beleive, a lesson from the Lord on mothering. I was trying and trying to get a good picture of them, but the Lord wouldn't have it -- He wanted me to stop, watch and learn. We also saw fish that were longer than I am tall.

Then to the Wild Kingdom. Not too cool for mom and dad, but the kid seemed to like it. Of course -- they had a jeep he could get into and steer.

Back to the Desert Dome Nighttime Exhibit. Dad wanted to see this again so we did. We raced through to the crocs. Then we were done -- we discussed an IMAX but decided we were all too tired and would probably just fall asleep.

Off to the car for the trip home. Our son downed about a dozen 100 cal snacks and fell asleep. We stopped to see the windmills, which may have been the highlight of the trip for my husband.

At home we wearily returned to our routine and went to be very early. A good time was had by all. All of the incidents were minor and the fun was major!

This blog is about Asperger's so here we go. Our plan for this weekend was to not make it about what our son wanted which is why we let the perseveration go on for so long. I don't know if this is true of all Asperger's kids, but our son thinks the world revolves around him and we all exist to please him and appease his every whim. We decided that we were doing what we wanted, when we wanted and if that's what he wanted then it just worked out that way otherwise he was out of luck. So, that's what we did -- I couldn't tell if it was a success or failure. We also decided that nothing would be purchased for him, as this tends to be a problem -- he thinks he has to have something not because it's useful or fun to play with, but just to have it. My husband nearly caved on this but I got to him first. And, I am oh so happy about the I'm not a baby anymore statement. I for one am letting him do for himself as much as possible -- he loves to play helpless or scared -- I'm not falling for it anymore. As I have always said, I think he's just smarter than me.