I love to be outside!

Chris and Angela invited us to join them for a picnic in the Heartland of America Park and a walk across the pedestrian bridge that goes over the Missouri River and connects Omaha and Council-Tucky (aka Council Bluffs, IA). It was a perfect day for 2 such activities.

The park is so pretty. I am loving that the weather has been nice enough to actually do things outside!

On our walk to find a good place to have our picnic, we happened to pass by 2 huge, beautiful swans. I had never seen them up close before. I was amazed at how enormous they are! One of the swans (the mamma) was sitting on her nest, while the daddy kept watch for anyone who got too close. The picture below is the daddy swan.

Lucky for us, we found the perfect place to break out our feast.

Here are Angela and Chris picnic-ing.

And here's us!

Misha and Daisy got to enjoy a little picnic of their own. Kongs filled with goodies...mostly to keep them from bugging us while we were trying to eat.

After we had eaten, we continued on our journey across the bridge. From this view, the bridge looks straight, but it's actually curved like an "S." Probably a huge waste of time and money, but pretty cool lookin'!

It ended up being a very long walk - I think a lot longer than any of us thought it was going to be, I think. Just before we got to the bridge, we decided to stop and let the dogs rest. They were both dragging their paws and panting like crazy. There's something wrong with that situation, isn't there? Shouldn't the people be the ones to tire out first? Misha and Daisy are such weenies!

At least they get along when they're tired! Usually Misha is on top of Daisy and "growling" and biting her neck (only playing, of course) or stealing Daisy's sticks away and taunting her with them. Misha is kind of a bully and plays a little rough sometimes, but Daisy must like it because she's always going back to Misha for more. It's a love-hate relationship, I think. But don't they look so sweet all cuddled up next to each other in this picture?

Our walk across the bridge was nice. Although, once we got to the Council Bluffs side of the bridge, we weren't sure where to go from there. On the Omaha side, there are all sorts of things to see and do. You walk just a little ways and you have restaurants, parks, and shops. But on the Council Bluffs side, you're basically in the middle of nowhere. So... we simply turned around and went back to Omaha! I guess we should have known better than to think that Council-Tucky would have anything interesting to see! It was fun anyway and I'm glad that we got to experience the new bridge in all its glory. It was so nice to finally get outside and actually enjoy the beautiful scenery that comes with spring. I just hope this nice weather is here to stay for a while!