Like The Photos? You'll Love The Video!

Behind the scenes at the photo shoot.

Re-enacting the post-game fight song.

They Love Their UNO Hockey

After Lauren bailed on our "Back to the Future at Baxter" shoot, we took a few more photos.

UNO hockey means a lot to the girls. Several of them are season ticket holders, in fact. So when a special salute to the Mavericks' program went up recently at Aksarben Village, we knew we had to get some photos with it.

Celebrating a victory. Well, kind of.

Ready for the face off.

I am not sure what was happening in this photo. Feel free to comment.

Geez, Julia. Talk about strength!

The girls posed in homage to the photos behind them.

Back to the Future: Aksarben Village

We shot this photo in August of 2012.

Aksarben Village has been the site of quite a few of our "Back to the Future" series photos. (Read about them here.) So last night, we decided to check on the progress of one from nearly three years ago.

Lauren said her knees look the same in both photos. And that she hasn't grown.

As you can see, there is no new building in "Zone 6." Only a parking lot, primarily used by Aksarben Cinema patrons. But we are told the building is still to come. So I guess this photo is the "in progress" version.

Here is how the latest "Back to the Future" series photo looked on Facebook.

Seeing 'Annie'

Before the movie started, we had a "private screening" session going.

Twice in the past week, we had tried to see "Annie." Both times, we arrived at our favorite movie theater, Aksarben Cinema, to learn it was sold out. So this time, we aimed for a late (9:30 p.m.) showing. That's all it took. When we arrived, we were the only people in the theater. It stayed that way until the previews, when two people came in and sat in the back row.

Overall, the movie was pretty good. Having not seen the 1982 original "Annie," I didn't know what to expect – especially since this is "Black Annie" (as many moviegoers have come to call it). It was fine and I even cracked a few one-liners that had Emily and Lauren in near tears. Lauren and Emily had actually been on their way out, having seen a different movie. But Olivia, Julia and Veronica convinced them to join us.

We also got to see Emily in the Aksarben Cinema promo that ran before the movie:



Afterwards, we had some fun with the bikes outdoors:

Olivia was ready to roll.

Veronica said this reminded her of the other time we rode these bikes.

For a moment, I thought Olivia was going to be able to ride it like an exercise bike.

You wouldn't know it from the look on Veronica's face, but it was pretty cold out.

Julia put on one of her priceless expressions for this photo.

Aksarben Village really does it up nicely for the holidays.

UNO Arena Update

This one won't be used in our Christmas letter
because it is not a white car in the background.

We had noticed a lot of progress at the UNO arena site lately, so we thought it would be a good time to do another photo update that can be included in our "Back to the Future" photo series. (If you aren't familiar with it, read this post.)

Fortunately, the weather was good. And true to form, Lauren lasted all of four or five photos before she shrilled "I'm tired of this!" and walked off.

Here's the photo shoot, in photos:

Veronica got a lift from Emily.

Everyone was on the lookout for a white car for our usual background.

This one should work just fine.

This is typical of the craziness behind the scenes at one of our shoots.

Lauren has obviously had enough.

We can still include (at least part of) her!

Here's an update on the Pacific Life building, which will go next to the parking garage.

Aksarben Village Construction Update

Lauren posed in front of the construction of the Pacific Life Building.

It wasn't too long ago that we would park at Aksarben Village and walk across a large, empty, grassy lot to get to Aksarben Cinema. Now the grass is gone, a fence has gone up and a mammoth structure is going up.

Lauren and I stopped by to see the progress. The view over the fence (at right) shows construction of the planned Pacific Life building is coming right along.

Here is one of the buildings, as described by the Omaha World-Herald.

And here is a bird's eye view of the planned construction (courtesy of the Omaha World-Herald).

Oh Lauren.

She doesn't like getting her photo taken.

But she will take photos like this one!

 

Dudley's Pizza Time

We enjoyed dinner at Dudley's Pizza & Tavern tonight.

Yes, we own a lot of phones.

Check out the huge straw Veronica (seen with Emily, right) put together.

Back to the Future: DJ's Dugout

You probably know by now how fond we are of taking our "Back to the Future" photos around town. If not, here is a post to catch you up.

Today, we were able to check another location off our list. This one involves the DJ's Dugout that went up in Aksarben Village. We took the original photo Sept. 30, 2012.

Take note of the Ponzu Sushi and Grill restaurant in the upper left of the original photo. Many people have wondered what "Ponzu" means. Now we know ... "hidden restaurant."

We wondered why anyone would build a restaurant right in front of Aksarben Cinema.

Now we know the answer: it's a prime location at Aksarben Village.