Things to Do in Papillion

After beads etc.'s helpful, friendly staff helps students find the best beads among its selection of more than 250,000 pieces, eager beaders will then spend 90 minutes boning up on the basics in Intro Jewelry Making 1. Once students have gained the beads' trust, they'll be free to advance to the next tier of adornment creation with the 90-minute Intro Jewelry Making 2 class, in which students will make a dangle key chain and one pair of earrings with six- and eight-millimeter Swarovski crystals. The enrollment for this second-level course includes costs for all necessary materials.

Dedicated to helping guests locate the core of their physical and spiritual beings, Legacy Pilates, Yoga & More's instructors blend Eastern and Western philosophies into emphatic programs that focus on establishing unity between the mind and body. The sounds of heaving breaths and stretch-induced groans permeate the center’s expansive studios, where instructors lead classes in Pilates and yoga along with high-energy Zumba dance-a-thons. Limbs stretched to their limits during workouts can recover with massage and reiki sessions that target the body’s centers of energy and relax muscles still barking from prolonged downward-dog poses.

When a major flood hit the Missouri River in 2011, it drastically changed the riverfront, creating new sights across its banks. With this fresh face, the river serves as a scenic stage for tours on the River City Star, a riverboat featured in USA Today's August 2009 article “10 Great Places to Stream Through Cities”.

At the wheel of a classic, double-decker riverboat is one of River City Star's two captains, Captain Ken and Captain Steve. Accompanied by an expert crew, the captains ferry passengers over the serene waters that make up Omaha's riverfront. They pass by antique structures such as the historic Old Iowa-Nebraska Swing Bridge, and newer fixtures including the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge, described in USA Today as “a one-of-a-kind design that looks like an art installation across the river.”

On dinner cruises, cooks prepare a lineup of cuisine that changes monthly, as passengers dance to the sounds of live jazz or island music. Back on land, weddings unfold beneath a 40'x80' tent set up at Miller's Landing.

Lie back and slow down on an inflated cloud of relaxation as you float down the Elkhorn River with tube-loads of friends, food, and summer thirst quenchers. Bring whatever you desire to add some fire into the weekend waterfest: waterproof radios, waterproof watches, and waterproof children are all welcome aboard. The journey usually lasts between four and five hours from start to finish, so you'll have plenty of time to finish off a few 24-packs of strawberries with your floatmates.

Sempeck's Bowling & Entertainment throws open its doors and beckons fun seekers inside an expansive facility to steer go-karts down an indoor track, bob and weave in a two-story laser-tag arena, and bowl on lanes that transform into cosmic-themed extravaganzas every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. Inside the fun factory lies a video-game arcade equipped with skee-ball, crane games, and prizes for anyone who can slay the three-headed prize guard. After fierce competitions, high-definition TVs and frosty beverages await players in the Sparetime Sports Bar & Restaurant, an in-house eatery that hosts karaoke every Friday night.

As an HGTV-featured glass artist and author of the short story collection An Extraordinary Life: …Once You Take Out All of the Boring Crap, Kristi Pederson encourages individuals to embrace creativity. Adult and kids' art classes at her studio, Adventure in Art, focus on fun over perfectionism as Kristi teaches beginner-level students to create projects such as fused-glass ornaments and custom jewelry. And during Paint N Pour sessions, adults sip goblets of vino as they fill canvases with color and learn how Leonardo Da Vinci invented red wine by cleaning his brushes in chardonnay.