Las Vegas pics.
I thought I might make a post and here it is! Here are some pictures from our las vegas trip. I hope you like them!
thanks-Hunter
Read MoreLas Vegas Getaway
This last week was an especially rough one for Rob at work. He’s been working on a deal that was originally supposed to close on Friday, then it was bumped to today, and who knows when it actually will close, but it has been one of those killers trying to meet the deadlines. Every night last week he got home as early as 11:00 pm and as late as 2:00 am. I suppose it was lucky he didn’t need to pull all-nighters which he has had to do before. Anyway, the weekend came and we were faced with a blessing and a curse. There was another work obligation… in Las Vegas. There was a conference that Rob was signed up to attend. Luckily, we were all able to go and the firm paid for our rooms.
We made the four hour drive and arrived at the Signature at MGM Grand. We were all excited to find that our rooms were beautiful! We had adjoining rooms, one for the kids to sleep in and the other for us. From the balcony we could see the airplanes taking off and landing which was so exciting for the kids, and luckily not noisy enough to make it annoying. One of the favorite features was the TV that raises up out of the desk, fancy! I have to admit I wasn’t too excited about the idea of packing everyone up for a one night stay that would mostly be me and the kids in the hotel room, while Rob went to the the conference and a fancy dinner. It turned out to be a lot of fun for us though.
I ordered pizza and the kids and I ate, played games and watched the movie, Bridge to Terabithia. I warned them that it was very sad, but they insisted that it was one they wanted to watch. It was sad, but also a great story. I’d recommend this one for the family. About half way through the movie I took the little girls in the other room and put on Baby Einstein Farm Animals. They loved that one and had fun watching as they jumped on the big bed. Rob returned around 10:30 pm to find me and Emma crying on the couch at the end of Bridge to Terabithia, Hunter lounging on the floor seemingly unphased by it, and the little girls sitting quietly with me knowing that if they fussed at all I would put them to bed.
After we put the kids to bed, Rob and I snuggled up to watch Deadliest Catch Season One. We have gotten into this show since we expanded our cable a month ago. It’s the true definition of a reality show, following several fishing boats as they make their way through “the vast Bering Sea” to find crab. It sounds like it wouldn’t be very interesting, but somehow it is fascinating and we just had to go back and find season one, since we came in on season three.
The next morning we woke up and prepared for our trip home. But before leaving we took a long walk to see the lion habitat at the MGM Grand and then on to M&M World, where we were all left drooling. Sabrina literally was, and left the store sucking on a bag of M&Ms with a chocolate goatee. Having exhausted our knowledge of family friendly attractions near the hotel we headed home.
There was something surreal about the experience of leading our little kids through the hotel casino to get back to our van. There was a walkway running through it and on all sides we were surrounded by people planted at their slot machines with their hands poised over a button feeding quarters, mindlessly pushing the button hoping for a big payout. It was sad to me because none of them seemed to be having any fun. In fact most of them sat alone. Not quite the kind of fun you see in the images of Las Vegas playing on TV.
It was a great trip for our family though. We made some fun memories and I stocked up on hotel shampoos, lotions and soaps 😉 The return trip took us six hours because we hit a lot of slow traffic so we’re glad to be home now. It’s back to the old grind…
Club Penguin
Club Penguin is Hunter’s and Emma’s favorite place to go online. It’s a great site for kids because it is so safe and there is zero advertising. The kids can sign up for a monthly fee and then live in the virtual penguin world. They have to “work” to earn coins and then they can spend the coins to buy things to decorate their igloos or for their pet “puffles.” The puffles have to be fed, exercised etc., and Hunter gets so bugged when he has to use his coins to buy them food. I like it because he’s learning about how the financial world works, except that work is actually playing games and more like fun. Hunter and Emma use their allowance to pay for the membership fee, so that’s another way they can practice their financial skills. The penguins can also have monitored interaction or chat with the other penguin friends. Hunter and his school friend have figured out times to meet online and they can chat and play together. Club Penguin recently announced that they are partnering up with Disney, so you may hear more about it now…
A Very Merry Unbirthday
This messes things up a bit as far as dates go, but I just had to do a post about the Unbirthday Party we had with the cousins in Utah. We never get to celebrate with any of them because we are so far away, so I thought it would be fun to throw a party and celebrate with everyone at once. Melanie made a fancy cake and cupcakes, Heidi brought a delicious desserty fruit salad, Korby brought pinatas and goody bags, and Heather drove the 45 minutes with her 7 kids to be there too! We had a picnic dinner and the kids played in the park in between eating, hitting the pinatas, and opening presents. It was so much fun! Adler got stomp rockets that the kids had to try out right then, and we had a couple of rescue missions to get them off of roofs and out of trees. We’ll have to do it again!
Read MoreSetting Up for the Reception
On the day before Matt and Ashley’s wedding, all of the families came together for the setup in my parents’ back yard. Everyone worked really hard including Hunter who strung up lights with the guys, and Emma who was Nana’s “personal assistant.”
Matt and Ashley had a blast putting up the umbrella lights
Nana was supposed to be sitting in that wheelchair since she had two swollen ankles from her fall, but just couldn’t help herself
The kids kept busy with the bowling game in the entryway
Melissa and Emma frosting mini cupcakes
Centerpieces for the tables in the yard
Ashley’s Dad and brother Brady stringing up lights
Nana and Kate enjoying the yard after dinner
Hannah and Sabrina put on a hula dance show after dark
Disneyland ’07
We had such a fun, hot, full, exhausting day at Disneyland yesterday! Rob was able to get a small discount through his office so we went for the park hopper passes. That meant we could also spend some time at California Adventure. I was very ready for a long miserable time in the lines. After all it was Disneyland in August, the height of the tourist season, on a Saturday.
We were surprised that it wasn’t nearly as bad as we had feared. There was a constant line at the new Finding Nemo submarine ride, and it was a 2 hour wait both times we checked in on it. It wouldn’t be worth it, especially in 95 degree weather with humidity that reminded us of North Carolina. So maybe next time. We did however hit a whole lot of other rides: Splash Mountain (my favorite of the day), tea cups, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, Carousel, Toon Town, Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Honey I Shrunk the Audience… etc, etc.
The highlight of the day for Sabrina seemed to be at lunch when a worker bee was hunting for food at our table. She loved the little bug, and kept laughing and trying to catch him as both Emma and Ciel squirmed and swished their hands quickly whenever it came near. She’s got a strong beekeeper’s gene from both sides of the family and it was fun to watch her enjoying the bees. Maybe we’ll get her a beehive for her second birthday 🙂
Ciel had a great time on her first visit to the park, and she seemed so happy walking around in her pirate goofy hat all day! Emma and Hunter kept arguing over who would sit next to her on the rides, so she was a popular addition to the family!
We walked over to California Adventure at dinner time and it was so empty! We loved it because there were no crowds to navigate through and no lines. A Bug’s Land was a great area with lots of rides that we could take everyone on including Sabrina. And the best part of all was literally no waiting! Amazing!
We did have a little trouble at the Ferris Wheel that was a much longer wait than anticipated so unfortunately those waiting for it missed the Electric parade. Hannah, Sabrina and I were able to catch most of it, and Hannah waved at the characters the whole time and just loved the princesses. Especially Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After the parade we went back to Disneyland and caught the last of the fireworks show and hit one last ride. By then it was almost 11:00 so we packed it up and headed home. This morning it was tough to get up for 9:00 am church, but we made it, and on time too!
Everyone had such a blast and I hope there were lots of good memories for the kids!
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