Vegas Baby

Okay, so we aren't the "Vegas Baby" kind of family, but we did go to Vegas for Spring Brake.  We chose the destination so I could teach a few oil classes, but it proved to be a spot worth returning.  We had a great time.  The weather wasn't awesome, but it was infinitely better than it was at home.  We did a lot of fun family activities!  Following are pictures of some of the highlights.

PEOPLE - We stopped and spent the night with our friends Jenny and Todd in Cedar City on the way down.  We always enjoy our time with them.  We get great ideas and feel inspired by them.

It was an awesome surprise when on the first day we ran into my Uncle Gordon and Aunt Anna and some of their children and grandchildren staying at the very same resort as us.  It was so fun for the kids to get to know some of their second cousins and for me to visit with them too.  Anna and my cousin Stephanie did this fun painting activity with them the first night.

We also connected with a dear friend of mine, Ang, who hooked us up with tickets to the children's museum.  We had a wonderful day there with her and her little one. The kids were so excited to be there that they asked for this group picture.

CHILDREN'S MUSEUM - We literally spent all day at this amazing museum.  Notice Josh playing by himself in the background of this picture.

The kids are pictured here using team work (and leverage) to lift the car pictured behind.

We played really fun and challenging games.

The girls did art.

We did a science experiment with milk, water colors, and dish soap.

We would have stayed until closing except Johnny became drenched in the water land. Even though he was still having fun we pulled him away shivering.

The weather was a little cool the first few days, but our hotel had four or so huge hot tubs with fountains.  The cool air didn't keep the kids from swimming!

Big Joshua and little Joshua pictured in front of a Joshua tree.

THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY AND CACTUS GARDENS - I remember going here as a child.  It was really impressive to me then and now.  The kids and Josh spent their time looking for lizards, but I loved the garden (and of course the chocolate too.)

WATCHING AIRPLANES - It was fun to watch the airplanes coming into the busy Vegas airport.  There is something mezmorizing about watching jets come and go.

EATING OUT - One fantastic thing about getting a condo is that eating out can be a special occasion.  We took the kids to Rainforest Cafe.  It was crazy expensive but hopefully provided a great experience for them. It was their restaurant choice.

Thanks to a dear friend from home taking our kids for a few hours Josh and I were able to go on a date to a high-end restaurant, Spagos.  He went to in his single days and has been talking about for the past 12+ years.  It wasn't as good as he remembered, but we followed it up with cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory toping the list of my favorite things from the trip.

The kids loved the game room and made friends everywhere we played. 

The lazy river pool was a really fun novelty!

We don't have TV at our house so when we are on vacation watching TV is a real treat.  One show the kids like is called Tanked, where they build amazing fish tanks, since it is filmed in Vegas we went and checked it out.

We spent a night in St. George on the way home with my sister Christie and her Kate.  It was fun to see them and to extend our trip for a day.  We were all tired, but not ready to come home. Going south for spring brake is a tradition I want to keep alive for a very long time!!