Breaking for Spring

We road-tripped it with Sherrie and Lyle down to sunny Las Vegas! And what a weekend! We stayed at Lake Las Vegas, which is a man-made lake surrounded by several resorts; an absolutely beautiful setup if you ask me!

We loved the lake, the beach, the kayaking, the water slide, the company of my parents, and the free breakfast buffet. We did not like the triathlons going on nearby, the water slide & pool hours, nor the spotty Wi-Fi. But to be fair, the hotel recently switched hands and it seemed like they were still trying to figure a few things out. Maybe they’ll get it all down in the months to come.

Upon arriving there was a wedding being setup out the back doors of the lobby:

View from our room:

:

Papa Lyle and Sissy admiring the lake views (and maybe other views?…look closely;) jk Grandpa!

We tried one of the “best buffets in Vegas” according to USA Today at the M Resort. “Hmm, never heard of the place, but let’s give it a go”:

Note to self: There’s a reason no one has ever heard of this “M Resort.” Worst food ever. And Sherrie vomited all night because of it. Shame on you, USA Today!

Did I mention our kids loved their swim time?

Sherrie and Lyle out for a romantic paddle:

Included this next one for the view behind Kate and me in the kayak. Just lovely!:

Grandpa was the BEST sport in the pool with the kids; took me back to my childhood:

We hit the dirty Strip; not sure why:

Dinner at Rainforest Café:

We did, however, see 3 sets of people we knew all within probably 2 hours there so that was kinda cool. (Dental school friends, Arthur and kids; Dave’s dental assistant, Kyla, and Wes and Gina).

We visited the Ethel M Chocolate Factory (owned by Mars). It, too, was ranked highly as the “#2 must-see attraction” in Henderson, Nevada. Another swing and a miss! Watching myself bake is 10 times more exciting than watching these workers. Which Lame-o suggested a factory visit on vacation anyway?;) We did, though, get a most delicious chocolate at the end (so not a complete waste).

Hoover Dam was most exciting of all; mainly because we could sit and tell “dam” jokes all dam* day long! It was hot there, and I think it made things even more hysterical.

And, of course, these two. They were such a delight to sit and listen to each night all nestled up in their bed and bonding through technology! HA! It does, though, make my heart swell to see them like this! What dolls!

We are spoiled and crazy lucky! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE vacations and this little family of ours!

Pics from Phones

A few moments captured on our phone cameras…

New Jammies: 

Cole is huge into Star Wars right now (amongst Legos and Superheroes). When he saw these jammies he couldn’t part without them! Sissy too wanted some Elsa jammies but there were none in her size. She settled for some Olaf jammers until some Elsa ones come along.

One-on-one time with the kids:

 

Cal-Ranch baby chicks. Kate and I discovered them early in the season when it was okay to pick them up and hold them to your heart’s content. Kate couldn’t have died a happy girl that day! We’ve since been back and there are signs and workers everywhere not allowing you to touch them. Still fun to see and hear them!

Coley and I hit Farm Country for the first time this Spring. Didn’t see too many baby animals, but loved our carriage ride.

Birthday celebrations with the Williamsons; two people we never get tired of:

 Enjoyed some dinner entertainment at Benihanas, a little shopping afterwards, as well as a failed mooning attempt. We always walk away with new, fun memories with them.

Dates With the Kids:

Dad and Sissy saw Les Miserables at Hale Center Theater. She loves the movie(edited), and loved the play too (it’s probably her favorite). I would have died from boredom watching a play at her age, but not this girl.

Meanwhile, Coley and I saw the The Muppets; not a super entertaining movie. I wouldn’t want to sit through it again, but I did love the first one:)

Gym Stars

Kate and Cole are both in gymnastics…of course, Dave likes to insist that Cole is actually in gym class (not gymnastics) since calling it “gym class” makes it masculine and also okay. Anyway, the kids had a big, to-do performance where they showed off their stuff to the parents. Both kids were awarded medals and were very proud of themselves, as they should be!

New Aquarium

The dad had a rare day off of work. Sissy ditched school, the mom ditched chores, Cole ditched his Legos, and we all headed up to the aquarium for the day. Since the aquarium isn’t fully completed, we got free return tickets to come back before August. Still, lots to see and do.

No new fishies from what we could tell, but we enjoyed the shark tank, touching shark jaws, watching the otters and penguins, and crossing the rope bridge (to name a few things).

We finished our adventure up at Brick Oven. I’m pretty sure we’d be awesome homeschoolers.

St. Patty’s

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: we don’t have the most creative leprechauns or elf on the shelf at our house. But we have them. And the kids appreciate what little they do for us. So the holiday helpers continue to visit. And all is well.

That said, it was St Patrick’s Day and Lenny returned. The past 2 years, Lenny has left a rainbow yarn maze leading to gold coins. He mixed it up this year and left green balloons on the floor of each of the kids’ rooms while they were sleeping, along with a simple card and gold coins.

Morning came, and the littles were thrilled. In fact, Cole could not part to preschool without his 5 golden coins. I took them out of his hands right before, explained that they needed to stay safe at our house, but somehow he managed to sneak them to preschool anyway. And…wouldn’t take them out of his hands during all of preschool, according to Miss Annette. I bet that was fun for her;)

Later that night, I rolled out some Pinterest gems. I printed off these little treats for my favorite people:

Kate was very touched by these gifts and made her own prizes for each family member (using the gold coins our leprechaun left her). She’s a pretty thoughtful little lady. I’m thinking someday she’ll make for a much better leprechaun than her own momma:

To finish the day, we laid out a green table cloth and green dishes, and had ourselves a green dinner: pesto cream pasta, spinach salad, green grapes, and St. Patrick’s donuts for dessert. This was our first time doing a green-themed dinner and it was a lot of fun. I’m thinking it will be a new tradition. It turned out to be a pretty decent holiday and reminded me that doing just a couple of little things on holidays makes a big difference for these little people of ours. I hope they’ll always have fun memories when it comes to the holidays.

Bad News At the Dentist

There were 2 cavities! Not on me. Well, let’s be real, ONE was on me, but the other was on Sissy! Her very first CAVITY!!!! She’s taking after her momma! Sad face.

She was pretty nervous, and so was I.  I was the mom in the hallway who was DYING to come in the room and hold her hand, BUT I REFRAINED! If I’ve learned one thing being married to a dentist, you don’t do THAT. It always makes the kid more nervous and more emotional, plus I knew Dave was testing me.  I held my ground and she did great in there all by herself! I was proud of the both of us!

Coley sat cool as a cucumber waiting in the next room watching a movie. No sweat there!

And with only a couple of puffy cheeks later, we were outta there with smiles on our faces! Sister did great! So did I (even if I didn’t get my gas mask fix this trip). And I suppose we should mention that the dad did great too! Happy day!

Next, we grabbed pom-poms and headed to cousin, Madi’s, softball game. It was pretty much freezing cold. But we bundled up and survived. The kids had a blast running around with their cousins and Cash, the dog. I don’t like dogs, but that’s a discussion for another day.

A Day Out With My Buddy

My field trips have slowed down ever since I got two kids. The other day Mr. Coley Bear and I ventured out and it felt great! We shot for the zoo, but unbeknownst to us, it was Free Day there!!! Ugh. I have NEVER seen crowds like that in ALL MY LIFE (and I have shopped at Costco’s in California on Saturdays). We quickly changed plans at stopped at the nearby Fort Douglas Museum.

Let me tell you, there’s a reason that place is free to visitors. It’s not super cool. But you know what? Those old men running the  show treated us like gold! We pretty much had a tour guide the whole time we were there. Whenever one dude would leave us be, the next dude would step up. We learned lots of “semi-neat” facts;) and even got a sneak peak of the new museum they are building on the property. Literally. They took us in with all the construction workers and showed us the FUTURE of Fort Douglas. It was all pretty sweet. We sure felt special.

This little monkey

Piece of the Twin Towers. They shipped out like 19? of these to different states, and we were one of the lucky few to get one

Cole trying his best to board the tank

Free soldier figurine just for coming!

Overall, a fun get-away for little boys! Cole loved the swords, guns, cannons, and especially the helicopters that were on the property. He couldn’t quite understand why we didn’t get to go for a ride on the helis, but forgave me in the end.