our Thanksgiving vacation

CJ, why don't you start us out by telling everyone where we went for our Thanksgiving family vacation.

That's right, we went to Vegas for Thanksgiving! Our trip to Vegas was Jon's birthday present from his parents and a chance to have some fun before life gets crazy with Jon's surgery coming up.

Our friends Rochelle and Travis invited us to Vegas for Thanksgiving because we had been trying for 2 years to visit. Everything worked out, and we went. We drove all day Wednesday leaving at 6:30am and arriving at 2:30pm in Vegas - not as bad as we expected. We stayed at Ro and Travis's house, so that was nice and relaxing. We enjoyed a very delicious Thanksgiving meal with our friends on Thursday and then decided that we would have enough time to see a bit of Vegas that night. So Ro took us to the Strip as our tour guide and gave us some tips for traveling (like how to deal with all the crazy drivers) and told us what was worth seeing. That night all we did was drive down the Strip and watch the Bellagio fountains - a must see in Vegas.

at the Bellagio Gardens (inside) and of course the famous fountain show (outside)

On Friday we decided to spend the day on the Strip - just our little family. We don't have pictures of everything, but here is what we saw: MGM Grand and the Lions inside (pretty lame, you're better off going to a zoo), M&M World, lunch at the most expensive Wendy's we've ever been to at the Food Court, and then we walked through New York, New York and over to Excalibur.

M&M World

After seeing the Castle (Excalibur) we decided we needed to give CD a break and do some driving so she could sleep. She prepared herself for a nap by walking from the Excalibur Hotel back to our van at the MGM Grand Hotel. That's a pretty long walk for a little girl who isn't quite 2. But anytime I tried picking her up she would fight me until I about dropped her. So she walked. And then she slept. In order to give CD a little nap, we drove by the Luxor (the big pyramid) and down the Strip towards Caesar's Palace.

CD's walk

At Caesar's Palace we walked around the Forum Shops and loved looking at the ceiling that looked like you were outside and seeing all the intricate work and statues. The one store we went in was the toy store - the kids loved it! Of course we didn't buy anything though - too pricey. While at Caesar's CJ discovered his favorite thing about our vacation. Can you guess what it is? The moving stairs! Up to this point we were always taking the elevator because of the stroller. Well, CJ had seen the moving stairs and really wanted to try them out. So we finally did while in Caesar's. If you were to ask CJ what his favorite part of Vegas was he would say, "the moving stairs!". Good to know that next time we want to entertain the kids we just need to go to a mall big enough to have escalators!

CJ on his favorite thing - the escalators!

After Caesar's Palace we decided the kids were done for the day. So we stopped at In-n-Out for dinner on the way back to Ro's place (a half an hour away) because Jon said we had to eat there. By the way, that's the cheapest place to buy dinner just in case you didn't know. Anyway, we got back to the house, put the kids in bed, and then Jon and I decided to go back out for some more fun! Thanks to Ro and Travis, we were able to do this. Night time on the Strip is quite a bit different than day - and not just because of the lights. Vegas is apparently always busy, but night is worse. We left Ro's house at 8:30pm to head to the Strip (once again, a half an hour away). We got to the Strip a little after 9pm and decided to visit the Luxor first. Well, by the time we found the parking for the Luxor and drove around to find a parking spot, it was already after 9:30pm. So we gave up on the Luxor and decided to drive down to the Mirage - which took us until 10pm to get there! Yes, things are definitely crazier at night! And don't get us started on the taxi drivers!

Anyway, we finally got out of the van at 10pm to start our night life on the Strip. Funny thing, we thought we parked at the Mirage, but when we walked inside the hotel, we found ourselves in TI (Treasure Island). So since we were there we decided to go see the ships and found ourselves in a huge mess of people who were trying to watch the show. We bagged the idea of watching the show (which we heard isn't really worth watching anymore) and went across the street to the Venetian. There we decided to take the outside Gondola ride. The weather was beautiful, our guide had a beautiful singing voice, and it was very enjoyable. We then walked inside around the shops and saw the inside Gondola ride.

The last thing we had to do before calling it a night was try the slot machines. Yes, I gambled. I was in Vegas, I had to. We had a hard time finding a machine that took actual quarters and had a pull down lever, but we found one and wasted a couple of dollars. I did win $5, but then of course I blew it. Gambling really is a horrible thing - very addicting like they say. And most people who sit at the slot machines do not look at all happy. Kind of sad. The other sad thing was seeing how many people had their children out with them that late at night. We couldn't believe how many unfortunate kids we saw out with their parents at midnight in Vegas. Sorry there were no pictures of our night out on the town.

After experiencing a day of the Vegas everyone knows about, Ro decided that we needed to see and know that there was more to Vegas than just the Strip. So her and Travis took us to Lake Las Vegas on Saturday. It is a very beautiful, very peaceful resort and hotel. We had a lot of fun just walking around and enjoying the beauty and quietness of our surroundings - such a difference from the day before.

CD, CJ, Jeana, Rochelle, and baby L at Lake Las Vegas

After that and lunch we decided to continue on to Hoover Dam since it was only 20 miles away. Only our family went and it was quite an adventure. At 7 miles away we ran into bumper to bumper traffic. That meant 7 miles of 5 to 10 mph driving. It took forever! We didn't know until we returned from the dam why the traffic was so bad. Apparently crossing the Hoover Dam is the only way to get from Nevada to Arizona. So the traffic wasn't only from people visiting the dam, but also people going to Arizona. And that is why they are building a bridge over the canyon. It is going to be huge - if they ever get it done!

at Hoover Dam

After visiting the dam we returned to the house and just hung out and got to visit a bit for our last night. Sunday morning we had to climb back into the van and start the long drive back to Utah. Thankfully even though the drive was an hour longer (time change) we made it with no real problems. Would you believe the kids didn't sleep at all during either trip? Okay, CD slept a half an hour there and back, but that was it! Crazy!

Anyway, thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Parker we had an excellent Thanksgiving Vacation! And thanks to Ro & Travis for letting us crash your house! We loved it!