Vegas Baby!

After Havasu, we drove up to Las Vegas.  On the way into town we stopped and had an In 'N Out burger...yum!  We parked my parent's trailer at a close by casino park, which was quite a lovely little place.  Then Mom and Dad dropped us off at Treasure Island, they wanted a night alone, and we decided to rest for a bit by the pool.  Big, HUGE, mistake.  It was so windy, too windy, really.  We were waiting to hear from our friends and so Jon took his phone down poolside, wrapped it in a towel so it wouldn't get splashed on and set it about 6 feet from the pool.  We all got in the freezing cold pool and just as the fun started Jon's phone, still wrapped in the towell, was swept into the pool by the wind.  So Jon gets out, tries to dry off the phone and decides to get everyone a fruity drink.  That's about the time we were ordered to get out of the pool by the life guard as a kid had just puked in the pool.  So, we're back to our lounges, freezing in the wind, drinking our fruity frozen drinks when the drinks get blown over and Joci's flip flops get blown away as well.  That's when we decided we were done with the pool, never to return!

We met up with our friends and walked the strip.  At one point the winds were so strong that Joseph was literally almost blown away, skidding backwards towards the street, laughing the entire way until my friend and I were able to catch him.  We had a little snack in the Monte Carlo and kept on walking.  Our friends were absolutely blown away by the size and opulence of Vegas.  I love the bathrooms, which are always super clean and huge and very convenient when you have children that need to use the loo every ten minutes.  We ate dinner at the New York, New York, eating a huge pastrami sandwich and a bit of pizza for the kids.  We decided to go down to Fremont street to take in the light show and ended up buying coats for the kids as it had gotten so cold by that time with the wind.  The kids were done in, though, and it was time to head back to the hotel.  The kids literally fell into bed.

The next day we met up with my parents after the most expensive breakfast we ever had.  We walked over to the Venetian for a special moment.  You see, when Jon asked me to marry him, he did it on the gondola at the Venetian.  So, all these years later we took our children on the ride with us and it was so nice.  I'm sure the kids thought it was ok, and the moment a little lost on them, but hopefully they'll understand more when they're a bit older.  We did quite a bit that day after meeting with our friends from the UK.  We had an amazing lunch next to the Trevi fountain in Caesar's Palace, watched the big fountain show at the Belaggio, and the saw the Easter gardens inside the Belaggio which were AMAZING.  Later, my parents watched all of our children and took them (in the big van) to In 'N Out again, while we all went out to a proper Mexican restaurant and did a little gambling our last night in Vegas.  

Garden at the Belaggio.

Joci loved the garden at the Belaggio!

My beautiful Mom in front of this amazing 'painting' completely done in flowers.

I love this picture of Jocelyn.  She stood there for a long time admiring the 'painting' taking in all the colors.

The Chihuly ceiling in the Belaggio.

My gorgeous baby girl.

The only time I've ever seen a spiral escalator inside Caesar's Palace.

The kids got a kick out of seeing themselves on the telly.

Inside Caesar's Palace.

The Trevi Fountain inside Caesar's Palace.  We ate our posh lunch right next to the fountain.

Joe had a great time with his best friend.  What an amazing experience to be able to travel around the world and meet up with your best buddy!

Paris Paris in Las Vegas.

New York New York in Las Vegas.

I finally got to see the fountains going at the Bellagio.  It was fantastic.

Night view from our hotel window.

On our gondola ride at The Venetian.

Las Vegas, Nevada

USA

April, 2012

Lake Havasu, Arizona

After spending a few glorious days with my parents, shopping, eating, and just spending time with each other it was time for a road trip.  We decided on the road trip after some friends of ours here, in England, had told us they were going to be visiting Las Vegas while they were in the States at the same time as we were and we hadn't been to Vegas in quite a long time.  We all drove up together in the old van pulling my parent's new trailer.  We took the long way around so that we could pull the trailer a bit easier, but also so we could stop in Lake Havasu on the way there.  We wanted to stop in Havasu as Jon and the kids had never seen it, and it has the actual London Bridge in it.  Side note on the London Bridge:  Whenever you hear about it here, there are always comments about how an American thought he was buying the Tower Bridge, and was a bit misled into buying the London Bridge instead.  In Arizona, it's more of a tourist attraction and thought of as bringing a bit of England.  So, we had to get some pictures of the London Bridge.

I'll admit at this point, that I did not have a very good time in Havasu.  I'm not a big 'camper', not even in a nice trailer, and somehow or another I got a weird sunburn/allergic reaction thing on my legs that even gave me a fever later that evening.  That aside, we did have some fun.

Mom took the kids fishing, just as she promised, even though it was pretty much a certainty that they wouldn't catch anything there.  It didn't matter, though, they had a blast fishing with Grandma, and Grandma relished every moment of being with the kids.

Later, we decided on some $1 tacos at The Javelina Cantina.  They were amazing!  Joe killed three and a half tacos all on his own, they were that good!

Grandma fishing with Joe and Joci.  They had so much fun!

Joe holding Max (his traveling mate from his teacher in England that everyone gets to take home on the weekends and write in his travel journal and put photos in) in front of the London Bridge

The air was abuzz with sparrows flying back and forth to their little mud houses just under the eaves of the bridge.

Our little Hooge family in front of the actual London Bridge.

Lake Havasu, Arizona

April 4, 2012