Where does the time go?

It's now almost the end of June, it has gone by rather quickly. The family took a vacation to Las Vegas the week of June 8th. We spent the vacation with some good friends, who live across the street from us. Luke, Kelly, Sabrina, and London. We all stayed at the Luxor, and had adjoining rooms.

On the first full day in Vegas, we went to Circus Circus with the kids. They loved most of the rides. Kiya wasn't real pleased with the rides that tickled her tummy (like the big ship that rocks back and forth). Layla was the daredevil, she loved going on all of the rides. I think they're favorite ride was a frog ride that took them up and kind of dropped them a few feet at a time until they reached the bottom. Kiya at first wanted nothing to do with the ride, but when she saw how much fun Layla was having on the frog ride, she decided to give it a try, and loved it. We also went to the Mirage, and saw the dolphins and the lions and tigers. The dolphin display allows you to get right up to the waters edge, and as I was holding Brielle, she spit her binky out right into the water. The dolphin trainer had told us if anything falls into the water to just let them know so the dolphins don't eat the object. The trainer was right next to me, and I had to tell him a couple of times for it to sink in. He tried to catch it, and didn't quite make it. He then grabbed a pool net to try to scoop it out, again he was unsuccesful. At this point he had to open the gate to a smaller pool, and had to get the dolphins playing so that they wouldn't go back into the other pool. Needless to say, we got a great show of the dolphins jumping out of the water. The trainer then had to put on a wetsuit, and dive down to get the binky for us. It was a little embarassing, but it was kind of worth it!!! We decided to eat at The Cheesecake Factory, because we were told that it was "near" The Mirage. That was kind of an understatement. We probably had to walk for a good 1/2 hour thru the mall at Caesars Palace to get there. There was about a 20 minute wait for our large party, which wasn't bad, so we hung out around this fountain, and fish tank. The fountain was supposed to resemble the lost city of Atlantis, and then all of a sudden the thing came to life, there were talking statues, and a nice display of live fire!!!

The next day we were trying to decide what to do. We knew that Luke was a big Jimmy Buffett fan, and wanted to eat at Margaritaville. Kerryann looked at the Vegas map, and decided it was only about a mile walk. So off we went for a walk down the strip, we stopped at the MGM Grand, and saw the lions. They had their trainer in the cage and they were playing with big heavy balls, and these toys that looked like an enormous thread spool. We left the MGM Grand, and started the longest hottest trek of the whole vacation. The walk ended up being almost 2 miles, and the weatherman that night said the temperature made it up to 105 degrees. We were all very hot and sweaty by the time we made it to margaritaville, but we were able to recuperate during the 30 minute wait for a table. Luke and I went and browsed the gift shop, while the girls rested. The food and ambience at Margaritaville were excellent. They have Jimmy Buffett big screen t.v's playing past live shows, and then they also have the margaritaville song with a fake volcanic eruption. It was a good time, and I thought it was worth the walk. We walked back to the Luxor, and decided it would be best to cool off in the pool.

The next day we were all still tired from the previous days activities. We decided to stay close to our hotel, and went to the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef. The kids loved seeing the animals, and would yell and scream at the sharks. We went back to the Luxor, and I talked Kiya into going on the "Search For the Obelisk" ride. It's similar to star tours at Disneyland, the theater seats are on a moving platform, and it is in time with a video. The ride was short, and Kiya wasn't a HUGE fan of it, although she tolerated it pretty well. I thought it was LAME. We decided to go to the pool again and just chill until dinner time. Rainforest cafe was on the menu for dinner. The kids love the scenery there, and the "thunderstorms." The food was teriffic there too.

We packed our stuff on the last day in Vegas, and planned to find a Denny's to get some grub on the way out of town. That plan didn't go so well...we drove all over the place trying to find a Denny's off of the strip. We finally found one, and it was in Mesquite. After lunch, we parted ways with our neighbors, and went to St. George to spend the night at the Holiday Inn. Kerryann's Brother Brian was nice enough to hook us up with a great room for a great price. It was good to see the long lost Brothers of Kerryann. It was our first time seeing Cam and Ronni's new baby Camry. The kids had a good time playing with their cousins. It was also good to see Brian and Amber and Alana who hung out with us at Cam and Ronni's house and we all had a barbecue. The next day Cam set up their water slide toy! This thing was way cool, and the kids loved playing around on it. We drove home the next day, and that was our vacation!