Las Vegas Trip

We had such a fun time in Las Vegas!

The way the holiday break was aligned this year, we had a lot of extra days after Christmas as school didn't start until January 6. We decided to take a few days between Christmas and New Year's Eve and visit the Pooles in Las Vegas.

We squeezed into the car and left early on the 27th. The boys were really good in the car, and we rotated seats so both Mom and Dad took turns in the back. With only one brief stop for lunch in Cedar City, we made it to the Pooles by early afternoon. We had the entire rest of the day to play with cousins and enjoy Jonny's cooking (he made steak!) We even did some singing with Audrey's new karaoke machine.

We weren't really prepared for the cold weather that Vegas had. We were freezing!

Mom played Pretty Pretty Princess with the girls. 

Seth was brave and sang "Dunked On" all alone with no words.

Dax and Josh did Paradise City as a duet!

The next day we went to check out Las Vegas, even though the temperature was in the 30s. We stopped at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, and we couldn't believe the line! We waited for about 20 minutes just to take a picture. It was worth it though, and we soon realized that Las Vegas is really busy at the New Year. After the sign, we went over to the pinball museum, which ended up being a large warehouse with hundreds of pinball machines. The boys enjoyed playing them, but they really liked the old arcades, even though we have many of those games at home. We spent an hour or so until the girls got tired. Our final stop was the Strip. We parked at the Venetian and walked all the way down to the Bellagio. There were thousands of people, but we saw the Christmas decorations and the water show at the pool out front. We came home for dinner and tried to get the kids to bed early.

This sign is a on the National Historic register.

We had fun taking pictures with the Pooles.

Mark likes to play the rock-n-roll pinball machines.

Dax and Seth enjoyed Dig Dug.

Mom loved this flower wall in the casino. 

Mark looks so old! He is standing by Poseiden in honor of Percy Jackson.

The kids really enjoyed the water show.

We had a great time at the Bellagio.

Josh and Seth are good buddies.

The decorations were all made from flowers. 

The holiday decorations were so cool.

The kids all follow Randy around.

We played a lot of games together, too!

On Sunday we went to church and then played video games with kids. We had a lot of fun with "modern" games, since all of our video games are from before the year 2000! After it got dark, we took the kids to Ethel M's Chocolate Factory, and there is a beautiful cactus garden outside. The cacti were all lit up with Christmas lights, which was really unique. We had a great time walking around and then Dad bought expense chocolate bars for everyone. The chocolate was really delicious!

We have never seen cacti with lights on them, so this adventure was brand new!

The kids got along really well all weekend. It was great!

We had to borrow a few extra jackets since we weren't prepared for the cool weather.

The lights were really amazing for a free display!

Fun times in Las Vegas!

Mark and Mom definitely love chocolate the most!

The kids were all smiling because we promised them chocolate.

Audrey and Dad getting ready to Draw! Dad was the champion of this game!

Our last day in Vegas we went to an animal sanctuary. We had fun with the Pooles as we walked around and saw the animals. They were all rescues, including dozens of birds people had abandoned. The din inside the macaw enclosure was deafening, but some of the birds would talk to you.

This deer did not like anyone getting close to its cage.

We had fun watching the ostrich eat.

Mark didn't want to get too close.

Hattie and Dad hanging out together.

The kids were most excited for the petting zoo.

This is security goat. He was blocking the entrance when we arrived,
so the kids all nicknamed him security goat and he became out favorite.

We had a great time with the Pooles. It was so fun to stay at their house, and Ben is getting so big! He loved the boys and Mom, but didn't care much for Dad. That was okay as Audrey and Hattie were his best buddies anyway. The boys mostly played with Josh: Legos, lightsabers, and anything else you could think of. We were so glad we went!

We love the Pooles!