Las Vegas

After our cruise last year, it was clear to us that the kids loved having a new travel experience, so we are going to be a little more adventurous in our travels.  Last fall, Liha suggested we go to Vegas for spring break and when our timeshare did an open booking, we took advantage.  The whole group went, mom/dad, Aunt Pam and the Rinehardt's.  It was a little stressful getting there....our rental car took 2 hours to get and the Rinehardt's and Aunt Pam got diverted to another airport because of lightening and had to wait there until the storm passed.  Thankfully, everyone made it for dinner because Jim and Ruth drove from Utah to have dinner with us!!  It was so great to see them and catch up :).

We did a lot of walking and exploring the hotels, stores and sights which I'm not sure the kids fully appreciated.  The magnitude of these hotel creations is quite amazing.  Khalif said the pyramid was his favorite.  They did appreciate all the toys and cool things in the shops!  We got suckered into a nail stamping demonstration and we left with bags in hand.  Aunt Pam got the girls their birthday presents and I can tell you that Ainsley has gotten her money's worth, creating all kinds of beautiful designs.

Tasting coke flavors at the coke store

We ran into a few friends (Mickey Mouse, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca and Pikachu while watching the water show at the Bellagio

Khalif getting a break while watching the Mirage volcano show

Having some fun trying on sunglasses

The Worldmark in Vegas is one of the best properties that we've been to in our timeshare, with multiple large pools, a lazy river, hot tubs, shuffleboard, basketball, ping pong....we didn't have time to enjoy all that is there, but we spent many hours in the pool playing volleyball.  The weather was a little on the chilly side, but that made it comfortable to lay in the sun and the volleyball pool was was super warm, so we stayed in it for a really long time.  Unfortunately, the pad of Wade's big toe got nice and soft and tore off and Aunt Pam got a deep bruise from hitting the ball that lasted several weeks.  We sure had a lot of fun though!

We went to old downtown to zip line on Fremont street and saw lots of interesting things.  They had peddlers doing comedy, breakdancing, magic shows, writing names on rice and a few odd balls dressed up very strangely.  It was pretty funny to see the kids reaction and grandma's!

Khalif was too light to do the zipline and with Reggie's fear of heights, he didn't want to either, so Ryan, Ainsley, myself, mom and Aunt Pam signed up.  It was sold out, so we had to go back the next day.  While we were there, we had a delicious and inexpensive buffet and if you ask Reggie about the trip, he'll tell you that his favorite part was the food!  No surprise there.  Before we went to zipline, Ryan, Ainsley and I went to do the Big Shot on top of the Stratosphere.  It was CRAZY!!!  Ryan was glad he did it, but wouldn't do it again...it took him a couple hours to recover.  Ainsley did not like it at all.  While we were there, I saw a new thrill ride where they hook you to a line and you jump from the top of the Stratosphere and fall to the bottom.  Maybe someday I'll go back and do that :).  Ainsley was happy that the zip line was pretty mild and everyone loved it!!!  She still talks about going back to do that again.

Spencer and Liha having some fun on a roller coaster!

 Big Shot-this picture makes me laugh

Video of the grandma's zip lining!!!!