Family Vacation: Part 1

Wow! That took me forever to get through our vacation pictures.

There were too many to choose from, so as a disclaimer, there will be a lot...

When trying to decide on a family vacation this year, we knew we wanted to go early in the summer,

Before baby number three makes an appearance.

Michael searched the internet for the best vacation destinations with small children,

And San Diego was in the top ten places to go.  

The drive from our home was too far to make in one day with our kids, 

So we broke it up and stayed in Las Vegas.

Let me just tell you,

That Las Vegas was HOT!!!  It was 111 degrees while we were there.

On our way into town, we stopped at an outlet mall.

Once we got back out to our car, the thermostat said it was 122 degrees in the parking lot.

I just have to ask, how do people live like that?

We spent a lot of time at our hotel (Circus Circus) watching all the Circus Acts and playing games.

We all had a blast watching the shows.  There were some pretty amazing performances.

Maxwell entertained every stranger he met with his charm and personality (I'm serious).

Michael played the same game about five times so he could win that bear for the kids.  Kathryn loved it. 

We bought bus passes and went to a few of our favorite places.

We went to M&M World, where we watched a 3-D movie and bought over-priced M&M's to share.

 

  

We made a pit-stop at the Venetian for some amazing Gelato.

I've been craving it ever since Michael and I were in Vegas six years ago.

We watched the gondolas and listed to a classical band.

At which point, we finished off the ice cream and Max got way too loud.

So we left to appease the crowd of people trying to listen to the beautiful music.

And rode the bus some more.

On our way out of town, we stopped by the Las Vegas Temple.

 

 We loved walking around and seeing all the native plants, trees and flowers.

So different from where we live.

This plant/tree was one of our favorites.  Doesn't it look like a giant pineapple?

Kathryn wasn't quite so sure about it.

It was a beautiful, peaceful morning.

And the perfect way to start out our second day of driving.