Las Vegas - Day 1 (June 15)

Today after getting the house cleaned and everything packed, we loaded up and headed for Las Vegas. Andy's brother Danny and his family had planned to take their family vacation in Vegas, and since we're so close, we decided to join them. The drive took us about five hours because we stopped in Cedar City to let Calvin run around and play in a church parking lot, drink some chocolate milk at a gas station, and stick his hands in some dirty river water. He did really well for most of the trip, but at about three hours in, he just threw back his head and screamed in frustration, bucking against his car seat straps. No tears, just howling.

Once we got into the city, we checked into the Luxor and settled into our yucky room. Then we were so excited when we finally met up with Danny, Annette, and the girls. We wandered around the strip a bit, and then went to the Rainforest Cafe. It was a stroke of genius on Danny's part, since they had monkeys swinging from the rafters, huge fish aquariums, and periodic thunder storms. It was just the right place to keep Calvin entertained after a long drive, and the food was surprisingly delicious. We spent way too much time at the gift shop as Calvin threw bouncy balls with animals in them all through the halls. Andy ended up buying him a couple of them, then we went back to the room and went to bed. It was very late and it was a long day, but we're looking forward to tomorrow.