Las Vegas - Day 3 (June 17)

This morning we woke up refreshed after a much better night's sleep. We pulled out the Pack n' Play and froggie night light so Calvin would feel a bit more at home. I got the essentials of my work done late at night, and were finally ready to actually go see some of the city.


I had looked up some kid friendly activities to do in Vegas, and one thing I found was the gondola rides at the Venetian, so we headed over there. After parking and walking the entire length of the hotel twice and letting Calvin play in the big fountains outside, we finally found the boats. There was no line, so we decided to grab lunch first. We ate at Johnny Rocket and it was the worst hamburger I've ever paid $15 for. It had gobs and gobs of mayo and a tiny skinny patty. Blech. Andy liked his club sandwich though, and Calvin was beyond thrilled that I let french fries and root beer constitute as a well-rounded meal.


While we were walking through one of the casinos, I snapped a picture of Calvin at a slot machine. A scantily clad waitress freaked out that it was illegal for a child to be in there and they could get in serious trouble if I took a picture. I won't mention the casino's name so they don't get in trouble, but I will post my picture.
When we went back to the boats, there was, of course, a huge line. I tried to get tickets, but the boy was getting grumpy at that point and just wanted a nap. Instead, we just grabbed some gelato from the little Italian stand and headed out. Okay, so how is that stuff so heavenly? When I was in Italy with friends, we ate the stuff like 3 times a day. I think I gained 10lbs in a week, but it's so worth it. I always get Spumoni. I have no idea what it even is, but it always makes me happy. The gelato at the Venetian was no exception.

After naps at the hotel, we met back up with the group and had dinner at House of Blues. It was a fun restaurant because the food was wonderful, and Calvin loved playing with the New Orleans folk art chairs with their keys and locks jingling. The place had great art and loud music and was fun to visit.

After dinner Danny and Annette were kind enough to watch the boy while Andy and I went to see the Bodies Exhibit which I have wanted to see since it was in D.C., and then again in SLC, and then again in Tampa. It's an exhibit about the body, where everything in there is from real human bodies. There are full bodies and then dissected bodies, all of which have been amazingly preserved. It was really fascinating and I'm glad we finally went, but it was also somewhat disturbing. The disturbing parts were:

• The body hair. Mustaches, eyebrows, shaved head hair. It was just weird when the bodies had been completely skinned, but they still had traces of hair.
• The smell of the bodies if you got too close.
• The belly buttons left with all of the surrounding skin removed.
• The full body skin, reminiscent of the Silence of the Lambs skin suits.
• The entire fetus room, but especially the conjoined twins. I honestly don't know how anyone could see how fully developed a baby is even after 45 days and end a pregnancy.
• The smokers lung and drinkers liver.
• A few other things that are inappropriate to mention.

Overall though, it was really intriguing and I would recommend it to anyone. Once we finished the exhibit, we met up with the group again and went to the old strip for a light show. There were lots of drunks doing funky dances, a creepy blond girl with ginormous eyes following Andy around staring at him, and a light show of Queen where are all of the old ladies stamped their feet and clapped along with We Will Rock You. We kept the boy out way too late, but otherwise it was a lot of fun. We got back to the hotel at about 1am. And that was our day. The End.

This was after my camera died and I had to buy a disposable one....

Andy covering Calvin's ears during the loud music.

The strip with a huge domed screen overhead where they showed a movie all along the street.

Las Vegas - Day 2 (June 16)

Last night we pulled one of the queen mattress off of the frame and onto the floor for the boy. He woke up at 3:00am and wandered over to the door, trying to get out. He was running around and hyper until about 4:00am when I was finally able to get him to go back to bed. He woke up again at 6:30am. Andy and I went downstairs to try and find some milk for him and I was amazed at how many people were up (or just hadn't gone to bed yet) at that hour.

At around 9:00am we met D,A, & Co. downstairs at the hotel buffet for breakfast. Andy and I took turns eating while the boy screamed and screamed and screamed. It was awesome. He was exhausted after his night of frolicking, so we took him upstairs right after breakfast for a nap. He wouldn't sleep.

We decided we needed to change hotels for the following reasons:

• we had requested a non-smoking room, and the door and all of the signs said non-smoking, but the entire room was a huge cloud of pollution that made Calvin's eyes water and Andy have a sore throat.
• I was required to work while we were there. In the room there was no wireless and the antique internet cable had a broken prong, so the cord would fall out, I would become disconnected, and all of my work would be lost if I was even so presumptuous as to dare to breathe.
• It's Vegas. People are up and slamming doors and running down halls at all hours.
• There was no bathtub, only a shower stall. Bath time is a big part of the boy's bed time routine, so the spit baths in the hotel sink weren't as effective as we would have liked.
  
• The toilet didn't flush.

So after much deliberation (since we didn't want to leave the same hotel our bff's were in), Andy called the Embassy Suites about a mile off the strip and got us a room. We couldn't get in until 3:00pm, so we cleaned out our room, checked out, and then went back down to the buffet to get some lunch before leaving. While we were in line, Calvin fell asleep on my shoulder. We asked for a quiet booth, they led us to one in the corner, we laid C on the cushy seat, and he slept there for over an hour. Andy and I were able to talk and eat at a leisurely pace. It was the best, most quiet part of the last two days.

When we got to the E.S. we were pleased to find that they had swans, just like they'd had in D.C. These ones were named Elvis and Priscilla. They were much more active than George and Martha, and C loved chasing them up and down the pond. One of the hotel staff even came out with a huge pan of lettuce and let the boy feed them. Our room was clean and huge. Andy took the boy down to the pool while I caught up on some work, and then we met up with the others for dinner - hotel buffet once again (we bought an all day buffet pass. I think we'll skip that in the future).

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday. As soon as we met up with the others in the hotel after we both arrived in Vegas, Danny said, "so what do we call him? Cal? Vin? Vinny?" So Vinny has kind of stuck. That's what everyone calls him, and I even find myself thinking of him as "Vinny" when I go to call his name. Seems like an appropriate name for him while visiting Sin City.

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.

Vacation Time

We've been on the road for the past week, and my camera is dead so I haven't been able to post pictures. I've actually gone through three of those lame disposable cameras that you buy at gas stations. They are awful, so there's no telling how well anything turned out, but we'll soon find out. We will be back in town tomorrow, and then I will start updating you on our fabulous adventures. Stay tuned...

19 Months Old

Dear Calvin,

Not much has changed since last month. You have added a few words to your vocabulary. RahRah for Rabbit, WahWah for Koala, CoCo for helicopter, and "down". You never say cow or cat or any other simple word. It amazes me that you pick the difficult, unnecessary words to learn. I'm not sure how often apple, oval, and koala come in handy for you at this age. You tend to like things complicated, I guess. You get that from your father. Since not much else has changed, I'll tell you a few of my favorite moments from your last couple of weeks.

You have recently become obsessed with the Wii Fit. You will pull it out a dozen times a day and whine until someone turns it on and lets you rock on the board, pretending you're a penguin catching fish.

The other day you took out my acrylic paints and lined them all up neatly in a row. I love your little perfectionist personality.

When we finished lunch the other day, you had made a mess so I took off your shirt and pants. When I left you, you were still wearing your diaper and your onesie. I went to the laundry room for two seconds to drop off the dirty clothes, and when I came back you were gone. I looked all around, and finally looked out in the backyard to see this:


Here is you dipping your airplane into the cheese, and then "flying" it into your mouth:


You also love hearing us count. Any time we count things, you'll have us do it over and over. You've also started pulling our fingers towards a picture you want us to point at and name for you. Reading time is still a favorite, and you love hearing words repeated over and over again.

We love you Monkey. You are a laugh a minute and we love every second that we have to be your parents. We are grateful that 19 months ago you came to live in our home.

Love,

Mom and Dad