Spring Break

Our spring break started on Saturday evening after we got back from Avery's competition.  Scott had went to Moab on the Thursday before and got home at about the same time Avery and I did.  We loaded and headed out.  We stopped in Brigham to get gas and I realized that my carefully packed purse was missing my wallet with my drivers license in it. Needless to say, everyone was very annoyed with me and the fact that we had to drive back home, get my wallet and then drive some more.  I was annoyed too but I was also very relieved that I found out then rather than when we were in the security line at the airport.  At about 10 pm we realized that the hotel breakfast didn't start serving until 7 am and we needed to be gone by 6:30.  We ran to the grocery store and grabbed some breakfast things and the kids finally got to sleep at about 11pm.  Everyone woke up on time and happy, we left on time and we even got to the airport early. 

 Dreyden loved all the airplanes coming and going and he was so excited to go on one.  He kept yelling at the airplanes, " come here airplane, come here. Come get me."  It was so dang cute.  I think most of the fun for me was watching the kids be excited and/or nervous.

 We got on last so that Dreyden wouldn't be stuck in the plane too long.  They were so excited.

 Drey wasn't too happy right off cause he had to have his seat belt on 'too' tight. Overall he did great. It was only an hour long but I was glad I had lots of treats and had downloaded a movie on my kindle.  He hates sitting still.  His ears hurt a bit when we landed but no screaming or crying the whole time. SUCCESS!!!

 We didn't plan this trip very well, actually really bad.  It was evident right from the start and throughout the whole trip.  We left on a Sunday because the flights were the cheapest.  We got there early in the morning and we couldn't check in to the hotel until the afternoon.  We were all starving my late afternoon.  We told the kids we were going out to eat, they all about died.  "We are going to go out to eat on a Sunday???"  I felt like the worst parent ever.  I gave them the option of fasting until tomorrow or going out to eat.  They all decided to eat.  Another reason I love vacationing is because everyone seems to try a little harder to get along.  Addason is generally so annoyed with Landon and his obnoxious behavior but this day the two of them on there own table and talked and talked.  We weren't in a real hurry since we had no where to go.

 Dreyden fell asleep as we waited for our food to come.  He ended up sleeping for about 2 hours.

Luckily we were able to check into the hotel a little earlier. We got a family suite with a full kitchen and an 8ft projector screen. It was pretty nice and perfect for us. Once there we made a menu, went grocery shopping then I took a nap and Scott and kiddos went swimming.  

 The only thing we lacked was a good view.  The whole suite had floor to ceiling windows which would've been awesome if this hadn't been our view.

 After dinner we were all a little tuckered out and so we watched Big Hero 6 on the huge screen and went to beddy bye.

We headed out kinda early Monday morning.  The weather was warm and wonderful!  I decided that we were tourist so I was gonna act like one and take lots of pictures. Everyone was a pretty good sport about it.  Of course Tylee loved it cause she loves pictures of herself! 

 I got a list of things to see at each hotel so we just started at the closest one which was the Belligio.  We walked around the botanical gardens for a bit and of course took lots of pictures.  Scott was already annoyed with pictures and people.

 Next we went to the Mirage and whatever was suppose to be there wasn't there anymore.  This continued to happen at the next 4 hotels.  Apparently the list I looked at was old and outdated.  I felt kinda bad for the kiddos but they stayed in chipper moods.

After lunch we decided that Drey could use a little nap so we drove to Hoover Dam. He fell asleep right before we got there and I knew if we woke him up he would be a monster.  We had to park far away cause we were too cheap to pay for parking. Scott took all the rest of the kids to walk over the bridge. 

 He woke up a little before everyone got back so we went and looked from the road. He was not impressed with the view and he was even more upset when he had to get back into the car and get buckled again.  The ride back wasn't the best.  We all went swimming when we got back to the hotel.  Did I mention that the weather was marvelous!  The pool was still doing winter hours so it closed at 6pm, that was a tad annoying cause I just wanted to sit in the sun forever.

Our hotel was attached to a big mall so for dinner we headed to Panda express and an indoor rain show after.  I had warned my kids before we left that we as a family may get lots of stares because of how many kids we had.  So I told them they always had to be on there best behavior.  They got there first dose of that when we were at dinner.  One lady asked Addason if we were a family reunion.  Addason giggled and said, "no, we are just one family".  Then another gentleman in line behind us asked if all the kids where mine.  One of the kids said yes and we have another brother too.  The kids thought that was very entertaining. After dinner we headed to the strip again to go see the fountain show. 

 We told the kids to make sure they didn't take any papers from the people handing them out and keep their eyes straight ahead cause there might be some things that aren't appropriate for little kids.  Landon was always in the led and so I gotta watch him and his reaction.  I found it very amusing.  His hands stayed in his pockets or folded and his head never moved side to side.  Hehehe! We got to the fountains just before it started so we didn't really have a good spot.  The kids thought it was pretty cool so we decided to get a good spot, wait another 1/2 hour and watch it again.  It's not too hard to stay entertained while on the strip and the weather is beautiful.  After the second show we headed back through the throngs of people to our hotel.  We watched a few food network shows and went to bed.  

The next morning we hit the M&M, Coke and Hershey's stores.  I told the kids if they wanted to get something at any of the stores, they had to pay for it with their own money.  That took care of that, no one wanted to spend that much money on anything.  It was still fun to look at all the stuff.

 Chocolate Statue of Liberty

  Jelly bean Statue of Liberty

 Tylee saw this sign and wanted to get a picture of everyone in the chair. 

Addason and I are very much alike when it comes to water, cold and wet.  She was perfectly content to just layout when we went to the pool.  I swam one time but just enjoyed the sun the other time.   

Our last night we decided to drive down the strip to get the full effect of the lights and atmosphere.  It was so warm out we had all the windows down.  I was sitting in the back with Drey and Addason was up front.  The girls decided to smile at everyone that drove or stopped by us.  They were laughing hysterically and having such a good time.  There was a guy that stayed by us for a long time.  He started facing time his daughter or granddaughter and put his phone out his window looking at the girls.  They waved and said hi but then thought it was a little weird.  I thought Scott was going to tell them to stop or roll up the windows but he must have found it entertaining as well.  They said that was the most fun they had all day.  That was cheap entertainment!  Guess we should have done more driving and smiling. 

Drey asked what we were doing next.  I told him we were going home.  This was his response.