Who Take Their Kids to Vegas?

Who takes their kids to Vegas?  We do.  Especially when there's fam in town.  Well, that's the only reason we took the monkeys with really.  The trip started off on a high note for our little man.  Dude crafted artwork to resemble the Southwest logo and thoroughly impressed the flight crew.  They complimented him over the loudspeaker and invited him to hang out in the cock pit after we de-boarded.  Our little social bee.    

 

After a night (and an awesome dinner) at Grandpa and Di's house,  Grandpa joined us for a road trip to Death Valley.  Where is Death Valley?  It's in the middle of nowhere.  By nowhere I mean NO-WHERE.  No trees, no animals, no water, no buildings, no pee stops.  Just cactus   If you broke down for more than 4 hours with no assistance or water you just might die.  That being so dramatically said, we had a lovely 24 hours with Grandpa at our ranch hotel.  The kids swam (it was baking hot - the hottest place in the world according to Google), we ate, the kids wrestled with Grandpa, we star gazed (unbelievable star visibility) and explored the property.  

There was a small group of ranch employees holding a church service Sunday morning.  The kids joined right in.  They can't resist music of any kind. 

 

 Back in Vegas.  Grandpa's car was a highlight.  Just to play in.  Dude got plenty of cool guy time drivin' around town with his G-pa, top down of course. 

 We spent 2 nights on the strip at a family friendly hotel, which we were super impressed with.  Huge condo with a balcony.  Our nakey girl is checking out the other "nakey" girls in the pool below.  

One afternoon we took the kiddos to a dolphin/lion adventure at The Mirage.  An employee saw us wandering around aimlessly and gave us her discount on getting in to see these awesome creatures up close and personal.  We paid $19 instead of the $75 we would have paid without her.  Ummm, THANK YOU nice lady.  A majority of the rest of our time on the strip was spent at the pool/s.  The inappropriateness was mild as we stayed during the week and called it quits by 7pm, so it was all good.  We underestimated just how much walking is necessary if you're going to tour the strip, so we kept that to a minimum.  Dude & Squirt's endurance aren't up to Vegas standards.  
  

 The kids were filled with GLEEEEEE.  

 These tigers/lions are Sigfreed and Roy's babies.  

 We didn't get as many memorable pics as we would have liked but we had a great time on our Vegas vaca. The kids adore spending QT with Grandpa V and we love watching them bond.  Thanks to Dad and Di for hanging with us and treating us to great food!  We're glad no blizzards got in the way this go round.  

Flashing Back to the Rockies Extravaganza

I know.  This blog has been lackluster lately.  It's not like me to blatantly ignore the virtual documentation of our life, but our schedule has trumped everything else the past month.  Between choir, search committee at church, softball, working, school, attempting to socialize, OT and music school, there's just enough time left over the eat and pee.  Not complaining.  Just reality.

A few weeks ago we went with a massive group of 20 to the Rockies second home game.  It was a random conglomeration of awesome people, which made my heart happy.  Did I watch one minute of the game?  Well, maybe one, but the remainder of the time was spent gabbing and hollering at the children.  There were a lot of children.  The Rockies did win, so I was aware of that fact before leaving the stadium.  And I did drink a beer (well, half of spilled on the dude in front of me when I kicked it). He was very gracious about it.  Aside from poor Payton upchucking a majority of the night, we all had a blast.  You've gotta do one baseball game per season.  It should be an unwritten rule somewhere.

 Brady's tongue is evidence of the healthy food and drink options we chose to ingest. 

In about 2 minutes from when this shot was taken, Payton will proceed to walk down the stairs and toss her cookies for all the folks in the front row to enjoy.  Poor babe.  They left early. 

    

A Monday Serenade

For your viewing enjoyment.  The bee song is a tad lengthy, but the hip movements make it well worth it.   

He Arose

I'm just a tad behind on documenting life round here.  Main reason being my sidekick (camera) has been in the hands of the kind folks at Canon, getting some much needed TLC.  She's back in working order and I no longer feel like a little part of exterior is missing. 

We had a lovely Easter weekend, especially after we rescheduled our Vegas trip and got over our no vacation crabbiness.  My Easter highlight this year was our Dude's exuberant singing of "He Arose" throughout the weekend.  The kiddos at church practiced it and sang for the congregation and Dude's little mouth was perched wide open throughout the entire song.  It melted our hearts just a tad.  His little heart is so in love with Jesus - one of the aspects of our little man we adore the most.

We attended the annual neighborhood egg hunt on Saturday and headed to B&B's to celebrate Easter Sunday with our Denver fam. The weather was smiling down on us which only adds to the loveliness of the day. The kid/adult egg hunt never fails to provide entertainment for the entire ever-growing gang.  The kids are starting to outnumber us big people. 

How did we feel this Easter?  Blessed. And incredibly grateful that God rolled a giant stone away from the tomb so we can truly live.  Hope your Easter was just as happy as ours.

These two little cuties are in class with Dude (and live in our hood).  The lovely lady?  That's our Julie.  She's my dear friend, neighbor and Dude's teacher assistant.  She has been an answer to prayers for our family this year.  Oh how we treasure her love for kids and our little man. He tells her that she's allowed to "break his space bubble" because she's so special.  He's right.

 

 The hot mama Jansen girlies, minus Mama Barb.  She's pretty hot too.

 Sorry Abbs, this was the only vertical shot I got:)  You're even cute with your eyes closed.

 This is yet another performance of "He Arose."