"Lost" Vegas Part 2

Day 3: Busy day! Started off at the Stratosphere. Ryan, Jocey, and I went to the top and rode the rides while Mom and Dad took the kids to lunch.

Afterwards, we headed to Circus Circus so the boys could get a chance to ride their own rides. Poor Reese though, he could only go on three rides because he was so small. It'll be the story of his life I'm afraid. Just as well because he wasn't really crazy about them anyway. He likes to flip and jump and be crazy but I guess roller coasters aren't his thing. So we took Reese on the three rides that he could and then Ryan took Carson on the other few that he could go on and Reese and I went to the arcade.

Carson, on the other hand, LOVED the rides! Look at that grin!

We got this minion out of one of those claw machines! I've never actually been successful at those before and we got this one first try! I was definitely more excited than Reese was. :)

While we were at Circus Circus, my parents were waiting in line to buy some tickets to a show they wanted to watch that afternoon. So we met up after that and went to see the animals at the Mirage. We got there when the trainers were out with the dolphins which was really cool to watch. We got to be right up next to them!

After the trainers were done we went underground to watch the dolphins and one came right up to the window where the boys were and just sat there looking at them and right as I was pulling out the camera, he took off. Pretty cool though!

They had some cool animals too! I was really wishing I had my DSLR just so I could get some decent shots of the animals.

My parents went to their show and then we went to eat at the Treasure Island buffet. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! So good! The kids loved it too! I wonder why...

After that we went to see the volcano explosion. We were right up close which ended up being a bad thing. After a few seconds, Reese started crying and then it had a ripple effect on the other two. In their defense, it was pretty instense! You could really feel the heat from the flames. This is the before picture and you can see it in their faces that they were already nervous to begin with. Carson kept asking if it was really lava but even though we assured him it was all pretend, it was just a lot for the little ones to take. But honestly, it was the only thing that the boys could watch. All the other shows on the strip were way to scandolous. The whole time I kept thinking that this will be the last time we bring our family here, for a long time at least. I would not bring an 8 or 10 or even 14 year old boy there. Way to much to "see" for such young eyes. Although I was surprised at how many family things we could do. I thought we'd spend most of our time at the pool but during the day there were lots of things to do with the kids. But everything changed at 8:00. Good thing that's bedtime!

Day 4: I hadn't yet been to the pool and since it was our last day and we had to be out at 10:00 we packed up, checked out and went to the pool.

My boys really know how to lounge by the pool!

Once we were done with the pool we headed over to get our picture taken with the famous Vegas sign. There we ran into the most rude and ill-mannered woman ever I've ever met so we didn't stay long. Carson's trying to "fix" his smile again. Breaks my heart. :(

 Then we headed over to the M&M and Coca-Cola store to look around before we had to take off.

 The kids did really well on all the flights and a lot of people complimented us on how well-behaved our children were. Which was a huge relief because that's always the worst and hardest parts of vacations, the traveling. We were quite the sight though! Two adults, three kids, two strollers, four carry-on suitcases, a huge diaper bag, backpacks for the boys, a laptop bag, a pack and play, and two carseats. It took us a while to get on the airplane and get settled but for the most part, people were really helpful and understanding. We had to kick a few people out of their seats and there was only one guy who pouted about it because he didn't get the window seat but it was either change seats or sit next to Reese and I honestly didn't care either way. He chose the other seat. :)