What a week. We are in survival mode now that we're home and trying to catch up on real life, but it was sure nice to forget about real life for a little bit. David consults for an awesome company called JoyTunes that makes music education apps. They flew him to the national music teacher's conference in Las Vegas last week to work their booth and present, and we tagged along. It was fun to see some old friends again. Grandma and Grandpa T were even able to fly out and meet us there. So fun!
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We somehow managed to give four of our studio teachers stipends to use toward their plane tickets to come too! David worked a lot, but we were able to have some fun between work hours with him. The first day we had quite the adventure. We had some complications and miscommunications trying to make it to the airport, and almost missed our flight. Luckily (thanks to Crystal for saving the day and driving our car), we just took all of our bags with us to the gate, and made it on to the plane. Not so luckily...the airport employees were ruder than any "professional" I have ever met. The lady at the ticket counter told us that we would deserve it if the plane passengers spit on us...um, excuse me?! On top of that, they charged us again for our bags that we had already paid to bring! We were so disappointed with Allegiant air and would NEVER in a million years recommend them. The stewardesses were nice, but even a drink of water had to be paid for on the plane. No travel peanuts for us. :(
When we arrived in Vegas, we took a shuttle to the car rental center, and Hyram thought it was pretty fun to get to ride on airplanes, buses, and in a new car all in one day. We checked into the hotel and set out to find something to eat. We had a super yummy lunch at Red Robin, and our waitress recommended some awesome activities to do with kids.
Red Robin
We made our way to a store to buy some snacks so we weren't at the mercy of food available at the hotel, and Hyram thought this little arcade at Walmart was the bees knees. We figured this could count as our gambling for the week. :)
One of the recommended activities was checking out this sweet park made out of transformed shipping containers. The slides were big enough for David and I to play in with Hyrams, and the entrance was protected by a 30 foot praying mantis that Hyram excitedly refers to as the "FIRE BUG!" Every so often, the fire bug's antenna exploded in flames to the beat of popular songs.
The Slides
Praying Mantis
The FIRE BUG!
Cool light game we played with some random kids
After our playtime at the park, we took a drive down Las Vegas Boulevard to see all the lights and hotels. Hyram lasted pretty late, and was sound asleep before we made it back to the hotel. Score!
MGM Grand
New York, New York
The second day, we spent some time at the pool, and helped shuttle people around to buy food and materials for the conference. Shannon and Crystal came with us to walk the strip. I really wanted to see the Bellagio fountains at night. We didn't know what we were getting into though, and parked way farther away than we needed to. We spent about two hours walking, which was fun but exhausting! Another night, Crystal and David and I went to the "Mystere" Cirque du Soleil show at Treasure Island. It was pretty cool and made me feel like I have never quite learned how to use my body. Those people can do crazy stuff!
Did you know that the Vegas hotels have free self-parking? That was nice!
Waiting for the fountain show to start.
Shannon, Crystal, David
Playing with the light on my horrible phone camera
Hyram and I spent some time walking around to familiarize ourselves with the hotel. He saw this sign and said, "Hey! That's Papa's!" He is so smart!! (Grandpa T drives "Mack," as Hyram calls all semi trucks, for UPS)
Hanging at the pool
Cold little cool dude
Mom and Jim arrived Saturday night and we were able to have a lot of adventures together including visiting the Contatiner Park again and driving the strip again. We went to visit some of the hotel attractions with them, and knew much better about the parking situation by then. :)
Botanical gardens at the Bellagio
The Bellagio
Watching the dolphins at The Mirage
That's a jaguar back there...
Lions!
When we went to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden, Siegfried was standing at the entrance and even came and talked to Hyram. We are bummed we didn't get a picture with him!
Tigers!
Ice Cream! Oh My!
Overall, Hyram was a pretty happy camper for the whole trip...except when his legs were itchy at night. It was suuuuper dry there, and we were in the sun a lot. He screamed bloody murder when we put his PJs on at night. Maybe he always does that at home, but I just ignore him when he's in his own room with a closed door...
MMM...Starbucks smoothies were a common morning treat most days
Eating my bagel and getting ready to go out for the day
Our last full day in town, we visited the fabulously famous Las Vegas sign and drove out to a little cowboy town. It was cheesy and pretty run down, but fun. Hyram liked the petting zoo a lot and got to see and touch a few unfamiliar animals like wallabees, giant tortoise, emu, etc. He really liked the big black pigs and all of the chickens.
Grandpa T has an internal Harley Davidson detector.
Hyram's Harley
Looking at a chicken in a tree
These tortoise were pretty fast little guys!
Knock, knock!
This was a little "mine" with slanted floors. Hyram thought it was the coolest thing ever (we're not quite sure why) and ran through it a couple dozen times. :)
The town melodrama was held in the saloon.
Just waiting for the town square hangin'
David was called out from the audience to be a defendant...
Don't you hate it when you take a picture...on the video setting?
Red Rock Canyon
Love this guy!
Our last night, we went to the New York, New York hotel for some fun and games. David and I went on the roller coaster (which was slightly terrifying), and we all played arcade games for about an hour. We ate some delicious New York pizza and ended the trip with the best treat ever: Ben & Jerry's! While we are okay with never visiting Vegas again, we were sure glad to be able to sit by a pool the day it snowed in Rexburg last week and spend some quality time with Grandma and Papa T. Viva Las Vegas!
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