Summer Vacation, part 1

This summer, we had planned an extensive road trip up to visit my parents in Nevada and Keith's parents in Spokane. When Keith got a new job in July, our plans had to change. I considered making the 48 hour round trip drive by myself, but got too stressed out and shortened our plans to just a trip to Nevada. We were sad to miss seeing everybody in Spokane, but managed to have a fun trip anyway.

We got to Overton on Friday, July 19th in the early afternoon. Grammy Jo and Bampa had been invited to a pool party and BBQ that evening, and fortunately that invite extended to us as well. The kids had the best time ever jumping off the diving board. That pool alone convinced me that if we ever did put in a pool, it would have a diving board. By the end of the evening, Finley was jumping in and swimming to the edge without having anyone catch her at all.

 

The next morning, we headed to Circus Circus to the Adventuredome, which basically has a bunch of rides. We bought all day wrist bands and spent several hours there. The morning especially wasn't crowded, so the kids road their favorite rides repeatedly.

The first ride we did was kind of like a ferris wheel made of hot air ballons. I rode with Finley.

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The other group.

Then we rode the carousel.

Then, while Grammy Jo and Bampa took Sareny and Isaac to a Happy Feet ride that she wasn't tall enough to ride, Finley had lots of fun on this little plane ride. 

 

 Her first time around, she didn't figure out how to move the plane up and down, but she still had fun.

Once her ride was over, we raced back around to the line and she got to ride it again. This time I put her in a helicopter with a stick that was a little easier to pull back on for a beginner, and she had fun going up and down.

Although partway through the ride, she leaned over quite hysterical and crying and said that it wouldn't go down. I shouted at her to let go of the stick, which she did, and then she calmed right down when it started going back down.

And then she rode the ride yet again while we waited some more.

By the time Isaac and Sareny came over to ride, she was an old pro. If you are feeling sorry for Finley that she had to ride this one 4 times in a row, rest assured that she loved it. Later when we let each kid pick one final ride, this is the one she requested. Isaac wanted to sit in his own plane.

 

Sareny and Finley shared, although I don't think Fin was too happy to relinquish the controls to Sareny.

Then the kids did the train ride. I love how Isaac is just sitting all chill.

One part of the track kind of bumped the kids up in the air, but I think they enjoyed it. We came back and rode this one a second time later in the afternoon.

The Frog Hopper. This was a great favorite of two of the children...Finley was not one of them.

I love this little picture--so cute! This was taken before the terror of the ride had set in for poor Finley. This was one of those rides kind of like Tower of Terror, but on a much smaller and gentler scale. It takes you up, it drops you a little, and takes you back up again. Finley was trying not to cry the whole time, and when it finally stopped, she immediately started full out crying when she had to wait for the worker to come and get her out. We didn't make her ride it again.

But Isaac and Sareny rode it 3 more times in a row.

Seriously, they thought it was the best thing ever, and Isaac is now convinced that he wants to ride Tower of Terror next month when we go to Disneyland.

When they had momentarally had enough of The Frog Hopper (we came back later and they rode it several more times, and yes, I think their friends are green with envy. That was part of the ride spiel, which I believe we all had memorized by the end of the day.) Grammy and Bampa went to ride the upside down roller coaster with Sareny. She had been looking forward to this ride, because one of her friends had visited the Adventuredome over the summer and told her all about the rollercoaster.

Getting buckled in.

She loved it and wanted to ride it again, which is why I can't fathom why she doesn't want to ride California Screamin' next month at Disneyland...perhaps if her friend goes first and then tells her how fun it is. Then we rode the bumper cars, which Finley wasn't tall enough for.

And somehow, I got the lucky draw to take the kids on the big pirate ship that goes back and forth, back and forth. I think every one of us on that ship was wishing it would just stop about half-way through the ride.

We rode a bus thing a couple of times.

Bampa, Sareny, and I also rode their water flume ride, which was pretty fun but wasn't working very well. Then we got some lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and headed over to the McCarron airport to watch the planes landing and taking off. I don't know if other airports have a setup like this, I know Phoenix doesn't, but they have parking spaces right by the landing strips just so people can come and watch the planes. After that, we went to the Belagio to see their indoor gardens. They change the theme quite frequently, and this time it was a country fair theme, which seemed appropriate considering where we had spent the morning.

They had a pretty cool butterfly house.

Then we went outside to watch their water show. It is a pretty cool show--the water is coordinated to music and shoots giant flumes up into the air. I think we were all pretty exhausted by the time the night was over!

Another thing about this trip--the kids absolutely love being told stories, especially when they are trapped in the car for any length of time. On the way in, I told them a couple of stories. But then they discovered that Grammy Jo is a pretty good story teller, and that was it for her. She was finangled into telling stories every time we got in the car to go anywhere. They loved her stories so much, and Sareny even listed that as one of her favorite things about the whole weekend. I will admit that I was pretty entertained by her stories as well. I think she should write them down so we can always remember them.