On to California

After visiting in Cedar City we were headed off to CA with a pit stop in Las Vegas along the way. It was only a 2 1/2 hour drive to get to Vegas, but since the kids don't have the best concept of time yet it was a little more rough than I had hoped. The secret weapon I pulled out of my hat this time was tin foil. I wasn't sure what to make at first & then one of the girls requested a hat.

Grayden did not want to wear his, but thought he'd give it a taste after ripping it apart. I don't blame him for not liking it...it was pretty nerdy!

Brinley wasn't happy with hers at first, so I put it on Matt & we were all laughing (I wish I would have taken a pic of that!). That convinced her that it was a good enough hat for her & she posed with a silly face.

Trinity loved her crown & wanted to do a silly face too, but she didn't put her whole heart into it! :)

We finally made it to Vegas & took the kids into Circus Circus

The girls were ecstatic when they saw SpongeBob!!

We even got to see a small show while we were there. It was pretty cool, but a bit weird also!

It was mid-day & SUPER hot, of course, and before too long Brinley had fallen asleep. Matt didn't want to dig the stroller out from under all the luggage, so we opted to go without it. BIG MISTAKE!! After walking around for a couple of hours we looked pretty pathetic. Mat was all sweaty from carrying Brinley while she slept & she of course was a sweaty mess too. I was sweating like a pig from carrying Grayden & poor Trinity did awesome & complained hardly at all!!

Luckily we were able to walk inside a few of the casinos for some much needed relief from the heat & the Treasure Island even had a shuttle that went to the Mirage. Grayden & Trinity were excitedly waiting at the gates for the next one to arrive.

I went in the bathroom to change Grayden when we got to the Mirage, but there were no changing tables in sight! I went in the stall hopeful that there might be one in there, but the only thing I saw was a tiny little ledge above the back of the toilet! Trinity suggested I use it & luckily it was just wide enough!

Grayden loved sitting like a big boy on both of our rides on the shuttle.

After we had walked almost all the way back to the Circus Circus (where we began & where we had parked) we stopped at a McDonald's & got ice cream and water. The girls devoured it & Matt offered to walk the last 15 minutes to get the van while we waited with air conditioning & more water. I never usually eat at McDonald's, but that day I couldn't have been happier to see one!

Once we left Vegas Trinity was pretty exhausted & fell asleep pretty quickly. She ended up sleeping most all the way to CA & after a few cookies, and a big mess, Grayden wasn't far behind. However, Brinley's 1 1/2 hour nap made it hard for her to fall asleep very quickly & proved to be a little hard to entertain. Her trusty "blanket" seemed to keep her content even if she wasn't asleep & I was even able to catch a few hours of sleep while Matt plugged along & got us to our resort safe & sound.

It was late when we got to our resort, but as I stepped out onto the grass I saw something move by the bush. I took a closer look and saw this cute little frog that was there to greet us. Trinity was sad that she had missed it.

Although it was late the kids were wide awake from their nap, so I took advantage of keeping them trapped in the tub while Matt brought all the luggage up. I'm not sure how we lucked out, but after having a bath the kids all fell asleep pretty quickly & I was so glad that we didn't have anymore long drives ahead!

The next day we went to Disney Land & I'll try to post pics of that soon...