What's new

After much thought, book reading, Internet research, and trips to various animal shelters we have chosen our new best friend. We got him yesterday from the Clovis Animal Shelter. He is one year old.  He is a terrier mix.  We are crate training him and trying to get him on a schedule. Last night he was crying so we put his crate in our room and he settled right down and went to sleep.  Kind of like having a newborn in a co sleeper.

home

We made it home a week ago. We are back to the regular schedule, school, piano, classes etc. I have decided to take it easier as far as school goes. If we get a little behind it will be ok. There is always time to catch up during school breaks. When we got home, Kirk had made brownies for us. They say "welcome home"

Las Vegas

My original plan was to stay in a regular hotel and not a casino but my brother suggested we stay somewhere more fun and he was right. Yesterday we arrived in Las Vegas around 3:30.  We booked in at Circus Circus.  I never thought of Las Vegas as being a good place to stay with kids but I was wrong.  Circus Circus has been great. We are staying on the 26th floor which was a little nerve wracking since I checked the window and it has no screen.  Someone could jump out of that thing.  Neither kid could open the window though so I managed to sleep.  I have to rave about this room for a minute. The mattresses are pillow top.  Somehow it is very quiet. I don't hear any guests above us or next to us or in the hall. I don't hear other toilets or water running.  I don't know why other hotels are so noisy when this one is so quiet.

 

When we checked in, there was a line so I thought we would be in for some crowds but we went to the adventuredome inside amusement park and there were no lines.  We went to watch the trapeeze artists twice. During the first show there were two falls, but at the 9:30 show the tricks went off flawlessly and the kids were amazed. They were both exhausted and went right to sleep.  This morning we ate at the buffet for breakfast. The food was amazing, lots of pastries, donuts, meat, you name it.  So now we are headed home. We have had a great trip. Thanks again Michael for suggesting Circus Circus, it was a great way to end the trip.

Night in Utah

In Utah the hotel we stayed in was pretty gross.  I didn't realize how gross until I started using my laptop in the dark.  Then I noticed the bugs. On the screen.  On the window.  Gross! Triple A booked that hotel and I thought it would be fine but I guess someone forgot to call pest control.  There were a lot of things wrong with the hotel so I called triple A and mentioned them all.  We were glad to get out of there.  Utah is pretty, but next time we will just stay somewhere else. 

Leaving Colorado

When we drove through this area three weeks ago, all the trees were still green.  Yesterday, when we were there, the trees were yellow, green, and orange. It was very pretty.  We stopped in Vail to play at a park.  We ended up taking a bus into town and having lunch at a pizza place. 



This last view is of the Rocky Mountains from the Utah side. 



Last Day in Denver

We were supposed to go on a tour of the U.S. mint today but with a late start, construction in the area, and a lack of knowledge of where to park, we missed the start time.  We decided to go to the Children's Museum in Denver instead. They had some good displays and the kids enjoyed building, painting, making bubbles, doing a puppet show, and driving the fire truck. Erik really liked playing with the tools. Here Katie is with the train we built out of recycled materials.

After the museum, we went back to my brother's house and changed clothes and headed to the recreation center.  It is a gym and also has two pools, one lap pool and one shallow pool with a lazy river to float down. I wish they had something like this at my gym.

Butterflies

Today, we went to the Butterfly Pavilion near Denver where they have butterflies in a botanical garden setting.  They also have some sea life and insects.  I held a tarantula.  I will do anything to get a sticker.  The kids liked the butterflies for a while and then they started to freak out.  Too many flying bugs will freak out anyone after a while I suppose.  Some of those bugs were bigger than some birds I have seen.  I think Katie was looking for a net.

 Erik was a little disturbed.

Tonight, Erik made a duplo creation he was really proud of. It was a water and coffee dispenser. He wanted to pose by it.

 There was a trail outside with a lot of prairie dogs.  They were all pretty fat from eating leftover lunches from all the school field trips.