Viva Las Vegas

Before we knew about our no-kids trip to Colorado for JUCO, Tim and I planned a mini vacation to Las Vegas for Tim's National Athletic Training Convention.  It was a great trip mixed with a little working for Tim, relaxing for me, and spending time with each other.  On our first day there, we already had tickets to see the Cirque de Solei show Beatles' "LOVE" at the Mirage.  After getting checked in at the hotel and at the convention, we headed down the strip toward the Mirage for dinner and the show.

The show was AMAZING and definitely a highlight of the trip for this Beatles fan.  I'm so glad we had this opportunity to go to this awesome show.

On our first full day, Tim went to several morning sessions at the convention which meant I went to the pool for some kid free sunbathing.  What?!?  Going to a pool alone?  That is crazy talk! :-)

We met for lunch at our hotel, the Luxor, before Tim went off for the next part of the convention.  That night, we took the bus to the very north end of the strip to an outlet mall and then to the old downtown section, The Freemont Experience.  This is such a fun part of Vegas with an awesome light show at night.

On our final full day, we decided to make a little trip north again to check out the Pawn Stars store.  Tim even brought a silver ID bracelet just so he could "pawn something."  When we got there, the line was around the block and it was really hot outside.  We settled for  a photo op instead.

After some more time at the convention, we headed out for one last night on the town.  We were able to get cheaper day-of tickets for one more show and chose to see the musical "Rock of Ages."  Before the show, we went to a great steak place, Smith and Wollensky's, for a nice dinner.  It was a great last day in Vegas.

It was such a great opportunity to spend some quality time together away from the kids.  We plan to do the same next year for Tim's NATA Convention in Indy!

Fun in the Sun

Last year, Hannah had her first set of swimming lessons.  They were super successful so it was definitely on our list for this summer.  Cameron also did...let me rephrase, tried...lessons this year too.  Here is the whole crew, minus Ella, on their last day of lessons.

All of these kiddos did a great job and really learned a lot of of new swimming skills.  Cameron, on the other hand, didn't do so great.  I knew it was a risk because he was a pretty young two year old, but I also knew he loved the water.  He still loved the water (and swam like a fish all summer) but didn't quite like to sitting and listening to a a teacher.  He did not pass the first level and will be doing it again next summer.  Hannah did great this year as well.

Here she is playing the wrench game.  Still isn't quite ready to go all the way under yet.

End of the summer update:  Both kids have made a ton of progress swimming.  In the middle of the summer, Hannah finally got brave enough (with a little "peer pressure" from her best buddy Emma) to take off her floatie, jump into the pool, and swim under water to me.  She also likes to dive under water for her diving toys.  I am so, so proud of her and her accomplishments in the pool this summer.  Cameron also continued to enjoy the water.  He loves to float, jump in, dive under, wear his "eye goggles" and so much more.  I love our little fishes and spending our summer days at the community pool.

Let's Go Birds!

Schools out, we are home from Colorado, and I'm done with my summer graduate class.  Let our summer officially begin!  We kicked off our summer with a family night at Busch Stadium.  This year, my parents bought a ten game package with four tickets per game.  Tonight, they gave us their tickets.  Before the game, we ate at one of our favorite downtown places, Caleco's, and then walked to the game.  My parents' seats are awesome and in the front row of a section.  This especially helped because Hannah and Cameron could move around a little bit.  This game was also fun because the Birds won big time and there were 5 home runs!  A Busch Stadium tradition is to shoot fireworks with each home run and the kids LOVED that!  The weather was awesome, the family time was memorable, and the Cards won.  Welcome to summer!