Vacation Baby!!

Can you believe I am finally posting about our vacation that happend 2 months ago? Weird, I know!

Anyway... Way back in June, we took our two "big kids" on vacation. On our way out of town, we stopped at my parents' house in Utah to drop Damon off. (I'm sure we will never hear the end of it when Damon is old enough to figure out that we went on vacation without him!) From there we drove to Vegas. The kids LOVED Vegas! When we finally got there is was dark out, and when you make it to the top of this one hill right before getting there, you can see all of the lights. The kids were so excited to see all of those lights! (I'm sure partly because they were tired of being in the car.) When they saw the lights they started singing "Viva Las Vegas." It was pretty funny. We stayed in Vegas for one night, and took in some of the sights that night and the next day. Here are a few of the pictures from Vegas...

Here are the kids at the top of the Stratosphere over looking the Vegas strip. I have a really cheap camera so you really can't see the actual view.

The kids with some of Vegas in the background.

The kids giving their love to the M&M.

Blake trying to imitate the M&M.

The M&M race car.

We ran into Mario and Luigi. They are alot taller in person!!

We also saw Spongebob and Patrick.

The kids found these "Star Wars" Pod Racers, and had to give them a try.

Here's Blake mastering his pod racer.

And Ashlyn mastering her's.

After a little bit of sight seeing in Vegas, it was time for our "main attraction", California! So we got back in the car and drove the rest of the way to Cali. The first thing we did when we got there was hit the beach...

Terry and Blake playing catch at the beach.

The kids had the most fun throwing these little balls as far as they could into the ocean, and then waiting for the waves to bring them back in.

The beautiful Miss Ashlyn

Ashlyn digging for seashells.

Ashlyn showing off her bucket of seashells.

Ashlyn and I making a sand castle.

Showing off our sand castle.

(I have a blowpop in my mouth. Thanks for the "flattering" picture Terry!)

Cute kids.

(Don't be fooled by their sweet faces. And no they are not holding hands... they fought like crazy!)

The next day we took the kids to "Legoland"...

While the grownups waited in the lines for each ride, there were these little lego staions where the kids could play with legos rather than stand in the line.

(If you notice, my kids monopolized all of the legos... Ashlyn kept taking the legos from the little kids when they weren't looking. Isn't she sweet!)

Posing with a Bionicle. I'm loving Blake's pose!

Darth Vador made completely out of legos.

Terry and I with Darth.

Lego Chewbacca and R2D2.

Ashlyn driving her Lego car in Lego town.

Blake driving in Lego town.

Terry and Blake in their Lego copter.

Next stop... Disneyland!

Ashlyn with Jasmine and Aladdin

Ashlyn with Cinderella.

(This was a terrible pic! You can't even see their faces. Oh well.)

I can't remember the name of this area at Disneyland, so I am just going to call it Minnieland. It was such a cute little area. All of the buildings looked like cartoons.

Ashlyn and Blake breaking out of jail.

Also in "Minnieland."

Watching the parade at Disneyland.

Minnie Mouse waving right at Ashlyn.

Ashlyn was in heaven... we were the VERY last people in line at the parade, so all of the characters were able to see Ashlyn, and wave to her specifically. She loved all the attention. Blake could care less!

Ashlyn in "Fairytale Land".

(At least I think that's what it was called.)

Ashlyn dancing with the princesses.

I managed to get a pose out of Blake. He wasn't digging the whole "Fairytale Land" experience.

Ashlyn and I waiting in line for a ride.

Hanging out in Tarzan's Treehouse.

Disneyland could have been fun if we hadn't gone in the summertime. The lines were RIDICULOUS!!!! I never would have imagined waiting in line, for an hour, for a ride that I really didn't care to ride on, but waited anyways because it was the shortest line in the park! Anyway... be warned, going in the summertime will turn you ANTI-DISNEY! So just don't go! Its terrible! You will hate it! Unless you just LOVE standing in lines that have no end in sight! Now that I have said what I was really thinking... on with the rest of the trip...

We had one night with not much to do, so we took the kids to the "Knights of the Round Table" dinner and show. It was alot of fun. We sat in a big arena, and they served us Medieval themed dinner, and then we got to watch the Knights fight. We sat in the Yellow Knights section, so we got to root for our Yellow Knight. (Which coincedentally was the cutest one there!) They did jousting, and real sword fighting. Terry and I went to this show while we were in Vegas a few years back, but this was the first time for the kids, so they thought it was really cool. For the rest of the night and the next day the kids kept doing their little made up cheers for the yellow knight. Here's a couple of pictures we took after the show...

The kids with their yellow crowns and yellow flags.

While in California, we did 2 days at Disneyland, 2 days at the beach,1 day at Legoland, and another day at the Legoland water park. (I didn't get any pictures at the waterpark.) We also had a few relaxing days at our resort pool, where we just swam and hung out all day. (those were the best days!) After spending a few days in Cali, we made our way back to Vegas where we stayed one more night before driving back home...

The kids and I standing in front of a pretty water feature in Vegas. My camera could not capture us and the water feature at the same time...

And here's the water feature, but you can't see us. Oh well, you get the point!

All in all it was a pretty good vacation. I will NEVER drive to California with the kids again! It was a nightmare. Those two fought nonstop! (maybe when they are older) I also really missed my sweet little Damon while we were gone. But I am glad we went and made some memories with our kids. We will probably stick with a few low key trips for the next couple of years.