EAT. DRINK. BE ROWDY.

Our last night in Vegas we had something fun planned for all of us.  We went to the tournament of kings dinner show.  So much fun.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone.  A bit pricey, but so worth it. 

Although there is no photography allowed in the theatre I'm glad we had a phone to snap a few pictures with.  It's a dinner fit for a king, where you eat with your hands and are encouraged (if not forced) to pound on the tables and cheer for your knight. 

Sadi was in heaven eating that game hen with her hands.  It was delicious!  She wasn't too big of a fan of the actual fighting and got so scared she almost peed her pants...for real.

We were seated in Hungary and I might say our knight we were rooting for was not bad to look at.  Kelsey was really into cheering for this guy.  Chase was pretty sure he was Loki from the movie Thor...I can see the resemblance.

Kind of funny that we ran into my Booster side kick and her family from Dayton and they actually had seats right in front of us.  Small world.

The show got finished and it was too early to go to the room.  I told Sadi there was a chocolate store we could go to but we would have to walk there.  She was in.  That girl will not pass up chocolate for anything.  So we headed out on the strip for our final night for some ridiculously overpriced m&m's.  Really I thought it being m&m world maybe it would be less than $13 a pound...really?

They did have some cool things to see like the race car, but other than that you have to be a serious m&m lover to get into that store...anyone else need an m&m pillow, jacket, loofah?

Once chocolate was in hand we were good to visit a few more stores.  There were once again street performers out and we stopped for a magic show in which Chase got to be part of, and even made a dollar from the magician.  It was a great way to end our vacation.

VEGAS VACATION

The morning after Easter was the official start of our spring break.  We decided we wanted to go somewhere warm and relaxing.  Seemed Vegas was the perfect choice, and our kids have never been there so it was even more exciting for them.  We arrived mid day on Monday and decided to hit the ground running and walk the strip.  We headed to NY first and I told the kids to be honest the real statue of liberty is not that much bigger than this one...and it's much warmer to see this lady.

The girls especially liked the view of Paris.  Maybe it's just like the real thing too? 

 We found lots of fountains to make wishes and toss coins into.

I really liked the Luxor which was right next to our hotel.  There seemed to be so much to see here. 

We admired all the writings on the walls, and talked about how Grandpa Denning would probably be able to tell us what all of it meant.

 It's hard to describe how massive these guys are if you've never been there.  Pretty cool!

 So many statues to admire.  This guy was way to scary for Sadi to get anywhere near.

 She was much more comfortable posing with the "dog".

It was so nice to be out enjoying the warm weather especially since it was getting late in the evening.  We thought the kids would want to stay out and see the city all lit up but not all of them were enthusiastic about all the walking they were doing.

So we decided to head back to the Excalibur hotel where we were staying for the week.  Sadi was thrilled that we were staying in a castle.

The next few days were spent swimming in the pool and relaxing in the sunshine.

 One of the pools also had a slide which they slide down over, and over, and over.

The last day we were there that is all Chase did literally for 6 hours.  I have no idea how he did not drop dead of exhaustion. 

 He made it look so fun even Kelsey had to try it out.  She only thought she was too cool for it until Sadi pointed out some older ladies and said "Awe look they even let old people go down it too".

I'm not sure what the kids liked most the pool or the hotel room.  That is all they wanted to do.  The pool closed early one day due to wind which we were fine with and actually thought would be a perfect night to go out and see the city.  Chase and Sadi wanted nothing to do with leaving the hotel.  AT. ALL.  So we did lots of relaxing, eating dinner in bed, and watching waaay to much Disney channel. 

Matt and I took turns taking Kelsey out to see some of the city.  Matt took her to ride the big coaster at the NY (I don't think either of them enjoyed it), and I took her out one night to experience the city at night.  We had planned to go to the mall, but found so many street performers out to watch we ended up just walking around enjoying the entertainment and then getting dinner.  I think this vacation was perfect for us, everyone got to do what they wanted.

An Egg-cellent Easter

We had a wonderful Easter filled with fun and egg hunting.  The kids woke up ridiculously early to start the hunt and to see if the bunny hopped to our house.

He indeed made a hop by, and along with scattering eggs everywhere he filled each of their baskets with some fun goodies.

On a bit of a disturbing note, something you may not know about our sweet little princess Sadi is she is somewhat of a stasher (by that I mean instead of putting things away where they belong she stashes them EVERYWHERE THEY DON'T...yeah kind of makes me crazy!).  So in the hunt for eggs the kids also found:  a ball, two pairs of socks, gloves, a hat, Chase's book (she "borrowed"), a hair tie, and her spelling words from who knows what week.

Luckily we did find all the eggs amongst these things.  Sadi also received some new Junie B. Jones books and some new Lego's from that hoppy bunny.

Kelsey got her very own package of Oreo's, that she was thrilled about, new nail polish, and a new book I am anxious for her to finish so I can read it.

 Chase was thrilled to find some Lego mixels in his basket along with some new chapter books.

We spent the day relaxing, munching on sweets, and avoiding the Lego mine that was covering our floors for most of the day.  Seems like whenever we get new Lego's we then need to dump the buckets of Lego's to find that "one" piece. 

Out with the old and in with the new

Kelsey just returned from a long weekend away in Sacramento for her last Key Club Hoorah.  For the past year she has served as the District 45 Key Club Lieutenant Governor.  This weekend she was retired and a new Ltg. was installed.  The other Senior Ltg.(Mickey far right) was  also retired.  Their new replacements:

While away they got to enjoy a retirement dinner and I'm sure had lots of fun "working".  Kelsey and Mickey became good friends traveling and working together and she is happy she will still get to see him next year as he will as well be attending UNR.

One more thing off her plate...check!

Night of the Arts

Last week was the night of the arts for Dayton High School.  Kelsey had six pieces on display.  I had seen most of the beginning work of these projects, but not the finished project so it was fun to see how all of them turned out.

All of the Senior class also participated in a chair project where they took an old beaten up chair and gave it a new look.  This project Kelsey and one of her friends Hannah worked on together.  Their chair I think was one of the best.  It was a high back chair with a city scene painted on the seat.

As we were leaving I had a sad feeling that this was probably the last time we would be attending a social event at this school for many years.  I don't think Kelsey shared the sadness, in fact I think she may have expressed "I can't wait to graduate!"

Season Begins

Saturday was the opening day for Little League.  This year Chase moved up to Minors and is playing on the Giants.

This year is different not only because we are in Minors, but because I get to watch both my boys play ball.  This year Matt is helping coach the team.

 Before game time it was warm ups and pep talks with the team.

I got roped into helping out in the dugout at the last minute, so I feel like I missed a lot of photo moments, and most of the game.  It was so different this year with using the pitching machine for the first two innings and then it went to live pitches.  I hope the pitchers get better, Chase took one in the leg...so glad he didn't cry.

 This season you'll see this little guy at short stop.

With the first game under out belt with a win for the Giants 16-6, we are off to a great start!

The Gaping Hole

I thought for sure when Sadi lost her first top tooth way back in November the second tooth would follow shortly after and we would be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth".  Alas, that second tooth stayed firmly put.  Now over 4 months later the second top tooth fell out and has left a gaping hole next to her giant big girl tooth on the other side.  Now she looks like some of the scary people you see around town with missing teeth. 

"Hi I'm Sadi, and I'm fwom Nevawda!"

A Foolish Day

April Fools day at our house is a day to stay on your toes...always.  This year I was running short on ideas to trick the kids (that wasn't just plain mean).  I decided the real trick would be not to fool them the whole morning..let them think there would be no tricks from me.  Chase was ready for anything and swore that this would be the year that I would not trick him.  So off he went to school with his lunchbox swinging in his hand, little did he know he was carrying his trick.  Honestly it was hard not to laugh because I had secretly packed them both a fake lunch.  That's right, plastic play food..it was a complete lunch, with chips and everything. 

I spied on each of them from the office as they entered the lunchroom and discovered they had nothing to eat but plastic.  It was hilarious!  Sadi was horrified and made sure to tell every teacher in the lunchroom on me.  I did bring them a delicious lunch so she quickly forgave me.

Chase was the laugh of the lunch table and it was so great telling him "Hey, I didn't think you were going to fall for any of my tricks?".  To be honest I think he liked being tricked, I know his friends all enjoyed a good laugh.

 It was a foolishly good day!