Vegas Baby!

We did it! We scoured travel websites for weeks looking for the cheapest hotel we could get, we stalked Southwest to find cheap flights, and we crammed 4 adults and 2 babies in car seats into a Honda Pilot to drive from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas. It took a lot of effort, but we made it. 

Our first family vacation with our very good friends, Daniel and Jess, and their hunky little man! We for sure won't plan a road trip like that again- next time we'll just rent a minivan or a suburban. The two tall men got to drive and ride shotgun while Jess and I traded sitting in the middle between the two babies, and sitting in the back with the luggage and strollers. But we made it, and it was fun!

We were all trying to make this trip happen on a budget, so we stayed in the Freemont on the Old Strip. We figured since we weren't spending any money drinking or gambling, we could get away with being pretty cheap. It worked, but in terms of accommodations it is true what they say- you get what you pay for. It wasn't as bad as the Motel 8 -or whatever it was in Des Moines, Iowa that we had to stay in- but it sure wasn't Caesar's Palace either. 

We spent a lot of time walking that first day. We started out at the Fashion Show Mall and meandered over to M&M world (yesssss...) On walkjogrun.net it was well over 5 miles that we pounded the pavement. The babes were fantastic. Little Miss had a great time looking at everything. She was happy in her stroller, happy to be carried- she was just happy. She even napped when she was supposed to. It was fantastic. Jess's Little Man was great too. He is still little enough that he can sleep whenever he wants to. I must say though that she and I are the most impressive ones by far. We are veteran nursing Mamas now. We fed those babies in the atrium of the shops at Caesar's Palace, in restaurants, and on a bench outside M&M world. We got a kick out of it, because while we were inside no even looked our way, but outside (we were sitting near a sidewalk) people were staring at us even though we both used nursing covers. The irony was not lost on us. 

The boys in front of a fountain of Apollo 

Little Miss's first movie! It was a 10 min movie at M&M world. Don't worry the 3D glasses are sanitized

We stayed for 3 nights, and decided that the second and third nights we would trade babysitting and each couple would go see a show. I wish I had a picture to commemorate it, but it was our first date with just me and Alex since Little Miss was born! We saw Cirque du Soleil's Mystere, and it was a-maze-ing. I spent the majority of the show with my mouth hanging open. It was the cheapest Cirque show, but man it was fabulous. What a fun way to start dating my husband again!

Day two was more walking, but not as far, and at a much slower pace. 

Outside the Venetian

The buffet at The Paris

A major part of our trip centered around the ability to purchase a pass that would let us into buffets all over the strip for 24 hours. We planned it so we had a later dinner one evening when we purchased the pass, then we were able to eat breakfast, lunch and an early dinner the next day, all for one price. The mistake that we made was going for the closest buffet the afternoon of the second day. While it was fun to take pictures of the flamingos at The Flamingo, it was a costly mistake for me. It was a good thing we went out for our date the night before because I got si-i-i-ick. Fortunately it didn't affect Daniel and Jess's  date night. 

The Fateful Flamingo

By the next morning I was feeling well enough to curl up in the back of the car and go home back to SLC, and we left without much of a delay. 

We had a great time -food poisoning notwithstanding- and loved being with friends and family. 

The Best Laid Plans

For those who don't know my birthday is about this time of year... :)

And this year we got lucky! My tutoring center happened to be moving locations yesterday, so I got the afternoon off! And Alex gets out of class at one on Fridays, so even though it wasn't my birthday we decided to make an afternoon of it. He thought it would be fun to take me to the Shedd Aquarium, then wander around town and get some dinner after. Sign me up! I was so excited! Seriously, go look around at the website and check out the exhibits that they have. Not to mention, it was my first time going downtown in the daylight. We've kinda been slacking in the exploration department...

So Friday rolls around, and I spent an hour and fifteen minutes trying to track us down some tickets; which are a good idea to get ahead of time fyi, but are not on sale day-of... Mistake 1. So Alex gets home a little after 1, we eat lunch, do a few things around the apartment, and we're finally ready to leave at 3. Mistake 2. It took us an hour and fifteen to get there when it could have taken 45, so we get to the parking garage at Soldier Field at about 4:15, knowing that the aquarium closes at 5. We rush over and they are no longer selling tickets. Wop, wop......

I guess they weren't the best laid plans, but we had been excited for them. And in our defense, we both grew up in medium-large cities (populations of 608,000, and 600,108 according to the 2010 census), and our plans would have worked there. But we forget that this is Chicago: Population 2,884,382. Sooooo things work a little differently. 

Feeling pretty sorry for ourselves, we decide to walk around the Museum Campus there. For those that haven't been to Chicago, the Museum Campus is pretty awesome. The Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, The Adler Planetarium, and Soldier Field (Da Bears...) are all on the same strip of Lakshore, and there is a pretty neat jetty/peninsula to walk on. It also connects with paved trails to the park along Lakshore Dr. and where Buckingham Fountain are. These are pretty major Chicago-y places. 

So we walk along the peninsula and take some pictures:

Did I mention it was almost 80 degrees and gorgeous? All week? I try not to brag...

Then we walked to a Thai place about a half mile away. Ma & I was good! On the way back to the car we decided to walk through one of the statue parks to play, and take pictures of course... 

Can you see him?

And just then it started to rain. And rain a little more. 

We walked as fast as our full stomachs could to an underpass to ride out the storm. 

The Shedd Aquarium from the underpass. See all that water!? The storm lasted about 20 minutes, and by the time it was done we saw 3 building struck by lightning, including the one next to the Shedd! There was also 3-4 inches of standing water on that pathway...

Then the gutters started to well up with water from below. 

Once the rain quit, it made for an amazing sunset (with clear skies I might add)

And it turned the water the most stunning colors...

All in all, I'm glad we didn't get into the aquarium, because we probably wouldn't have been caught in the rain. :)

....But next time we'll plan better. 

Espana: Days 3 & 4; Ronda

After Gau-theen, we got to Rhonda. This quickly became, and stayed, our favorite city. We pent quite a bit more time there than we planned do to a little mishap with the Cafe Colòn. (As in Christopher Columbus, who is known simply as Colòn here.)

The mishap went like this: we were hungry, so we stopped in and ordered some pastries. When she handed us the pastries, Hubby handed her the credit card. She said (in spanish of course) "No, no cards, only cash please". We of course had not stopped for cash yet. Mistake #1. So Alex said, ok, I'll run to a cash machine and get some. But she said we should sit and eat first, he could get the cash later. So we ate. Mistake #2. I stayed at the Cafe while Hubby ran to the cash machine. While he was out, I watched the Federer/Nadal tennis match, thinking silly things like: "Oh this is so fun, this will be a great story to tell!" or "This is something that people do in movies!" or even better "this is kind of romantic!". Forty-five minutes later, Alex comes back. Without cash. Because we didn't have the PIN number for our credit card, and we didn't bring our debit cards with us that day. Mistake #3.

We decided the best thing to do was to ask our hostess what she thought would be best since we were out of ideas. She was very kind, and said to come back and pay her tomorrow since we were so far from our hotel and she would be closing soon. We love opportunities to be honest!

So we spent the remainder of that afternoon walking around the BEAUTIFUL city of Ronda, then came back the next day for some more! On Monday, day 2, we ate lunch at the Hotel Don Miguel which is right on the chasm that splits the city. We had the most beautiful view, and the food was fantastic. Our first taste of Gazpacho was to die for!

Hotel and Restaurant Don Miguel. The bridge below is just to the left of it, we were standing on the end of the bridge to take the picture.

 Lunch, and the view at Hotel Don Miguel!

Ronda is famous for its bull fighting ring. 

Espana: Day 3; Gaucin

We got up this morning, but were too late to get to a nearby church. So we watched a general conference talk, and decided to take a scenic drive to Ronda. The scenic part was that all along the two hour drive there were the most beautiful white cities! Apparently they were border towns between the Spanish and the Moors, but who cares! Look at them!

We stopped and got out in Gaucin. I of course said it with a strong french accent. After all, if I'm not speaking english, it must be french, non? So my dear hubby corrected me each time. "No, its Gau-theen". ok.

Driving through Gau-theen was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The roads were barely wide enough for our little hyundai, and each lovely home was whitewashed with a lovely terra-cotta colored roof... it all looked very Grecian to me. But I've never been to Greece.

Espana: Days 1&2

Day 1: We started off late. Of course. Ah well. We got the the airport on time, got to Chicago (O'Hare is huge, and I think its kinda ugly, but thats just me), printed our tickets. Got on the plane for Madrid (!), and I got my first taste of having NO IDEA what is going on. No hablo espanol.

Cutest little boy ever was sitting in front of us. He was very bouncy. We played Peek-a-boo. He was probably 3. His mom was funny too, and kept telling him to sit down. Silly Juan.

Took Lunesta to try and sleep. It worked for approx 2 hours. Restless the rest of the flight.

Arrive in Madrid at 7:40 am. Longest. Layover. Ever. I took 15 minute naps in hubbys lap. We watched How to Train a Dragon on the laptop. Flight to Malaga at 4:30 ish. Slept.

Luggage lost.....

Day 2: Was told that my luggage would arrive at the hotel by 11... Didn't see it til 1 (13:00). Slept in all morning as I didn't have anything to change into, or shower with, or brush my teeth with..... Hubby watched TV, :)

Luggage! So we immediately head out to the pool. Lounge for a couple hours, try the beach... However the Mediterranean is not geologically old. Meaning it was rocky. Very rocky. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try later this week.

After baking in the sun for awhile, we head to the Mercadona. Bingo! Make meals in the room and save a chunck of change!

Ronda tomorrow, with lots of pictures!

On the Ninth and Tenth Day of Christmas...

We went to see the Nutcracker! I love to see those "Lords a Leaping" and "Ladies Dancing". A ballerina feels like the epitome of feminine grace and beauty to me. Though I have no talent for ballet myself, I love to enjoy the talents that others have. It was a spectacular performance.

Thank you Tim and Lou for taking us!

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Monday after Thanksgiving

It was a crazy weekend. Mostly the good kind of crazy. The drive back was not the good kind of crazy.

21 hours in the car

home at 2:30 am

driving to work at 6:45 am

2 hours of sleep


Its a good day to put in a movie. No students have protested so far.

Cascade Springs

This week was long, tiring, and full of late nights, grading, and back to school night for me. It wasn't much better for Hubby, he has a couple long days each week too. So we decided that since we didn't see much of each other, we would go on a drive after cleaning the house on Saturday. So around 4:30 we headed up to Cascade Springs in the mountains. It took us almost an hour and a half to get there through some of the most beautiful twisty mountain roads. We didn't mind the time at all because we got to sit together and look at this the whole drive:

Once we got there we walked down this steep path to the springs. It was pool after pool of cool water that was trickling everywhere. So relaxing and pretty.

When we got to the back of the loop we sat on a bench for a minute just to look around, and a couple walked by to tell us what we would find around the corner...

MOOSE! Thats numbers 2 and 3 for me- never seen them in the wild before this summer. Hubby hadn't seen them before, and neither had Luna (she was a little fidgety, but didn't scare them at all). So we stood and watched mama and baby eat for a while. We probably watched for 5 or 10 minutes before they decided to take off up the path. I'd hate to be surprised by a moose in the path in front of me...

The day was cool and beautiful, and even though we weren't allowed in the stream per se, we still took some time to walk around and enjoy the sounds of the water.

We definitely enjoyed the beautiful leaves, and the sun, and the boardwalk and the water and being together. I'm sure Luna had fun too.

We drove a different way home and stopped for dinner in Midway. I like that town alot. It has a Swiss type theme, and many of the homes have that mountain-lodge appearance. We ate at this place called The Grill (across the street from The Store) and had the best milkshake ever....

It was a much needed day off for all 3 of us. :)