Las Vegas

We spent the week before Christmas in Las Vegas. On Thursday, Dec 16 we watched Connor and Ryan's Christmas musical at school in the evening, then drove to Bakersfield to spend the night. On Friday we drove the rest of the way to Las Vegas to our home for the week, Summer Bay Resort. On Saturday we explored the Strip, visiting the M&M store...We watched the 3D M&M movie at the M&M store...
We saw Santa Claus at the Harley Davidson Cafe.
I guess the big guy is always watching to make sure we are being good, even in "sin city."

On Sunday, we went to the adventure dome in Circus Circus. The airplane ride was Connor and Ryan's favorite.

On Monday, we went to Ethel M Chocolate Factory and Cactus Garden.

The paths through the cactus garden was fun to run and explore.

On Tuesday, we took a bus tour to the Grand Canyon (separate post).

On Wednesday, we painted shirts at the resort, saw the lions at MGM Grand, did some shopping on the strip, and swam in the pool at our hotel. The below picture was taken at the Coca Cola store with the Coca Cola Bear.

On Thursday, we plan to decorate flower pots at the resort, do some final exploring, then head to Granny and Grandpa's house for Christmas.

Grand Canyon

On Tuesday, Dec 21, we took a bus tour from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. We had to be at Planet Hollywood at 6:15am to check in and get on the bus.

Connor and Ryan were excited that we drove on Route 66 because they remembered this from their favorite movie, "Cars."

When we got to the Grand Canyon, it was rainy/snowy, foggy, windy, and cold. In the below picture, Connor is snuggled up beside me trying to keep cold. Ryan was too cold to join us for the picture.

The fog was so dense that we weren't able to see much of the canyon.

At least we had the scarfs, hats and jackets to keep us a little warmer. The white clouds behind us is suppose to be the Grand Canyon. Use your imagination.

The kids had fun climbing on all the rocks and after they got moving around, they forgot about how cold it was.

The kids had fun exploring. Ryan wanted to put money in the telescope, but we told him that the money wouldn't make the clouds go away to help him see better.

We were at the Grand Canyon for 2 hours. The bus took us to two different lookout spots and we got an hour at each stop.

With the weather as cold and wet as it was, I think everyone was ready to head back when the time was up.

Even with the stormy weather, it was a fun adventure. However, next time we go to the Grand Canyon, we will have to pick a less stormy time of year.
The snow that was falling while we were there mixed with the rain and didn't stick to the ground. But, the kids found some snow by the gift show and had fun stomping on the little patch of snow.

We got back to Las Vegas about 8pm. The bus tour was much better than driving it ourselves because the tour guide told us about the history of the towns we drove through and we were able to watch movies on the bus.

Ryan lost another tooth (#3)

Ryan lost another tooth this morning.
Now, Ryan has three missing front teeth. Two on the bottom, one on the top.

I guess the Tooth Fairy will be coming tonight.

Cookies Galore

Today was a full day of Christmas cookie baking and decorating.

CIM Sacramento Marathon

Yup, this is marathon #2 for me this year. 26.2 miles. Ed, the kids and I drove to Sacramento on Saturday and we all ran a race on Sunday. I ran the marathon. Ed and the kids ran the 2.62 mile MaraFUNrun. Since it was threatening rain, I purchased a disposable jacket at the expo and the kids colored it. I am wearing it in the picture below, just before getting on the bus at 5am to go to the starting line.

All the way to the start, it was raining. As soon as we got there an exited the bus, it stopped. Amazingly, it was dry the whole race. We were even able to walk back to the hotel before the skies opened up and it started to pour.

Below is a picture of Ed and the kids getting ready for their race.

And, their off...

Connor and Ryan loved running with the banana. Their goal was to beat the banana, gorilla and lion.

And they did. They finished the race before the banana, gorilla and lion and we were all winners.

Santa

The kids were so excited to see Santa today.

Trimming the Tree

I think this is the earliest we have ever gotten our tree up and decorated for Christmas.
But, with how busy our December is, it was either now or never.

The kids had a blast decorating for Christmas and making cookies today.

This is the first year we have done a fake tree. We usually cut our tree down at a tree farm, but this year, it was just easier to buy a fake tree since we will be gone the week before Christmas and we didn't want to come home to a dry tree with needles everywhere.The kids are excited for Christmas and seem to want everything. The "I WANT" is really starting to get annoying.

Turkey Trot

On Thanksgiving morning, we did the Turkey Trot race in Novato. Connor, Ryan and Cody ran the 1 mile kids race (with Ed and Uncle Tom as escorts). In the below picture, the kids are stretching before their race.

I ran the 10k race with my sister-in-law Cara and Ed's cousins Kate, John, and John's girlfriend Victoria.

The race was pretty disorganized, but it was fun way to spend the morning before stuffing ourselves with Turkey.

Ryan lost a tooth

Ryan couldn't let his brother stay ahead on the tooth count for long. Ryan lost one of his bottom teeth today at Granny and Grandpa's house.
Ryan's tooth fell out in the kitchen at Granny and Grandpa's house, while he was hanging upside down. Ryan was surprised and exited, and happy he found the tooth after it fell out so he can put it under his pillow tonight.

This is Ryan's first tooth to fall out naturally, but his second missing tooth.

Connor lost a tooth

Connor lost a tooth today. It came out at the park after soccer. Connor was devastated that he could not find it for the tooth fairy.
I explained to Connor that he could write a note to the tooth fairy and she would understand and still leave him something tonight for the tooth. This is the note he wrote...
This is the second missing tooth, but the first tooth Connor lost on his own. The first had to be pulled by the dentist after he fell and cracked it.

Connor's other bottom tooth is also loose and Ryan's two bottom teeth are loose, so I think the tooth fairy will be visiting us again very soon.

Trick-or-Treat

The kids were so excited tonight to go trick-or-treating.

It was driving them nuts to wait until it was dark to go trick-or-treating. Below is a picture Ryan took or Connor and me before we left to go trick-or-treating.
And here is Ryan getting impatient for the sun to go down.

And Connor, all decked out in his glowing necklaces so I could keep track of him in the dark.

Spooky!

They got TONS of candy tonight and had a great time doing it.