After the garden we headed out to see the water show and the kids were mesmerized. That has to be one of my favorite things about Vegas. It amazes me how they can make that water dance, I think could stay there all day and watch it!
The walkway from the Bellagio lobby down to the strip and along the front of the pool is lined with speakers and they play Italian themed music constantly. Emily just couldn't resist. The entire way around the Bellagio she danced and twirled and kicked. People had to move aside to give her more room. (I'm glad it wasn't too crowded at the time.) I just giggled and snapped about 30 pictures of her. It was so cute!
After watching the water show we headed to Caesar's Palace to wander the shops and show the kids the "Zeus" show. Emily had put her boots on without socks and had an almost instant blister so Katie and I spent a while trying to find a store that sold socks. We finally found Gap and Doug found some flip flops for Emmy so of course Katie and Nate wanted some too. It's good that we also got some socks because the flip flops made her toes hurt and she still hasn't hardly worn them! We watched the Zeus show, which the kids thought was kind of scary, went to the Cheesecake factory for lunch, and after a little more wandering went back to our room to swim.
(Yes, she did have to potty, but its the only swimming pic I got of her.)
We left at about 5:15 to head to the Temple. Doug had looked at a map at home and was pretty sure of how to get there. WELL...not quite. By the time we arrived at 6:25 and they were supposed to meet at 6:15 he was a bit frazzled. Doug and I both have some family in Vegas, but unfortunately no one could watch the kids. So Doug went in and we hung out on the Temple grounds. Nathan had to use the bathroom and the only building on the grounds was a little distribution center that DIDN'T have a bathroom we could use. We had to go in the Temple to use the bathroom in the front lobby! I felt so uncomfortable with all of us walking in the Temple in our street clothes. Of course they were very nice and it probably is the norm without a visitor's center there. The kids and I spent a few minutes in an outdoor atrium in the Temple. There were some little water fountains there and we really enjoyed it, until the kids started wanting to feel the water - time to leave! Unfortunately that was not our only trip to the bathroom that evening. Rather than the 7:00 session, Doug's group decided to do the 8:00 session. An extra hour to entertain the kids! Doug had called me and said that one of his buddies offered to bring him back to our place if I wanted to take the kids back. Are you kidding me!?! There was no way I was driving across Vegas by myself, no, thank you! We walked several loops around the Temple, took some pictures and then drove to the only store close by, then I turned on a movie in the van and all of the kids crashed. Doug had a wonderful time in the Temple and wished they had planned more activities. It was nice to meet Pres. Ballard after they had finished the session.
Saturday morning we hit the outlet mall for a while - gotta get my shopping in! Went to lunch with one of Doug's companions and his wife. And after a little more shopping (more like wandering, we didn't buy much) we headed back to go swimming. The kids couldn't get enough of the pool! We originally had planned on driving home Sunday, but Friday evening it was a unanimous decision that we should stay one more day.
Sunday morning we headed out to finish seeing the strip. We started at Excalibur and then headed to Mandalay Bay. From inside we could see some of their pools and the kids wanted to go so bad, they had a wave pool! We tried to explain that you have to stay at the hotel to use their pools, and Katie asked why can't we just stay there for the day? :-) Then we found a tram that went to the Luxor and then back to Excalibur. Nathan said that riding the tram was one of his favorite parts of the trip.
We took the kids to Rainforest Cafe for lunch and then tackled M&M World. Wow! Four floors of craziness. The kids wanted to get some colored m&m's - $13/lb.! I told them they could pick two colors and I would get them a few. Emily chose two shades of purple, Katie's were hot pink and turquoise, and Nate picked maroon and teal?, that was quite the combination. We also tried some coconut m&m's (they were really good) and after all was said and done we still got just over a pound. Doug and I were glad to get out of there!
Our last stop before leaving Vegas was to go to the Silverton. They have a huge fish tank and the fish were awesome! We got there in time to see them feed the sting rays. The diver was connected to the microphone outside the tank and could hear the questions and answer them. Katie asked him about her favorite fish, a spotted sting ray, and he told her that it was called a "honeycomb sting ray" because of the spots or a "whip tail" because its tail can grow up to six feet in length and they can be nearly 200 pounds! Shortly after the feeding session there was a "mermaid" swim. She was really cute with all of the kids. Emily loved watching her blow air bubble kisses. Unfortunately the pictures of her didn't turn out so good. After the Silverton we loaded up and headed to St. George to stay for the night. We figured it would break up the drive a little bit and we'd get home at a reasonable time. Not so!
We couldn't leave St. George without the kids getting to swim. It was gorgeous even at 9:30 in the morning. So by the time we dragged them out of the pool and got dressed and loaded it was noon. Then we decided we wanted to go see the Temple before we left and why not take a quick tour through Brigham Young's winter home. It was really neat! And of course the Temple was beautiful. Emily had to smell nearly every flower before she would leave.
We finally drove out of St. George at 2:30. The drive home wasn't quite as fun as the drive to Vegas but the kids were so good and that made the trip just that much better! We had a wonderful time, we haven't had a real family vacation, besides camping, in I don't know how long. Can't wait till we plan the next one!
