Thanksgiving in Vegas

 This year, ALL of our family went somewhere else for Thanksgiving.  So, we decided to go somewhere warmer with just our little family.  Vegas is driving distance and maybe you're wondering how family friendly Vegas is - but we went with it and had a FANTASTIC time!  We splurged and got our family Power Passes (I think that's what they were called) and it gave us access to all sorts of family friendly activities.  It gave us the opportunity to do things we have always wanted to do - but we're too thrifty to ever do it all.  This was our chance to do a bunch of new activities!

Our first resort was a surprise (Hotwire rocks!), and turned out to be AWESOME - Hard Rock Hotel.  Here are a few quick shots of our room.  Added bonus was the heated pool.  PLUS, it was on the second level - with windows at the bottom.  You'll see Hunter and I swimming around...

We went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.  There was even a 4D super-hero movie to wrap things up - that was a fun surprise!

Vegas now boasts the tallest ferris wheel in the world - it was really cool, but honestly the view over London from the "Eye" takes the cake.

Here are the gardens at the Bellagio, one of our favorite places to visit every time we go.

This was a new adventure - the Secret Garden at the Mirage.  They had dophins and also the lions and tigers that were used for Siegfried and Roy's show back in the day.

Look who was in the garden for photos!!  And he did a little magic trick for the boys too - he was a very kind man.  And he was there for only 15 minutes - we really lucked out!

Hersey's World...

Our tickets included this Comedian.  It said family friendly and it WAS!!!  It was a great show and he did a little photo op at the end too.

Another highlight was doing the VooDoo Zipline - which goes between the Rio towers.  Skye and Danny weren't big enough - but they weren't itching to go anyways.  

We also went to a fun family center with go-carts, rides, and included pizza with our passes.  And the big bonus was getting $10 per pass to the Planet Hollywood every day - we got a couple meals and also some souvenir t-shirts.  Our Thanksgiving day was at a Buffet which honestly felt like eating at a buffet any other day.  The "Thanksgiving food" was actually the worst part.  The boys loved eating whatever they wanted and of course, desserts till you felt sick.  It didn't feel like Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is about family and being together - so we missed being with grandparents and cousins, but we really enjoyed being together as a family.  It was a very different Thanksgiving, but a fun one!

Playing in the leaves

We don't have trees in our backyard - but we get plenty from our neighbor's MONSTROUS Poplar trees!!!

this is Halloween... this is Halloween...

First - party time for the Grown-ups - my tradition homemade root-beer.  YUM!

I pulled out high-school dresses of mine for a retro-dress-up activity for a girl in my neighborhood and found this beauty.  The hair-style is definitely older than the dress - but it worked perfectly.  I also included a couple pics from the glory days...  And see if you can guess what Shayne is... I'll post the answer at the bottom of the post.

I managed to convince Skyler to wear one of the 20 costumes in our costume bin and it was soooooo adorable to see him in this Godzilla outfit.  I think it was just last year that Grandma made this for my nephew, James.  But - time says differently since he just turned 18.

The boys decided on their own costumes and I requested that they use stuff we already had.

Danny - vampire

Cole - a mummy

Hunter - a zombie George Washington

Like I mentioned earlier, we have so many little kid costumes and for weeks Skyler kept telling me he wanted to be a green cake for Halloween.  I decided to believe him on Halloween morning and I whipped this special-custom-made costume for him.  He was SOOOOO happy to be a green cake!

Grandma and Grandpa went trick-or-treating with the little boys.

Our house - known as the scariest one on the block.  Those are spikes on the front door.  This year we served "playdough" ice cream cones - (mini, mini cones from Artic circle).  It was a hit - especially since the weather was still warm for trick-or-treating!

Danny's loot.

The next day, we did our "Haunted Garage."  This is our 3rd year and every year I realize afterwards that I have no photos to document our biggest event of the fall.  I tried to take pics but another lesson learned - pics of dark places don't look nearly as good when using a flash!  We section our garage into 5 rooms using tarps and try to make it different every year.  Shayne is amazing and spent days getting everything done.  It wouldn't happen without him, that's for sure!

The treat for those who come...

Finishing touches...

wet strips of material in one section.

This is a tunnel - completely dark when you go through it.

Everyone had parts to help "scare" the visitors.

Here's Julia...  don't mess with her.

The little boys only lasted 5-10 minutes - then they were attacking Uncle Chris.

The group - big huge thank you to Chanin, Steve, James, Julia, Chris, Cherae, Connor, Carson, Clayton, Devri, Brian, Grandma, & Grandpa for being a part of the fun!!!  

Heart attack

This one was a spontaneous moment from the boys to their daddy...  super cute.

Danny playing his spooky song...

The handsome 12 year old

I knew I had taken a picture - just found it!