UEA Getaway

This week was UEA and the kids had two days off of school. Although we still have plenty to do with getting our house put together, our family decided to take a break on Friday and drive down to Las Vegas.

We spent the morning at the Children's Museum. The first thing the kids wanted to do was to put on some gravity boots and feel what it would be like to walk around on Jupiter:




Afterwards, we found the giant bubbles. It was so fun; we probably spent a half hour in this area!

Next, Jefferson, Krissia, and DEl went upstairs to the "big kids" exhibits while Mathison and I hung out in the early childhood discovery area.

After our museum adventure, we met Jared and Leesha at Town Square for lunch. After we ate, Leesha and I and the younger kids hung out at the play area while DEl and Krissia did some shopping.

Mathison and Jett exchanging a very slobbery kiss:

Jefferson hamming it up in the "maze":


There was a splash pad in the play area that was a big hit with all of the kids. Leesha and I stripped down the little ones to the waist and let them get soaked!


Jaylee and Mathison sitting together on a ride-on toy:


Leesha couldn't stay long because of her kids' nap time, and after she left we finished our shopping. Our next stop was the Coca Cola and M&M museums on the strip.
We had a great time, although we had to cut the M&M experience a little short because Mathison decided to through a HUGE fit on the 2nd floor :) After calming him down, we walked across the street to the New York casino and let Jefferson and Krissia ride the roller coaster. By the time they were finished, we were all pretty hungry so we had dinner at one of our favorite Las Vegas buffets - the Sahara. We had thought about going to Fremont Street, but we were all pretty tired at that point so we decided hang out at Jared and Leesha's house instead. We stayed and chatted with them for about an hour before heading back home.

You might have noticed that Bronson is absent from the pictures; he actually spent a couple of days at Lake Mead with his friend David during the UEA break. Just so he doesn't feel left out, I thought I'd better include a recent picture taken of him at our neighborhood park:


I just have to end with a funny story that happened while we were at the Coke Museum. We ordered "Coca Cola Around the World", which gives the customer samples of 16 different soda products from other countries. Krissia decided that she didn't want to taste any samples as she is staying away from carbonation because of swimming, so she took it upon herself to read what each product was from the list before the rest of us tried it. As we got ready to try the first sample, Krissia announced that it was "Cool Nestia from Bolivia". I thought it sounded pretty exotic, but when I tried the drink it had a very weird aftertaste. As we prepared to taste sample #2, Krissia said, "This is Raspberry Nestia from France." DEl and I both realized that something was off, so he grabbed the paper from Krissia. Low and behold, it was raspberry NESTEA from France - and you guessed it, the first sample was cool NESTEA from Bolivia. DEl, Jefferson, and I had all had our very first taste of iced tea. I guess we should be glad that Krissia is still innocent enough to not know what Nestea is :)