You know you're old (or perhaps married) when......

Vegas ain't what it used to be......
Back in February I had this idea to surprise Eric with a trip to Vegas for his birthday (in July). Well, I totally spoiled the surprise, I really just could not keep it a secret. But, because I spoiled the surprise, he was then in on the "we need to save every penny" kick I was on. Fast forward to July 3rd. We were set to leave July 5th. That evening, our little Munchie, got sick:( She was throwing up and had a super fever- or a feeling, as she calls it. The whole night, I slept in her bed and watched her toss and turn and I knew we couldn't go away. Monday, she still was not great. My mom kept assuring me that she had taken care of sick kids before and could do it again, but I felt so guilty even thinking about leaving when she was sick. Monday evening, she was better.... not great, but better. I decided we could go. Tuesday morning our plan was to get up and be on the road by 7:30. Delaney was fine, so I felt much better about leaving. One small snag in the plan to be on the road was that Eric did a load of laundry (just his clothes, thank goodness) and accidentally washed his TatWax  (for his new half sleeve) and it ruined all of his good clothes. Before we even left the house, we knew we had to make a detour. I said good-bye to the kids, got pretty teary eyed-- this was the first time leaving Brody for more than 24 hrs-- and we left.
We decided a cheap way to replace some of his clothes was to go to Target. It was my first experience at Super Target and man I am sad we don't have one closer to us! After the exciting trip to the mega Target, we were on our way! Of course, I have to stop like every two hours to pee and get a Dr. Pepper, but Eric is cool with that. We roll into Vegas about 5:30- rush hour. Sweet. Boy, there is nothing like rush hour, in Vegas, through construction, on the strip. I, as usual, kept my cool (ha,ha,ha) and was extremely helpful to Eric. And so, after the final fearful U-turn we had to make, we made it to the oh-so-fabulous Flamingo hotel. We had to find a parking spot in the parking garage and after 7 floors up, we found one! I forgot to mention that the Saturday before we left, Eric was working a side job and somehow missed the fact that his foot was directly under the humongous sledge hammer that he was swinging and broke his big toe, so walking was a pain- literally. Here we are 7 floors up and the elevator is broken. We have a huge suitcase and cooler, because I need snacks and beer. He was less than thrilled, but he did it. We walked down the steps and made it to the hotel. Danielle and Joe (sister and bro-in-law) were in Vegas as well and were waiting for us to get there! We met them at Margaritaville! I LOVE this place! I love the atmosphere and the food.... and the margaritas! In case you have never been there, on the hour, this girl comes out with a tray and does a little dance around the restaurant with an entourage of people on stilts. Then she goes on top of a volcano (which is the top of the bar) and "falls in" and then when it erupts, she pops up in a little bikini and slides into a big blender and splashes around, THEN she gets on a hook, yes a hook, and spins around like crazy..... she finishes the performance up with a dance to "Wasting Away again in Margaritaville". So fun! And if that's not enough, there's this:

(No.... not Eric, though I love him dearly, I am talking about the thing he's about the lick)

That's 100 oz of margarita baby.

Danielle, Joe, Eric and Me:)

Not quite sure what this is all about.... apparently I was very serious about our conversation....

We had a great evening.... sadly this was the only evening that I took pictures. After the restaurant, we walked around the Flamingo to check out the wildlife. I have to say that I was put at ease when I saw that the Flamingos were not just walking around the pool, like I had originally thought- and that thought freaked me out!

I love this one! Joe was feeling very happy and would just walk around a randomly pose and take pictures of himself. It was so funny!

I'm not sure where my boobs went in this picture. Puzzler.

Yes we were feeling happy:)

The next morning, we had breakfast and then we laid out by the pool. Really that is all I wanted to do.... ya know- nothing. It was so great! We played a game trying to pick out the hottest woman and man at the pool and surprisingly had a hard time (and not b/c the pool was crawling with them). It was a nice feeling:) That afternoon we got some killer advice- apparently you can buy a wristband for like $50 each and then you can eat at any of the Harrah's properties' buffets for 24 hrs! Seriously.... that's all we did. We planned out what buffets to hit and when and then we'd go to another one! We did go to the M & M store and watched the Bellagio and all that, but all in all, we ate our way through Vegas and went to sleep at a reasonable hour each night. LAME!

 BUT we did meet a famous boxer who is being inducted in the boxing Hall of Fame- Earnie Shavers. He was super nice and autographed a picture for Eric and chatted for awhile. I felt bad I didn't know who he was, but I am pretty sure I was still in diapers when he was boxing and Eric was watching:)

Earnie Shavers and Eric

Friday we headed home and I was so excited to see the kids. My parents are awesome and had taken care of them all week (oh and ps, Brody got super sick when we were there- Mother of the Year, in Vegas with a sick kid) and were super ready for us to be home! I am sure it will be a LONG time before we go on another vacay without the kiddos, but that's okay:)

Lessons learned

I learned a few things on our fun filled, old fashioned family vacation.... maybe these will help, maybe you will just laugh at me, who knows.

1. Make sure to have specific directions to your destination and insist on them to the driver.

2. Don't continue to tell your husband how hungry you are when he is trying to find a place to eat and has been for an hour.

3. Find places that are near the hotel to eat BEFORE you venture out in the California traffic

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4. DO NOT buy one of those big ass balloons at Disneyland until right before you leave. You can't tie it to the stroller without the stupid thing blocking your entire view and you can't tie it to the back because it hits everyone in the face that's walking by.

There's that damn balloon that *someone* bought

5. Reapply sunscreen often and don't forget parts of the hair....

6. If people don't get out of the way of the stroller, then they deserve to get ran into.

7. If you child has shoes that slip on and off easily, take them off before entering an exhibit. Especially a dark exhibit.

Bye-bye shoes

8. Bring an extra pair of shoes.

9. Wear nicer clothes when checking in to a fancy hotel.

10. Always check the room like 5 times before you leave (we left a pillow, 2 blankets, a dress, and a shirt in the room. awesome)

11. DVD players in the car are a LIFE SAVER!

12. Having pizza delivered to the room two nights in a row is perfectly acceptable...especially if it's the cheapest way to eat:)

13. The majority of people at Disneyland are ignorant.

14. The majority of people on the beach did NOT have perfect bodies (I liked that)

15. "Firsts" happen only once and if you blink, it will be over. Make sense? I learned to watch everything that the kids did because I didn't want to miss anything.

His first time in a hotel

Her first time seeing Minnie

16. Family trips NEVER turn out like you planned, but that's what makes them memorable. I love that.

The End... Day 4

We are finally up to our last day! We planned a nice, calm day for our final one and I am sure happy we did. We decided to go to the beach. Delaney has been talking about the beach for a while now so I thought it would be fun.

                                                              Daylen showing Brody the cars

Delaney having major attitude

We get to the beach and get all our stuff together. I was cracking up on the inside. Have you ever seen that show 'Yes, Dear'? The theme song when they watch the couples in the convertible drive by while they are crossing the street to the beach with tons and tons of crap..... that was us. We had towels, snacks, diaper bags, sand toys, an umbrella, a stroller and who knows what else. We looked ridiculous. But, that's okay, we are a family:)

Here are a TON of beach pictures:

Eric showing Brody what to do

Kaylie getting some sun (although she got way too much and fried)

Lovin it!

Daddy and son

Daylen and Eric trying to decide if it's too cold. It was WAY cold, but they went in

Monkey checking everything out

Delaney getting brave (it lasted only a minute though)

This was after he dumped a bucket of sand down his throat. Super scary.... had to smack the crap out of him and then I poured an entire water bottle on his face. Not fun.

Content on the towels

Kaylie let Delaney rub sand all over her back....what a good big sister

Brody sat doing this for 2 hours. He was so peaceful.

I said, "Help Brody look at Mommy!" Apparently, that meant a headlock

I really wanted a picture of all 4 in front of the water, but the babies wouldn't take their eyes off of it.

Brotherly bonding.

This one was better....

After the beach, we went back to the hotel and went swimming the much warmer water. Delaney wouldn't get in for some strange reason. Instead she acted like quite the diva.

Brody was tired of being dry....

So Kaylie took him in the water

LOVE THESE

Daylen was happy to be in warm water....doing back flips as usual

And once again, Delaney was content doing exactly what she wanted.

That's all folks. Thanks for reading about our fun, family vacation. It's so different being the 'grown-up' on the trip. Me being the parent, making sure the little kids and Eric had what they needed, packing the suitcases, trying to find ways to save money etc. It was not at all relaxing, but it was worth every minute. I hope to go on many, many more vacations with my family. I have great memories from vacations growing up and I want that for my kids too.

The End

"Are ya sure....?" Day 3

The evening of our second day in Disneyland we headed to San Diego. It was nice, peaceful drive since all 4 of the kids were asleep in the back:) When we arrived in San Diego, we headed downtown to see the sweet hotel that Eric's brother hooked us up with. When we got downtown, I saw our hotel, I looked up and saw this....

Let me just say real quick that I have an unhealthy fear of heights and Delaney has a slight fear of alibators (elevators) so seeing this was a bit scary. Beautiful, but scary. We decided that valet was probably not the best option since we had 2 crying, hungry, dirty kids, a trashed mini van, luggage and other crap crammed in every nook and cranny, etc. So we looked for the self-park. First, we get a ticket to pay a butt load of money for parking, then we are off to find a place. Eric heads to the covered parking when I very quickly realize that our awesome car topper (thx Pam) was not going to fit under there, so I scream, "Stop....the top thing!' He stops, I am laughing my butt off and then he decides that this is ridiculous and we are way to far from the hotel to cart all the crap up to the room. We head to little booth and to ask the man where the hell to go. Please understand that Eric is wearing a tank top, a hat, has a scruffy face, tattoos everywhere, I am wearing a hat, I have a super sun burned face, we have dirty diapers lying on the ground....it was less than impressive. So, we ask him where to check in and he says, "Huh, are you sure you are staying at this hotel?" I could not keep in the laughter. We must have looked so white trash. I was in tears laughing as we head up the valet drive to check in and go over a speed bump as the shocks make a lovely squeaking sound. Sweet.

Anyway....we ended up staying on the 20th floor. That's right....20. That's a lot of height and lot of alibator rides. This was our view, courtesy of Kaylie....

My nightmare...

No fear.... of heights anyway

Anyway.... it was Sea World day!! I love Sea World. I showed Delaney a video online before we left about it and she kept telling me that Shamu was a really, really big cow. And he swimmin. I was pretty excited to see her reactions. Plus, she loves turtles and dolshins (she can't say 'f''s).

So we arrive....

first we head to the Wild Artic Exhibit.

Brody wondering what the heck is in the pool..

Delaney and Daddy checking out the Beluga whales

He loved it!

Chillin'... (hehe)

Kaylie and Brody...this was the last time we saw both of Brody's shoes.

Next was the shark encounter. Way fun, but sadly one of Brody's shoes never made it out.

Maybe a shark ate it, who knows. RIP brand new blue croc.

Anyway.... as we were walking I heard a weird noise and looked to my right and saw this:

A freakin flock of flamingos just walking down the road. I really dislike birds (I know, I know, they are God's creatures, yada yada yada. I don't like them. They always poop on me and a duck bit my butt once). Anyway, this freaked me out. It was the strangest thing

Next we went to see the Cyde and Seamore show which was adorable. Brody kept pointing to the animals and saying, "this" which just means that he wants us to know that he sees it.

After the show we just kinda walked around taking it all in.

Kaylie and Delaney right before a full on Delaney tantrum

Now she walks away and turns around and says, "you stay here mommy, let me go"

We knew we couldn't miss the Shamu show so we headed in the stadium with the herd and found our seats. Waiting for 30 minutes with 2 toddlers....sucks. We did everything to keep them occupied. We kept telling Delaney that Shamu is a whale and not a swimming cow and then she started calling him Shabu...so that's his new name. The show started and the fact that there's a killer whale, right there, is amazing, but the show was kinda boring. The kids did love it so that made me happy.

And then Delaney was able to see her turtles

Brody....didn't so much care

ALMOST DONE..........HANG IN THERE

Since Brody was shoeless we didn't let him down much so when we saw the grassy area, we let him go crazy.

Yep...his shirt says, "I'm smooth like butter"

Decided he was thirsty so he stole Kaylie's Pepsi

After running around like crazy people, we went to the pool that has all the star fish in it and Kaylie helped Delaney look at them

And then we headed over to the Manta Rays, Kaylie's favorite thing to do. We hung out for awhile and watched those awesome creatures.

The end of the day was drawing near and it was getting cool out and the kids were EXHAUSTED, but Eric was set on seeing the new dolphin show, Blue Horizons, and I am so happy that he did. It blew the other ones out of the water (hehehe). It was great!

Eric bought Delaney a dolshin

A successful day, an exhausted baby, a sweet big brother.......

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Day 3..... done. Thanks for reading and humoring me. One more day and then it's done!