Las Vegas Days 5 & 6

We left Grammy Kay's bright and early to head north up to Vegas...but *had* to stop in Barstow at one of Ryan's favorite places- the McDonald's built out of old train cars (Barstow is a major crossroads for train routes).  

Our first stop in Vegas was at the iconic welcome sign, which in all my previous visits to Vegas I've somehow never seen!

We bunked at Circus Circus...a hotel I'd visited for the first time with my parents almost exactly 30 years prior! Happy to see it still standing and able to accommodate a third generation of our family!

First stop? The arcade! Because we don't have those in Kona.... :-|

That evening we took the boys to the Bellagio to see their famous water show...they LOVED it so much (complete with audible gasps of delight and cheering) that we returned all three nights to catch two shows per night. :-) I loved that they loved it as much as we do!

Awesome pic...even though they tried to extort me out of $20 for the picture (please). Still, we had to do it. All three boy's eye balls were hanging out anytime we saw the (faux) Vegas show girls!

First stop on the strip that night? My personal favorite hotel- the Cosmopolitan!

The next day we took the boy's to a place I've been dying to visit for a year, and for which there was no substitute...SKY ZONE!

The anticipation builds! (Patiently waiting for us to register everyone and agreeing to not sue them if we all broke our necks.)

First in the door = empty open trampolines!!! (The hordes of screaming children arrived soon thereafter.)

I won't mention names, but someone had as much, if not MORE fun than the children.

After being instructed not to attempt any flips (since I hate returning children to their parents with newly inflicted paralysis), Keni listened REAL WELL. :-| (But he lived. So we're good.)

FOAM PITS!!!!!!!!!!! (There were other trampoline parks in SF and Vegas that were cheaper and likely less crowded/popular, but I really wanted to go to only one that had foam pits.

Rich's first (and only) dunk! I offered to crop the photo, remove the trampoline and blow it up so he could feel like a real man. :-)

By far, the hit of the day....DODGE BALL!!!! Our competitive little Riki was obsessed. 

Someone else was too. He delighted in beating the children. What a class act.

I'm a blurry mess, but the joy is evident!

Keni achieved what he called his 'life dream' to eat at Popeye's Chicken. Apparently he sees commercials for them and was dying to go... And who am I to tell someone to eat better? Please. I'm not meaty from eating broccoli, that's fo' damn sure.  

Since it was designated Glutton Day, we met our extended family at The Cal to chow down at Aloha Specialities for some serious grindage. Thank you, Chris, Lori and Paul for joining us!

Why stop now? We hit my favorite ice cream store right after- Lapperts! I'm not ashamed to say I hit Lapperts twice in 24 hours. ;-) 

We hit The Strip after with a ride on the monorail...

At Luxor

New York New York!

The Excalibur (where we stayed last time)

The Paris Hotel (from the balcony at the Bellagio)

The Conservatory at the Bellagio (another favorite of mine)! Their fall display featured multiple pumpkins in the 500-800+ lb. range! This baby was 'only' 500 lbs. (Still, what a waste of pie.)