Our Vacation: Days 1-3

Las Vegas, our first stop. We decided not to subject the boys, nor ourselves to the hideous 10-11 hour drive from home to Newport Beach in one day. Luckily we have some friends that live in Las Vegas, that more more than happy to lend us a bed for a few nights. We arrived in Vegas around 4:30pm at our friends Kenny & Melissa's home. I went to high school with Kenny & he was one of my best friends. In fact, had it not been for him & my other 4 friends, all guys, I would have hated my junior & senior years of high school.

After our long drive, the boys were more than ready to get out of the car and play. Kenny & Melissa have two boys that are roughly the same age as ours, so it was great. The boys played really well together, which allowed the adults to catch up & for Matt to get to know Kenny & Melissa.

Unfortunately, both Kenny & Melissa had to work on Friday, so we watched their youngest, Kale, for the day. The boys had a blast together. We took them to a park & let them run hog wild. After that, they all took a much needed nap. In the evening we went to a church event with them & then Kenny & Kale took us to the strip to see the water show & atrium at the Belagio.

Now, if any of you now Nathan, you know he is terrified of loud noises...lucky for us, Kenny had some headphone that he for his boys & let us borrow them.



They worked wonders for Ryan, but Nathan still hated the show & cried through the entire thing. We think it was due to the sudden movement of the water shooting up into the air. Matt ended up holding both boys during the second water show, because they both needed dad...and mom would not do!




Kenny has always been the crazy one of us from high school. His boys are following right in their dad's footsteps. In order to keep Kale from running off,...which he likes to do...like his dad, Kenny put a leash around his waist. Ryan kept asking for one too, but instead he settled for pulling Kale around & keeping Kale from wandering off.



In between the two shows we went inside the atrium. The display was an oriental theme. It was amazing to see the neat things that were done with plants as well as seeing some very interesting flowers.


Kenny, Kale & the Kelley
boys in the Belagio atrium in
front of a water buffalo made
from plants.


This statue welcomed us into the atrium.



I've never been to France, but I can say I've seen the Eiffel Tower, Las Vegas style!

The next day, Saturday, Kenny got called into work before we had woken up. So we spent the morning with Melissa & the boys. After a yummy lunch with Melissa & the boys & in the pouring rain, we set out once again on the road to California.