Lost Beggis!

I'm going to try and tackle a post about our Vegas Adventure!  I don't have too much time, so I may just end up with a post that has lots of pictures of our family on a plane.  :)

We had been talking to the boys for a while about our upcoming trip when Seth wrote Mimi and Momo a letter.  In that letter Seth said something along the lines of 'I can't wait to see you in Lost Beggis!', so of course we had to refer to it as Beggis from there on out.  Mimi wrote him back an email which Seth read, then looked at me in astonishment and said, "Mom!  Did you know it was Las VVVVVVVegas?"  Aw, so cute!

Selfie at the gate!  We saw two people we knew at the airport, one of whom was on both our leaving and returning flights, we should have snagged one of them to take our picture.  Gotta love Lubbock!  Perfect combo of small town and big city!

 

Left side crew

 

And the right! 

 

This guy really was a perfect little gentleman. 

 

 

Noey is a dream baby.  He slept for the last 45 minutes of the flight and the landing.  Yay! 

 

After checking in to our hotel we wandered around checking out the 100+ amenities, restaurants, and stores.  We totally should have bought these.

 

This may have taken up too much room in a suitcase however. 

 

Next up:  The very worsty worst Beggis has to offer.... the dreaded Pacific Time Zone. 

 

If I have one regret, it would be not trying to acclimatize my kids to a new time zone before we got there.  We sometimes do this at daylight savings, starting four or five days out and change bedtime and wake up time in 15 minute chunks so our kids aren't up in pitch black hours.  This did not cross our minds, most regrettably.  Our boys are always early risers on the first day of vacation and are too excited to sleep past 5:30, but that meant everyone was up and at 'em at 3:30 on our first day.  THREE THIRTY!  It was rough.  Jon and I decided we could only vacation east in the future. 

 

Here's what the party looks like between 3:30 and daylight on the Beggis strip:

Crawling around and playing with cords 

 

Stretching along with the lady on TV (PBS didn't even have on their kids line-up yet). 

 

Taking in the night views:

 

And wishing he were dead. 

 

But, we made the most of it and did a little celebrating, for that very day a certain someone turned 8! 

 

Doughnuts, candle, and ice bucket lid for the win! 

 

Finally, hours later when the sun made an appearance, we were ready to hit the town. 

 

The boys posing in front (maybe behind?) of the Excalibur while we waited for our bus. 

 

Geocache in front of the Excalibur.

 

Noley, wanting to pose in front of the castle, too.  Mind you, it's around 10 or 11 am, and he is on his second nap of the day.  Now that I think about it, we had already been swimming once before this as well.   

 

We all unintentionally wore blue and gray.  Fun, huh? 

 

Open Top Bus Tour!  We mostly used this as transportation and hopped off here and there, but did learn all sorts of interesting Vegas facts from our tour guides.   

 

Some sights from the bus, New York New York...

 

and the MGM Lion.

 

Picnic lunch after hoping off the bus and before hitting up the LEGO store and Circus Circus! 

 

Check out these Lego creations.  Each was more impressive than the last! 

 

 

And finally the store.  Everyone got a new set, and Noley his first ever box.   

 

Happy Builders! 

 

From there we walked to Circus Circus and took in some shows and games on the mid-way.  We saw a clown, juggler, trapeze performer, and two unicyclers.

 

 

 

Afterward, we headed back to the Excalibur for dinner and an early bedtime!! 

We made the most of that candle! 

 

 

And that wraps up our first full day of Beggis Adventuring!

Celebrating EIGHT!

Oh, Seth, Seth, Seth, where do I begin?  If you take all our other kids combined (including the other eight foster kiddos), I'm pretty sure they have given us less gray hair than our dear Sethie boy.  But the heart on this kid continues to blow us away.  Two days ago he came home for lunch and the first words out of his mouth, "Mom, I saw a big kid in the hall.  He was having a hard time, I could tell.  We need to pray for him.  We need to pray for him because I know how it feels.  I know how it feels to have a day like that."  At this point, I try to pull myself out of the puddle I've become and join him in praying for the unknown big kid.

Seth is so smart!  This is such a cool aspect of his person to watch unfold, but can be crazy making as well.  He is so into certain things; construction, science, nature, animals, gardening, machines and technology to name a few.  It is hard to get him motivated/involved/participate in subject matters that he is not into, though.  We've had a few weeks of school so far in second grade where he has deemed participation very much optional.  The adults/teachers in his life feel differently.  Ha!  I can't wait to see what he does with his brain someday though.  I bet it will be something I can't wrap my mind around. 

He loves to sit around and pontificate the things he will invent, build, or plan for someday.  Yesterday we heard plans for the helicopter he was going to build, today it was the farm he was going to start.  One night Jon and I were laying in bed talking about our kids (what else?!?), and Jon said, "Someday he is going to invent a robot and then marry it." I'm not sure why, if it was the hour, or just knowing Seth like we do, we both cracked up and could not stop laughing. 

Then look at this text from the next day:

 

He keeps us on our toes and we can't wait to see where life takes him.  We are proud of the kid he is and know he's got big things in store.  It was fun celebrating our scientist/inventor this past weekend!

 

Seth and his loot.

Ollie excited for Seth!

Klondike bars and doughnuts in lieu of cake... is a tradition forming?

Opening his first present from Ollie.

His first three presents: a safety lab apron and safety glasses from Jennifer, and a magnifying glass from Ollie.  Let the science begin!

Magic Kit! 

Noey and Jennifer, some of Seth's biggest fans!

Seth and Ollie playing with some Aqua Hexbots.  They are basically little robot fish, super cool!

Seth also got a Pie Face board game.  Ollie got smacked in the face, while when Seth got it, the whip cream went sailing straight over his shoulder and down the back of his shirt.  Fun! And what mom doesn't love washing rogue whip cream off her kitchen and out of her son's dreadlocks?? 

Celebrating Seth at school!

Seth looking handsome in his new shirt from Gma and Gpa!

 

Seth, we love you!  We are happy to celebrate another big bday with you!

 

   

College and Career Week

Mascot Day; a couple of Tech Masked Riders

College Shirt and Jersey Day

Career Day! An Inventor and a Taxi Driver!

New Specs

 

 

We got a letter home from pre-k the end of last year saying Ollie didn't pass the vision screening.  It took us all summer to actually get in to get his eyes checked due to a vacationing optometrist that actually turned out to be an optometrist moving and re-locating his practice. 

 

Ollie was so thrilled to get glasses.  Literally jumping up and down and dancing in the office when we all realized glasses were a sure thing.  And a sure thing they were.  I even made them stop asking him about letters and try pictures (well.... maybe he doesn't know all of this letters) and then even made them stop the exam to ensure he could actually identify the pictures that he was seeing (well..... they are a little abstract, maybe he doesn't know what the pictures are supposed to be?)  Nope.  He knew all the pictures.  During the test, until it was at around 20/100, he just kept saying, "a duck?  I think a duck." for 80% of the pictures.   

 

He was also super chatty and curious about everything the optometrist did. 

Me: Maybe you can be an eye doctor when you grow up!

Ollie: No way!  I'm gonna be a taxi driver!

The optometrist and I totally crack up.

Eye doc: Oh yeah? Why do you want to be a taxi driver?

Ollie: Oh you know.  I just like helping people get around.....  That's actually one of our commitments at school.  To help people.  And I do that.  I help people and do the other commitments.  The other commitments are.... (10 more minutes of solid yammering).

 

When we went back a week later to pick them up the first thing he said after he had them on was, "Oh mama! I can see you so good!"  He was pretty cute about the whole deal. 

And here they are!