Vegas Vacation--Day 1

Here we go: Our flight to LV left MSP at 9:30 am, so we left our house just a few minutes after 6. Erin and Todd were awesome enough to drive us to the airport and take our car back home. We kept Annie awake on the ride up there, hoping she would be really tired by the time we got on the plane. It worked fairly well--she was awake while we checked our bags, went through security, and got some coffee for Mommy, who was rapidly becoming cranky and nervous. There were roughly a majillion people at our gate, and every last one of them was getting on our plane. You wouldn't believe how many Midwestern families were going to Las Vegas for the holiday! There were lots of babies, which was reassuring, because it meant we wouldn't be the only people struggling to maintain calm for the next 3 hours.

We got on the plane and got settled. Anne fell asleep on Sam's lap as we found our seats and we thought "Sweet! This is gonna be the best flight ever." WRONG! She woke up as we were taxi-ing the runway to take off and stayed awake for the next 3 hours. She never went back to sleep, which is amazing. She just doesn't like to be held to sleep. So Sam and I took turns entertaining and feeding her to keep her happy, but she had a few moments of unpleasantness when she was crying and kicking the seat in front of her. The woman in that seat was very nice about it and even offered Anne some crackers to feel better. What a saint!

We made it to Vegas and enjoyed the view of the Strip, which looks like it is right next to the runway! Harriet picked us up and we got to the resort and settled in. We met up with more extended family for lunch and then packed up the car and headed to Red Rock Canyon.

**See the note on the right side for the "cast of characters"**

We went to the park with Libi, Dave, Matt, Dani, Chad, Mich, and "Bubbe". We enjoyed the scenery and took some nice pictures. Sam climbed on the rocks with his cousins and had a good time. Anne got kind of tired and cranky, but was appeased by a cup of mandarin oranges (Seriously, fruit cups are the best snacks ever.)

We checked out the casinos that night--we saw Caesar's Palace and The Venetian in good detail. After a nice dinner with Nana and Sarah we packed it in for the night. Anne was so exhausted she didn't care that she was sleeping in the playpen or anything, she just fell asleep. Thank you, God! We were in no shape to deal with a baby waking every 2 hours.

Anne with "Mojave Max" at Red Rocks
Matt, Dani, Dave, and Sam on the rocks. Libi couldn't watch them climbing so high

Anne enjoys a plastic cup while ignoring the scenery.

The fam at Caesar's. We were not the only people with a stroller, for sure.