We have arrived in Orlando for our longest family “vacation” to date. I quoted vacation because I am working for 2 of the days while Toby and the kids explore Orlando. I’ll visit two Salem offices on Thursday and Friday, then vacation for me starts Saturday, 1/30/2016.

For our flight out from Burbank to Orlando, we had a stop in Denver. We got distracted by the coolness of the airport and were a bit tardy to our gate for boarding. We were on Southwest, and had late-A/early-B boarding passes, but they were boarding the last of the B’s when we arrived. Toby and Roly were able to sit together, Max and Lucy had aisle seats, but I got the coveted middle seat. Yay for me.

It took a couple of hours to get settled into our AirBnB condo at Windsor Hills Resort, and it was about 2a when we finally got to bed. Yuck.

Unlike other vacations we have taken, this trip only had 2 activities that we really wanted to do:  the open air bus tour and a tour of the Hoover Dam.  Wednesday was the day for the trip to Hoover Dam.

The drive was uneventful, and we loaded up the stroller with snacks and water.  We walked right up to go through security and we found out that we couldn’t bring the cooler of snacks into the visitor’s center.  Since Toby, Max and Roly had already been through screening, Lucy and I walked the cooler back to the car.  The round trip was about 20 minutes, and in that time, the line for security had significantly queued up.  Fortunately, the initial security guard that sent us back recognized us and sent us through.

The tour was very informative and our guide seemed very interested in what he was presenting.  Roly was not very interested, though, and I am glad it was only a 30 minute tour.  We skipped the displays in favor of getting our lunch from the van.  I would have liked to stay longer.  Maybe next time.

After naps back at the hotel, we all went bowling.  Toby won with a huge score of 97, but Max was right behind with 96.  Roly beat Lucy and I was right in the middle.

For dinner, we went to a place in old Las Vegas that is called Container Park.  This is a group of vendors that are located inside of refitted shipping containers.  The containers surround a fun kid’s area and small concert venue.  Roly had a great time playing with the foam tinker-toys and Lucy said that the 30 foot slide was fun, but made too much static.  Max coordinated everyone into making a tower from Lego-esque foam blocks. 

Toby and I went to a timeshare presentation and received 3 tickets to the Blue Man Group show.  Toby will take Max and Lucy later this week.

We took a night bus tour of the strip.  We sat on the top of an open air bus and had a great time checking out the lights of Las Vegas.  Max had wanted to see the ‘Gold and Silver Pawn Shop’, the location of Pawn Stars on the History channel, and it was on the tour!  His reaction : it’s a lot smaller than on TV.

We arrived last night at The Grandview at Las Vegas Resort at about 7:30p.  The trip was uneventful: lots of stops and lots of bickering. It took us a frustrating 30 minutes to find the registration building, partly due to the GPS taking us into the parking lot from the back entrance, partly due to poor signage.  Once we got to the rooms, we discovered that the 2 bedroom lockout units are two FULL single bedrooms that share a common foyer.  It isn’t a big one bedroom and a little studio as most lockout units have been. In terms of square footage, this is probably the biggest unit(s) we have stayed in.

Bad news:  Toby discovered last night that she had left her personals bag at home.  No toothbrush, no lotions, no makeup, to name a few missing items.  Luckily, there is a Walgreen’s close by and she was able to replace the essentials.

Across the street is the South Point Casino, so we decided to explore after a morning of swimming.  We had lunch at Steak And Shake.  The kids were impressed by the number of milk shakes to choose from.

After an afternoon of more swimming, it was time to continue a family tradition: a trip to Krispy Kreme.

Roly was tuckered out by the long day of adventures.

We are headed out to Las Vegas for a week at the Grandview Hotel.  The drive from Carp to LV is estimated at 5.5 hours, but I know how my family travels and it will be a lot longer than that.  We left at 11:30a, loaded up with snacks and electronic devices.