Tragedy, Near-Scare and Vegas

Weird title right? Yeah, it's been a weird week.

I mentioned in my last post that something serious happened at Erick's work and if there were any public articles, I'd link you. So here and here. And that is all I'm allowed to say about that. Erick was in the room during the attempted resuscitation. Both articles give false or misleading information. There is no reason to be concerned about Erick whatsoever. If you're a family or friend, you can email me if you have questions.

Friday we had our first OB appointment and that was nerve-wracking. You can read about that in week 7 of the pregnancy journal.

Saturday we left for our Vegas trip. We had a great time (save for some scary bleeding I had on Saturday night which turned out to be nothing). But the rest of the trip was wonderful. I wanna journal all the details for our memories so feel free to skip right along if it bores you. There's a link to some pictures below.

Neither of the girls took a nap the entire weekend (not even on the four hour drive there!) and both nights we had very, very late bedtimes. I would've expected them to be holy terrors but they both did GREAT! (Accept at meal times. Kyla is a terror in restaurants right now). We all slept in one room. We stayed at The Excalibur which they were thrilled about because it's a "real castle". Erick and I shared one bed, McKenna got her own big bed and Kyla slept in the pack-n-play. I asked McKenna if she wanted me to sleep with her and she said no, she wanted a big giant bed all to herself. She is really disliking her toddler bed right now and begging for a big girl bed. She's so ready to move up in the sleeping world. LOL! So she loved sleeping in that queen sized bed all by herself! And both girls slept well both nights. The first night Kyla talked for about an hour before she fell asleep. But the second night she went right down. And none of us woke up until at least 8:30am both mornings so it was nice!

We got there Saturday, unpacked, took a shower and went to the buffet for dinner. Then we drove down the strip so the girls could see the Treasure Island pirate ship, Mirage volcano and Bellagio fountains. Then back to the hotel to sleep.

Sunday we woke up and went to the buffet for breakfast (Bad choice. Buffet breakfast is always cold and stale. Bleck.) Then we walked around our hotel. Let me just say that people in Vegas LOVE our children. I don't know what it is about Vegas but they had so many tourists and hotel employees ooohing and aaaahing over them, pinching their cheeks, giving them free stuff, telling them how cute they were. I mean dozens of people. I was like "What is going on here? They look like raggamuffins with their wind-blown desert hair. Why so much attention?" Maybe because they were so tiny in those big ol' casinos. I don't know. Anyway, we played the midway carnival games and won quite a few prizes. We stopped at the princess store where Daddy absolutely spoiled the girls. Ok, actually...he spoiled McKenna. Kyla chose a little pink princess purse with a kitty in it. McKenna chose this:


With matching golden shoes of course:


After that we went back to our room to shower and get ready for the dedication. Now, I have lots of pictures from that. My Mom compiled an album with the pictures from 3 different cameras. I transferred the pics over to my Shutterfly and eliminated about half of the 250 pictures so it wouldn't be too daunting to look through. Since the dedication was for 3 babies, I didn't know all the guests so I figured I could get away with taking those out, taking out some of the unflattering pics and some of the duplicates. These aren't in order, forgive me but I didn't have the energy to put them in order.

The babies being dedicated are:

Gavin (my nephew. My sister and brother-in-law Brian are his parents. Erick and I are his Godparents...as well as his big brother Luke's!)

Kyla (my daughter. My cousin Alyson and her husband Mike are her Godparents...as well as McKenna's!)

Carter (Alyson & Mike's son. Melanie and Brian are Carter's Godparents.)

So basically, we're each the parent AND Godparent to the babies up there. LOL! Confusing, I know. But the pastor got it right and we were most impressed.

Pictures found here.

After the dedication there was a luncheon party at my Aunt and Uncle's house (thank you again Aunt Dawn and Uncle Chip!) which was nice and relaxing...just what this pregnant chick was hoping for. ; )

On the way back to the hotel we took a quick detour to my sister's hotel. They were staying at the Silverton which has a huge aquarium in the lobby. But the best part is that a REAL LIVE MERMAID swims in it! Ok, she's not an actual mermaid but to the kids she may as well have been! She swims for a good 10 minutes in there, taking an occasional breath from the oxygen hoses that run along the bottom! I was so impressed with her. She was so attentive to all the kids, posing for pictures, playing games with them, blowing bubbles for them, petting the manta rays....so neat! There are better pictures of this but we don't have copies of them yet. Here are two my sister managed to get on her cell phone:

The mermaid:


The kids were just in awe of her:


After that we went to Circus Circus. The girls had a BLAST there (even though it is truly a carnival of freaks. A lot of, um, characters around there. LOL!) We went upstairs to the midway carnival where we won more stuffed animals. The girls got their faces painted:


Then they shared some Dippin Dots with Daddy while we waited for the show to start. They do little mini shows with different circus acts. We saw a balancing group called the Sandune Troupe. The girls were amazed and clapping and cheering. It was the cutest! McKenna thinks she might like to try that someday. ; )

Back to the hotel for another night. The next morning we went to breakfast at the cafe. The food was MUCH better. Then we checked out of the hotel and went to FAO Schwarz at Caesar's Palace. Three stories of toys and the girls were in heaven. McKenna chose an Emma baby doll. Kyla chose this push toy. And that was the conclusion of our weekend. We drove home that evening (neither of the girls napped on the way home either!) and we were all glad to be back in our own beds. Even McKenna, who said she missed her Ariel blanket but still wants a big girl bed. LOL!

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Thanks for sticking with me if you did! It's important for me to journal the vacations we take otherwise I forget it all!

Tomorrow is the much-anticipated Father-Daughter dance for Erick and McKenna. They're both SO excited!! I can't wait to see the photo they're gonna bring home. And Saturday I get to pick up McKenna's dance photos. Lots of pictures to scrap now!! I'd better get crackin'!