Thanksgiving in Vegas

We branched out this year and did something new for Thanksgiving, instead of staying here in town we all drove down to Las Vegas and rented a huge house together.  My sister Shelli and her family live in Colorado so we were excited we got to see them this year.   We had actual Thanksgiving dinner with my sister in law Laura’s parents who live there as well.  It was so nice of them to invite us to their dinner.  We added over 25 people to their house(including 14 kids)!!

  We left Tuesday morning and got there late afternoon. My Mom was pretty disappointed in the house we rented because it was much less than advertised.  But it was nice enough and plenty big for everyone to fit, however it was not very kid friendly (the pool was 1 step out of the house with no gate around it).   So we had a fun time trying to keep an eye on our  two little boys 24/7.  The kids had a blast living with all their cousins for almost a week.  The favorite thing in the house by far was the air hockey table.  The boys were always playing it.  They also liked playing foosball, secret agents with their swords, and running up and down the stairs.  It was fun living under one roof for the adults too.  We played a lot of card games, shopping, and visiting late into the night.  My favorite night was black Friday shopping with the girls on Thanksgiving night.  Good times!  Overall it was a great trip. Thanks Mom and Dad! Ashby and her cousin Aubrey

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing.  The food was delicious and the set-up was beautiful.  I wished I could have eaten more!  Ryder was done eating in about 5 minutes then wanted to run around and get into things.  I can’t wait for the days when Thanksgiving will actually be a relaxing day.  Here were the families that actual could just sit, relax and enjoy the meal.  Must be nice! Ha!

Afterwards the Bowman’s have the most amazing Gingerbread house decorating set-up for all the kids and families.  They make homemade gingerbread and frosting for the houses then each family gets to go around the treat table with a bowl and gather all the candy they want to decorate their house with.  It was awesome!  The kids were in awe.

 Ashby and Dalton working hard on our house.

The kids even got to do little houses of their own.   I wish I would have taken pictures of all of them, there were some really amazing houses!

We visited a children's museum that everyone really liked. They had lots of building things, a sandbox to dig up dinosaur bones, and a water exhibit that mirrored a flash flood happening in the desert.  It was fun until Brooks stepped into the stream they had with both feet in his shoes and socks.   As you can see Ryder was more interested in the wheels on his stroller than smiling for a picture.

One cool thing about being in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving was swimming!!  The kids loved swimming in the Bowman’s heated pool a few times.  The Bowman’s were such gracious hosts!!  Another highlight of the trip for the boys was Aunt Jackie making them sword balloons.Grandma trying to keep the boys interested in a non-fighting game with the swords. ha ha. :)

Grandma Becky had a great activity to keep the kids busy at the house.  She bought two sweet lego advent calendars.  All the kids had to do one act of secret service around the house then they could pick a door to open on the calendar, guess which pack of lego pieces it was and then put it together.  If they were right they got to keep the legos pieces.  The kids had so much fun with this and it kept them busy a long time.

We also took the kids to the Excalibur to play some arcade games with their cousins Aubrey, Ty and Aunt Shelli.  The kids loved it.  We also ate at some yummy places we don’t have here like Raising Canes & Firehouse Subs.  The sisters also made several trips to Downeast Outfitters; one of my favorite clothing stores.   

Grandma even rented out Pump it Up jump place for all of us one day.  It was so much fun.  They had a really cool game that projected things on the floor that the kids could play with.  Everyone had fun, but especially Brooks.  He loves this place.  When we walked in he was shouting and jumping up and down, “Pump it up, pump it up!”  The workers were all cracking up.

For a girls night Mom and Shelli planned for us to see the show Mystere (Cirque Du Soleil).  It was awesome!  We all loved it.  Ashby was so excited to be included on the girls night out. 
Since I want to keep this post happy and nice I’m not going to even mention the nasty stomach flu bug that spread like wildfire through every family by the end of the trip.  Good times!! :)