Day ONE in our CA vacation

Instead of typing about each day of our vacation at once (like I did with the cruise), I've decided to try and get online each day and post an individual update. That way, you people won't be bombarded with a huge, massive post, and I'll be able to actually REMEMBER what we did. :)

So, DAY ONE:

After going crazy all last week with Christmas preparations (yay! We're done!), DH and I woke up to an already packed (mostly) car, all neighbor and piano student gifts delivered, a clean house, and children rarin' to go. However, because of lack of sleep, mom and dad (a.k.a. ME) was not very happy, and the kids kept fighting. Somehow, we all got in the car and got on the road. (after forgetting something, going back, going to get gas, going to the bank, realizing we didn't have time to go to the Post Office, etc.). The roads were pretty good, considering the snow and ice --it was mostly slush and melting, anyway.

We booked on down to St. George and got there around 12:45PM. We picked up some lunch and then met my cousin and her family at a park around 1PM. It was great to see them! The kids are all about the same age, and so they had a blast playing on the playground. My cousin and her hubby were both there, and so it was good to see them for an hour or so. We then found the Post Office, mailed some Great-Granparent gifts (and a package for my missionary brother), and then got back on the road.

We headed into Las Vegas. DH chose to drive down the strip, since we were staying in Excalibur (hotel) for the night. The kids loved seeing big characters, roller coasters, etc. on the big buildings...and they loved the lights. Personally, I HATE Las Vegas. Okay, okay, I "prefer other places". :) We got checked into the hotel, brought in our stuff, cleaned ourselves up and went to dinner at the buffet. The food was just okay. It was actually pretty dry (weird, considering that it was ALL dry and there was so many types of food). Then we took some coupons we had and played down at the children's arcade. They had some fun carnival games (really cheap) and the kids all won some fun stuffed animals and flags. Afterwards, we loaded up #2 and #3 into the strollers (#1 can walk as far and as fast as us now) and we walked down to the Belagio to watch the water fountain show. It was a lot further then we thought. The WORST part, was going through a lit tunnel by some construction (the sidewalk was out) and seeing on those porn pamphlets on the ground. I had to keep telling #1 to look at the hotels! Look at daddy's back! Oh, do you see that big light up there?! to keep her from accidentally looking down. But the fountain show was really great. Too short for the long walk, but really good. On the way back, I started to get pretty tired and I realized that I was going to put myself in labor if I didn't slow down. Luckily I made it, layed down on the bed, drank water and went right to sleep --and no labor. I think this is kind of a sign to me that I'm going to have to take it easy in Disneyland this week.
We put all the kids into the same bed, and luckily, no one fell out! No more playpens for #3. Yay!
Tomorrow we're heading for California. I'm excited (Unlike Las Vegas--although it's actually been pretty nice --I LOVE Disneyland!) for everything and to see so many family members.