Vegas, Baby!

As part of our tradition of one major trip per month, we spent the second week of March in Las Vegas on a "business trip". Here are the stories including and surrounding that week, from the first half of March.

One of my big aspirations as a mother is to cook and bake with my children. Neither of these skills come naturally to me, and I don't particularly enjoy even eating baked goods, so I will really have to work on this in the future. As of yet, Olivia isn't a huge help in the kitchen. Her natural reaction to anything in a bowl or container is to grab it and spread it around the floor (yes this goes for toys and clothes as well), so when I try to have her help me add ingredients it usually ends up in funny tasting food and lots of mess to clean up. However, she loved using the cookie cutters to cut shapes out of sugar cookie dough, and once they were baked and cooled, she loved frosting them even more. Here is a collage of frosting pictures :)

Yes I let her use a baby knife to frost with, and didn't stop her from licking it...I wasn't about to stop one of her first genuine times being interested in silverware!

Now on to Vegas the next week. Alex was in charge of Fresno State's ticketing for the WAC Basketball Tournament at The Orleans Hotel. So for him, this was a work trip, and included working basketball games, coordinating with the teams for ticketing needs, and going to various meetings for the WAC. Olivia and I, however, decided to go along for the fun in Vegas, and Mary and Gary met us there for  some adventures. We learned that Vegas is very different with a toddler, and we were limited to the Orleans most of the time because of Alex's responsibilities, so we did a lot less than I thought we would, but we still had a great time, and I'd take kids again in a heartbeat.

Our travel experience getting to Vegas was the worst of my life so far. Alex had a free ride on the team bus (about a six hour drive), so we decided just to buy me a ticket and I would fly with Olivia. At this point I was 17 weeks along, and didn't really think anything could go wrong with a short 45 minute flight to Vegas. Boy was I mistaken! When we woke up the morning of March 6th, it was pretty windy. Alex had to be at work around 9, and the bus left around 10:30, and he said the wind was affecting his driving, but it was still drivable. We didn't fly out until two, so I didn't really think anything of it. Sometime during the morning I looked at our weather report, and saw that we had a severe wind warning all day and through the night, but I still figured I was safe to get to the airport, and that was the end of my travel responsibilities. Everything good so far. We got to the airport, I managed to wheel the suitcase, carryon, and stroller into the airport, and we got all settled in the terminal. Olivia took a very short nap, and I knew she would be a little grumpy, but she woke up just as we were boarding, so all was good. We had to walk out into the elements to board the plane, and I had to walk all the way around the terminal because I couldn't do stairs. I was barely able to push the stroller in the wind, and was very surprised when about halfway through the walk my escort told us to stop and just listened into his earpiece. We were standing under a plane that I could only imagine was about to take off, and I was just standing with my baby in this crazy wind! After a minute he explained that our plane was being deboarded, and we needed to go inside for more information...At this point I was getting grumpy. We went inside, waited for all the rest of the passengers, then learned that we had a 45 minute delay because the wind in Vegas was causing a total ground stop. Alright, I could handle a 45 minute delay, I just grabbed out a couple toys and got to work entertaining Olivia. I didn't want to wander too far from the gate, just in case they decided to board after all, but Olivia only wanted to run, so we ended up doing laps around the terminal while we waited. After a little more than an hour we heard another anouncement...our flight was cancelled. This has never happened to me before, and I didn't really know what was expected, they didn't say anything about getting us to Vegas or anything like that. I went up to join the line at the counter, and was very glad I did so quickly, because I ended up getting the last seat on the next plane, which left in about 3 hours.

Alright...I couldn't get a hold of Alex, who was expecting us at the hotel before he got there, and now had the dilemma of whether or not to wait at the airport for three hours when home is about 15 minutes away. I decided to go home for a while, just for the fact that I could let Olivia play and make messes and I could rest. We had already been in the terminal for over 2 hours, and I didn't feel like sitting there any longer anyway. So we went home, I rested while Olivia trashed the toy room (aka living room :)), and we changed into cold weather clothes (now I'm wondering if I packed right, but our luggage was already checked, and it was too late to fix it, so that was worrying for nothing). After way too short of a respite, we headed back to the airport. We parked, made our way back inside (me barely keeping control of the stroller in the wind), and back through security. We immediately learned that we had another delay, and my mind is now debating if we should just trash the whole idea. I could stay home for the four days with Olivia and not bother with the stress of getting there, but I really wanted the break, and to hang out with the Casqueiros, so we pushed on. After another 45 minutes of waiting, we boarded the plane. I found out that I was seated in the first row (of a tiny airplane with no room whatsoever), and the stewardess told me I couldn't have anything (including my purse) at my feet. This set me over the edge. I fought back tears as I explained that I didn't know if my toddler could make it through the flight without some entertainment, and as the flight was full, I couldn't place her book or baby or snacks on the seat next to me. There just wasn't any way I could hold all of that for the whole flight. I asked her to move me, and she said she couldn't. I just started crying. I sat down, grabbed everything from my bag that I could manage to hold, and waited for takeoff. Then the worst thing I could imagine at the moment happened. A stewardess boarded the plane and explained that because they were unsure that they would be able to land in Vegas (still super windy), they had to take extra fuel, and four people needed to get off the plane. She offered credit and explained that those four people would fly to SF, and be in Vegas by midnight. No one volunteered. She then explained that she had a list in her hand of four people that she would choose if no one volunteered. I looked over (I was in the first row so I could totally see it), and saw my name was the third on the list. AAAHHH!! Would this awful travel day ever end! I couldn't imagine boarding a plane for SF, with absolutely no guarantee of getting to Vegas any time soon. I didn't really care about the flight credit, I just wanted to get to Vegas and rest. Alex at this point had checked into the hotel and promised me he would meet me at security of the airport so he could take Olivia and all the stuff. I just waited as one by one, people volunteered to get off the plane. I was so grateful for them, I couldn't even say anything as I sat there choking back tears. Yes it's silly to cry over all of this, but it was one of those days, and I'll blame pregnancy hormones.

After the four people left, they shut the door and the stewardess began shuffling people for the best weight on the plane. At this point, there was a wonderful couple behind me who saw me struggling to keep Olivia on my lap and asked the stewardess if they could sit in the front row and let me sit behind so I could bring my bag back down. She agreed (hesitantly), and I was SO grateful! It was getting later (I think around 8) and Olivia was more and more tired and grumpy. Just being able to bring my bag down allowed me the room to have her toys and books to keep her entertained, and the woman who was now sitting in front of us even held Olivia for a minute so that I could get situated. She was the "grandma of the day" and she will never know the impact she made on my evening. We commenced the flight, which ended up being just over an hour of the craziest turbulence I have ever experienced. Olivia loved it (she is SO ready for Disneyland again!), and I managed not to puke, and finally we could see the Vegas lights and I knew we were close. We circled the airport a few times, getting lower and lower, then suddenly pulled up and I was terrified that we would have to land somewhere else, but I guess we just had to wait for our turn to land, because sure enough we got to Vegas in one piece, after only 8 hours!

There's not much else to say about that day...We went to the hotel room, I went to bed, and Alex stayed up until Olivia was settled. I was very happy to wake up the next morning with my little family all in one place, and was excited to have some sinless fun in the City of Sin.

I love these pictures of Olivia playing with her grandparents. She had a blast playing and being in charge, and was glad to get away from her mom for a majority of the trip.

We watched a lot of basketball during the week, at least part of 4 different games. I can't imagine this was very exciting for Olivia, but she did remarkably well. Her favorite part of the games by far was the Bulldog mascot. Her eyes followed him everywhere, and she was very excited to meet him in person. Very excited, that is, until we got close and she discovered how big he was :). You can't tell from the pictures, but she had a super tight grip on me and was leaning into my body the entire time. She touched him for maybe 1/8 of a second before she was ready to go back to our seats, but she still watched him for the rest of the week, and it kept her more content to sit in a seat than I thought she would be.

On Friday we had a free afternoon (Alex's game was in the morning), so we hit up the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. It was very fun (and hot!) inside this indoor aquarium, and we all had fun reading about and seeing the different exotic animals. Mary even got to see her favorite animal ever, the komodo dragon (fuzzy picture...oops)

Olivia was more into people watching than the animals, but that's the norm for her.

Not at all interested in touching the sting ray, but I think that had more to do with the fact that she had to lay on her stomach and reach in, because other times she is more than anxious to splash around in the water!

That night we enjoyed a fabulous Vegas buffet for dinner (I think at Mandalay Bay, but don't quote me on that). We all had our fill (to say the least), but Olivia's favorite part was the coconut cream cake that she got to eat all by herself!

Watching some cartoons in the room while I got ready...not really sure why she's hiding, I think she was watching Curious George.

Some exploring on the strip on our last afternoon in Vegas...We had fun in the M&M store, but Olivia wasn't at all willing to stop for picture opportunities...too much so see and do!

When we got back from Vegas, we tried to get back into our routine of going to the gym, the park and playing at home. I know that these toddler years go fast, but I'll be the first to admit that finding out ways to entertain a toddler all day and trying to mix it up with new activities makes each individual day go quite slowly :). But we do our best, and I love that I get to spend every day discovering the tiny advances that together make great growth each week and month in Olivia's life.

Here she is 'getting her swoll on' with my weights, I think this one is like two pounds, but it's quite heavy for her, and I love watching her struggle to do exercises with me when I work out or stretch at home.

 Mmmm....just a yummy lunch that I made one day. Most days are sandwiches, quesadillas, or macaroni, so this lunch of French Dips and fresh fruit made me quite proud.

And just a couple cute pictures of Olivia taking her baby for a walk. We go on walks around the apartment complex often (basically whenever I need to get out of the house but don't want to do the prep work of actually going anywhere), and it's always fun to see what she chooses to bring with her. Some days she just stands by the door and waits for me, but others she grabs a ball (meaning she wants to go to the tennis court and play), or her baby stroller to push around. I love seeing how she chooses to express herself and get her desires known even when her vocabulary is quite limited.