Monday, June 03, 2013

Trip of a lifetime...Day 1


So, we are just getting back in the swing of things after our (almost) two week hiatus in Hawaii.
It.Was.AMAZING.
We are so thankful for the opportunity to go.

My cousin, Kaci told us last fall that she and her fiancee' were planning to wed in Hawaii in May. Chris and I wanted to go to Hawaii as a graduation gift to ourselves when he finished his law degree and I finished my master's, but with a (then) new baby Eli, moving and buying a house, and studying for the bar exam, we just couldn't justify the money.

As soon as I got wind that I could use the excuse of a family wedding as a reason to go, we started saving for the trip. I had been jokingly (or not so jokingly :) ) telling Chris that I wanted us to go for our 10 year wedding anniversary, but going two years early would work too...
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This is how the trip started. That is my father-in-law trying to squeeze between Eli and Ileigh's car seats as we drove to the airport. That is also a seat belt around him. After Eli pointed out Papa didn't have his seat belt on, I insisted that he put it on or switch me places. We have to be a good example, right, Papa?!?


The kiddos were *super* excited to get to airport and see the plane we would be on.
There was a group of three ladies (daughter, mother, and grandma) going to Vegas that got a kick out of how excited our kiddos were.
We are always happy to provide entertainment...

I reserved two cars for us to tour around Vegas on our 12 hour layover. To save money, I found super cheap flights to Vegas and then booked an overnight flight to Hawaii, hoping the kiddos would sleep.

Our first stop after some major hold ups at the rental place was Five Guys.
We were all "hangry". Hungry + Angry = Hangry 

Ileigh was super excited!

Oh, hey! This is our niece, Megan! She was in town and we picked her up along the way.
No, not really.
It was made very clear to me that we would have 100% responsibility of our kiddos while on this trip, especially during the wedding that we would be shooting, so we asked Megan if she would be so kind to tag along for the ride.
You can ask her later if it was worth it- she did a lot of car seat carrying, cartoon watching and saw the "fun" side of our little family- like how we all look in pj's, swimming suits and our "hangry" faces.
We seriously couldn't have done it without her. 


I had Chipotle because I like to be difficult. 

Next we ventured down The Strip and stopped in MGM to see the white tigers.
They were gone, but we did find a fake alligator at the Rain Forrest Cafe.
It worked, Ileigh wouldn't stop staring at it...

Eli loved the fish tanks...

Eventually, we had to pry them away from the motorized alligator... 

Next we ventured to the M&M and Coke factories... 

We hung out with "Blue"... 

Saw a race car... 

Watched a movie... 

and Ileigh found a friend... 


And a "robot". 

Ileigh loved the castle!

We ended the evening driving down and back up The Strip back to the airport to re-check our bags and wait for our 6 hour flight to Honolulu...

The flight left at 1:20a.m., which was really 3:20a.m. Amarillo time...and our kids were still awake and very good for the most part.


END DAY 1






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