Vegas- when we're not on the refuge

There are few places in Vegas that we haven't already been, but the Clark County Wetlands is one of them. We finally went there for birding and were pleasantly surprised by all they have to offer. In addition to the trails outside, they have a new visitor center with many play and learning opportunities for the kids. They have events scheduled on a regular basis for both children and adults.

Just down the road is the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, so if you go to one, go to both! Birds are drawn to the many retention ponds used for recycled water, so many different species can be found. The visitor center, though small, holds a wealth of information, preserved birds and displays.

I was interviewed on film for the medical company that was involved in my last surgery. Filming took place at a hotel on the strip, so we spent the rest of the day showing the kids what people generally think of when we say we're from Las Vegas. Asher loves the Statue of Liberty, so I was excited to show him the New York, New York Casino. There were so many statues inside. We took his photo with one made of Twizzlers and another made of Jelly Beans. 

We walked thru MGM, saw the "super heroes" on the corner and walked 

thru all four floors of the M&M store. They really liked the short 3D film there. 

We went to Mt Charleston a few times. There are some fun letterboxes here.

The kids put on a show for us in the amphitheater. 

We ate LOTS of sushi at our favorite restaurant, Sushi Bomb! We just can't eat at random sushi restaurants while traveling, because they are always a disappointment compared to this place. We'd rather just wait for the good stuff. They gave the kids sushi lollipops that really looked like fish.

We joined the Y where the kids and I participated in weekly zumba classes. They 

were so fun! We do miss being able to participate in classes like this while on the road. 

We took the kids to play at Hemminway Park hoping to spot a bighorn (nope) then on to Lake Mead for a short stop before visiting our friends Justin and Rachel in Boulder City.

We walked around their little downtown area before night hiking on the trails of Bootleg Canyon with Justin in the dark. We loved seeing all of these awesome sculptures along the trail!

On Halloween, we dressed up for work and later attended a church festival with games and candy.

Big Spidey and two little Spideys.

While we were here, Asher read for the very first time! We had started watching our friends' Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD which helped them with the alphabet sounds. I bought Explode the Code workbooks for them to try out. Asher flew thru the first two lessons and shocked me when I realized he could look at a picture and write the letter that it starts with. The third day, he found his book and brought it to me while I was still in bed. He pointed to the word SAT and started sounding it out. I told him to blend the sounds together and he read his very first word! There were three more words on the page- CAT, BAT, HAT, and he read them to me! So proud of my little boy! It also helped reinforce just how much they are learning naturally without forcing them to do anything.

We discovered the solution to Journey's reluctancy to sleep- a magical sleep mask from BellaWink (Danyell)! Seriously she puts it on and is out in a couple minutes instead of spending another hour asking questions like before. Yay! She did so well that after a few nights of her borrowing mine, we let her pick out material for her own custom made mask.