Vegas Vacation

 We spent 10 years living in Vegas. We began fulltime RVing when the twins were just 3.5 years old. This is our third return visit, the last was four years ago, so sadly they don't have many memories of our time here and even the memory of our friends has grown hazy for them. It was fun to reconnect with some of them on this trip. It was a weird time, the worst of COVID and restrictions has passed, but a spike in cases when we arrived in June brought masks back and caused us to be a bit more cautious in meeting with people. One family had an exposure and another a much-awaited upcoming vacation, so we didn't get to see everyone we'd hoped to and didn't even reach out to many (so sorry friends!). Our sweet friends, Susan and Tom, let us park at their house. It was absolutely wonderful to reconnect after these years away. We met them in our church's small group 15 years ago. Asher and Journey absolutely loved playing and swimming with their grandchildren. We shared dinners and Oculus games, but my favorite memory was our last night together sharing travel stories and seeing their faces light up while sharing about the places they went and people Tom and Susan met during their time with the Thunderbirds. 

And we got to tortoise-sit this cutie! Ivan!

We had been traveling with our Israeli friends since mid-April, from Texas to New Mexico, Arizona, California and finally Nevada. We were able to celebrate their birthday with them and take them to some of our favorite places in Vegas before our paths went in different directions; theirs to the northwest and ours to Idaho and Montana. 

We were able to reconnect with our friend Sidney, who created and runs Horses For Heroes, a nationwide program providing low-cost riding and therapy programs for military, first responders and their families, plus those dealing with trauma. It's a fantastic program that had my kids riding just after their second birthday! Sidney has a heart for others, and holds a special place in mine.

Our friends introduced us to their new spiky family member, Miss Prickle Pants, the sweetest pygmy hedgehog ever! 

I spent a day birding the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve (first photo of this post) and birded Floyd Lamb a few times while Asher fished. I always love seeing the peacocks there!

Have you ever seen the backside of a peacock? It's kinda funny.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker (above)    The most mellow Black-crowned Night-heron ever. (below)

Before we left town, Tom and Susan hosted a dinner for us with Phil and Lansing. Tim and Dee Fisher had us over for dinner and our kids really enjoyed spending time with their teens.