Another Vegas Weekend

The kids and I took another quick trip to Vegas this past weekend. This time we went over to spend time with "Guya" since her birthday was June 4th. I hadn't spent a birthday with her since our grandpa's funeral 4 years ago, which incidentally was on her actual birthday. Yes, that was a rough year for us, but that's another story. So...since Papa Vaughn had drill weekend, just the kids and I drove over. "Guya" decided to keep the weekend low-key. We spent most of the day just hanging out at the really cool park in the pictures below, shopping at Kohl's and hanging out at Guya and D's house.

We packed a picnic lunch to enjoy at the park before shopping. Big Boy was not thrilled that I made him stop to eat before he was allowed to play. Food is definitely not his priority.

I have seriously "ruined" this child. Boopy LOVES to pose for pictures. She would eat a bite of her sandwich, then go out to the grass area and lay around posing wanting me to take her picture. Of course I have to oblige!

I actually managed to get a picture of both kids together, looking at me (mostly) and being super cute. It's getting harder to get them to both sit long enough for a decent picture together.

I loved the entrance to the park. It had these wooden painted flowers up high above the arched entrance. I had Boopy sit up on Uncle "D"s shoulders so I could get them in the background with the beautiful blue sky.

The rock wall proved to be a big hit for my daredevil children.

Of course I had to try out the twisty slide with Big Boy.

The kids favorite thing at the park was this really cool caterpillar "monkey bar" type structure. After an initially cautious climb, Boopy discovered it wasn't so difficult and she could scale it just as easily as Big Boy. They would have played on this structure all day if we let them.

The park even had tube slides, caterpillars to balance on, tunnels to hide in and other structures to jump and climb on. With all the bright fun colors I couldn't help myself with the camera. Just wish we had parks like this in Fresno since it would be a fabulous park for young kid family picture sessions!

I LOVED the brightly colored stairs.

Overall another lovely summer weekend. Happy birthday Guya! AND happy birthday to Grandma Vaughn, who celebrated the day before on the 3rd!

What We've Been Up To Lately

So what have we been up to the past month....plenty, as usual!!! I've started getting busier with photo shoots now that spring is here. They are mostly for friends, but hey that's a great way to keep me in practice and spread the word, right? So aside from my constant editing of pictures, the kids and I made the trek to Vegas a week and a half ago to finally see Guya and D's new house. We enjoyed the spring weather and spent most of Saturday at the Springs Preserve which was kind of like a desert zoo/museum on the nature of the Vegas area. We had most of the park to ourselves and the kids enjoyed all the hands on activities. After Vegas we rushed home to host dinner with some friends at our house. Turned out to be a bit crazy with the 7 hour drive home, but our dinner company was delightful and it finished of a fun lovely weekend.

We're also enjoying having Papa Vaughn home every night. March 8th marked the last night for the Fresno Circuit City to be open. While the extra income was helpful, the time off is very nice for Papa and having family time. I'm just so thankful that Circuit City wasn't Papa Vaughn's full-time job as it was for quite a few people that worked there. Unfortunately they are not alone and we know too many people that are being affected by lay-offs. Anyway, I'm just so thankful.

The kids are still busy with weekly gymnastics. Big Boy was actually brave this past Saturday and decided to follow his sister and fly like Peter Pan over the trampoline. The two classes were merged for part of the morning due to small class sizes. Boopy started off the flying with no fear and giant smiles. I think her bravery helped encourage Big Boy when it was his turn. I'm so proud of them and I love watching how much they love gymnastics. One of these days I'll bring my camera back with me and get so more fun pictures. On a side note with the gym, we found out that parents get to use the treadmills, weights and a few other pieces of equipment for free while their kids are in class, so Papa Vaughn and I are on a mission to get ourselves in shape!

It seemed like the past couple years, our weekends in summer time were always filled, lately I'm finding that our weekends are filling faster. The next few months are already booking up with fun things to do. We'll be heading to Disneyland at the end of April (a wonderful military deal we just can't pass up!), Papa & I are looking forward to a fun concert at the end of March, I've got more photo shoots lined up, somewhere in there we'll celebrate Easter and an event at the local museum. Plus we have a couple of friends birthday parties for the kids to attend and then before you know it, it will be Boopy's birthday in May! Phew - kinda makes me tired already just thinking about it all!

And because I have a hard time doing a post without pictures - here are the latest from our recent Vegas trip.

The Vegas strip from the Springs Preserve. It was kind of weird realizing this park is in the middle of freeways and housing and only minutes from the Strip!

I love this group picture! Being bears in one of the cave areas at the entrance.

The had really cool water displays.

The kids got to dig in dirt and ride a stationary train.

Rather interesting idea - they had a ton of various types of video games all of which had to do with nature and recycling, water waste, and various "going" green ideas.

More displays and an outdoor city scene where kids could build the walls and design the buildings. Lots of fun!

Desert animal displays were full of creepy crawly creatures. Love Boopy's expression as she points out the tarantula - especially since being that close didn't seem to bother her much.

Cute pic of Boopy and Guya

Big Boy LOVES to run!

Just sweet faces I couldn't resist.

The park had a great play area for kids complete with a sand box, train, giant butterfly display and giant fake snake to climb. It wasn't easy getting the kids to leave!

Believe it or not they even had a garden area with flowers - yes the desert can be beautiful!

Later at Guya and D's house, Guya set up a special dessert project for the kiddos. They made "sushi" Twinkies and chocolate dipped fruit. Big Boy helped for a very short time then decided he'd rather chase the dogs, so Boopy took over. She of course had to sample while she worked!

My cutie pies being sweet siblings!

I actually managed to get myself in a photo and it's one I like (thanks Guya)!