Raising Redheads: staycation

I had one goal this summer, that was to make it a memorable one for the kids. This is Thomas' first official summer vacation, so I wanted to make sure we had lots of fun experiences rather than sitting around the house watching TV and avoiding the heat.

Our great friends, The Jennings, were visiting town to celebrate their anniversary. They had a hotel room comp'd, but were not going to be using it the final night so they asked us if we wanted it. I was so excited to take them up on their offer. Steve and I thought about dropping the kids off with my mom and heading down to the strip on our own, but we decided the kids would love it! Even though we live in Las Vegas, we rarely go to the strip and thought the kids would always remember having a staycation.

On Monday I let the kids watch a little bit more TV than I usually do. While they were occupied, I went upstairs and packed all 4 of us into 1 suitcase and quietly hid it in the back of the van. That afternoon we had a graduation party to attend for my nephew. We went to the party and then excused ourselves after an hour or so. I told the kids we needed to meet one of daddy's friends downtown. They asked me all about him on the drive and asked me what his name was - I told them it was Caesar. We pulled into the parking garage and the kids were completely clueless. I got them out of the car and then pulled the suitcase out and asked Thomas to roll it for me. He asked why we needed a suitcase and I told him we needed to bring some stuff for Daddy's friend and a suitcase was an easy way to transport it. As we walked into the hotel, Steve was just getting there. All 4 of us walked over to the towers and picked up our keys. It wasn't until we were in the elevator going up to the 32nd floor they finally asked if we were staying in the hotel. They were THRILLED.

Our room was incredible - probably one of the nicest ones we have ever stayed in. We hung out in our room for a little bit and then went downstairs to the Forum Shops and had dinner.

This was our view out one side of our window.

The kids had a great time in the MASSIVE tub. I filled it up a little too much and ended up having to drain some water because it would have been over Clara's head while she was sitting.

Steve had to wake up and go to work the next morning, but the kids and I got to stay and play in the hotel.

Clara was n heaven! She grabbed the Hershey's Bars, climbed up on the bed and watched PBS. .

This was the view out the other side of our window. I originally didn't want to take the kids down to the pool because I thought it was going to be a little too "adult" for them. After we saw a few kids playing around with inner tubes I figured there was no reason to not go. We spent about 2 hours down at the pool.