We spent Thanksgiving in New York City this year! It has been a long time dream of Ken and I’s to spend the holidays in NYC and we finally decided to go this year. It was sort of a last minute decision and we were shocked that we were able to get a room that faces Times Square. We made a video for each day of our vacation!
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We’ve been to the Toledo Zoo many times before, but there were quite a few updates since the last time we went. When the kids were little we would go at least once a year. Blake wasn’t too thrilled about going, but we made him go, LOL! It turned out to be a really nice day. Here’s a little Animal Montage Video… the Toledo Zoo was actually voted the #1 zoo in the USA. Pretty cool!
What happens in Vegas…gets shared on our blog! Let’s not mention that we went to Las Vegas almost two months ago. Someday I will be caught up and actually write about things as they happen. Luckily I had posted short little updates on Facebook and shared a few photos while we were in Vegas so I’m gonna snag those tidbits.
I made a little slide show/video out of our photos, but you can also view the photo album here.
Day by Day Diary
Day 1
Packed in like sardines on flight.
Karli called me from school crying that she missed me right when our flight landed.
Arrived at Mirage before check in time so strolled around hotel, had brunch, gambled and sat out by the pool.
Got our room and took a 90 minute cat nap.
Went to dinner at The Buffet at the Wynn, Yum!
Walked down the strip, gambled at The Flamingo and Bellagio.
I won back all that I had lost for the day plus some extra!
Watched the volcano at the Mirage.
In bed at midnight, 3am MI time…almost up 24 hours.
Been a long yet wonderful day!!
Day 2
Woke up early as I expected with time change.
Reserved our seats around the Mirage pool (towel placement).
Had chicken bowls from Chicken Now at the Venetian.
Rejuvenated at Oxygen Bar, Sounds corny, but I really did feel great afterwards. Or maybe that was the peach Bellini from Fat Tuesdays? LOL.
Quick gambling stop on our way back to our room where I made a fast $100 and cashed out.
Cooked our skin for a few hours.
Went to New York New York and their machines were tight.
Had dinner at MGM.
Won zilch at their casino as well.
Seen David Copperfield at the MGM, it was good. Not sure I would recommend. It was somewhat entertaining but not mind blowing and quite pricey. Something about Copperfield annoyed me. Arrogance maybe?
Gambled at Excalibur til about 1am and was ahead quite a bit but got greedy and lost most of it.
I’m fried, literally and figuratively!
Day 3
Darn 3 hour time difference! Once again we were up early.
Went to Gilley’s at Treasure Island for an early lunch, yummy BBQ pulled pork sandwich.
Gambled there and lost.
Walked around some and took our time before going out in the sun.
After some drinks and pool time we walked around the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace.
We ate dinner at Caesar’s as well, Joe’s Seafood. We shared some delicious Stone Crab and Madagascar shrimp. So good! For my meal I got crab stuffed shrimp and Ken got Prime Rib and we shared some mashed potatoes. I highly recommend this restaurant for steak and seafood lovers.
Then we seen O Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio and oh my goodness it was so amazing. Totally entertaining and worth every penny. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
We gambled at Bellagio, Harrah’s and Mirage. I keep breaking even for the most part but Ken can’t catch a break.
All day I was thinking about how grateful I am to be spending this time together!!
Day 4
Our last day was pretty chill.
We enjoyed our last afternoon around the Mirage pool and were entertained by some crazy drunk girls for several hours.
We ate dinner at the Mirage Burger Bar. The best fried pickles I have had in my life.
We walked around in search of souvenirs for the kids.
We enjoyed our last night of people watching, the best free activity in Las Vegas.
Finally got to see the Bellagio Fountains, very peaceful and beautiful.
We are ready to go home, but sad to see our vacation come to an end.
We had an amazing time and Ken is ready to book our return trip!
It’s been awhile since our family vacation to Cancun, but I thought this video was fun and worth sharing! We had a wonderful time swimming with the dolphins. The dolphins feel rubbery and kinda squishy, a little bit different than what I expected. It really was a once in a lifetime experience and I am so glad we were able to do this with the kids. Our overall opinion of the Dolphinaris Cancun, however, was far from positive.
We felt that most of the staff acted as though they hated their job. Especially those that handled the actually swimming with the dolphins – they were very rude and honestly sucked some of the enjoyment out of the whole experience. The person should be going out of their way to make this the most fun ever especially when you are playing over $100 per person for such a short period of time with the dolphins. The entire exhibit needs sprucing up as well. It looked very run down and for the money people are paying it should be in much better shape.
Another downfall is how they try to charge you an insane amount of extra money for the photos that they take of you swimming with the dolphins. Prices start at $35 for 1 photo on up and if you would like the dvd as well, plan on paying a couple hundred dollars. They dont allow you to take any photos or video yourself. I am sure so you feel forced into buying their photos/video. For this reason we scheduled Karli and I at one time slot and Ken and the boys afterward so we could at least stand in the observation area and try to get some shots ourselves.
The most important part though is that the kids had fun and they weren’t affected by any of my disappointments. It is something that I doubt we would ever pay to do again and I feel lucky that we were able to share this moment with the kids.
You ever go through a time in your life that was so emotionally draining that you almost don’t even want to talk about it? That’s how I feel about what happened a couple of weeks ago. We had left our house early Sunday morning to take a 5 day road trip in Michigan… a couple of days at Traverse City followed by a couple of days at Mackinaw City and Mackinaw Island.
On the way to Traverse City we had stopped in Mears, Michigan to ride some dune buggies at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. The kids had a blast and it really was a lot of fun.
Here is some video…
After we left the dunes we traveled towards Traverse City. Just as we entered into the city I got a phone call from our house/dog sitter that our Yorkie Tori had got out of our yard and they couldn’t catch her. She was literally clear across our subdivision where she has never gone before. Tori doesn’t leave the yard when she gets out. She wanders maybe a house or two away, but she always stays nearby. She does go crazy whenever I leave the house so she has had separation anxiety issues I suppose. Right away I panicked because I know she was just trying to find Ken and I. I’ve never felt so helpless before. I mean what could we do since we were 5 hours away from home?
After about 20 minutes I called them back and was told that she had traveled even farther away from home and had crossed a main road. That was it for me, we turned the car around and headed back home. We ended up calling so many people asking for them to come to our neighborhood and help search for Tori. There were many people searching from about 6:30pm until dark. By the time we had arrived home at 11:30 everyone except my parents had gone home. Ken, Andrew and I had searched the area where she was last seen for 2 hours without any luck. Ken got lost in the woods at one point, fell into a hole and his legs were all scratched up and bleeding. Andrew and I had someone nearly run into us as I was driving about 5mph on the opposite side of the road and then the person ended up turning their car around and going after us. It was a surreal night for sure.
The next morning Ken got up and searched for several hours. I made up a flyer and we got hundreds of copies. I posted her info on so many websites and facebook pages it was crazy. My girlfriend came over and helped us look, including in ditches in stuff. It was sad, but also a reality that she could have gotten hit by a car and was laying somewhere dead. So many thoughts were going through my head. There are coyotes in the woods near here, among who knows what else that could have gotten ahold of a small 8 pound dog. We put flyers in 3 different subdivisions near where she was last seen. We stopped every person we seen outside to ask if they had seen her and to please contact us if they do. Problem was I knew that she would not approach anyone. She is not like our other 3 dogs. They would go up to anyone, tail wagging, looking for attention. Tori is the exact opposite, except with us of course.
Around 7 that evening someone had said they seen a black dog like 2 miles away from our house. We were unsure that she would have traveled that far, but just in case we scoured that entire area for the next 3 hours with several people helping. The feeling that there was no way she was going to be found at this point kept getting stronger and stronger. I felt so sick going to bed that night. After an entire day of searching I felt defeated.
The next morning Ken got up early once again and started looking. He got more copies of the flyer and as he was driving around trying to give them to people and they were saying that they had already seen the flyer at the gas station, the YMCA, or they seen it on Facebook. The word was out. So many people were looking and trying to help us find her. Around 10:30 that morning I felt like I was losing my mind and I begged Ken to just come home so we could just move forward with the next stage. Grieving her loss and hoping that someone had found her and decided to just keep her. He came home for a bit, but after a couple of hours he said he couldn’t just sit there and he wasn’t ready to give up. I ended up going with him and we were in the area 2 miles from our house where someone had said they thought they seen her the night before.
Two hours had gone by and Ken had said that if only someone would call us and say that they had seen her recently that would be so helpful. There were just so many places to look. Around 3:30 I got a phone call to my cell that someone in the subdivision where we had left flyers in their mailboxes had seen her. At first I thought she was going to say she seen her last night or that morning. She was telling me that she seen her near a creek and she tried to cross a busy road, but then a car and motorcycle had to stop and she got scared and ran back to the creek. They were calling her name and they couldn’t find her. When I asked how long ago and she replied just like 5 minutes ago I quickly pointed for Ken to drive in that direction. He went through a red light and passed a car where he shouldn’t have.
We got out of the car near the creek and started yelling out her name. We were walking in people’s backyards that were along the busy road where she had tried to cross. I kept walking and yelling her name hoping to see her come out of the trees along the creek. Something made me look back towards the busy road and there she was walking along someone’s driveway coming towards me. It was such an unbelievable moment. At first I think I thought I was seeing things. I mean after two days of searching in yard after yard for her and envisioning what it would look like if she did come running across someone’s yard, once I seen it happening for real, it almost didn’t feel real.
It was a moment I will never forget. To think that she survived three days and two nights is unbelievable to me. A miracle without a doubt. I don’t think Ken and I have cried so many tears of joy before. My hubby is in love with our dogs probably more than anyone in our house. I know people joke here is this big guy with this little furry dogs, but that’s my man. He is the best :)
She has been spoiled like crazy since then. It took her awhile to finally walk on the grass, she kept staying on the concrete for some reason. She checked out just fine at the vets, but I did have to shave a lot of her fur because it was filled with burrs. She was stinky and dirty to say the least. I still wonder where she might have been the entire time, if she slept or ate anything. What is crazy is she was exactly 1 mile from our home very close to the area where she was last seen on Sunday night and so many people had searched that area from the first day on. Yelling her name over and over again. I just can’t imagine what she must have thought the entire time. Obviously the people who thought they seen her several miles from our house were seeing the wrong dog or something. Anyways, we are blessed beyond belief to have gotten her back. And thank God the woman who seen her had our flyer and called us right away. We offered her a reward and she didn’t want anything. Such a sweet lady!
Unfortunately we didn’t get to enjoy our little vacation and we have no other time this summer to try and go again. Our crazy busy football and cheer schedule has started up and our month is in full swing. Things happen and you do what you have to do for those you love, even your pets!
We took the kids to the Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park in Canton, Michigan. We had never been to one before so we weren’t sure what to expect. The prices seemed pretty reasonable; $10 for 30 minutes, $14 for 1 hour, $18 for 90 minutes and $20 for 2 hours. It made the most sense to pay the $20 a piece and allow the kids to jump for 2 hours. The fee also includes the shoe rental which I was surprised about. I had thought they would just jump in their socks. This particular Sky Zone had a large “jumping only” area, multiple Dodgeball areas, a SlamDunk basketball court, as well as some foam pits that you can jump into. I was surprised that everything is very well managed by the staff at Sky Zone. They make sure the kids playing Dodgeball are similar size/age so no one gets hurt. The foam pit and basketball court is controlled as well and the kids have to get in line and take turns. I thought this was a little overkill, but I understand it’s for everyone’s safety. In my mind I thought the basketball court would be a large trampoline where you could actually make teams and play against one another. Instead it is just 3 hoops at various heights that you take turns trying to slam dunk. And NO hanging on the rims the sign said!! I thought that was funny considering you have to sort of hang to dunk the ball.
The kids loved every bit of it. Blake played Dodgeball most of the time, while Chase and Karli practiced their acrobatic skills. I really think that we could have purchased just one hour and they would have been happy since they wore out so quickly. But for just $6 more you can get double the amount of time, so why not? Ken was just adding up the number of kids strolling in during the two hours that we were there and saying how the place has to be bringing in major bucks. I checked it out… you only need somewhere between $789,900 and $1,843,600 as your initial investment to open your own Sky Zone. Anyone who has that lying around feel free to let me know.
If you are planning a trip to Sky Zone they allow them to start jumping every 30 minutes – like 12:00, 12:30, 1:00, etc. and they wear stickers on their chests so the staff know the window of time they are allowed to jump. You have to sign a waiver , which can be found on their website. You can book your jump time online too. If you go later in the evening I guess they get pretty busy so you may want to reserve your time in advance, especially if you drive a ways like we did.
This summer I am bound and determined to make sure we spend lots of time together as a family. I know we spend more time together than many families since we work from home, but I’m thinking quality time…not quantity. I have often felt guilty come September when the kids are going back to school and I reflect on the summer and I realize that we didn’t quite do enough. Sure there are all the baseball games and days spent soaking up the sun in the pool. But there is so much more we could be enjoying together. Even if it is something as simple as taking our bikes to Wildwood, enjoying a picnic, or visiting the art museum. I haven’t been to the art museum in probably 10 years!
I’ve been printing monthly calendars from Hello Cuteness the past couple of years to keep track of all of our kids games, practices, and appointments any of us have. (The calendars used to be offered for free, unfortunately it looks like she is charging for them now. This summer I am making it my goal to add two or more activities a week for us to enjoy as a family. These first two weeks of summer break have been a bit of a challenge because the boys have baseball games 4 – 5 nights a week and Karli just wrapped up her dance season. As soon as June is over and the baseball season ends we should have an easier time scheduling lots of family time together.
First adventure for the summer was taking the kids to Cedar Point since my niece Emma was in town and she loves to ride all the roller coasters. We went on a day that was supposed to thunder storm which worked out perfectly because hardly anyone was there. We got on all the rides within 15 minutes – including the new Gatekeeper. It only sprinkled twice for about 20 minutes in which the roller coasters did close down for a few minutes. It was the best trip I’ve ever experienced at Cedar Point though in regards to it not being too humid or crowded.
Funny thing I ended up losing my voice from screaming on a few of the roller coasters. The older I get the more scared I seem to get!
Andrew, Chase and Emma all rode the Top Thrill Dragster. I rode it a few years ago and have no desire to ride it again, I’m too chicken. They were the real ride warriors!
Riding the Magnum!
Karli and Blake were too scared to get on most of the roller coasters. We did drag everyone on the Maverick though including Uncle Don who was about to crap his pants. He does not like roller coasters and I tried to tell him that the Maverick was a crazy one, but he thought it looked mild. His face was pretty hilarious afterwards. Blake just said “I’m done” after that one. :-)
The craziest part of the day was when we were getting ready to go home and the kids asked to play some games. Karli and Emma seen these cute cows that they wanted to try to win. Of course it was the game with the 3 cups that you had to knock down with one ball. Emma went first, $5 for 3 tries. When she knocked all 3 cups down on the third try we were all screaming with excitement. Ken and I instantly thought…Great we are going to spend a ton of money trying to win one for Karli now. Sure enough Karli takes her turn and she knocked down all 3 cups on her third try as well. We were cheering so loud at this point that everyone around us was starring. Then Chase wanted to win a Pokémon character by tossing a ball onto 100 cup tops. There were only 3 red ones and on his second toss he landed the ball on a red one. I mean what are the chances?! It was crazy! I mean usually you spend a huge amount of money and walk away with nothing and these kids all won the top prizes within minutes and only $15 spent. It was a blast trying to fit all those prizes into the car for the ride home.
It was the perfect day…other than me forgetting my video camera at home. Ugh!
We took the kids to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for some Spring Break entertainment. It was nice to get out of the house and enjoy some time together rather than everyone off doing their own thing.