Vegas (part 4)

We had originally planned on staying until Saturday but the drive there confirmed for us that Piper would never handle a 14 hour straight trip in the van so we decided that we needed to leave a day early and make it another two-day drive.  So, Thursday ended up being our last day in Vegas.  We had heard that the Aquarium was pretty cool from a few different sources and since our boys (especially Isaac) are huge shark fans we thought it would be fun to take them to The Shark Reef.  I have to say that I think going to the Baltimore Aquarium ruined it for us because I really didn't think it was that cool.  We payed A LOT of money for the aquarium and I didn't think it was worth it.  It only took us about 45 min (?) to walk through the entire thing.  There was one cool part where you could touch a sting ray.  Will especially liked that.  I told the boys we will have to go for a visit to see Grandma and Grandpa Richards and convince them to take us to the Aquarium in Baltimore.  Regardless, I don't think the boys have been to an aquarium so for them it was still cool even if Mike and I knew it wasn't.

Since the Aquarium too much less time than we expected we decided to go find a park and let the kids eat their sack lunches and play.  My friend Nikki joined us at the Aquarium so they came to the park too and the kids played for awhile until they got hot and Piper needed a nap.  We were leaving the next day so we had to say goodbye to Nikki at the park and that was sad.  I had a lot of roommates in college and Nikki was one of my favorite.  One summer it was just the two of us living in the apartment and it was the best summer ever--so relaxed and peaceful.  We just got along so well.  I have always looked up to Nikki.  She is so down to earth, kind, thoughtful, smart, hardworking, reserved, motivated, and fun.  I used to joke that all I needed to do was find a man like Nikki and I'd have the perfect marriage (pretty sure I found that in Mike!). I love Nikki and even though it's been almost eight years since I've seen her last, I loved seeing her again.  It was so fun to see her with kids and a husband and a house.  She is still the steady, even tempered, happy Nikki.  She seems to be in a similar situation as I was a few years ago when Mike was in the bishopric and I had three tiny little kids running around.  I know it's hard for her but she just seems to take it all in stride with her never-ending positive attitude.  She definitely handles it better than I ever did.  I was so glad to see her and hope it isn't eight more years before I see her again.

The next day, Friday, we packed up and headed home.  We stopped for lunch at some random diner in Cedar City.  Mike wants to make that a new tradition--stopping at random diners.  The kids all drove fairly well, minus Piper of course, who didn't like being stuck in her car seat any better than she did the way there. All in all, it was a nice trip.  We did decide that we are not city people though.  We like quite, easy vacations, without a lot of traveling and people.  But the point was to be together as a family and create memories with the boys and so I think it was a successful, fun, vacation and I'm really glad we went.