Viva Las Vegas....and Salt Lake City!!!

It has unfortunately taken me quite some time to post our vacation pictures from nearly 4 weeks ago. I just have not been in the mood to blog. So this may seem like a long post, because it is, but that doesn't mean you should avoid commenting (wink, wink). So we started our trip going to Salt Lake to visit Jay's wonderful and beautiful sister, Sena and her equally wonderful hubby, Joel. We were able to enjoy plenty of relaxation and more physical exercise than I had intended BUT loved. Joel had us go running with him early in the morning, which was quite fun. I didn't make it more than 1 mile before I had to stop for a moment and then we were off and I had to stop at mile 2 and walked the rest of the way. Jay did GREAT, of course. Jay ran nearly the entire way with Joel and considering Joel is Uber-fit and a super athlete, this was quite a feat. Jay is such a go getter. So later on that day, we decide to go hiking and since its only a 5 minute drive from Joel and Sena's house, the hike is even more appealing. Aiden and Joel ran most of the way, while Jay, Sena, and I walked. I couldn't believe that Aiden just ran up with Joel. The hike was mostly uphill and he didn't even fall. On the way down, Aiden ran with Sena and only fell once but toughed it out. He is an amazingly fit child. His endurance is amazing. We had so much fun. We then went to the new StarTrek movie and Aiden fell right asleep. I don't blame him; I was exhausted too.
We then left Salt Lake and headed to Vegas. We had a great time on the drive. Aiden did great and had fun. We stopped a lot and ate junk food and just talked and laughed. I think I enjoyed the driving to Vegas more than Vegas itself. We finally arrived in Vegas, I think it took us a bit longer than normal since we stopped a million times. We made it to our hotel, the Monte Carlo, just fine and had a nice experience there. Our room was spacious and comfy. I slept amazingly well and that isn't easy for me to do anywhere. Our room had a great view of the strip and it was quiet and smelled good.
The first thing on Aiden's list was to go swimming so we got our bags delivered to our room, changed and headed to the pool. It was so spacious and also very crowded but fun nonetheless. We mainly stayed in the lazy river since it was warmer than all the other pools, not that it was cold by any means outside. It was a piping 95 degrees when we got there. We also played in the wave pool and Aiden loved it. We tried teaching Aiden some swimming basics in the regular pool but that didn't turn out very well. He ended up swallowing too much water and gagged and then threw up just a little bit. We just acted like nothing happened and swam away. Yuck I know.
Later after we were changed from swimming we walked around the strip and went to M&M World since it was right across the street and had fun looking at all the M&M trinkets. Aiden wanted a bag of M&M's but it cost $12 a pound. Yikes, no thank you. We then got a call from Jay's Grandma Angie, for whom we went to Vegas to see. She wanted to meet up with us and her relatives and go to dinner. Dinner was great and was compliments of Jacks daughter Debbie, Thank you Debbie! Jay said the steak he had was the best and biggest he has ever had. I believe him because he ate the entire thing and so did everyone else, since everyone got a steak too. Aiden conked out during dinner so I didn't really eat.
The next day was wonderful. We planned on coming to Vegas to meet up with Jay's Grandma Angie to go to the Temple together. I wasn't able to go in since we didn't have anyone to watch Aiden but Jay and his Grandma were able to go in and I just enjoyed being away from the strip on sacred ground. Aiden and I looked around the Temple grounds and then went to McD's so Aiden could eat and play. When Jay and Angie were done we headed to Debbie's house,where Angie was staying. On the drive to Debbie's home, Angie told us such wonderful stories about Jay when he was young and about Jay's parents. I loved hearing such stories and the way Angie tells them just enhances the story. Angie is the cutest little Latina Grandma, except of course for Grandma Guia. I realized how much I need to record and transcribe these stories so we can have them for later. Family history is so important and fun! We had lunch with Angie and her neighbor Mabel who was kind enough to drive Angie to Vegas to see us. So that afternoon decided to head to Mandalay Bay Hotel and see the Shark Bay and aquarium. It turned out to be a very long walk and it was killer hot, 95 degrees and Aiden was getting quite tired and hot. But alas we made it to the hotel that was air conditioned, yes. Well then we had to walk forever through the hotel to the aquarium. It was so much fun and Aiden really enjoyed it as did Jay and I. It didn't take long to go through and see everything but it was worth it, especially since Aiden was free. We then got smart and took the free tram from Mandalay to Excalibur. We got out and headed to the Excalibur the see how much it was to see a show we heard was great, The Tournament of Kings. Umm, yeah, it was $65 per person including Aiden. So as you can guess that was a no-go. There was an arcade there so we went there and let Aiden do a few games and saw a 4-D ride simmulater thingy. It had 3 different adventures and it was more affordable so we did that instead. It was fun and Aiden only got scared once. We then headed back to the hotel and got ready to go swimming and got down there and were told the pool closed. It was only 6. Aiden was so sad so he swam in the bathtub instead. Not as exciting but it would have to do. We then just packed and hung out in our room. We were to leave the next day. Well no sooner were we asleep then Aiden was up coughing so hard he threw up all over the place. As Jay was cleaning, Aiden threw up again and this time on more things. We had to call the front desk and ask for new things and a big bag to hold the nastiness. I felt bad but what do you do. Aiden went back to sleep quickly and we all went back to bed. We were up early the next day and left on our long 13 hour journey home. All in all we had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves.