Friday, May 11, 2018

April Happenings

We started off the month celebrating with an easy-going Easter at home and dinner at Grandma's.



We met Grandpa at the Clark County Wetlands for a hike around one weekday morning, and we made a pitstop in the nature center first for the kids to explore.  Acelyn was sort of terrified of the giant animal displays, and even though she wanted to hug them so badly, she still wouldn't get too close to them! 



On our hike around the Wetlands, we found lots of streams the kids liked to throw sticks and rocks into. 




We made our way up to the park, where we climbed all over the play structures before making our way back to the car.




Nolan had his first T-Ball game of the Spring season, where we are playing with lots of the same kiddos from last season, as well as our same coaches, which makes it extra fun!  He typically plays first base now at least once a game, since his throw is actually pretty good and gets great distance!   Nolan loves t-ball and I can foresee many, maaaaaaaannnny more t-ball/baseball seasons ahead of us!




We had a family movie night Saturday night, where we watched Ferdinand and the kids loved it. 


We took a spontaneous trip to a park we had never visited off of St. Rose, and the kids had a blast playing for an hour, and Acelyn took the sweetest nap afterwards with her hands cusped under her chin the entire time. 






Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day was this month, so of course we had to make a trip, despite the long lines.  It actually didn't take too long, and we only waited in line for about 20 minutes.  It was totally worth it for the kids and their day was made with free ice cream!  Flavor Flav also made an appearance, so of course I had to paparazzi his departure.  In the end, we left with messy faces and full bellies!






I let Nolan work on his wipe clean workbook while Acelyn napped and I did some stuff around the house, and was proud to find him completely trace his letters and numbers when I looked through it afterwards. 


We met with a friend from Preschool at the park one morning, where Nolan played well with Acelyn before his friend Andrew arrived. 


Grandma had a Spring Carnival at her school, so we stopped by for some games and food Friday evening.  Acelyn loved the duck game, and Nolan was great at corn hole, making 3 out of 5 of his shots!  We won a round of the Cake Walk, and topped off the night with some Waffle Love grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner.  YUM!





Nolan had T-Ball again the next morning, where they all looked pumped and ready for game time: 



After the game, we headed to Downtown Summerlin with Grandma for Vintage Market Days, and shopped around for a bit.  We grabbed some lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, where the kids were spoiled with a giant "kids" sundae!  




That night, I had a kid-free mom night out with my friends Erin and Alexis, to see Justin Timberlake at T Mobile!  It had been forever since I had gone to a concert, or just had a night out with friends, really, so it was so refreshing and great to be able to catch up and just talk!  On the walk over, we saw the Statue of Liberty wearing her VGK finest... the Knights just made the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the town has been buzzing!  This was one thing they've done to celebrate and root on our home team!




We snagged some dinner at Shake Shack before the concert, and then made our way over to the venue.  The show was amaaaaaaaaazing, and I'd highly recommend to anyone who likes JT even just a little bit.  He puts on a great show and sounds amazing!  Cry Me a River's entire set was amazing, and my fav, Mirrors, was probably the best freaking moment ever.  He slowed down What Goes Around...Comes Around, and it was another favorite for me. This was a bucket list concert in my life, so I'm so happy to be able to finally cross that one off my list (and will totally see him again in the future)!

















Nolan drew a picture of our family, and asked if I could add ears to Harley (haha!)


He woke up the next morning with some craaaaazy bed head hair!


We had our first Purple Penguin of the season. 


At Preschool, Nolan learned about zoo animals, and came home with a fingerprint giraffe and fun elephant!



Nolan practiced on his tricycle and has gotten so much better at going uphill without getting stuck!


Our Field Trip Fridays group took a trip to the Linq Promenade, where we rode the High Roller 550 feet above the Strip, followed by spending some time at the Flamingo Habitat and chowing down on some In N' Out for dinner!  Putting this group together has been so fun and I love getting out to explore the fun things Vegas has to offer, especially with friends!  


When I first mentioned the High Roller to Nolan, earlier in the week, he was terrified and got super nervous every time we would talk about it. I finally showed him some YouTube videos of it in real-life, and I think that saved me, because he was SO excited to go on once we got there!  I was also a little worried for myself... I'm not the biggest fan of heights, and didn't want to have a straight panic attack in the pod with the other Moms and kids... but it all went well and no anxiety hit!




The girls couldn't care less how high in the air we were, and just danced around and snacked most of the time on our rotation!  



Once we were almost to the top, there was a little video in our pod to count down the seconds to reach the very top of our trip- 550 feet!  The view was gorgeous and we talked about how easy it is to forget how pretty Vegas truly is! 







On our way back down, I busted out the kid's activity that I planned, which consisted of their very own Finger Print High Roller wheels, complete with mess-free paints (our favorite thing, lately)!  The kids seemed to enjoy it, and we had to pick it up rather quickly as we came down way faster than I anticipated!  



Next up, we headed towards the Flamingo Habitat to visit with the flamingoes!  Acelyn loved them and Nolan thought it was hilarious that one flamingo was dropping water onto a nearby bird.  While we were there, we also enjoyed seeing lots of waterfalls, ducks, fish and a few turtles.  The habitat isn't very big, but is always fun to stop in to see and the kids loved it!






We headed back to grab some dinner at In N' Out, where we all ate before heading home.  It wouldn't be the Linq Promenade without some Sprinkles Cupcakes... so we made sure to pick up a 4-pack to bring home to eat dessert with Dad.  It was another successful "Field Trip" and I hope everyone else had as much fun as we did!  






Another Saturday, another T-Ball game, where Nolan played well on first base again and Acelyn spent her time running around in the grass the whole game.  Nolan also started this crazy arm swinging when he ran the bases... that stuck for a few games but luckily, has stopped since! haha. 




On Sunday, we took a trip to Ikea, and Nolan insisted on posing for pictures with his new superhero pose.  Acelyn is all, Monkey-see, Monkey-do, so she poses, too.





We hit up the splash pad at Cadence in the beginning of the week, and spent a gorgeous morning outside with hardly anyone around.  It was quiet and the weather was perfect, which made for a really great start to our week.  











After rehydrating, and taking a quick walk around, we made our way over to the playground across the street, where we found another water feature that the kids could play in.  They loved this one, and Acelyn was all about splashing and piling rocks up to make a dam, while Nolan gave me a heart attack running around the wet rocks.  









We stopped once more to rest and hydrate, while watching the kayaker clean up the "lake", before heading home. 


Nolan learned about more zoo animals at PreK and came home with a marbled zebra!


We had a busy last weekend planned for the month, which started with another T-Ball Saturday. 



We left T-Ball to make our way down to Touch a Truck, one of our favorite annual activities!  Nolan was so excited and had been looking forward to it all week.  We met up with the Luks' once we arrived, and hopped in line for the helicopter with them.  Little did I know, I had sunscreen smeared across my phone lens, so all of our pictures in the beginning are super blurry.  Whoops!




The boys gave the Golden Knights some love in their "Photo Booth", and then Acelyn decided she needed to crash their picture.



The Shark Reef truck is always a favorite, which has an actual shark tank built into it!  


Nolan requested the school bus next, where Daddy took them on board and they waved out the window to me. 



They drove the UPS truck and helped deliver packages in the back. 


Nolan loved all the emergency response vehicles like ambulances, fire trucks and police cars, and couldn't get enough of going into each one.  The last few times we've visited fire trucks or open houses for the fire station, he's been too nervous to go up in the main truck cab to "drive".  This time, he went up without hesitation and LOVED it!  We were so proud of him for finally overcoming something we knew he would love!




We finished up the afternoon with all the construction trucks, where Nolan got to honk the horns of all the smaller ones and loved getting his signature picture in the plow.  We love Touch a Truck and this event that gets put on every year, and we're already looking forward to next years! 




That night, my Mom watched the kids for us while we got a much needed date night to grab some dinner, drinks and catch the Golden Knights game!  We have totally jumped on the VGK/Vegas hockey train here... it's totally taking the city by storm and with a team as strong as ours and the events that have taken place to allow the city to adopt them as our own so quickly, it's easy to fall in love with the sport!  Of course I forgot to get a picture of ourselves enjoying our date night... but I sure didn't forget to take a Boomerang of our bomb chicken and cheese fries! 


The next day, we spent the afternoon at Crystal Palace Skating Center to celebrate Charley's 6th birthday!  It was unreal to be back at a skating rink after 20 years with our own kids, where we spent tons of time as elementary-aged kids at "Skate Nights", and it felt exactly the same as it did then!  The birthday girl spent all her time skating it up, while we tried to convince Nolan it wasn't torture to put on skates and go.  It took him a while to stop being nervous and just try... but he eventually did it and got out there with Daddy.  They made their way around with Brock and Hudson, and the boys found out how exhausting skating is with kids!  Jason even helped Beckham make his way around, too!




We ate pizza and celebrated the birthday girl by singing her Happy Birthday, then the kids dug in on their cupcakes.  Acelyn enjoyed hers, clearly, and Nolan continued to practice his skating skills by holding on to the tables and benches and making his way around on his own.  The babies had a baby party with balloons, and finally, I decided to take Nolan out and see what skating skills were still left over from 5th grade.  It wasn't too bad!  And Nolan and I made a round or two without falling.  We timed it just right, because the chicken dance and the hokey pokey came on, so I taught Nolan all the moves and although he was a little nervous, he still loved it!  







On Monday, we took the Durango in to get the A/C looked at, since it has been blowing warmer than normal for a while.  Since it was during the week, I had the kids by myself and we had to wait for them to service the car.  I came prepared with loads of toys, activities, coloring, mess-free paint, snacks and iPads.. but come to find out, the shop we used has their own FREE arcade loft, and the kids were in heaven!  Nolan literally played Skeeball for two whole hours!  He loved it and was hooked.  While Acelyn took a snack and iPad break from all the games, Nolan spent about two minutes shoveling food in his mouth before he ran right back to more skeeball!  Whatever works, right?!  All I know is this auto shop knows what's up.  All dealerships and service places need this!



Since the kids did so well at the shop for over two hours, I treated them to lunch at McDonalds and ice cream at Ben and Jerry's.  I killed two birds with one stone, and decided to take Acelyn's ice cream birthday pictures at the same time, and got the cutest shots of her making a huuuuuge mess



And, ended the month looking forward to the next... 


...Until then!

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