Viva Las Vegas!

Derek and I have been talking about heading to Vegas for years.  Earlier in the year when he found out that he was scheduled to present at a conference there, we decided that it would be the perfect time for us to head west together.  It was the perfect opportunity since his meals, air fare, and lodging would be paid for through work.  So, the only thing I had to pay for were my meals, air fare, and activities.

Derek's mom came to our house to stay with the kids and we flew out of Bloomington early on Wednesday, September 14th.  I was very nervous about leaving them all the way up to the minutes we boarded the plane.  Addy of course was ecstatic about spending four days with Grandma because she knew that Grandma would spoil her (and Carter) rotten.  

Our trip to Vegas didn't go as quickly or smoothly as planned.  Our flight plan had us flying from Bloomington-Normal to Atlanta to Vegas.  When we arrived in Atlanta we boarded the plane on time, but sat waiting for clearance to proceed to the runway.  Eventually we deplaned the plane for computer malfunctions and waited about 40 minutes to board a different plane.  We finally got to board our new plane, only to deplane once again, but this time it was due to engine problems.  Eventually we reboarded the first plane with a new computer installed and were on our way to Vegas!

Wednesday afternoon after checking in we explored a bit of the strip and purchased tickets to Derek's choice of shows--The Amazing Jonathan.  Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our first night on the town.  For dinner we headed to Bobby Flay's restaurant--Mesa Grill in Cesar's  Palace.  We are huge Food Network and Top Chef fans, so we really wanted to dine at a few of the famous chef's restaurants while we were in Vegas.  The food was amazing--really spicy, but very tasty!  After that we headed to see The Amazing Jonathan.  Derek has seen him several times on Comedy Central.  He is a comedic magician, but mostly a comedian.  His show was very funny (although a bit salty with the language) and we didn't get called out in the audience t participate, which was a major plus! 

Our first view of the world famous strip

Gardens of the Bellagio

Posing in front of a picture made of plants at the Bellagio

Thursday Derek had his conference all day and I explored the stip and all of the touristy attractions that make it famous.  It's not a big surprise that even though the kids were not with us, one of my first stops was the M&Ms store.  It is a huge, multi-level store with nothing but merchandise emblazoned with those sweet little guys that everyone loves. 
After Derek finished his conference for the day we met a few people from his firm at the steakhouse at the hotel.  It was a wonderful meal and we had a lot of fun chatting with everyone.  People from Pinnacle live all over the U.S., so it's always fun to get together with them to catch up and get to know them more.

M&Ms Megastore

A view of the Eiffel Tower from the grounds of the Bellagio

On Friday Derek attended the conference again while I did more exploring.  He did manage to sneak away for lunch as he and I headed to Huber Keller's restaurant--The Burger Bar.  Derek loves his hamburgers and this place was a favorite!  After Derek finished his final session at the conference he and I headed out for our last  night on the town. We headed north on the strip to check out the Venetian and ate at Emeril's restaurant--Table 10, which was great.  The inside of the Venetian is beautiful  with the gondolas floating through and the inside painted like the streets of Venice. After that we headed to the Mirage to take in  my show choice--Love by-Cirque du Soleil.  The show started at 9:30, which was 11:30 our time and crazy late.  Thank goodness for afternoon naps, or I would have never made it through our late nights in Vegas.  The show was fabulous.  I would recommend it to anyone and everyone visiting Vegas.  The acrobatics synchronized to Beatles music was like nothing I have ever seen.  You are surrounded by the show and there is SO much to take in.  We ended the evening with a trip up the Eiffel Tower, which was a great way to end our trip.  Although I must admit I was a bit nervous going up in the glass elevator.  I guess my tolerance for heights just aren't what they used to be. 

Posing in the Ventian

Eiffel Tower at night

Derek was 100% sober when he posed with this frog at the Venetian!

Despite the 90+ degree temperatures we  managed to put quite a few miles on our tennis shoes during the three days we were there.  When they say that Vegas involves a lot of walking, they're not joking!  We enjoyed seeing the over the top hotels with their reproduced landmarks and crazy architecture.  The gardens insides the Bellagio were beautiful.  While we were there workers were working day and night to change over the gardens for the fall season. It was fun to see what it takes to perform such a dramatic transformation.  We also enjoyed seeing several fountain shows at the Bellagio, the volcano at the Mirage, the Statue of Liberty at New York, New York, and various other sights.  We stayed at the Aria, which was a wonderful hotel. It was very modern and trendy and had some unique dining options.    As far as gambling goes, neither of us are big gamblers but I did manage to give various slot machines my money.  Derek does enjoy playing poker and is always interested in playing various tables, but never really had a whole of time to spend in the casino.  So as far as gambling goes, we came away virtually unscathed.

Eiffel Tower & Bellagio fountains

New York, New York

MGM Grand

Statue of Liberty--Vegas Style

We had a wonderful time in Las Vegas, but also missed our kids very much.  Our flights home were much less eventful than our flights to Vegas.  We made it home by ten o'clock on Saturday night and were excited to see the kids on Sunday.  Vegas is a great city and we will definitely be returning in the future.

Labor Day Weekend in the Hoosier State

We headed to southern Indiana for Labor Day weekend to spend time with our families in Evansville and Ferdinand.  We actually left Thursday night to have more day to spend at home.  We stayed at Derek's mom's house on Thursday and Friday night and spent the entire day with her on Friday.  It was a scorcher on Friday and Saturday in Indiana, so we elected to stay mostly indoors. We headed to a new inflatable play area in the morning and the kids burned off lots of evergy.  We also went to lunch at our usual Evansville lunch destination, Chik-Fil-A.  We don't have a single Chik-Fil-A anywhere near Bloomington, so it is a place we always want to eat when visitng Derek's mom.  We spent the rest of the day hanging out and playing at grandma's house.  Carter and Addy always love visiting their grandma and playing with all of her toys.

A good "brother/sister" moment

Addy loved the obstacle course!

IU!

On Saturday morning we headed to my parents' house. We were supposed to head to Holiday World that morning, but decided to rearrange our plans to head there on Sunday when it was supposed to cool down.  Rain was forcasted for Sunday, but we decided to trade the scorching heat for a rainy day and we were SO glad we did.  Even though we battled morning showers, the crowds at the park were significantly lower and the afternoon was virtually dry.  On Saturday we hung out ot Mom and Dad's.  It was nice having a day with little planned.  Mom and I took the kids to the Candy Castle in Santa Claus.  I love to go there for their Christmas themed children's books!  Derek was also super excited to get a dinner of Jenk's Pizza.  It is one of Derek's favorite southern Indiana meals!  No one makes pizze quite like Jenk's!

On Sunday  We took Carter with us in the morning to do the kiddie rides in the dry park.  He had his first ride on the bouncing fish and the train.  At lunchtime we headed back to my parents' for lunch and naps.  Then we headed back to the park with just Addy for an afternoon at the waterpark and "big girl rides" with Mommy and Daddy.She really enjoyed her alone time with us and braved a few pretty big rides.  She loved Splashin' Safari and went down two big slides with us--The Watubee and  Zimbabwe.  She really enjoyed the slides, but was a little intimidated by the height of the stairs we had to climb to get to the tops of the stairs. 

Taking a break from the rain to meet Holidog

Family pic with Santa

Carter wasn't so sure about his first ride on the fish. Check out that death grip!

In the dry park Addy continued her new found bravery and rode the Spider with me and the log ride with both of us.  After picking up a duck at the duck pond and an ice cream cone we headed to the gate to pick up a keychain at the gift shop for her collection and then we headed back to see my family. 

We had a great visit with everyone and really enjoyed just hanging out.  On Monday we headed home to Illinois and made a pitstop in Arthur, IL to check out some Amish Furniture.  Little did we know that the Arthur Cheese Festival was going on.  We explored the booths and a few furniture stores and then continued our journey home.  We had a great Labor Day weekend with family and had so much fun in southern Indiana!

Mr. Carter is 15 months!

On August 27th Carter turned 15 months old. Yes, I know this post is a bit delayed!  He had his 15 month check-up on Tuesday (8/30).  The doctor was pleased with his development and said that he is right on track.  Carter weighed 27 lbs. 5 oz. (85th percentile) and measured in at 31.5 inches long (70th percentile).  I was a little concerned because Carter hadn't gained any weight or grown in length since his 12 months appointment, but the doctor wasn't concerned because the numbers were proportionate.  I guess it was just odd to me because I've never had a child drop out of the 90th percentiles! 

Carter is showing more and more of his true personality everyday.  He is a sneaky little guy and is always looking to explore new things.  He is a true blue boy and loves to play with his cars and balls.  He has recently become very interested in his indoor basketball goal and often takes our hand to lead us in the toy room so we can lift him up to shoot some hoops.  He also loves to push things around the house including dining room and kitchen chairs, Addy's easel, and even his sister's baby doll stroller which he fills with things he colects around the house. At the end of any given day or playtime it is not uncommon to see my dining room and kitchen chairs spread all throughout our main floor. 

He has also started to say more words and make more of an attempt to communicate.  He says quite a few words very clrearly including Dad, Mom, Addy (which he pronounces ADD eee), Car, Hi, and several others.  Carter loves to look at books.  He will sit on our family room floor with a mountain of books in front of him and flip through them for twenty minutes or more.  He is turning into quite a bookworm and especially enjoys books with pictures of animals. 

He is quite the little character.  He and Addy have started to quarrel more about things, which makes some days very interesting and challenging.  It is so much fun watching him make observations about and connections to the world around.  He is a very cuirous little guy!  We are really enjoying watching him become his own person!

A Festive Weekend

During the last weekend in August we returned to our festival going ways and actually headed to two festivals.  Friday evening we made the drive to Lincoln, Illinois for the Lincoln Balloon Festival.  The Balloon Fest is one our our family's favorite festivals.  We love to watch the balloon launch in the early evening and the balloon glow at sunset.  Derek's mom came up this year for the balloon fest because we have talked about how awesome it is for years, so she wanted to experience it for herself.  She really enjoyed seeing the balloons and said she's coming back next year. 

Balloon Buddies

We also went to the Sweet Corn Festival in Normal on Saturday.  It is another one of our favorites.  We do have a long list of favorite festivals!  We went to uptown Normal to eat a few ears of corn and browse the arts and crafts booths that lined the streets.  Addy and Carter each had an ear of corn and loved it.  It was a pretty warm day, so we didn't stay downtown for long, but we enjoyed every minute of it.  As the fall season rolls around we look forward to our typical run of area festivals.  It is something we love to do as a family and as the fall weather starts to show itself we begin to get festival fever! 

Enjoying some yummy sweet corn

Addy's First Day of Pre-K

Last week was a huge week for the Freihaut household because Addy offically started her school journey.  On Thursday (August 25th) I dropped Addy off at the elementary school to begin her first year of PreK.  Addy was very excited about beginning school and practically bounced out of bed that morning so excited to get dressed and ready for her big day.  I, on the other hand, barely slept and woke up with a huge knot in my stomach.  I was full of anxiety about sending my little girl to school.  There's something about the thought of Addy going to school EVERYDAY for two and a half hours in the morning that made me uneasy.

Addy got dressed in her pink flower t-shirt and plaid shorts that she has selected on her own the night before.  She then came downstairs and enjoyed her self selected breakfast of waffles and yogurt and was ready to go.  After a pictures were snapped we loaded into the vehicle and were off to drop Miss Adalyn off for her very first day of school.

The teachers come out to get the kids out of the vehicles in the drop off lane so there wasn't a lot of time for gushy hugs and goodbyes.  Addy had not problem jumping out of the car and heading to the line with her teacher.  It was a tearless moment (for her anyway) and she was excited to start her school journey.  I on the other hand watched her every step as she headed into line and I even jumped out of the car (Derek was driving) to snap  afew pictures of her heading into school (yes, I was that mom:). 

Addy's first day went great.  She had lots of things to share with us when she got home.  Her hightlights for the day were recess, metting new friends, and completing her classroom job which was to ring the bell to signal that it was time to clean up.  I also survived Addy's first day.  Carter and I enjoyed our time at home together and I managed to get a few things done whicl Carter was taking his morning nap.    Addy loves school and we are so lucky to have the opportunity to send her to such a wonderful program with fantastic teachers everyday.  It's just so hard to believe that our little girl is now a school girl!

Addy's first day of Pre-K





Addy picked out her own clothes fir her first day

Backpack Shot--Addy was determined to have a Ponies backpack

Getting out of the car with a quick wave goodbye

Hands up and ready to push the door to get into the building

Last Minute Getaway

The weekend before Addy started school we decided to head to St. Louis for a last minute get-away,  We headed down on Saturday morning with the intent of checking out a place that sells the playgrounds we were interested in installing at our houase and then heading to the Magic House.  We got to see all of the playgrounds and the many options and Addy and Carter had fun playing on them and trying them out.  After that we headed to the Magic House and had a picnic outside before heading into the fun.  We are big fans of Children's Museums and love the Magic House.  Addy and Carter loved exploring all of the exhibits.  It is so much fun to see Carter being more curious and wanting to explore everything his big sister is exploring.  Addy loved the huge tonado slide in the building and the baby nursery where she got to pretend she was a doctor.  Carter enjoyed the water table and the contsruction site where he got to play in rocks and dirt. After a fun afternoon at the Magic House we headed to our hotel to get in a quick swim in the hotel's pool.  At first  Carter was hesitant to be in the pool, but quickly got used to his floatie and began to love the water.  Addy was fresh off of swimming lessons and loved being in the water.  After our swim we headed to the Cheesecake Factory (which just happened to be next door) for dinner. It was a great end to a wonderful day!

Sunday morning we headed to the zoo bright and early.  We were so excited to take the kids to see the animals.  Addy has always loved watching the animals and Carter has really taken a liking to seeing them during the last few months.  He makes several animal sounds and screams in excitement anytime he sees an animal.  We had a wonderful day filled with lots of fun animals sightings and wonderful weather.  Addy finally got to see the elephants she has been waiting all summer to see.  Carter and Addy enjoyed seeing the hippos swim underwater.  Carter also loved watching the black bear and Derek and Addy taught him how to growl like a bear.  We also rode the train and hit up the souvenir shop where Addy picked out a stuffed elephant and Carter got a stuffed grizzly bear.  After we had seen much of the zoo and the kids were exhausted, we headed home.  It was a great get-away to say good bye to a wonderful summer!

Posing with the elephant statue

An otter and his otter daughter

Getting buggy

Addy and Carter loved watching the hippos

Posing with the realistic looking statue

Funny face

Checking out the bears

Penguins!

Loving the zoo!

Zonked out!