Vegas Mountains

Other than eating yummy Vegas food, we had a blast hiking a mountain one day.  We set off to see Raintree, supposedly the oldest living tree in Nevada.  We never could find that tree, but we weren't the least bit disappointed.  It was a difficult, cold, and snowy hike that we will never forget.  We went with the Stewarts and unfortunately I didn't get a pic of all of us.  As you can see, we weren't expecting 2 feet of snow on the ground.  The people that had gone sometime recently in front of us had snow shoes and poles--we had tennis shoes!  It took more than 2 and a 1/2 hours to get up and somewhere around 45 min to get down!  I have a video to post of how we got down the mountain! 

At the bottom

Beautiful views--wished I had something other than my iphone camera

Anybody know what animal makes these tracks?  The guys insisted it was a dog--Mary Ellen and I insisted it was a bear.  We settled on calling it a dogbear!  

Awesome standing on snow and looking out over desert

We made a lot of holes that looked like this!  And we won't be telling how many times we busted it on the way down.  It's amazing I didn't break my right arm and Mary Ellen didn't break her leg!

On our way back into town, we drove through the desert.  I had never seen the desert or desert plants before, so we stopped so I could investigate.  Jimmy warned me to watch out for snakes so I ended up not doing much exploring!

small bits of beautiful colors

Happy Easter

I have taken over 300 pictures in the last week, so it will take me a while to get through them!  Here is the best of the 3 of them on Easter morning!  I hope y'all had a wonderful Easter--we did!

Tubes

We went to see an ENT on Monday after 6 months of fevers and ear infections.  Both ears looked bad so Dr. Carron wanted to do tubes as soon as we could.  Today was the day--a very early day! ha!  He was a trooper!  

Getting his bp taken

Ready to go--he seemed a little nervous which I found funny

When I got to go back he was still sound asleep.  As soon as he opened his eyes I snatched him up.  Even though tubes isn't a big deal in the scheme of things it is not fun for a nurse to take your baby back and for him to be put to sleep!

Relaxing with something to drink

Dr. Carron said his ears had "lots of thick, nasty mucus".  It must have been bad for an ENT to say this!  Hopefully one more round of antibiotics will do the trick and he will be well for a while!

Food in Vegas

Our favorite thing about traveling is definitely the food.  Usually, Zeb and I have done lots of research and have reservations booked well in advance.  We didn't have time to do this at all for this trip!  I googled "Top 10 ____ in Vegas" on my phone before we went to eat.  Google didn't disappoint--yummy!!!

The first night we ate at Valentino's at the Venetian!  It was good-kind of pricey though!  I wish I had taken a picture of the appetizer plate.  It was beautiful and delicious.  It had 5 samples on it!!

Sunday we ate brunch at Cafe Bellagio at the Bellagio.  The omelets were great, but as the Stewarts found out orange juice is $7.50 per glass!  Zeb and I were glad we had water! ha!  The omelets were yummy and reasonably priced!

For dinner, we wanted a burger.  Google led us the the BLK at the Mirage.  It was hands down the best burger I have ever eaten!  It is a must  in Vegas!

Monday we spent all morning in the mountains and came back very hungry.  We split chips and salsa and mahi tacos with the Stewarts at La Salsa.  We got 4 different kinds of salsa and all were yummy!

For dinner, Zeb and I went to Emeril's restaurant Delmonico.  I absolutely loved my fillet!  

Tuesday was my last day to eat in Vegas, and there were still a lot of places I wanted to try.  So Mary Ellen, Kristi, and I went on a progressive lunch.  We wanted to start at Mario Batali's B and B, but it was closed at lunch. So, we started  at Grand Lux and had delicious appetizers.  I took pictures below!

Then we had freshly made noodles from Being Noodle 9 at Caesar's Palace.  I have never had fresh noodles before --oh my! I will post video later of them making the noodles.

We finished the meal with a frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity!

Tuesday night we ate with a large group at Mesa Grill!  Bobby Flay's restaurant.  This was probably the best food we had!  Zeb and I split the following 3 dishes!

Pork tenderloin

Shrimp Tamale

Chicken Tacos

Our only complaint is that we didn't eat enough desserts!

Vegas

Zeb had a conference in Vegas, and I got to tag along.  We had a great time, but I don't care if I ever go back!  ha! The cigarette smoke is awful and made me very sick!  However, it is the best food I have EVER eaten!  (all pics were taken with iphone)

The Bellagio Conservatory--beautiful!!

fun fact...it takes 3 guys 5 hours each to water this small area--it is beautiful!!!

Art work made out of  flower petals

Fountains at the Bellagio

Roller coaster on top of New York, New York

pretty intense roller coaster--2 flips, several big drops, and beautiful views

This pic is for Shirley...

Of course we saw a wedding.  This one actually looked plan.  One day we were walking on the street and a man asked us if were married yet.  If we weren't he could marry us right then and there....sad...

Volcano at the Mirage

Meet Zoe

Two weeks ago the girls found this caterpillar outside.  We decided to capture it and put it in an old applesauce jar.  We are waiting to see if it will turn into a butterfly (or moth)!  When I taught school each child would have one that we would watch and journal and wait until they turned into beautiful Monarchs.  That was only 5 years ago and I can't remember what to do--ha!  Anyway, Zoe gets lots of attention around our house and if nothing else happens the girls have had a lot of fun watching her eat tiny holes in the leaves and crawl around and around in the jar, and, oh yeah, go to the bathroom!  I will keep y'all updated!  Let me know if you have any advice for Zoe!

9 months

This sweet little boy is 9 months old!  He is a much happier camper than he was when I did his 8 month post!  He is crawling all over the place, but prefers the army crawl still!  He weighs 16 1/2 pounds (10% on a term baby chart) and is 28 1/2 inches (75th on a term baby chart)! Skinny, skinny, but long!  I was surprised he was only 10 %, but I think I am just comparing him to when  Zeb's finger was thicker than his sweet legs!  In keeping with the Henson tradition, his head is greater than 97%! ha!  He has a pretty bad double ear infection that we tried to wait out, but ended up having to start yet another antibiotic today :(.  I am hoping he will get to feeling better very soon!  He sleeps like a champ at night--6:45ish to 8:15 ish!  Napping is still tough, but is better than it was.  He takes five 6 oz bottles a day--still!  He has tried all the fruits and veggies and likes most all of them.  He has gotten much better with his tongue thrust and can swallow easier now.  When I say the word "ball", he laughs out loud!  He really likes to play ball.

53 pictures later...

and this is the best one...

or maybe this one...

can't wait to see what lisa patti can do on Monday!

Saturday at the Barbours

Last Saturday the Barbours invited us to their farm in Yazoo City. I was so excited that it worked out so we were able to go!  Everyone had a great time!  The Mills family came also.  It was great to make new friends!

Playing in the flowers in the front yard.

They have a very fun swing tied to one of the trees.

All the girls waiting on lunch.  There were 7 girls and 2 baby boys!

(somehow my camera got on the wrong setting so a lot of these pics of blurry--sorry)

Fishing--the highlight of the day!  Thanks Mr. Will for your patience!

Sara Beth was extra brave this day.  She was cracking us up--she jumped right on the horse, touched a fish--not sure where her bravery came from--ha!

As she was throwing one of the fish she caught back into the water it squirmed out of her hand--love the move I caught her in!

Thanks for a very fun and memorable day!

Sunday and Monday

There are many great things about vacationing at home.  One of them is being able to go to your own church on Sunday!  That we did, then we ate at Cool Water for the first time.  It has a great salad bar!  After naps we headed to the Farmer's Market to look around and see what they have in.  That led us to buying a bunch of good veggies for dinner!  Zeb grilled and it was as good as it looks!

Monday we went to the Natural Science Museum.  They have the best exhibit they have ever had.  It's a butterfly one!  The teacher in me--I can't help it---read The Hungry Caterpillar to the girls before we went and made sure they understood the stages so  they would get what they were looking at!

This is showing everyone how a caterpillar moves---it moves it back first to make it go forward!  We also learned that when a caterpillar is scared it moves backward.

Doing what caterpillars do...

This is a type of plant that caterpillars can get stuck in.

Changing into a chrysalis...

Another danger for butterflies...

Dancing to attract a mate...(not yet Leigh, not yet...)

A zip line with wings, so the butterflies can migrate south!

Have you ever seen such....an alligator using a turtle as a pillow with two more turtles on his back!

An open air butterfly exhibit.

Loving the trails outside!

Then, we all got sad because vacation was over!!!  We will do it again though!!