Vegas, Baby!

We arrived in Las Vegas yesterday, around 11:00 am, when the temperature was already in the 100s. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then checked into the hotel (because it was roughly the same price to stay in a two-bed/two-bath apartment with a full kitchen and living area as it was to stay in a poorly reviewed RV park), so the boys could play in the pool while we had a couple of minor repairs done on the RV. Later, we hit The Strip, popping into Treasure Island, Caesar's Palace, and The Venetian, before finally ending up at Cravings, The Mirage's buffet.

Treasure Island

The Venetian's Grand Canal

Mesmerized  by the magic shop

Fun in Caesar's

Caesar's Palace

The Mirage

High Roller

Today, we visited Excalibur, The Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. But we spent most of our time at New York New York, where the older boys rode the roller coaster for hours and Clay played in the arcade and the rest of us enjoyed coffee at a "sidewalk" cafe.

Excalibur

New York New York

"Sure plays a mean pinball"

Our little knight

Date in NY
(with our crew in the background)

Tonight, we headed down to Freemont Street, which is a totally different Vegas experience. We saw the famous light show and a number of interesting people, including two Elvises, quite a few show girls, a man in handcuffs, a couple of shirtless cowboys with curious money storage techniques, and tummy flying zipliners, just to name a few. This is such a crazy city, but it is fun and gives us plenty of things to talk about!

Presidential Tribute

Freemont Street Experience

Viva Las Vegas

Three States

Our stop in WI was brief but nice. We stayed at a city campground in River Falls, which was connected to to a fantastic playground. Our first order of business this morning was to visit Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery and purchase some cheese and cheese curds.

When in Wisconsin...

Then, we headed back into MN to visit the Mall of America and grab a "Jucy Lucy" (not a typo) at Matt's bar for lunch. After lunch, we continued on our way to see the much anticipated "biggest ball of twine in Minnesota." Thank you, Weird Al, for the tip. The one disappointment with the latter for some of our group was that we were unable to find some pickled weiners along the way, though we did give it our best shot.

The Lego Store at the Mall of America was a huge hit!

The kids held Jeff to his promise to ride a ride.

Clay wanted to ride with the big kids but
quickly lost his happy face on this one.

This was a little more Clay's speed

Big swings are always fun

The food to try in MN: The Jucy Lucy

The biggest ball of twine in Minnesota

The goal was to get to ND by the end of the day, so we could check that state off our list. We have a personal rule not to check a new place off our list unless we have an experience--a meal, an activity, an attraction--there. I wasn't expecting our activity for ND to be laundry, but when undies start to become sparse, that's the activity the takes priority. We did also work in dinner in the state as well, before moving on to SD, so it wasn't all business.

Road trip win: A laundromat directly across the
street from an awesome park and playground!

Doc's Pub and Eatery operates out of the bottom
floor of a disused church in Hankinson, ND

Silver Dollar City

 Part county fair, part historic village, part theme park, and part variety show, Silver Dollar City is all fun! And, we were fortunate to get to visit during the Bluegrass and BBQ Festival, which meant good food and great music were easy to come by. Additionally, the kids got to ride all kinds of thrilling rides, and we got to watch some artisans, like glassblowers, blacksmiths, and woodworkers do their thing. It was such a wonderful day!

Just a swingin'

That time my seemingly innocent son unbuckled his seatbelt while the ride was in motion "because it was a slow ride, and there wasn't really a reason to wear a seatbelt," which caused the operator to shut down the ride, call park management, write up a report, recheck everyone's seatbelt, and restart the ride, and almost caused me to lose it from the other side of the fence.

The boys got invited into one of the food kiosks to help make succotash. If only they had had some big pans to work with!

The boys loved watching the blacksmith work.

Frog Races

A hand-powered ride

I'm pretty sure someone is going to get wet!

At the last show of the evening, the kids were invited up on stage to dance with the performers.
When Clay saw them break out the hula hoops, he made a beeline for the stage.
However, he reversed just as quickly when he saw all the hula hoops were already taken. 

Six Flags and Oklahoma

Today was homeschool day at Six Flags, and we've had our tickets for probably more than a month and have been eagerly anticipating the day. It was great to be there on a day when it wasn't too hot and when the lines were much shorter than normal. We barely saw the three oldest kids all day, as they were off riding one thrilling ride after another. Jeff and I spent most of our time with Clay near the huge playground and the smaller rides, which he was tickled he was big enough to ride all by himself. He did manage to ride a few of the bigger rides with his siblings and us.

Three Watts in a car built for two.

Clay finally allowed me to ride one with him!

Making new friends and having a blast

Clay's first solo ride

Hands up the whole time

When the park closed, we made a run for the border, so we could have dinner and bed down for the night in OK, our first state of our multi-state summer tour.

Dinner in OK

Universal Studios: Day Two

On our second day at Universal, we ventured outside of Harry Potter World. Ruth and Weston rode their favorite ride, The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, over and over, while the younger guys split their time between the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster and the Curious George splash park and ball room. Later, we all met up again to explore some other parts of the park. Somewhere between Woody Woodpecker Kidzone and Springfield U.S.A. we lost a child for a heart-stopping 10 minutes. When he was found, it was definitely time for a drink at Moe's (from the Simpsons). Then it was on to Seuss Landing for some very silly fun. The day ended with several water rides and dinner at a wonderful Italian place at Universal CityWalk.

Max and Clay were thrilled to see a real live transformer

Clay and Sponge Bob shared a moment

Clay and Max's favorite ride was the Woody Woodpecker ride,
and they rode it over and over and over. 

Curious George's splash town was a big hit with the younger guys

Max and Clay wanted to spend most of their time in the enormous ball room

About the time we stopped to look at these Back to the Future relics
was when we discovered Clay was no longer with us.
I was definitely wishing I could go back in time by about 10 minutes!

Duff's Brewery and drinks at Moe's

Fun at Seuss Landing

Ending the day with a splash
(and then stepping into the people dryer)

Universal Studios: Day One

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of adventure and excitement, which began at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We had so much fun and loved it much more than our trip to Disney World a few years ago. If you are a Harry Potter fan, it is a place that should definitely put on your bucket list, in my opinion. You truly get the sense that you are in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, and the experience really does feel magical. The bulk of our first day was spent in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and we really couldn't get enough of it. We did eventually move on to other sections of the park, but Harry Potter World was truly special and a place we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Universal Studios Orlando

Number 12 Grimmauld Place
(Can you spot Creature peeking out the window?)

The Littlest Wizard

Escape from Gringotts was a very cool ride,
and that dragon really breathes fire!

Taking a butterbeer break

Ready to board the Hogwart's Express

Lunch at The Three Broomsticks

Clay and Max really loved The Flight of the Hippogriff ride
and never missed a chance to say hello to Buckbeak.

The one souvenir Clay especially wanted was a real wand.
Here he is casting the "lumos" spell. 

The Hogwart's Castle was amazing, even though the ride made my head spin.

Eventually, we made it over to Jurassic Park

T-Rex on the loose

On Marvel Super Hero Island, Jeff and the younger guys
rode the Storm Force ride several times.

Meanwhile, Ruth and Weston were obsessed with the Hulk ride.