Cerneka Family Adventures: Vegas, Baby!

We're back, and we all survived. Evidently, we missed the storm of the decade. We left Wednesday morning, and the snowstorm arrived Thursday night. We did get to experience a little of it when we got into St. Louis at 10 o'clock at night on Sunday, as it took Shannon 45 minutes to chip clear the iced-over snow off the windshield of the Intrepid. My awesome parents had shoved out our driveway and a path to our front door, through the 18 inches of snow, so when we actually reached our home at 1 am, we were able to just walk right in. My mom also tidied our living room and kitchen, so it was a pleasant surprise to come home to.

Las Vegas and the travel to and from was certainly an adventure. We had a direct flight to Vegas on Wednesday, and the kids did great on the way there. The Sit N Stroll performed nicely (the wheels got stuck once or twice in the up position), and all our luggage, including the baby bucket and Shannon's guitar, which we had gate-checked, reached Las Vegas with the rest of us safely.

The conference was successful for Oddwalk, in spite of an attempt on Shannon's life by Quiznos' guacamole. On Friday, I left my ailing husband with Orin and my young children with strangers (Ladies and Gentlemen, Wife & Mother of the Year!) to run the Strip with Erin H. We hit the nickel and penny slots hard (you know how we roll), at least until we got a couple free drinks. Then we ate at the Aladdin and saw BNL at the Aladdin theater. Their show, as always, kicked booty. Afterwards, we made our way back down the Strip, stopping at the Paris and Bellagio to try their slots and free drinks. When we got back, everyone was sleeping. Shannon was starting to recover, and the kids had been good for the babysitters, who weren't really strangers.

Madeleine, inspite of her best efforts, did not destroy our room at the Riv. She did manage to scribble in crayon on the bottom drawer of the tv cabinet and flush a bar of soap down the toilet, however. She also got a ton of swag at the exhibit hall, including a backback, a kangaroo, three koalas, a deck of cards, two bendy man toys, a dvd, numerous pens and stickers, and a ton of candy.

The trip home was a little more difficult. We had to change planes in Salt Lake City and ended up hiking what felt like five miles with the guitar, the baby in the sling, the toddler in the stroller, the baby bucket, two diaper bags and my purse to our new concourse and new gate. The kids were crankier and fussier on the flight from SLC to STL, but we survived. I have found on this trip that people are generally very kind and sympathetic to those traveling with kids. It goes a long way, too, if you people see you making an effort to keep your kids calm and under control. It goes even farther, though, if your kids are exceptionally cute and charming - if, for instance your 3 month smiles at everybody and your two year old tells knock knock jokes without punchlines.

So here are some photos from our trip:

Madeleine on the plane, ready to go!