Home made baby carriers

My daughter, Katie, made her own baby carrier. She's been using it often. Baby Hank is very comfy and she says it is easy and comfortable to wear. Awesome! 

Katie made her carrier out of a beach bag and an old sheet. She held the beach bag up to the baby to measure the seat and then she made the straps as long as the sheets were. No measuring in inches or any standard measuring unit, she eyeballed it and just went with what looked just about right.

For winging it, she made an awesome carrier!

Katie and little Hank came to visit and she forgot to take her carrier home with her. Ah ha! I have a pattern!  Unlike Katie, I'm not so great at just eyeballing things and winging it. I like to have measurements or at least some idea of what I'm doing. I measured her carrier and figured out how she attached the straps, in which direction each strap came off the seat, etc. And then I went searching through the house for supplies.

I found one of my husband's favorite lined flannel shirts, which is old, faded and too small, plus the lining shrunk funny and it's crooked inside the shirt. It'll do nicely! My husband might not think it's a good idea, but he will get over it sooner or later.

I cut the back of the shirt for the carrier seat. I made it 18.5 x 20". I decided to take one of the front pockets and place it in the upper center of the seat just for fun.

For the straps, I dug into my stash. I was hoping to find some light denim or something that I could use. I was afraid I'd have to go to the fabric store for a couple of yards of coordinating strap fabric. Luckily, I found 2 yards of something I've had forever. I can't remember when or why I bought it. It is a heavier broadcloth with a ticking pattern. It isn't heavy enough to be considered ticking though, nor is it denim, but it was in the stash and it was going to match up enough. Stipes and plaid? Ohhh, yeah, baby!

I serged around the edges of the seat and the pocket to keep the quilted flannel nice and neat. Then I sewed the pocket on just along its edges. I added some length to the straps; Katie's straps were 80" and I made mine 100".  I cut out three pieces of 9" x100" of the stripes. I ironed the folds and sewed the long straps on.

My three year old wanted to help sew. Never too young to learn a great hobby!

Katie used a beach tote for her carrier so the top edge of her carrier seat was already finished. I wish I would have thought of that before I put the straps on, but I didn't have that kind of foresight today. I realized it after the straps were on. I made a piece of bias and a long belt-loop and sewed those across the top of the carrier. It would have been nice to have the top bias tucked under the straps but I think it's ok just butted up to each other since this is an experimental project.  The loop is for toys or a pacifier or whatever the baby wants to bring along. My kids are famous for dropping stuff and I usually groan because I don't want to pick it up.  

In less than half a day, I was done! This included inspiration, gathering supplies, cutting and sewing! Amazing!

To test it, I had to stick my little helper in and give her a ride.  But then, I thought I'd really test those seams and that old fabric. I put my 53 pound 6 year old in the carrier and gave her a ride on my back too. It was amazingly comfortable!  She was comfortable too, although she was nervous at first. I didn't leave her in it long, just long enough to gallop around the house like a horse for a bit and step outside and take a picture in decent light.

I think little Hank will enjoy it and Katie might like having a spare. I enjoyed a sewing day.

Happy Birthday and Happy Mothers' Day

Happy Birthday to my grandma! A few days ago she turned 104 years old. She's amazing. She still lives independently on her ranch in Wyoming. She has a good life and I hope to be as healthy as she is when I'm 50.

104 years old is hard to comprehend.  When my Grandma was born (in the same little town where she lives now), Teddy Roosevelt was President and the Ford Model T went on the market.

She shares a birth-year with Jimmy Stewart, Buddy Ebsen, Ian Fleming, Milton Berle, Max Grundig, Helene Boucher and a long list of other long gone famous favorites.

When my grandma was just 4 years old, the Titanic sank. Mother's Day was declared a national holiday, and the Girl Scouts was founded.

She was 12 years old when the 19th amendment passed and women were granted the right to vote. When she was 19 the first talking movie, The Jazz Singer, came out. A year later, Mickey Mouse's first movie "Steamboat Willie" was released.

1930 was the year she got married to my grandpa. Great guy and a lucky man. The rest is history as they say.

Happy Birthday to you, Grandma!

Happy Mothers' Day too!  I am always so busy being a mom that I am not a very good daughter. I have Mother's Day cards sitting here but I didn't get them to the post office. I doubt they will arrive by yesterday if I haven't mailed them yet! My appreciation for my mom and my grandma is not lessened by my lack of postal skills.

My mom is amazing. I remember as a kid that she worked, and she worked a lot, but she was always home with us. Not sure how she managed that, but it is every mama's dream to balance it all and I feel like my mom did but I cannot for the life of me figure out how. After years and years of waiting tables she became a librarian. Now, she's a retired social butterfly.

We were always busy. My mom had more stuff for us to do than any teacher I ever had in school. We had projects and activities all the time. Mom had a special tablecloth; it was a plastic picnic cloth with Raggedy Ann and Andy printed on it. It was also covered in paint, glitter, glue, and all sorts of stains from our fun. You just knew it was going to be a good day when Mom got out the Raggedy Ann tablecloth!

My mom and my grandma are both widows now and they pal around together. They are always busy going places, meeting with friends, visiting, celebrating one thing after another, and planning more fun. We're all pretty excited to go visit again this summer. We'll celebrate birthdays, Mother's Day, and Christmas all at once on a non-holiday. Every day is a good one with my mom and grandma!

Embarking on a New Adventure

I am going to begin a new sewing venture. I've had so many requests from friends and online friends and passers-by about the princess costumes and sundresses that I've made for my daughters. The girls love their pretty princess dresses, and they've held up pretty well. After some thought, hopefully it was rational thought but it's probably not, I decided to sew for fun and profit. Shocking, I know!

Ever since I sewed bridesmaid dresses (plus others) for my sister's wedding back in 1998, I made it a rule to never sew for others. That wedding did me in! I said yes so quickly and the project was bigger than I imagined. Sewing for others, especially for money, makes me very nervous! Luckily, my sister let me sew the dresses as a wedding gift and I didn't have to worry quite as much (I was nervous enough as it was!). If I sew for someone who is paying me, I want every stitch to be perfect, the fabric to hang just right, all the seams and corners to match up, and I want the person buying to be happy with what I can do. See, I am crazy for thinking I can make a buck sewing princess costumes and sell them!

After cruising around through etsy, an online home-sales shopping site, I see that a lot of people are sewing for profit and honestly, I think I do just as well at the sewing machine as most of them.

Let's face it, I am motivated.  Our Disneyland passes expired and I'm having withdrawals. I love that place! For the cheapest passes, we have to fork over $700. Ouch. I can't do that without guilt. But, if I earn the money making and selling cute little princess dresses, I can shed that guilt and get passes again! I think I can!

First, I need to buy a big fat pile of pretty fabrics. And, I need my sewing machine and my serger serviced. They both need work on the timing and tension, who knows what else. This isn't a cheap thing to have done and it is supposed to be done annually.

Hopefully, I can at least make and sell enough princess dresses to cover the startup costs and the servicing of my machines. Then I hope to have lots of spare time (while my kids are happy and my house is clean) to sew up enough dresses to earn Disneyland passes. I'd like to get new passes at the end of August after the season pass summer blockout is over. Plus, I really would love to spend more time making and designing pretty dresses. I have some great ideas! Sounds ideal, right?

Now, I really think the hard part will be finding the time to fabric shop, cut and sew the costumes. I am pretty sure I can sell them since I have been encouraged to do so for years so I'm not too worried about that, a little bit, but not too much. I am worried that people will be happy with the price and the fit and the fabric and the whatever... Every business has their grumpy customer, maybe that's what I'm afraid of. Knowing me, I'll take it personally if someone isn't satisfied, but I have to remember that it is sure to happen at least once just like in any other business.

I've convinced myself to go forward with this crazy idea and actually do it! So, what should I call my little dress-making business? Hmmm.... I'm thinking. Suggestions are welcome.

Buying Rx Glasses Online

I do it. You can too!

 *This collection cost me $117 for the three pair including shipping.

In July of 2007, I discovered buying prescription eyeglasses online. I've never even entertained the idea of ever buying from an optical store again! Since July 07, I bet I've purchased ten pair of glasses online, and I've never paid over $40 for a pair.

GlassyEyes blog is where I got my start with buying glasses online. This guy is amazing! He knows all the deals and has links to the best online glasses shopping sites.  He reviews them too. Have a look.

I get single-vision lenses with a different prescription for each eye, frames, UV coating, anti-scratch coating, tint in the sunglasses, and shipping. All for $40 or less, and I'm splurging. 

It's easy to do and it's cheap! And, Yes, they are real glasses. In fact, they are the exact same thing you would be buying at the optical store. Exactly!  They aren't dollar store glasses, they aren't "fake", they aren't anything but what they claim to be. Prescription glasses. They just aren't screwing you like the optical store will.

I'll tell ya what, it isn't nearly as heartbreaking when  your kid breaks your glasses when you've only paid $40 and you have an extra pair than it is when you pay $400 and you have no spare. Ok, I'll fess up, I've broken my own glasses too, but I live with toddlers who like to bend things and they've broken my glasses more often than I've done it to myself.  When you buy online, you can afford more than one pair and sometimes you can get a "Buy one get one free" deal.  Owning one pair of glasses is a thing of the past!
 
Now if the toddlers in this house would stop twisting my glasses into a knot, I'm sure they'd last longer. The last time I purchased glasses was in March 2010 and I still have them. They are just fine. If I need new ones, I'll order more online, but until then these are great!

To order your eyeglasses online, you first need to understand your prescription and your head measurements.

Of course, you need to know how big your head is and how that converts to what size frame you will be buying. Easy enough. Just measure your current pair of glasses. Even if they are broken, you can measure the length of the bow and the width of the frame. Get a ruler, that is easy enough. You can also go try on new frames and write down the numbers on the frame or sales tag. That is another good way to learn what fits you best and how that translates to ordering frames.

Don't worry, the cheap frames you order online are the same quality as the optical store. You can find the same brands. They are cheap in price, but otherwise the same. There are plastic frames, wire frames, titanium, metal, rimless, full frames, half frames, designer, vintage, flexlite, sports glasses and more options. They aren't the clearance frames left over from the 80s that have been sitting in a warehouse for 30 years. Although, if that's what  you want, I'm sure you could click around until you find it.

Your prescription is where it gets tricky. And if I can figure this out, rest assured that it isn't all that tricky. Get your eyes checked by your optometrist and ask the doctor to write out the Rx for you. This is important!  Many times they won't do this for you because they expect you to buy your glasses on the spot from them. If you get your eyes examined, you do not have to buy your glasses from that doctor. They cannot force you to make a purchase. By law, they have to give you your prescription.

When getting your Rx in writing, make sure ALL of the numbers are there. They'll give you an Rx paper with numbers for each eye; mine has three numbers for one eye and one number for the other eye.  If you have an added prism, you need all of those numbers as well (should be four numbers per prism).

They also need to give you a PD number. This means Pupillary Distance. It is the measurement between the centers of your pupils, and it is part of your prescription. If they give you flack about this, then flip 'em the bird and measure it yourself.

Looking in the mirror, hold a ruler up to your eyes and find the measurement in millimeters. It's probably 58mm or something like that.

Be very careful to type your prescription in correctly. Some numbers are negative, some involve decimal points, it needs to be precise. One time I got my decimal point in the wrong spot and wow - I got some thick glasses! It was fun for a few minutes to look through them when they arrived in the mail but after a good giggle,  I boxed them back up and sent them back along with a copy of my Rx. I got my corrected pair of glasses and they were just right! It was my mistake and they sent me a new pair without charging me twice. Sweet!

As far as ordering a lens, you can get the standard single vision lens, bifocals, trifocals, a polycarbonite lens, thin and lite, super thin, ultra thin, or as thin as possible.  There may be extra charges for the lenses that are not standard.  I always get the free standard single vision lens.

You can order coatings too: anti-scratch, anti-glare, UV, color, and photochromic. There's even an option to stick a jewel on your lens; this is called "Party Glasses". You can choose the jewel and add that price to your order.

I like to buy my glasses at EyebuyDirect.com, but there are several places that sell prescription glasses and sunglasses. You can order prescription glasses CHEAP! And then, mail your receipt in to your vision insurance as an out-of-plan expense. The coverage isn't as good, but if you get 40% back from them for the lenses only or whatever your insurance does for  you, then hey, you'll get enough back to buy an ice cream cone. And you'll be able to read the ice cream menu! Bonus!

I hope you'll try buying your prescription glasses and/or sunglasses online. It won't cost you more than a small bag of groceries, about the same as a cheap pair of sandals, or the same as a movie with a big bucket of popcorn. Try it. If you aren't satisfied, send 'em back. I'd like to hear about it if you have purchased glasses online, or even thought about it. Happy Shopping!

Little Red Wagon

I had the pleasure of welcoming my little grandson into the world and seeing his parents lives change right there in the delivery room. The first thing I remember my son-in-law saying to his new son was, "I can't wait to buy you a little red wagon."

For years, I've wanted to buy my kids a red wagon and it just never was on the top of my shopping list. But the day my grandson was born the wagon shot right up toward the top of my list - for my kids.  That was almost year ago! The little girls have bikes, big wheels, scooters and lots of strollers so I couldn't really justify it in my mind to buy another big toy with wheels. Unless.... hmmm... maybe I could...

Yes, the wagon is an American classic. The kids must have one. I decided I would get them one if I got rid  of the double stroller. I wasn't using it much anymore, just a bit here and there. Gracie is 6 years old now and over the weight limit for the stroller so it isn't much use to me unless I use it for Libby and a grandson, or Libby and a friend. This wasn't happening very often. The double was taking up space more than it was being  used lately.

I bought my double stroller, a 2007 chocolate mint Graco Quatro Duo, used off of Craigslist back in 2008. It was in excellent condition, and the seller told me she owned it for a few months. They were still selling the same model at Babies R Us, not even a discontinued stroller. Nice!  Rather than spending $250 for it at the store I picked it up for $100. I used it extensively from 2008 until recently and it is 2012 already. Three and a half years and a lot of miles went into that used stroller.  It served us well. I sold it on Craigslist for $80 to a lady with a toddler and a newborn.  I hope it serves them well too.

Since I ditched the double stroller, I promised myself that wagon!  It took me a few months, but I finally came through with my shopping promise and went out on a wagon shopping spree. I've been looking at them online for a long time trying to decide which model to get and I've perused Craigslist too.  The  used wagons on Craigslist are worn, broken, and rusty. I want a new one. I had the hardest time deciding between a solid plastic body with seats and straps and cupholders or the foldable cloth wagon.  The one with seats and cupholders resembles a double stroller that you pull instead of push, the foldable wagon seems to have more interior room in the bed of the wagon. hmmmm.

I went with the foldy wagon based solely on the fact that it will fit in the trunk better making it easier to take with us. I decided to just go buy it before I changed my mind. Off we went to Sams Club where the wagon was $54.  Bam! We own an American Classic!

I love it! The kids love it too!  It weighs a lot less than the double stroller and it is much more compact when folded than the double ever was. It holds 150 pounds too! The double stroller held 100 pounds (40 lbs in each seat and 20 in the basket).  All in all, it's a great trade!

Now, I just have to figure out how to pull it.  I know how to pull, but pulling and walking at the same time is a skill I have yet to master.  Pulling the kids in the wagon, I cannot see them.  That's kind of annoying, I will need to make sure Charlie doesn't climb out while we're walking along. What if Libby drops her blanket? Guess we'll get used to the new lineup. 

The handle is not attached to the wheels in any way so there is no way to steer the wagon. How do you steer this thing? It wanders left and right behind me and I am sure to drop the kids right off the curb if the sidewalk isn't wide enough. Yikes. Maybe they should wear helmets. There is a steep learning curve to becoming a wagon puller. Who knew!

We're all pretty excited about our upgrade from the stroller to the wagon even if I don't have my wagon driver's license yet. Just takes practice I guess. Question of the day: Which park should we take it to so I can practice my wagon driving skills?

Caller ID Is Not Specific Enough

I live in a state of confusion. So, this little anecdote should come as no surprise. I was confused.  I think I'm straightened out now, but one never knows. There are always twists and surprises for me in my day.


Our beach day was planned like so:  I am driving to the beach with the little girls. Just me and them. Fenna is going to the same beach but riding with another exchange student and her host family.  They will put in a longer day but since I have the little ones, I am driving separately and not going to stay as long. I'm bringing boogie boards and a skim board and lots of towels. We'll all hang out together and that's pretty much the plan.  Easy and simple.

Yesterday, I posted on facebook in a private group of mom friends (from all over the country but a few that are in So Cal) that I would be going to the beach today. Yay! One friend responded "Which beach?" and I took that to mean she was interested in where I was going. She's sort of local.

Later in the day, after I'd completely forgotten about my facebook post and all responses, I got a text on my phone. The caller id just showed a number, but it was a local area code. I assumed it was the family of Fenna's friends, I think the mom's name is Rachel. She looks like a Rachel, that name really does fit her nicely. My text said "Hi This is Rachel. What time do you want to leave tomorrow?"  See, her name must be Rachel. It said so in the text.

I replied "I will leave mid-morning and meet you there. Fenna wants to ride with you."  She didn't reply via text again. She probably thought I was drunk.

Later, again, I'd moved on in my mind, my phone was ringing and caller ID showed the same number as before. Once again, I think it is the mom of the two teenage girls we are meeting up with at the beach. No, it's not. But, since I assumed incorrectly I carry on as if my friend is this other lady.

Have you ever had a phone conversation with someone and you completely thought it was a different  person?  Yeah... embarrassing!

Here I was talking with my friend who has a four month old baby and no teenagers and I thought I was talking to the woman who organized a big teen outing.

Rachel said very confusing things to me such as, "Which beach are you going to?", "What time do you want to leave?", "Should we meet up at your house and ride together?", "Are you bringing anything?" and other completely mind bending  thoughts. The conversation was so bizarre until I heard her say "Luka (her baby) and I are excited to tag along".  Whoa, I've been talking to my friend Rachel this whole time?  Luka's mom? By this time in the conversation, I was way too embarrassed to admit that I thought she was someone else even though she's just the sort of person who would enjoy the humor of the situation. Plus, I was super happy that she was coming along! Yippee!

I admitted to Fenna and Keith that I had this crazy phone conversation which left me feeling stupid and they both got a good laugh at my expense. It really was funny. I couldn't  help but laugh at myself by now. I asked Fenna to find out what her friends' mom's name is and text it to me so that I could discreetly find out; I wonder if her name is Rachel also or if I just decided "Rachel" was a good fit.

When I dropped Fenna off at her friend's house, Fenna ran up to the mama and said "What's your name?" and she replied "Lori".  Fenna turns to me and yells "Her name is LORI!"  Great, thanks for that, kiddo. I apologized for forgetting her first name, and she chuckled and said "Most people just call me 'Amber's mom'".  Ahh, I understand that one!

The next day at the beach I was sitting with my friend Rachel and I confessed that I was confused during our phone conversation the day before. But, I wasn't drunk. Just confused. She laughed and said she thought maybe I was distracted by the kids and she didn't think I was drunk or stupid or confused. Much. It was all so very funny! I'm going to laugh about this for a good long time!

This whole incident could have been avoided if caller id would  just give me the caller's name, number and whose mom it is. Life would be easier that way. 

Las Vegas with the Little Kids

We've driven right through Las Vegas many times, usually in the middle of the night. The desert is too hot so we plan our roadtrip so that we pass through the high desert during the coldest part of the night; in August that means 90 degrees at 3am. The kids are usually passed out in their carseats while we ooooo and ahhhh over the sight of the lights. And, we just keep going.

This trip, I decided we would stop and really see Las Vegas.  I wanted to see it, Fenna wants to see it (again - she was there 2 years ago), and the kids are too small to understand that it isn't a kids' place. If I am ever going to see Las Vegas, now is the time.

 I found a great deal on a room at Circus Circus for $24 per night plus a $9 facility fee. They had cheaper rooms in their little side motel but didn't know how "ghetto" that would be since I couldn't find a good review for it online.  At $24 per night, the upgrade would probably be worth it, my prediction was spot on! The room was actually very nice.

Everyone I know seems to love a nice soft mattress with a pillow top. This is what they had at Circus Circus. While I appreciate a newer bed that isn't permanently body-dented and doesn't look like a teacup, I'm not a big fan of soft mattresses.  Sure enough, it felt great at first. Ahhhh, but then as I sunk in, I felt like I was drowning in the mattress. It wrapped around me and I couldn't roll over. I kept waking up fighting to get myself out of my hole so I could turn this way or that.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's first discuss our arrival:

Driving from California to Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon, the westbound side of the freeway was clogged and barely moving from Victorville all the way into Las Vegas. Crazy! And yet, good for us. Everyone is leaving Las Vegas and we won't have to battle a crowd. Score!

We got off of the freeway and rounded the corner to find the hotel just fine. First thing I saw was the "Motel Manor" which is where the cheapest rooms are. Really glad I upgraded. The manor did not look appealing in any way! Parking was easy enough too. The parking garage was ugly and the spaces were pretty tight, but I squeezed my big fat van into a spot.

By the way, the super filthy parking garage floor is not the ideal place to rearrange your packed bags. Just saying....

We went down an old filthy elevator where I suddenly found religion. I prayed with all my might that it worked and we'd land safely on the ground floor. And I prayed the rest of the hotel was in better condition.

Arriving in the lobby, we discovered we had to wait in a really really really really long line just to check in to the hotel. I've never seen such a thing! The line went all the way from the check-in desk all across the lobby. We got in line and it immediately filled in behind us. There were a lot of families with children so I guess I'm not the only one who thought Las Vegas was doable with children. It took us 55 minutes to get from the back of the line to the check-in desk. With kids who have been strapped down all day long and they have to go potty, it was a long hour.  We had no trouble checking in but we had a long walk to our room. We had to take one set of elevators up to the Adventuredome floor, walk a long way and then took another set of elevators to the floor where our room was. Felt like a mile.

That evening  we needed a place to have dinner. My brother who lives in Las Vegas met up with us for dinner. The restaurants in the hotel were full and there was a 45 minute wait for a table at the restaurant that we had a coupon for, Rock and Rita's. We decided we'd just eat at the buffet. No waiting and food for any mood. The only thing I don't like about buffet dinners is that I have to be the waitress. I was so tired at this point in the day that I decided to stack the plates on my arm just like I did in my old waitressing days. My arms are fatter and softer now, you'd think I could stack more plates on, but no, three plates is my arm balancing limit. That's ok though, saved me a few trips to the buffet and back. Just proves that when I could stack three hot plates on my skinny little arm way back in the day, I rocked! Another thought, why did they seat us so far away from the food?

Since we  had the buffet, we had to have three deserts each. It's like a buffet rule. Even though we were tired, we had to walk off some of the billions of calories, or at least shake 'em down in a bit more. We wandered through the Adventuredome in the hotel. All we did was wander, there were plenty of rides and games for the kids but Fenna didn't want to ride the roller coaster alone (I am not a roller coaster girl) so we didn't end up doing anything beyond wandering and looking. That was enough fun for me at the end of a long day, but Fenna is a teenager and there is no such thing as "done" when it comes to having fun.

The next day was our only full day in Las Vegas. Whatever we are going to do, we're doing it today! We showered and put on fresh clothes and fresh smiles and went out into the stinky air of Las Vegas. You know, the city really smells awful. People smoking, body odor of the all night party crowd lingers in the air, greasy fast food, car exhaust all amplified by the  heat. I'd sure hate to smell this place in the summer.

We started by trying to find the amazing Circus acts that the hotel boasts. After a big long search, we found it and we arrived just as it ended. It didn't look like much though; I don't think we missed much of anything spectacular.  Fenna and I decided it didn't look like it would be worth waiting around for the next show time. We had lunch at McDonald's in the hotel before we set off to see the sights. Yes, McDonald's again. Blech. This is where the people who do not win big eat.

We got a map of the strip and realized we were at the far end and it would be quite a long hike to walk, although it didn't look too bad. We got the van out of the parking garage and drove about halfway down the strip. Oh my goodness, it is a long way!  The street was closed so we had to turn around and since we didn't find a place to park we ended right back in the Circus Circus parking garage. Got a better parking spot this time. Well, that was not what I had in mind when I thought we'd go see the strip. A better idea: let's ride the public transportation and then we can ride it back again. Why didn't we think of that before?

Once we finally got to the strip where you could see some sights, we walked.  And walked and walked and walked. We wandered through a mall. It was beautiful!

After that we wandered outside, walking further south along the sidewalk. We saw beautiful buildings and were grateful for the nice sidewalk bridges.

 

Much to Gracie's delight we saw the Eiffel Tower. She was very excited! She wants to go to Paris France to see the real one, but this fake one was good enough to satisfy her. And, this is the only thing she told her school teacher about when we got back after a 10 day trip.

Walking along we intermittently went through beautiful and ugly. I couldn't wait to get off that sidewalk and away from the crowd! Fenna and Gracie were whining about it being too far and too hot and too disgusting.  Agreed. It was. There were people openly drinking and smoking everywhere, and this wasn't even the nightlife crowd. Yuck. On every corner there were at least three or four people handing out pornography advertising. Luckily, they didn't try to hand it to the kids but they did try to hand it to Fenna. She just walked on by and didn't take anything.  There was a lot of these advertising cards on the ground on every corner, so if the kids looked down they saw the pornography. There was also a lot of advertising on signs and on passing trucks. Gracie is just learning to read and she could read the words "Hot Babes". Guess we should have made this trip last year before she could read short words. We saw lots of scantily clad people, plenty of ugly tattoos, and a variety of people dressed as characters. The characters were not the type you'd want your children to go near. This sure wasn't Disneyland. 

My brother met up with us again and he walked with us to M&M World and the Coke store. Those were nice! We had a lot of fun looking at all of the M&M and Coke merchandise. In the M&M store we saw a 3D m&m movie which was very cute. We bought some m&ms and had a variety tray of Coke afterward. Lots of sugary sweet fun!

We caught the bus back to the hotel and Fenna thought maybe we could come back out after dark to see the lights and hopefully see a free pirate show at Treasure Island. I told her no, we aren't going out on the street after dark. I didn't want the little kids out in the sunset crowd. The daytime crowd was bad enough.

That evening my brother's roommate invited us to dinner at the restaurant where she works so we drove across town and had a nice dinner with him and his friend and her little boy. We ate at Chili's. Good food, good company and the residential side of Las Vegas is clean and nice!  It was great!  

This ended our tour of Las Vegas. In the morning we loaded up, checked out and hit the road. Off like a herd of turtles!

I am glad I got to see a little bit of Las Vegas. Now I can truly say "I've been there".  But, I think I only experienced a taste of sin city, and that's all I need to experience. I told the kids to say good bye to Las Vegas because they won't be back for another 20 years, at least they won't be stopping. We're going right back to just driving right on through on the interstate in the middle of the night. Smelly Las Vegas is not a place for little kids.