Five on Babymoon Friday!

So we took our last vacation to the West Coast while it is still safe for me to fly.

Vegas and Seattle were on the agenda and luckily instead of rain and clouds Vegas was the perfect sunny summer weather.

We stayed at Elara which is behind Planet Hollywood Hotel, but still in the Miracle Mile. It is right next to the parking lot which is super handy. Since it doesn’t have a casino it’s not as busy as most hotels and seems like more of a quieter family hotel which was perfect for us. We also love the rooms because they have a fridge, and they also have washing machine and dryers that you can use for free, you just have to pay a dollar for the soap which saves us lots of time looking for a Laundromat off the strip.

Everyone always says what could we possibly do with a week in Vegas but we always run out of time of things we want to do! It’s definitely a different experience when alcohol isn’t involved. It was so nice waking up to no alarm since my days of lots of sleep are dwindling fast! We spent a lot of time at the pool, they have lounge chairs in a foot of water so you can stay cool and enjoy the sunshine.

We saw Absinthe at Caesar’s Palace which we both said was the best show we have seen in Vegas, it’s a circus/comedy show for adults only!

We also went back to Brad Garrett’s comedy theatre at the MGM, he cracks us up and it’s always fun seeing new comedians. We did so much walking around, our daily average was always usually around 20,000 steps. We stocked up on lots more baby stuff at the Carter’s outlet which is always fun, I can’t believe how cheap that place is! We also had to get a few more outfits from Janie & Jack. Greg’s sister first told us about and we found it at the outlets when we visited my mom. They have the cutest clothes for little girls!! I want to buy all the outfits.

We took a drive to Red Rock Canyon National Park. It is a 13 mile one way drive with lots of different stops along the way. There are trails you can hike, but considering we were in the middle of the desert, it was 110F and we didn’t have a lot of water, we just stopped for some pictures of the scenery.

I wanted to get all shopping done in Vegas so we wouldn’t have to do any running around in Seattle and I could just spend time with Dad and hang out, and that we did. My mom and her husband are taking a cross country road trip from Maryland and I planned our trip to Seattle when they would end up there so she could be there for my baby shower.
We went to visit my sister, nephew and brother who live in Bellingham for the day on Thursday. I don’t get to see them very much when we visit even though they live only about an hour away. The last time I saw my nephew when we were in Seattle for Christmas he was a month old and all he was interested in was sleeping and eating. It was so fun to see him now that he’s 7 months old, he’s got the prettiest blue eyes!

I woke up early on Friday morning to see my mom. Luckily the RV park they were staying at was about a 5 minute drive from my dad’s house which was very handy. We always have coffee in the mornings together when I visit so it was nice to spend some time with her.

Saturday was race day! Greg had signed up for the half-marathon but sadly hurt himself training and had to decrease his distance to the 8K that me and my brother were going to do. The race started at 7 am, and were advised to be parked by 6am to get a shuttle transport to the start line. We left my dad’s at 5am and normally takes about half an hour to get downtown. We got stuck in solid traffic right at downtown Seattle where everyone in the race seemed to be stuck trying to park. The last shuttle was leaving at 630 and we were still stuck after 6. So many people were just getting out of their cars and trying to find the shuttles, talk about a stressful way to start for the people running the half and full marathon! My brother and I didn’t care too much but I know Greg really wanted to do the 8K so we took an exit that was completely clear to try and drop Greg off a little closer. I thought we’d get stuck at all road closures but after we dropped him off we were able to drive the parking lot in a few minutes! We got a shuttle and headed to the Space Needle for the start, we found Greg and started in an earlier corral so we wouldn’t have to wait another half an hour to start. Greg took off and me and my brother run/walked the race. Luckily the rain held out and we did pretty good for a non-exercising smoker and being almost 6 months pregnant! We got back to my dad’s just before 10 so it was back to bed for me! My baby shower was at 1 so I wanted to get in a quick power nap so I wouldn’t be so tired for the rest of the day.

My cousins and aunts did an awesome job for my shower, and was exactly what I wanted. No games just spending time with my family and friends, and because we couldn’t take much back with us, everyone just gave us cards with money to get what we needed for the baby once we were back home. The boys came over to hang out a few hours later so it was good to see my uncles and cousins since it was going to be the only opportunity we had while we were in Seattle since we had to fly back the next day.

I loved the UK & USA flag touch!

I was happy to spend most of Father’s Day with my dad since I’m usually not there for it. I woke up early again to go say bye to my mom which is always hard, but at least I know I’ll be seeing her when she comes to visit for Thanksgiving. It was definitely a lot harder this time leaving Seattle since we aren’t sure when we will next be making it back across the world with a brand new baby!

Luckily we have tons to do with the house and getting everything ready for her arrival so hopefully that will make the next 3 months fly by!