Las Vegas

Our first day at Las Vegas.  We arrived at around 4 AM in the morning into las Vegas. We were not able to check into the hotel until 11AM, so we took a drive through the city. At 5AM the kids were already hungry so we took them to McDonalds to eat. After early breakfast, we took a walk down Vegas Strip. Six AM and it was already like in the 90s.

 This is the Bellagio

 The kids at the Circus Circus Hotel pool

 Our walk at night

The Bellagio light show

Waiting for the rest of the group 2nd day

On our third day, we visited this pawn shop

"Why are we here again? Why are people making a line to enter?", completely unaware of where I was.

I had made my search to make sure I knew where the closest Catholic church was. We had to at least stop by at one and if possible attend Saturday vigil Mass.

St. John of the Arc was in downtown Las Vegas.  It was closed at the time we were in that area.

 This area is very close to St. Joan of Arc. See the scaffold in the distance. My son was making his way up that scaffold to ride on a rope to the other side.

Julian coming down to the other side

Coming down on the other side of his ride

This was Saturday afternoon.

Our next place to visit was the Cathedral of the Guardian Angel

walking distance from the Circus Circus

 It was very hot that day.  Our walk to the church was very challenging, even though it was just a block away.

 The kids very eager to walk inside to cool off from the heat outside.

Inside the Cathedral

We attended the Vigil Mass, Saturday

Gave thanks for the awesome 3 days we were in Las Vegas.

Early next morning we drove back home.

The updated picture!

This was the first picture, I took of the kids together.

I have another one, will post later.

Snow Trip

On Saturday we packed our car with luggage, the kids and friends and be left towards Reno, Nevada.  On our way there we stoped at a ski resort, but were told no sleds allowed there.  We continued on towards Lake Tahoe and found this place where sleds could be used and the kids had so much fun.

With us were three more families, all together we were 23 people.  12 adults and 11 kids under 16 years old.

Everyone had so much fun, riding down the hill with the sleds.  Including me.  This was not the perfect place for sled sliding.  But we all had our fun.  Later in the afternoon we arrived to Reno and stayed at the Circus Resort Inn.  The kids had so much fun playing games and winning prizes.  Had dinner at a buffet. 

My son was not feeling well by the evening.  His head was hurting and he has stomachache.  I took my kids to the hotel room and we rested there for the evening while everyone else was out having fun.  My husband left to the slot machines. 

It so happens that we were in Reno the day of the traditional Santa Crawl.  Many people were dressed in Santa outfits, Grinch, Elfs, Christmas presents. 

Next Morning we went to have breakfast at the Silver Legacy Buffet.  Then checkout from hotel and back to the snow again.

This time we took a family picture and the area was much better for sled riding.  I have a video posted on facebook. 

We arrived home at around 5 PM and we quickly unloaded the vehicles and headed to our parish.  We could not miss the Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I was very thankful that we all had a great time and no one got hurt.  We had a safe trip on the road, great weather and not to much traffic.  Hope you all had a great weekend.

This weekend

We are back from our trip to Simi Valley, California. We left Saturday, some time after 4 AM. Most of our trip was raining. In the Bakersfield Hills we got to see snow in the mountains. The kids got very excited. Once we reached LA county line, we got stuck in traffic for about and hour. There were two bad accidents. About six cars in the first and one car about a mile a way fliped on its side. I kept praying all the way till we got to my sister-in laws house.

The party was at her house. Her daughter turned 15. I did not take pictures of her with her dress. But I have pictures of my husband and his older sibblings. Some pictures of my kids in the car while we where driving there and back home.

Even though it was raining most of the day. Everyone was happy. Having a great time. We started our trip back home this morning at about 9:30 AM. I knew we will not make it back before two o'clock mass. I feel bad when I miss Mass on Sundays. But I prayed my rosary and read the readings for the day. I know it is not the same and it does not count, but it help me feel less guilty. We got home at about 3 PM. Then, I took my kids to a cousin's house near by our home. She was also having a party.

We are now home and I am thankful to God for keeping us safe during our traveling. I will also say a prayer tonight for all those who died this Saturday. There was an Earthquake in Chile. I do not know anyone from there, but I have seen specials on EWTN from places in Chile. I believe that there where showing the life of St.Theresa of the Andes, who was also from Chile. There was an Earthquake in Haiti just about a month ago, and now another one in Chile. It is scary because we live in a state that is known to have lots of earthquakes. And the Tsunami alerts where also getting people nervous.