Kyle learning how to wash dishes. October, 2012.

Bonus photos:

How did one turn into the other?

The only ways I know how to make this happen are:

-hire a cleaning lady (or man, once or twice I hired a cleaning man)

-put all pieces into zip top bags and spray ammonia in there. Seal and let sit overnight, then wash and scrub as usual. I do it exactly the same way that this blogger blogged (using the exact same non-brand of ammonia, too) and it works like a dream. Except for the whole inhaling ammonia fumes part. That is something you should, um…avoid. As in, not do.

-move the tea kettle

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Big news! Brady has his first loose tooth.

And next week I’ll celebrate my 100th birthday.

It’s hard to get much cuter than a one-year-old baby boy.

Brady

Kyle

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Well, we made it to Las Vegas and back in 36 hours without seeing anything too shady or gambling, unless you count the chance we took on traffic. (We lost that bet – it took 6.5 hours to get there on a Friday afternoon.)

Our trip is featured as a travel article on wonderful family travel resource TheVacationGals.com. Some of the pictures that didn’t make the cut are in the slideshow below.

As with any story, there are also words that don’t fit, so allow me to include those here. There’s not much between Barstow and Vegas, and of course our kids had to use the bathroom in the middle of nowhere, but luckily, a “market” appeared on the horizon in the vicinity of a place called Afton Canyon.

Andrew Roe was running this no-horse town seemingly alone, manning the cash register in the little market inside the giant building that also housed a bar, a pool table, and a drum set. He told us about rock hunting in the nearby canyons, and showed us his polished fossilized trees, and gave the kids chunks of raw hematite. Stewart wants to plan a return trip with Kyle just do go rock hunting!

We loved the roadtrip, despite the slow crawl between the 134 and the turnoff at the 15. We were in a Kia Sorento that I drove for a week courtesy of DriveSTI, and we had more room, a nice clean interior, and a nav system – all three are novelties for our family. Plus, we had a brand new iPad and several other electronic devices that kept the kids (mostly) occupied and peaceful.

Read about where we stayed (Tahiti Village, 2 miles south of the main strip) and what we did (lounged on the lazy river and attended a performance of Mystère in the post Las Vegas Weekend With Kids at The Vacation Gals website.

I hate these pictures of myself. But I also love them. Guess why.