Las Vegas, Utah and flying home

Dave though that staying in the Las Vegas strip would be fun and we thought the kids would enjoy the fabulous pools.  We decided to spend a night in Circus Circus because that pool also had waterslides.

The next day we drove from Nevada to Utah, passing through Arizona.  We stopped to see Zion National Park and stayed overnight in Cedar City, Ut

We took a short walk along the river in Zion National Park.

The next day (after enjoying the hotel pool and hot tub), we went to Cedar Breaks National Monument before returning to Las Vegas.  

We spent some time on Monday exploring the strip in spite of the 100+ temperatures.

Laura channeling her inner Marcus Aurelius at Cesar's Palace.

We wandered around Cesar's Palace and Bellagio hotels to give the kids a taste of the Las Vegas strip.

Conservatory at the Bellagio.

Our flight home left Las Vegas at 6:20 on Tuesday morning.

Family Gathering and Big Bear

(more pictures to come)

Friday, June 29, we packed out car, cleaned out the house and left for San Diego to celebrate Ariella's bat mitzvah.

We arrived at  the Holiday Inn where everyone else was staying around 10pm.  We assumed that they were all sleeping (since they had just arrive from the East Coast) so we waited until breakfast to greet relatives we had not seen since the previous summer.

We enjoyed Ariella's bat mitzvah service and all the accompanying festivities.

Sunday we enjoyed a pool party/brunch.



Afterwords, we stopped at Aunt Eileen and Uncle Bruce's house before deriving to LA to spend the evening with friends in spite of the strange sound the car was making.  Unfortunately, our car broke down on the way and we spent the night in Irvine.

The next morning we sold our can to the mechanic at the garage where AAA towed the car and transferred our junk to a much newer rental car.

We visited the Pacific Marine Mammal Cemter before heading off to Big Bear.

At Big Bear. the kids swam in the hot tub, played games and enjoyed various activities on the lake..  On Tuesday we all went on pontoon boats,

 Wednesday was extreme tubing and fireworks in the evening.

 Thursday the kids and brothers went jet skiing before we left for Las Vegas.

Camps and Visitng Grandpa in Idaho Falls.

The week after school ended, Laura attended sailing camp and Benjamin learned some Java and Arduino programming (aka "Nerd Camp").  At the end of the week, the sailing campers demonstrated their new skills to parents.

Benjamin left camp with a certificate and USB drive with his programs (i.e. a nerd accessory).

As soon as camp ended on Friday, we rushed to the Oakland airport to catch our nonstop flight to Idaho Falls.  I was impressed by the colorful sunset, so I took a few photos from the airplane window,

We stayed again at the Best Western Driftwood Inn because we could get a nice, large room with a kitchen and it is right on the Snake River. When we woke up the next morning, we rushed out to pick out a  new TV for Grandpa and then biked (borrowed from the hotel) or walked over to the Saturday morning Farmer's Market  just across the river from our hotel. 

In the afternoon we went to the Steampunk Exhibit at the Museum of Idaho.

In the evening, Grandpa was eager to take us to Blast-Off to play laser tag and arcade games with his friend and 10 year old son.

On Sunday morning, Dave and the kids went to see Incredibles 2 (Grandpa likes to sleep in). and in the afternoon while Dave helped Grandpa with his new TV and CD player, the kids went to a trampoline park.

Afterwards, we went to the Market Lake bird refuge (without Grandpa--he needed to rest).

"Those are funny looking birds" (Benjamin)

This bird is possibly an osprey.

A Snake River overlook near our hotel.

Kids enjoyed the hotel breakfasts while we were traveling.  The best breakfasts had lots of good toppings for the waffles.

Monday, our final day in Idaho Falls, we took a walk with Grandpa on the trails at Hell's Half Acre, a lava field just outside of Idaho Falls..

Grandpa pointing out flowers growing in the lava field.

After we returned to Fremont, Joshua received his red and black belt in karate.

Farewells to Fremont

As we prepare to leave Fremont, we had to say farewell to people we spent time with.  Saturday, June 16 we organized a potluck picnic lunch (we barbecued chicken and hamburgers)  at Quarry Lakes for Dave's colleagues from work.

We hoped that the beach would be open for swimming, but it closed again because of water quality.

On Sunday Iyer invited us over for dinner again along with his siblings.  On our way to Iyer''s house we stopped at the NASA Ames visitor center.

Kids are trying out an experiment that was performed on a space shuttle.

Now they are intrepid moon explorers

Finishing the school year and last sightseeing fling

Laura's elementary school promotion celebration began Friday evening with the 6th grade social.

On Saturday, June 9, we had to return Landon the hamster.

  Then we stopped for lunch at El Pollo Loco.  We had hoped to go up to Berkeley, but the brakes on our van were acting up, so we dropped the van to get fixed and we went to the Hayward Interpretive Center on the bay instead.

Benjamin and the shark at the Hayward Interpretive Center.

j

Joshua explains that the gopher snake in this cage in not venomous.

"What kind of bird hatched from this egg shell?"

On Sunday, June 10, we invited Iyer and Anu over to see Laurel and Hardy talkies at the silent movie theater.  (Obviously an event for wealthier people).  Then we brought in pizza from the Curry Pizza House for dinner.

After the movie, we tried out the kinetoscopes in the park across the street.

The kids brought home lots of school project s juet before their last day.  All 3 made faces this year!

Monday, June 11, Laura had a pool party at school.  Then June 12 was Bulldog days and June 13 was her promotion from elementary school ceremony.  After the ceremony, we rushed to pick up the boys from McDonald's, and we discovered Benjamin had been waiting over 1 1/2 hours on line to return his textbooks!  He was happy when he finally got to eat a late lunch at McDonald;s!

At the promotion ceremony, Laura received the President's award for academic achievement.

Laura and her teacher at Niles, Mrs. Berkley.

On June 15, we went to the Chabot Space center even though we had gone in the fall.  This time they could enjoy the Create! exhibit in their leisure and check out the new outdoor exhibit.

The new outdoor area has a cool pinhole camera exhibit.

Creating a stop motion masterpiece.

Benjamin is using conducting properties of play dough to light LEDs,

Joshua is pretending to work in space.

That evening Laura had her girl scout end of year party and passed the Rockella toy on to her friend  and fellow girl scout Rachel.