Back to the grind.....

Today is a SAD DAY!!! Lance had to go back to school! This summer went by so fast I just didn't want it to end! I haven't posted in a while because we have been trying to squeeze in as many fun things as we can before today! Oh course I forgot my camera a lot and as usual the pictures posted backwards but oh well!

When you are living on a med school budget you quickly learn what activities are FREE or super CHEAP!! It really is amazing how many fun things there are to do in Vegas! One of our favorite places to go is the Bass Pro Shops. It is a big outdoor store (camping, hunting fishing etc.) There are stuffed animals, taxidermy, all over the store. There are some really cool ones like a huge stuffed giraffe and lions in fighting poses. The girls think it is pretty cool, well, Rya doesn't really know what to think, she just looks at them very seriously!

The best part about the Bass Pro Shops are the huge aquariums. They have three of them. Two are fresh water and the coolest one is the huge salt water tank! It is awesome, it has big sting rays and lots of "Dori" fish! If you look closely you can see the mermaid in the background! Elliott thought this was sooooo cool! She did say she was supposed to have read hair though. The mermaid come a few times a day and interacts with all the people, mostly the kids. It really is fun and best of all.... FREE!

We also took a little trip up to Mt. Charleston again, we love it up there! The weather is so much cooler and it is so pretty, it doesn't look like Vegas! I can't even begin to tell you how dirty Rya was!! She looked like she was wearing camo all over her face!! She had so much fun though so I guess oh well!
We went up with our friends Nate and Erin and their little Klayte and also Jana and John and their kids Maddie and Gideon. The kids had a lot of fun playing and getting filthy! Here is Rya trying to play with the big girls Elliott and Maddie. She followed them all over the place. Just when she would catch up to them they would run off and she would have to follow them again, she had a lot of fun!
Cute little friends!
The messy messy girl! I left Elliott and Rya in their pajamas all morning because I knew they we going to be filthy and we were going on a hike later! Good thing I did.... they were both totally brown by the time we were ready to hike!

We were surrounded by all these short little trees. Elliott and Maddie were having so much fun climbing them, not that you can tell from this grouchy picture! I love camping and I hope we can get back up there again before it gets too cold!

Like I said I didn't bring my camera most if the time but we have also been to the lake several times... another favorite of ours. We took the girls to Circus Circus to see the free circuses they have there, sooo fun! We used to do that when I was little all the time and I used to love it. I didn't think it was going to be that great but it really was cool. Elliott really liked it and Rya liked to people watch, and again... FREE! We have had several fun BBQ's and swim parties with friends. We have had such a great summer and I am so sad to see it end! I am just not ready to have Lance back in school! I guess the sooner we start the sooner we end!!