Monday, November 28, 2011

Viva Las Vegas Thanksgiving

For many reasons, we decided to do a Toothsome Family-only Thanksgiving this year.  And, since my husband, who rarely closes his dental office, closed his office early on Wednesday, so his staff could go home and start their Thanksgiving festivities early, and kept it closed for the rest of the week, we decided to make it an "away" Thanksgiving.  After some debate, we ended up on Las Vegas at a two bedroom, Marriott that had a full kitchen.

My kids are not big turkey eaters so we did a pared down meal.  I know our meal might have been heresy for some of you but it was well received by the kids.  Jenny-O turkey loaf, green salad, freezer rolls, homemade mashed potatoes and Martinelli's sparkling apple cider.  And, since nobody likes pie at our house, we had candy bars for dessert.  


Later in the day, we ventured out and ended up the Coke store on the strip and tried the "Cokes Around the World".  16 different Coke products from various countries.  

 We all would take a sip and then give it a thumbs up or thumbs down.


 Some were not so good, in particular the Beverly from Italy.  Quinine was the main flavor.  (If you have read as many WWII books as I have, you will know that quinine was an antimalarial taken by US soldiers who fought in the pacific.  They hated it then and now, so did our family.) 


On Friday, we went to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay.  Toothsome #3 LOVES sharks, even decorating his Christmas tree at school with sharks.  He was in heaven.


 After telling the kids no souvenirs, Dentist husband surprised them by getting them shark teeth and these extremely discounted moray eel stuffed animals. 
 We also did plenty of watching TV, swimming in the pool and in my case, standing by the dryer (where it was extremely warm) and reading a book.
 And, because we were in Las Vegas, we drove the kids by the Pawn Stars pawn shop.  (We don't have cable but this show was on a 24 hour loop one of the days we were there.)  

We also took the kids by the various electric signs my husband's grandfather helped create.  He was the main man behind Vegas Vic (the waving cowboy).  

It was a fun trip.  And, yes, we walked in the door from Vegas and my kids went straight downstairs and started getting out the Christmas decorations.  My house is almost completely decorated.  


4 comments:

ash said...

This looks like such a great Thanksgiving (and don't tell anybody, but I kinda like turkey loaf). The pics of the kids trying soda was great. And we love Pawn Stars over here (we watch in online), so it's cool you got to see the store in-person. And the lights of Vegas, very cool (considering our gramps had much to do with it!) Thanks for sharing. Good memories for sure.

Anonymous said...

I love that you had candy bars for dessert. Who needs pie? And that Beverly! I had forgotten the name of it, but yes, it IS nasty. Fun weekend!

G'ma said...

Looks like a very fun getaway.Reminds me of fun times in hotels with our own 4 kids. We NEVER went camping in
the summer. I told the kids if we
can't stay in a hotel we aren't
going anywhere. Most of their friends' families went camping. Not
Eldridge and me!

Michelle said...

I think this was an amazing idea! It looks so fun!