Spring Break (the bank) PART TWO

Days Three & Four: Las Vegas and LV, NV to Lancaster, CA We stayed two nights in Las Vegas, with our old friends, Steve and Amber Price. (They aren't old, but they've been friends for a while!) Daniel and Ashley picked up their friendship right where they left off 3 years ago. With new births, we each had 4 children = 8 kids under 8 years old! We went to church with some former ward members. The original ward has split twice since we left, so we had 3 wards to choose from. It was fun to see old faces and watch the confusion as they tried to place our familiar faces. Seeing Leah and Rebekah confused a lot of people. The weather was beautiful and not too hot yet.


Amber made a cake for a little get together. It was very cute and yummy. It didn't last very long.













We spent some time in Las Vegas before getting on the road. First, we stopped to visit with Rochelle Zobrist.















The boys thought it was neat to see some big turkeys up close and they found some turkey eggs. (Unfortunately, one of the turkey eggs didn't survive us.)















After we visited with Rachelle, we made a short stop at Mary Eagar's house. She was my first visiting teaching companion in Las Vegas! We enjoyed a tour of her nice, spacious home and met her little son.


From there, we went to Circus Circus to have lunch ($ouch$) and play at the Adventure Dome.






The kids got to ride some things and the boys had some fun being silly.
















Funny story: As we entered the Circus Circus parking garage, Chad and I mentioned how low the ceiling was. We said, "Duck!" And then from the back seat was heard, "Quack, quack!" Nathan probably didn't even know how funny he was, but we're still laughing!

We finally pried ourselves away from the fun and got back into the van to head to CA. We had to make an emergency stop at a Dollar Store in Baker(?) because it was just time to walk around and find a distraction or two. We stayed one night with my high school friend, Wendy (Paras) Warner and her three girls. (Her husband was away.)

Day Five: Lancaster, CA to Long Beach, CA We spent a leisurely morning with Wendy and did some laundry. We didn't leave until about 3 PM. By then it had been raining a bit and we hurried out to the van to find a soggy parking ticket! Apparently, you can't park on the street on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays between 8 AM and 12 PM. A whole 8 hours per month and we caught 4 of them! We are currently contesting it. The only sign nearby was faded by sunlight and would never have been visible at 9 PM (when we arrived). We got on the wet California freeway and headed to Simi Valley to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum. As luck would have it, this was the day that a severe winter storm was hounding the area. Guess who got to do ALL the driving that day? It was a mad dash to the museum doors (because of course the walkways aren't covered in Sunny CA.). We got to walk through Pres. Reagan's (retired) Air Force One plane. Chad and I were surprised at the cramped quarters. We expected it to be more luxurious. But then, that's probably why they retired it. I understand that the one they use now is nicer. (I don't doubt it, with the taxes we pay!) Regardless, it was very interesting. We walked through the rest of the museum and read some interesting things, but then decided it was time to go when we were yelling at Daniel more than anything else. From there we drove to Long Beach (Signal Hill, actually) and checked into our motel room (home for the next 3 nights).