The Peppermill

   Since moving to Reno we've been able to do a ton of activities as a family for free, because of the community sponsor of most of the activities. One of the latest freebies (Sept.) we got was a free night at a local casino (The Peppermill). They just sent us a free coupon in the mail welcoming us to the neighborhood.   It was a nice getaway for the family. The kids have really enjoyed all the activities we've taken them out to do, and a night at a casino resort was no exception.  This is the first casino I've ever been in and had always heard how dark they are inside. At first I thought that this one was different because of the large bank of windows around the casino, but they are dark blue and two sets of them, so by the time you get all the way in it's pretty dark.

  One surprise we found in our room, were treats on the dresser and a stocked fridge. These were just the regular treats that you take and then get charged for, they were all set on pressure senosors so if you even removed them you automatically got charged for them, whether or not you put them back. Upon finding this out the kids were all threatened within an inch of their lives if they took anything off of were it was and all precautions were taken to make sure they couldn't easily get to anything (for example moving the conveniently placed end table away from the dresser so that some climbing would need to take place.

  The room was also fairly nice, we thought we might end up in some hole because of it being free. The kids how ever didn't allow for any better night sleep than usual. They wouldn't sleep in their own bed so each of us had at least one kid to kick us in the back all night long.

  Along with the free room we were also given a $40 food voucher to use at the restaurants. The restaurants were all located in the middle of the casino area and at first we tried to find a way to get to the restaurant without going through the casino, but in the end we just walked through the middle of the slot machines (we heard that casinos flip if you take kids through the gambling area, but apparently that only applies to Vegas because Reno didn't seem to care). We decided to use it at the buffet since we would get a better selection and would be able to find something that the kids would eat and get full off.  Needless to say it was the worst food any of us had ever eaten, good thing we didn't pay for it. I don't think anyone ate their fill of food and especially wasn't satisfied with their meal. One up side of the meal was the entertainment we provided for everyone around us with fighting the kids to stay in their seats and try to get them to eat. We did get complimented on how well the kids were behaving (sometimes when people tell us this I wonder how horrible of kids they're around to think that ours are that well behaved when their not minding).

  The highlight of the whole visit for the kids was swimming. You'd think that having a swimming pool at the apartment, that they got to go to several times a week, they'd be sick of swimming, but not these guys. The nice thing about the casino pools was that they were heated a lot warmer than ours. They kids actually swam in the water for hours, instead of just playing on the pool edge like they do at the apartment. The only reason we stopped swimming was because they were practically falling asleep in the water. They did however make their demands that they wanted to go swimming first thing in the morning before leaving.

  Adahleigh was more than happy to show off her backstroke.

  The other nice thing was we basically had all the pools to ourselves, there may have been a dozen people total in the three pools and two hot tubs (Adahleigh being the talker she is made sure to harass most of the people that were there though). The highlights of the pools was a fountain in one and a waterfall in another.

  Keisha even enjoyed splashing around the whole time.

  This is probably one of the best pictures we have ever gotten of Charles' grin, He definitely wouldn't of had such a big grin if the water was cold.

  Here's a view from our floor of the pools we enjoyed hours in.

  Once everyone was getting ready for bed, they made sure to get their bed jumping in. Adahleigh would jump from the chair to one bed and then leap the giant gap between the beds.

  Charles tried to make the same attempt (from one bed to the next), but the gap was just a little too large for him.

  He then moved to chair to jump on the bed, he was able to make that jump most of the time.

  All in all we really did enjoy our stay, especially since it didn't cost us a dime (unfortunately for the casino we weren't a good investment as far as giving out a free night).

Growing Up Fast.

  This last week Adahleigh turned three. It's hard to believe that so much time has already past. It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming her into this world, but at the same time it's hard to remember a time when she hasn't been a part of our lives.  We've enjoyed watching her learn and grow over the past three years (and not just the hair on her head, since at first it seemed like she would forever be bald) and been amazed by her comprehension of the world around her.

  From the moment we first heard her cry, her eyes were wide open seeming to take in the world around her.

  By the time she turned one she was running and jumping, enjoying all the freedom she gained from her mobility and partaking of the world that she had been but an observer of for the majority of her first year of life.

  By the time she turned two, she was teaching her brother (who she still loves dearly) all that she knew and waited for the time when he could become her partner in crime (or at least her scape goat). She also became braver and more daring in the activities she chose.

  Now she's three and tries to be completely dependent and works through her problems with little interventions. She continues to love to learn. She has mastered her alphabet (in both saying it and and recognizing all of her letters). She loves to be read to and has her favorite shows she watches on PBS (and loves to learn from them too). She can count to 20 regularly, but higher than that things get shaky. She loves her baby sister (and likes to try and carry her, mind you Keisha weighs a little over half what Adahleigh does). She loves to draw and tries to write, most of all she loves to sing and dance [she sings all sorts of children's songs (favorite: Down by the Station), primary songs (favorite: I am a Child of God) and occasionally one of mom and dad's songs (her favorite right now is Then They Do by Trace Adkins)]. This summer she learned how to swim (with her floatation vest) and now has no fear of the water. She has started helping cook, and loves to bless the meals (she demands to say the pray all the time, and lately she wants to do it all by herself). Sunday is her favorite day of the week, because she gets to go to nursery to sing and play. These of just a few of the accomplishments that she has made over the past year.

   For her birthday this year we just invited some friends over for cake and ice cream.  Adahleigh wanted a butterfly cake  and strawberry ice cream for her birthday and put her demands in weeks in advance. Her birthday fell on Sunday this year and we forgot to pick up some eggs to make her cake (it was almost the birthday without a cake), so we had to borrow some from our friends (luckily the just live a few apartments down). 

   While Adahleigh and Charles were taking a Sunday nap (since they were still tired from going to the drive-in a few nights before), Keisha helped make the cake (or at least watched every step of it being made).

    This is probably the highlight of everyone's birthday for Ash. She loves to decorate the cakes. Her favorite for sure is making their first birthday cakes, which is always more than just a little decoration on a cake (like the tractor that Charles got for his first birthday).

    Adahleigh survived blowing out her candles without catching her hair on fire (like she did when blowing out Adam's cake last year).  Her blower was a little out of practice and she was only able to get two out of three candles, and the last one took three or four tries because her aim was way off. Three candles just proved to be too overwhelming.

    She always loves opening presents (this year was no exception), and this year it was all we could do to keep Charles from opening the ones Adahleigh wasn't unwrapping at the time (he'll love Christmas and his birthday this year).

   Of course, the two of them had to pull faces while getting their pictures taken.

    Her favorite presents this year was the picture of her and Charles at the Reno Temple that she got to hang on her bedroom wall.

   And also her new church dress.

   When Ash's family came to visit a month ago we stacked the kids beds, so they could sleep in there too. From that day Adahleigh constantly asked if she could sleep on the top. We didn't have the guardrails for the bed, so we couldn't let her since she has had a hard time staying in her bed while sleeping when it was on the floor. Ash also thought that she was too young to be sleeping on the top bunk, but said she could try it on her birthday. Adam got some boards to make some guardrails and had the bed put together a few weeks before her birthday, so we let her sleep on it a little early. Since letting her sleep on the top bunk we don't see her in the middle of the night any more and no one has fallen off the top. The funniest thing is Charles had to show her how to climb to the top and get down first, but she only had to see it done once.

Great Reno Balloon Race

  Last month we went to The Great Reno Balloon Race. The Race is held for 3 days in a row and it is more of a series of competitions than an actual race to anywhere. We were told by some of the locals that the best part of the event is the morning glow, but that you have to get there really early to get a good spot. The morning glow started at 5am so we wanted to get there about 4 so we had time to walk the half mile to were the balloons were being launched from. In order to do this, we woke everyone up at 3am and got them dressed warm for the morning cool air. Our timing was pretty good, since we only had to wait about 10 min by the time we were seated for the show to start. The kids were pretty excited so they weren't too grumpy when they got woke up. Charles wasn't able to stay awake for even the 20 min drive to the races, but Adahleigh stayed awake until we made it back home.

   

We got a picture of everyone once Keisha woke up for her early morning snack.

   The morning glow consists of a few of the balloons being set up before sunrise and then they put on a light show to music by firing off their burners. The morning glow was definitely worth getting up that early for, even if we were up later the night before than usual because the kids wouldn't go to sleep. The other great thing about the races are they're completely free because of all the local sponsorship they get.
The Allstate balloon was the first up for the morning glow.

  The first set of balloon that were set up didn't actually take off, mainly because it was still to dark to be able see the ground  from the air to be able to land again. The second set of balloons did actually take off. We were able to get some pretty neat pictures durning the morning glow.

   Once the balloons took off we found out that we got one of the best places to sit, since all the balloon went right over our heads.

   Adahleigh thought it was great to see the balloons fly right over top of her.

   She was the only one other than Ash and I to enjoy the morning glow, since Charles and Keisha weren't able to stay awake for it. Charles went out like a light as soon as we got him all wrapped up and warm.

   I was really cool to see all the balloons lit in the sky.

Then watch them float off into the sunrise.

   They also allowed you to go down on the launch field and watch the ballooners set up their balloons and take off. We went out durning the second part of the morning glow show, but the pictures didn't turn out all that great. Between Adahleigh and Charles they got to see an entire balloon set up start to finish, their attention spans wouldn't allow for full set up start to finish. Adahleigh got a little grumpy about half way through from lack of sleep and wanted something to eat so I went and switched them out. The balloon that we watched get completely set up is just getting the basket out in the background.

   Then they added the burners and secured them.

   After the burner is set up, the pull out the envelope.

   And they stretch it out on the ground.

     Once the envelope is connected to the basket, the balloon is ready for cold inflation. This is done by using a large fan just to get the balloon half inflated so they can start using the burners to warm the air.

  This is the point were Charles had woken up and want to go check out what was going on.

   Like every kid when fires envolved, Charles also enjoyed watching the burners go to work and he go a front row seat.

   It didn't take long once they started using the burners to get the balloon upright.

  And here is the final result. All in all it took the crew about an hour to get the balloon upright, but some of that time was just waiting for a space to clear while other ballooners were putting their balloons up.

   After the morning glow and before the actual race started, they sent up a pair of balloons and the U.S. flag for the national anthem.

  It was a good thing it was a really calm morning with having these two balloons tethered together.

   Since it was Sept. 11 they also had an air squadron fly over honoring all the service men and women. The last play breaking away from the others represented soldiers that are MIA.

   I think the kids favorite part of the whole event wasn't the morning glow, but was the main launch. There were well over 50 balloons sent off within 30 min period.

   After being up for five hours (at least in Adahleigh's case) no one was all that interested in pictures anymore.

   Keisha woke up again once we were getting ready to leave and was willing to participate in some pictures, even though she is bundled up really good and you can't see much of her.

We figured that since we didn't put enough pictures in this post we'd throw two more in just to make the post complete.

This last one is on the way back to the car. It was a pretty good hike since most of the park parking was reserved for handicap parking.