And just like that we arrived at Day 17 of our ultimate road trip. We slept in (because that's what we are good at), I packed our 5 carry-on bags, sorted food that we could bring to Mexico and that we needed to leave for the next people at the airbnb, Ben went for a last hike in the woods, and the kids enjoyed the morning sword fighting in the yard.
The drive to Las Vegas from Flagstaff is a little less than five hours. We stopped along the way at Hoover Dam. It was super hot and windy out, and after seeing Glen Canyon Dam in Page, AZ, we weren't too enamored with it. But it was an obligatory stop and a good chance to stretch our legs.
Contrary to Josh's belief, the light blue blob in the water on the picture on the right is not a whale.
We were anxious to get to our hotel in time to swim the afternoon away. We stayed at Mandalay Bay, where the highlights were a wave pool and lazy river. I had read it recommended to purchase inter tubes somewhere other than the hotel (as they were $20 there), so when we arrived, I walked across the street determined to find some for a better price. Apparently the businesses around Mandalay Bay are now savvy to this "insider scoop" and had priced their inflatables for $18.99. Therefore I saved about $1 for every mile I walked in 95 degree weather. (The real insider scoop: go to a Walmart that is not close to the strip.)
We were anxious to get to our hotel in time to swim the afternoon away. We stayed at Mandalay Bay, where the highlights were a wave pool and lazy river. I had read it recommended to purchase inter tubes somewhere other than the hotel (as they were $20 there), so when we arrived, I walked across the street determined to find some for a better price. Apparently the businesses around Mandalay Bay are now savvy to this "insider scoop" and had priced their inflatables for $18.99. Therefore I saved about $1 for every mile I walked in 95 degree weather. (The real insider scoop: go to a Walmart that is not close to the strip.)
The lazy river was super fun.
Better enjoy those inter tubes boys...
I even got in!
The kids totally had a blast swimming at Mandalay Bay. Ben even got up and swam the next morning before we flew out for Mexico. Due to the fact that it was the last "fun" thing we did on our trip, Josh will tell you that this was his favorite part of the trip (I know better: there were much cooler things!)
That evening, Ben and I had zero desire to explore more of the strip. While Vegas is a unique place, it also very expensive in every way shape and form. It is also just a lifestyle we don't enjoy showing to our children. Finally, compared to the natural beauty we had just experienced the last two weeks, we weren't impressed with Vegas. So, we ordered our Thai food via Uber Eats, hunkered down in our hotel room, and played Uno as a family.
The kids totally had a blast swimming at Mandalay Bay. Ben even got up and swam the next morning before we flew out for Mexico. Due to the fact that it was the last "fun" thing we did on our trip, Josh will tell you that this was his favorite part of the trip (I know better: there were much cooler things!)
That evening, Ben and I had zero desire to explore more of the strip. While Vegas is a unique place, it also very expensive in every way shape and form. It is also just a lifestyle we don't enjoy showing to our children. Finally, compared to the natural beauty we had just experienced the last two weeks, we weren't impressed with Vegas. So, we ordered our Thai food via Uber Eats, hunkered down in our hotel room, and played Uno as a family.
Love these boys of ours!
What do you do when you have three kids trying to fall asleep in a hotel room and you're not ready for bed yet? You hang out in the bathroom with your husband.
So, that's it: I finally blogged all of our ultimate road trip. Would we do it again? Yes! In a heartbeat. We loved it! Not only did we love the concept of road tripping with our kids, we also loved the area (especially southern Utah) and would love to return when the boys are older to hike some of the harder trails.
While we are in no way experts on road trips/traveling with children, I do have a couple tips that made our trip smoother than it might have been:
1. Break up the trip with family joining or visiting friends. Having Ben's parents join us for the first part of the trip was amazing! We loved that the kids could ride in the car with them, giving us some much needed breaks and uninterrupted conversation. It was also so wonderful to share the experience with them and such a great bonding experience for the boys with their grandparents. The same goes for our time visiting the Leonards: we got some great adult time while the kids were playing with their friends, and also got to share memories with very special people. Finally, let's be honest, it was nice to see people we knew besides just our immediate family members over the span of 18 days.
2. Download audio books. It's always a good sign when you're kids are clamoring to get back in the car after seeing a sight because they want you to start a book again. Our favorites on the trip were some of the books in the "How to Train Your Dragon" series (the reader is awesome!). There is numerous wonderful blog posts about the best audio books for kids and I used those as my resource.
3. Don't pre-buy lots of sugar/dessert. This is a tip that I now recognize in hindsight, but did not apply on this trip. Perhaps it was because we were a tad bit excited to have American food (especially Trader Joes), but we bought a ton of treats at the store (another note: don't bring your snack loving husband grocery shopping with you). Yes, it was fun to have dessert on hand, but what we didn't factor in at the time, was the amount of times that we would want to treat the boys to ice cream, a gluten free bakery, etc. So, in the end, it was just too much sugar in our lives. My recommendation would be to not buy a ton of dessert up front, leaving room for spontaneous treats.
4. Don't worry about packing a ton of games/things to do at the houses in the evenings. In our experience, I used way too much of our luggage space for games, so that the kids wouldn't get bored in the evenings. Truth be told, there were very few evenings that we even had the time/energy to play something extra (we played sooooo hard during the day!). Also, since we selected family friendly airbnb homes, there were often games at the houses for recreation at night.
5. Pick fun and family friendly places to stay. Even though we didn't spend a ton of time at the various homes, it still is so nice to have a comfortable place to stay in while you are traveling. We have found that our children really remember and value each of the homes that we stayed in. Their memories of places are often linked to where we stayed.
6. Develop a behavior point system to earn rewards such a tablet time or dessert. I'm just being completely honest here, but the first 24 hours of our trip, I didn't think that I was going to survive the extended time with our children. I felt like I was drowning under the constant questions and contradictions. In reality, our kids were decompressing from a very busy season of our lives and their behavior was somewhat reflective of that; regardless, we needed a tool to help direct their energy and behavior. We ended up with a system where each kid could earn 3 points before lunch, and 3 points after lunch. Points were earned by am immediate, "Yes mom/dad," an act of kindness to their sibling, or an avoidance of bickering with a sibling. The points were for dessert for lunch and dinner, and then once I was tired of our kids being hopped up on sugar, we shifted to 5 points to be earned for tablet time (45 minutes max). Truly this behavior system changed our trip and saved my sanity. It helped develop healthy habits for our kids and brought us to a place where we were all on the same page.
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