BT 4.0: Stop renting your vacation...our path to vacation ownership.

Vegas, Baby! Jen and Benjamin flew in to Las Vegas to meet up with us. One rented minivan, three youngsters, a run-in with a high pressure timeshare presentation, a trip to the Bellagio buffet and many other adventures of the elementary child persuasion left us with lots of Vegas fun with none of the guilt. We started our Las Vegas adventure with a show. We took all the kids to Cirque Du Soliel at Treasure Island. Once they were sufficiently slack-jawed and on the edge of their seats we pounded our way through as many kid-friendly Las Vegas hotspots that we could shove into three days. We stayed at a Wyndam resort. I don't know how THEY got roped into it but on our first evening Jen and Mark come in and deliver the news that we'll be going to a "catered breakfast" where we would be lucky enough to listen to a pitch about Wyndam timeshare/points and if we survived (meaning we must choke down a disgusting breakfast, keep our kids quiet for two hours and laugh at bad jokes about Americans not knowing how to vacation THEN sit with an utterly desperate and annoyed salesperson who had no idea that he was making his pitch to the president of Clark Howard's fanclub) then, and only then, would we get our $20 breakfast deposit back and a $125 visa gift card. I spent two hours waiting for Mark to flip the table and storm the salesperson. Then (because we ticked him off way before Jen did) I spent another hour with sweaty palms worrying that they had captured my sister, locked her in a room and were torturing her with fast-talkers, dotted lines and the promise of sunny vacations for her great, great, great grandchildren. Aggghhhhh! The mileage we will get out of that "talk" will last us for years to come. After our tasty breakfast we hit the strip, ate at the Bellagio, visited with some sealife at Mandalay Bay and ate some tasty pizza at Naked City Pizza(as seen on Triple D). Day two brought a hiking adventure at Valley of Fire State Park where we sizzled in the blazing sun and Jen made up rattlesnake hisses and Mark taught the three kids how to scale large rocks. In between all of that we swam and swam and swam!

Sisters, yo!

So, last time we saw Benjamin he wouldn't enter a body of water without multiple floaties...a few swimming lessons and BAM, he's Michael Phelps.

The resort had a hula-hoop contest and Milo marched himself up there at took 2nd place!

Yup, then they had one for adults and guess who got second place in that one?

I told you, Michael Phelps.

Mini van! The kids LOVED it. Milo has plans to tear up the Matrix and reconstruct it into our very own "Matrix Mini".

Cirque Du Soleil souvenirs...Oh yes, these will be a game changer on Crazy Hat Day. Sorry, teachers.

No sh@#! This is us at the damned timeshare talk. By the end, I was begging the kids to ask for a bathroom break and Mark's vein in his forehead was pulsating.

Post-Cirque elevator ride.

Cirque Silliness

Benjamin on elevator buttons. If you haven't had the pleasure of the company of children ages 2-10 lately you may have forgotten how important a turn on "buttons" actually is!

M&M world, Las Vegas

So.much.chocolate!

Squeezing in under the Chihuly exhibit at the Bellagio.

These two sporting their visa cards...time to cash 'em in.

Salud!

My favorite part of our trip to the fancy, Vegas buffet was watching my nephew plow through 5 jars of mini jellies with a spoon.

So, we spent $3.00 on the slots. Jen's lasted longer than mine but her handle wouldn't pull so she lacked the full experience. Mark had to pace up and down the carpeted walk next to us with three kids while we gambled our $3.00. It took us approximately 3 minutes. That was the extent of our gambling.

I'm pulling the handle. She's studying the buttons.

Mandalay Bay aquarium.

Stingrays in Vegas.

Minivan madness!

Cousins waiting for the light show at the Bellagio. They were unimpressed with the light show but did marvel at all the characters on the strip. Toothless Hulks, mini Iron Mans...