Shania Shenanigans!

 Oh what fun it is to live in Las Vegas!

The Georgia Gals gathered for a night out to see Shania Twain!

We ran into Anne before the show!

My birthday sister and I had a great time dancing to tunes from when we were kids

Let me tell y'all, Shania's still got it!! She's in her mid 50s and danced and rocked the entire stage.  Days after we saw her, she announced that 2022 will be the end of her Vegas residency.  I am so glad we made this happen before ticket prices skyrocket!

Though Heidi and Allison had to fly home, the rest of the Georgia Gals were able to stay for a few days to ring in Alexander's 6th birthday!

He may not be one of the 'gals,' but we were all so glad that Uncle Craig joined in our shenanigans!

On the night of Shania, Craig jumped in to go see Chvrches with Daniel.  He may have only known one song, but he had a good time, and Daniel was excited to get to see them not alone.  I had a little FOMO at not getting to see them, but Any Man of Mine knows I ain't missing Shania!

The boys of this family sure love big!

Daniel and I headed out to the squadron Christmas party on the night of Alexander's birthday, but I think our big guy was in good hands!

Gammie and Bev took the boys to Chuck E Cheese, and even got a couple friends to join!

Gammie told stories at school for this guy's birthday, too!

December is the month for birthdays! On Saturday we celebrated Aidan at Dave and Buster's

The next day we headed to the strip for a Texas/Stanford basketball tickets that Bryan and Daniel secured through work

The T-Mobile arena has a sensory bag for little ones, complete with sensory toys and noise canceling headphones!  The former behavior therapist in me was so impressed!!

Moving on from birthdays, we are getting deep into the Christmas spirit!

Legoland Birthday Celebration

It's a tradition now for us to do a trip or a big venture for the week of Alexander and my birthdays, so this year we took advantage of living in Vegas and headed to Legoland California!

I love sharing a birthday month with my big one!

The trip started with both boys not feeling the best, but they were full of smiles when they saw Legos everywhere, a whoopie cushion in the carpet outside of the elevator, and a bag of birthday surprises for Alexander.

We had a treasure chest in our room that we had to unlock with clues.  Each day it held a little Lego surprise for both boys.

 

At just barely two years old, Niko was tall enough to ride the jousting horses, but not old enough. You had to be four! This little one is tall!  He cried and cried while Alexander got to ride away along the winding trail without us.  Thankfully, the carousel satisfied our little man's need for 'neigh neigh' and without any lines, we rode that at least ten times!

Joy on the carousel

Safari car!

The Christmas theme was beautiful and so fun

 

Both boys were absolutely incredible the whole trip.  Niko took his naps where he could find them and neither got fussy over being tired or hungry.  I think the lack of lines for our next adventure helped a lot!

We went back to the room for us all to rest the second day.  After a while, Niko walked over to the grown up room.  I said, "Niko, everyone is still night night.  You need more sleep." He stared blankly at me for a minute, then put his head on the corner of the bed.  After a few seconds, he collapsed to the floor and proceeded to keep sleeping on the carpet.  We have a sleepwalker!  Like mother, like son....

 

Alexander and I both had a round where we were able to unseat Daniel as the victor of the Ninjago Ninja training.  Niko ended every round by saying, One more shoot.  One more shoot."

This is my favorite.  Alexander challenged himself not to scream on the roller coaster.

Challenge mastered!

Niko even got to ride a smaller coaster!

On the way home, after being serenaded with Happy Birthday for twenty minutes straight, both boys checked out. Can you spot a Niko?

We had such a fabulous time celebrating birthdays and family.  It makes turning another year older easy when I get to do it as part of the Martin Crew!