What at trip!

Well we just got back from our WPPI/spring break trip this morning! It was such a whirlwind of events I just have to share it. I even snatched up a bunch of pictures to go along with the story - they are with my point and shoot camera that I keep in my purse but I think they still turned out alright :)

First we started to Vegas - driving - we were aiming to arrive on Sunday am because I was signed up to do a photo shoot on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately Saturday night as we are clipping along we get a flat tire. We looked at it as a learning experience for the boys though and they had their first lesson on changing a tire. Nothing is open when we hit the next city though so we need to continue along in slow speed with the donut spare. We did come across a repair shop after much searching on Sunday morning but it was too late to get us to Vegas on schedule :( We did finally arrive safe and sound Sunday about 9 pm.
The boys did some sight seeing while I spent the next 3 days at the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International convention. It was really great! I came away with alot of information and I look forward to adding a few new ideas into my business. I loved seeing all the wedding photos all over the place and am inspired to enter some of the fantastic photos we have gotten with our couples for the next competition.


After the conference was done we had planned to go see the Grand Canyon. My eldest son was not feeling well though so we let him sleep the day away. I did have an ace up my sleeve though for the next day and luckily he was feeling much better. When I was looking on the map I noticed that it was closer to go to Disneyland in LA than it was to go to the canyon...so with a little persuasion I got my wonderful DH to drive us a little further south. The boys were clueless and thought we were on the way home until they saw the Disney signs. It was great! Although I may have enjoyed myself more than the kids - I was soo excited to bring them as I have wanted to since they were babies and never had the chance. My favorite ride was "it's a small world" and the kids was "star tours". The fireworks show at the end of the day was spectacular, the best display that I have ever seen.



We checked into a hotel for the night and my DH had plans to drive a little up the costal highway going back North. Of course we had to stop and get some pictures along the way. This is my all time favorite from the whole trip.










In a last minute decision we stopped at Venice beach for an hour and soaked up some of the sand and sun - the boys soaked up more of the water and sand than we did as they built sandcastles.




Calculating the drive back we realized that it was faster to go back the way we came through Vegas. With another last minute stop we checked out Hoover Dam on the way through.


Again plans evaded us as the drive turned really trecherous before we hit the border and stayed that way all the way back home. The snow was blowing and the boys thought it was great cause they said it looked like we were travelling in warp speed like in Star Wars :) Not soo great for the driver though! Finally we got back this moring 7 am. I let the kids go to bed and miss school - something they never get to do -

So this past week was action packed full of learning, fun and great memories!