Friday, June 25th - the trip begins in Vegas

Hi from the road. We are currently just leaving Page, AZ on our way to the Grand Canyon. The trip has been fun so far and I can't wait to share pictures of our adventure!!
Friday, I worked til noon but had everything packed and ready to go and only a few work things left to do in my 4.5 hours there. Bob worked til 6am that morning and would set his alarm at 11. I was to call him by 11:15 if I hadn't heard from him by that time. And as has been the routine lately, Alex will call me a couple times during the day while he is sleeping. Today was no different but I didn't return her messages until 11:15. Two birds.... So, Bobber was now awake and getting ready to go.
I had had a couple of panics that morning. One with trying to check into our flight. For some reason I kept receiving the message "special requests or those traveling with infants must check in at the airport". Now time didn't really permit us to check in at the airport so, I called and asked what my request had been as I did have to indicate Alex's age of 9 when buying the tickets. Apparently though when you buy through an outside company like Expedia, Suncountry may not receive the correct info. So they showed Alex was an infant. I would like her to stay young for a while longer but, she's not sitting on my lap. Lol. The helpful agent fixed the issue and we were all set. The second panic came when Denise texted me to verify we would be there at 4pm and she was on the river. No our flight left at 4. That was just a mild panic though as they were within a short distance of their house. We are very fortunate to have Denise and Scott live in the cities. Not only are they close enough to visit whenever we want but the also have the best airport shuttle all around. They always make sure they are available to drop us off or pick us up. Thanks guys, we love you!
We arrived at the airport close to 2:30 and went directly to security. There were no issues through security like last year's flight to Florida as we had a long talk with Alex prior to getting there. Different this year for her was to only use our carry-ons. It went very smoothly and we were at our gate with plently of time to spare. The flight took off on time and was pretty uneventful. My only complaint was there was only one bathroom accessible to coach passengers. But one of the flight attendants let Alex use the First Class bathroom when the line was half way down the cabin. It was one of the first times we left the gate and took off immediately. I like that. It got us into Vegas 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Yeah! We made our way to the car rental facility shuttle as we didn't have to stop for luggage. Renting a car in Vegas is not a first for us but typically, we have Scott drive us around. Bobber did a great job even though he was very nervous. We arrived at our hotel for the night, The Orleans after just one small scenic detour. (I can now say I know where the Miller Beer distribution center is.) Check in was a breeze and our room was very nice. It smelled a little stale but the air conditioner took care of that. The rooms are the Orleans are bigger than most on the strip and we had a nice view of the pool. Alex announced that Las Vegas was heaven. Lol. We went ti TGIFridays for dinner so we could have a couple of drinks. Dinner was very good. Alex tried and loved the barbecue ribs. Next on our plan was to check Alex into the child care center and Bob and I were going to play for an hour or so. However, we were all exhausted so Alex and I took a few pictures and stopped at the shop while Bobber went to play. Alex and I were in bed sleeping at 9pm Vegas time, which is 11pm in EC. I can't say I've ever been to bed that early in Vegas. Bob came back to the room up $100 and was sleeping by 10:30pm. Short night for us but we would be on the road early the next morning so the extra sleep was a bonus.