The wanderers return

Touchdown and travelling down the M4.

So we are back. BA not as good as AA in terms of service and entertainment but was a night flight and went fairly swiftly and pretty much landed as expected.

Will tidy up the blog a bit over the next few days so we have a permanent record of our travels but thanks again for joining us on our adventure. Very much in the spirit of how chrissi and I used to travel pre kids and pleased we can now involve the kids. To be fair we have driven to Spain and France in recent years so we have been moving more in this direction.

Right, final thoughts and observations from me:

Carys can write, my god can she write!
Bryn shows real character and calmness when the chips are down. A quiet leader.
Chrissi and I are greater than the sum of our parts, achieving so much as a team
The world is a mixed up place and education and liberal views are sadly not necesarily in the majority
The world offers so much through technology, geology and culture. In the words of Bueller, if you don't stop and look about once in a while you might just miss it.

(Carys) So, I can't actually believe it's all over! As an individual I have been on such a journey, and learned a lot about culture, geography, my family and myself. For instance:

I never knew I was okay at shooting basketballs into a hoop.

Bryn proved to eat not as much as he had intended to, and not as much as I thought he would.

Dad was a quick learner, and after a few jerks he soon got into the hang of driving an automobile with the driving wheel on the opposite seat.

Mum was actually really great at pointing out famous landmarks, and helping me actually see the world around me.

Finally, the world is a beautiful place and some and some people don't acknowledge that. I recommend going on this road trip with your family,because I found it truly amazing.

Heading Home

(Carys) Well, I have had my final glances of the beautiful Las Vegas and currently in the airport. Unfortunatley plane is delayed, but all the more time to write this blog post.

Got up this morning and dad went of to the poker area in the casino. Mum, Bryn and I picked up a Krispy Kreme donut and then went of to the pool. Did I mentiont hat yesterday I bought a 6 dollar inflateable noodle? Total waste of money. I don't know why I bought it.

The donut wwas delcious, (I chose chocolate custard,) and so was my strwaberry milk. I sunbathed and went down the slide all morning. Mum came down trice at the end. That was lots of fun.

We met dad back at the room and had showers. Then we dressed, finished packing and took the bags off downstairs. We checked out of our room and dropped our luggage off.

Then we went to the arcade for a bit and I discovered that I'm actually quite good at shooting basketballs into a hoop. Might start netball when school begins again.

We all walked over tothe souvenier shop so Bryn could by some presents for his mates, and I bought myself a Hersheys Cookies And Cream bar.

 Then we had lunch. I couldn't say what we actually ahd because we all ate from different places in the food court. I had a large slice of pizza and Sprite.

Then we all walked back over to the Excalibur hotel, picked up our bags and took a cab to the airport. I'm really sad to leave, and I'm going to miss the US so much. It's so a beautiful place.

(Lloyd) So here we are sitting in the airport  having taken a last chance to enjoy vegas. A poker tournament where I got to final tables but busted out in around 7th place before the money. Happy with most of my players though and it at least meant I could go and help with the packing so tell chrissi I lost for her.

Vegas is our city, the place where we got married and every hour reveals something different. So glad we were able to show elements of it to the kids and hope we all keep coming back in years to come. I think every trip we take photos on the bridge next to new york new york. (but this time we managed one together!)

And this time we have excalibur in the background. That road we drove around a few times on arrival to try and find drop off point for the car. I like to think it was a tribute to the griswolds in that London roundabout scene in European vacation.

Will compose one more final reflections post before calling time on this blog. But a call to all you lurkers as we draw to a close. Our regs Haydn,  Linda,  ian, Wendy and 1 or 2 others it has been great to see you out in the open in the comments block below. The rest of you, and stats say there are between 50 and 100 (although only 6 yesterday so don't know what that is all about,  what did we say?) How about leaving a comment, especially for carys, maybe telling us which bit you enjoyed the most? Or the least...

Until next time, one more shot for glory!

Winner winner chicken dinner

(Carys) Hey! Woke up this morning and went to breakfast. We ate at a fast food sort of restaurant, quite like McDonalds but 10 time worse. This may sound really rude of me but the egg was greasy, the pancake chewy and the scone dry. The only thing I did like was the milk.

We didn't have the Krispy Kreme doghnuts, which I moaned about for around 10 minutes. Dad went back to casino and the three of us, me, mum and Bryn went to the pool, again! 

Came back and mum and I went to this souvenir shop beneath MGM Grand,  and I bought three things: a cup with a curly straw, a magnet and a  pretty keyring. Mum also bought me a cool Las Vegas tishirt, that I am going to wear for the flight home tomorrow.

Speaking of, I can't beleive it's practically over! I have had so much fun on this holiday, and writing this blog...........maybe I should save this big speech for the very last blog.......

Anyway, mum and I went back to the hotel and met Bryn and dad in 'The Fun Dungeon,' which is the kids arcadet here. 

I played some games there for a bit then dad went off to the gym. Me, mum and Bryn went to the Krispy Kreme shop and Bryn and I had a donought! This was some sort of subsitute for a lunch. I had the chocolate kreme one, and it was DELICOUS! 

Then me and Bryn met dad back at the pool and mum went to the gym. We messed around in the pool for a bit, and later, when mum came back, dad came on the slide! He looked really funny coming down it.

Sunbathed and swam for a while then came and had a shower, got dressed up slightly and came to this this lovely posh buffet in the Mandalay Bay hotel. It had all this lovely food, though I didn't try many new things. The dessert was delicous too! 

(Lloyd) title of blog more blackjack related see bringing down the house https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bringing_Down_the_House_(book) ( Great read) but will apply to poker today. Small post breakfast tournament in the excalibur. Played conservatively, got a break with trip 10s and ended up heads up with the best and most aggressive player in the tourney. Pretty much 50/50 then but he got a deserved break q7 v my q10 and hit his 7 ... Still 130 bucks not to be sniffed at in my small time poker world.

Breakfast today not the best. Went all american and felt like airline food. Good practice for tomorrow i guess. Still seemed to be sitting heavy on my gut as i went and did a slow treadmill parkrun inthe gym.  Hope to speed up in the real thing this weekend. Yes thoughts turning to home and real life as i sit in the unreality of the vegas sun and excalibur pool. Kids on the slides and chrissi in the gym. Might be time for a beer. This has strangely been one more of the healthier holidays i have had. Eating and drinking taken second place to actually doing stuff. This is a precedent that might influence future holiday plans.  And probably should for general life...