Motivated to Get in Shape

We took Kai to a new pediatrician a few weeks ago. He showed us an interesting chart that showed Kai’s height and weight at various ages. He told us that Kai was currently at the 30th percentile for height, and 80th percentile for weight. Not a good combination.

We have been aware for some time now that Kai was overweight. His diet has generally been pretty good – few processed foods, very little sodas and packaged juices, a good amount of vegetables and fruits, and desserts only on days that he has a lot of exercise – but he still has the bloated belly that he’s had all his life (and which is common in kids with autism).

Though I did find out at the doctor’s office that my wife had been taking Kai to McDonald’s three days a week when they did not have time to come home after school before he has to go to therapy. She decided that from now on, she would prepare something healthier for him to eat in the car.

We know that exercise is important, so we have tried to make sure he is physically active. He has his regular weekly swim lesson, weekly fitness group led by his swim instructor, his weekly boxing class (that is now on break for the summer), our weekend morning runs, and short exercises on weekday mornings.

But all that did not seem to be enough. We needed to do more.

We also decided that though we could try to do these things, it was important for Kai himself to want to embrace healthier habits.

And the best incentive to motivate him was to tie his fitness to the amount of time he could use the iPad.

My wife has a scale that measures body fat percentage in addition to a person’s weight. Since he is a growing boy, we thought that body fat percentage, rather than weight, would be the best measure. We decided that we would measure Kai’s body fat every week at the same time, on Saturday evenings after his bath, before dinner.

The first time we measured, he came out at 28.5% body fat. Not good at all.

That first week, he was very motivated – after all, his precious iPad time depended on it – and he voluntarily cut his portions.

“Dad, I’ll just have half of the pizza (instead of the usual amount).”

The following Saturday, we saw that his efforts paid off. He was down to 27.0%.

But the next week he slacked off. I think he thought that he would not have to keep working at it.

His body fat went right back up to where it was before.

So the third week he was again determined to lose the fat. He spoke to Mom about the “big test” that would be coming up. He wanted to eat less.

And on Saturday, when he stepped on the scale, he had his best showing yet.

Our goal for this is not so much for Kai to hit a particular number. Rather, it is to instill in him good eating, exercise, and lifestyle habits that will hopefully stay with him for the rest of his life.

Hopefully he won’t just rollercoaster, going down one week only to go back up the next. It will probably take a lot of persistence on our part to keep him focused on the big picture.

But for his long-term health, it is critical to build good habits from an early age. Let’s see how we do.

Our Memorial Day

Beach

The water was cold, even for Kai.

Barbeque

Well, it was indoors, but we had ribs, corn on the cob, cole slaw, and baked beans. Yum!

Birthday

My dad's birthday is this week. My wife made made the birthday cake out of Jell-O and pound cake, and topped it with home-made whipped cream and strawberries and blueberries to give it the patriotic look on Memorial Day.


Hope you had a nice holiday as well.

Spring Planting

We went to cemetery last weekend to plant some annuals at the grave of my wife's first husband, Kai's biological father.

We have been doing this with Kai since he was quite young, perhaps since he was four years old. Back then, he never questioned anything. Of course, for a long time, he was not capable of asking questions, but even after he was, he did not seem curious about why we were there.

At that point, we had not yet explained to him his family history, and he did not seem to pick up on any clues about it. He did not question why his grandparents were Caucasian when me and my wife were Asian. And at the cemetery, he did not seem to notice that the last name on the gravestone matched that of his grandparents.

But he always enjoyed going to there to plant flowers. Any reason to play with dirt was good with him.

In the past few years, though, as we have talked to him about his family, he seems to understand why we go there. And he seems more curious, asking the kind of questions that kids ask, I guess.

"Where is he buried?"

"Who dug the hole?"

"How deep was it?"

And he was very eager to help with the planting. He dug holes, placed the small plants in, and compacted the dirt around them the way I showed him.

And though we did not talk about it, I think my wife was thinking that her late husband would be very happy that Kai was there helping to plant the flowers, and that he was growing up to be a fine boy.

Outing with Friends

One of my son’s friends at school invited Kai along with a small group of kids to go to Brookfield Zoo yesterday to celebrate the boy’s birthday. The boy’s mother would be picking up each of the kids and they would drive to the zoo together.

We were thrilled that Kai was invited, but also nervous about letting him go without one of us there with him. We had never dropped him off at any birthday party, always choosing to stay with him even if the party was not far from home. This party would be long; Kai would be gone for about 5 hours including the 45-minute car ride each way. If a problem arose at the zoo, we wouldn’t be able to get there quickly.

Furthermore, Kai has not shown much interest in zoos. When Kai was much younger, we occasionally took him to Lincoln Park Zoo, located in the city. But he did not show much interest in the animals, he usually ended up upset, and we always wondered why we bothered taking him.

So it has been a long time since we went to a zoo.

After thinking about all of this, my wife reached out to the mother of the boy and told her that Kai had never been dropped off at a party before. The mother was very understanding, telling my wife that she was welcome to come with, or she and Kai could drive separately in case they needed to leave early. We wanted Kai to spend time with the other kids, so my wife accepted the offer to go along with Kai and the others in the same car.

After all that worrying, I’m happy to report that all went well yesterday. Kai and all the boys had a very nice time.

Here you see him at his favorite venue, Stingray Bay, where you can touch the rays as they swim by.

It was nice to see that he could handle such a long outing with other kids.

Maybe next time we will let him go by himself.

A Happy Mother’s Day

We started out Mother’s Day with our usual weekend run first thing in the morning. Then we gave Mom our cards and a present.

After breakfast, Kai and I washed her car.

Though I think Kai soaked himself with the bucket of soapy water more than he soaked the car.

Ha, I guess he still has sensory issues. It reminded us that when Kai was much younger, we used let him rub shaving cream all over his body and he enjoyed sliding around on the floor.

After that we went out for lunch at one of our favorite hot dog/Mexican joints. Then, while Kai went to his exercise group, my wife and I took in a flea market.

For dinner, we had tentatively planned on taking Kai to his first Greek restaurant, but we were still feeling heavy from lunch so we decided to go to a Japanese restaurant instead.

Kai had his favorites – miso soup, shrimp tempura, and pieces of shrimp and octopus sushi. My wife and I each had the miso soup, gomae (spinach with sesame dressing), and sashimi plate.

When we got home, Kai whined just a bit when I asked him to play piano.

“But, Dad, it’s Mother’s Day>”

Yes, that’s right. It is not Kid’s Day, it’s Mother’s Day, so you should play extra nice for Mom.

He grumbled a bit more, but he played.

And overall he did very little grumbling.

It really was a very happy Mother’s Day.

Hope yours was nice, too.

“All About Mom”

Kai made a mother’s day card at school.

My wife thought much of the sentiments that Kai filled out were funny…

I think her favorite part is “My mom is 21 (real life 49) years old.”

Here’s the back cover of the card (Excuse the spelling error)...

Wishing all of you moms out there a very happy Mother’s Day.

Nature Center and Musical Theater

A week ago, my wife and I had gone to see my dad without Kai when Kai was with his mentor from school. Kai expressed disappointment, saying that he wanted to see Ojiichan, too. So this weekend we scheduled a visit with Kai.

There is a nature center very close to the assisted living facility where my dad now lives. Kai has been there before with his mentor, but the rest of us wanted to go see it for the first time.

My dad loves nature, and Kai is very much into anything science related, so this was a good choice for an outing.

The visitor center had a number of exhibits with skeletons, antlers, mounted animals, and other artifacts, along with a few live animals. Kai enjoyed taking us around the whole place.

Below you see him checking out one of several live snakes they had.

And here you see a kestrel, a hawk-like bird, eating a dead mouse.

It was good to find an activity to do with my dad that he and Kai both enjoy.

* * * * *
The next day, we took Kai to see a live performance of School House Rock, a musical based on the ‘70s animated television series.

When Kai was younger, he loved getting the School House Rock dvds from our library. The songs were fun and they taught children about grammar, math, science, and social studies, among other things.

It has been at least a couple of years since he’s looked at those videos, but he still wanted to go see the show.

This production was specifically aimed for kids, and its one-hour length was about right for Kai. He has sat through longer shows, but two hours is still a bit long for him.

This one featured about 15 of the best School House Rock songs including Conjunction Junction; Three Is A Magic Number; Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here; I’m Just A Bill; and my favorite, Interjections!

Kai said he enjoyed it. I did, too.

Especially appreciating that taking him to places like this is no longer the stressful event that it once was. And that is deserving of an interjection – Hooray!

Changes and Challenges

We arrived at Kai’s boxing class on Saturday afternoon and found some changes. They had set up for a birthday party for the son of the founder of the organization that puts on these classes.

Outdoors, next to the gym, were two large inflatables where kids could bounce and slide. Tables were set up for pizza and soft drinks. It looked like it would be a fun time.

Kai was not happy.

I had received an email the evening before letting us know that there would be a birthday party after the boxing class. I didn’t realize that it would, in reality, supplant the boxing class. I hadn’t told Kai about this change in routine and he was not happy.

He wanted to box.

For a little while, the instructor grabbed a pair of boxing gloves and had some kids work on their punches. But it was apparent that most kids just wanted to get on with the party.

I was chatting with another parent but made my way over to Kai when I saw that he maintained his angry face.

I told him he could have some pizza. He refused, saying that he wanted to destroy the party.

I tried to stay positive, talking about how the inflatables looked fun. Eventually, the lure of the pizza was too much and he said he would have a piece. One volunteer girl came over and gently teased Kai, “I thought you were going to poison all the pizza.” He said he did but then he un-poisoned it. He asked me to get him a second piece.

And then went on the inflatables. He spent most of his time on the one where you climbed up from one side, slide down the other, and then walk around to do it all over again. He was laughing and laughing, pausing occasionally only to ask the time. His soccer game was later in the afternoon and he did not want to miss it.

His boxing instructor came over when he saw Kai laughing. He asked Kai if he was having a good time, and when Kai said he was, the instructor laughed and said “I knew it!” as Kai is often prone to starting off grumpy before ending up enjoying himself there.

The birthday cake came out just when it was time to leave for the soccer game. I offered to let Kai stay and have cake, but told him that we would be late for soccer if we did. The cake looked scrumptious, but he opted to leave.

When we arrived at his special needs soccer game, we found the coach was not there. Usually this coach divides up the players with the special needs kids on one team, and some of the volunteer kids serving as the opposition team ala the Washington Generals (of Harlem Globetrotters fame). Kai likes this setup because his team scores almost all of the goals and wins every game.

This week, though, with the coach not there, another parent took charge. She divided the teams differently, with the special needs kids separated onto two teams, assisted by the volunteer kids. The special needs kids would thus play against each other.

This had been the setup in years past, but not since the current coach took over last fall. Having the special needs kids split up worked out okay before when the kids’ abilities spanned a broad spectrum. But since last fall, Kai’s abilities have stood out, as other kids of his ability dropped out, leaving only the kids requiring assistance from the volunteer kids.

How that played out this week was that Kai got upset as the other team scored goals. He particularly got angry when the parent serving as his team’s goalie made no effort to block shots from the opposing team. He came over to the sideline, dumped out his water bottle and refused to play any longer. He said he wished he stayed for the birthday cake and said he never wanted to play soccer again.

I went over to talk to him. And while I understood how he felt, I didn’t like how he handled his frustration. But then again, perhaps I didn’t handle my own frustration too well, either.

When encouraging him to go back in and play did not work, I got stern with him. I told him that he wouldn’t be able to use the iPad if he did not go back out on the field and make an effort. He finally went, but mainly to yell at the parent who was the goalie. When I yelled at him that we would go, he said that he would play nicely.

He ran after the ball, and took it away from an opposing special needs child who needs a lot of help to kick the ball. Kai dribbled all the way down the field and scored, then looked for my approval as he had played hard as I had demanded.

I was frustrated, with him, the situation, but mostly myself.

This group is really great for the other kids, but I don’t think it is right for Kai any longer. I can’t ask him to go out there and try hard, but then have the result be that he dominates the game and doesn’t give the other kids a chance to kick the ball and score. What do I tell him, play hard only if the ball happens to come your way?

Finding a special needs activity that is right for your child can be difficult. Just because an activity has a ‘special needs’ label doesn’t make it right for every child with that label.

And so I think we will stop going to this activity. I hate to end on such a sour note. But I think that will be best, both for Kai as well as the other kids.

Weekend Away From Mom and Dad

It was a memorable weekend. And not just because it was Easter and we had our first spring-like weather after a long, tough winter.

Our son spent his first night away from both Mom and Dad since he was three years old.

My sister and brother-in-law had begun the arduous task of sorting through my dad’s things and cleaning up his house, but I had not been up there myself since we moved my dad out. This three-day weekend presented me with the rare opportunity to go up there.

My wife offered to go with me to help out, but we knew that if we brought Kai up there with us, we would not be too productive.

So we appreciated it when Kai’s grandparents offered to watch Kai while my wife and I went to my dad’s house. Kai would spend a day and a half with his grandparents while we were away, the longest time he would be away from us since before he could remember.

It is a testament to Kai’s progress that my wife and I did not have to think too long before taking them up on the offer. A couple years ago, we would have thought differently, that Kai would be too challenging to leave with grandparents for that long.

When we told Kai about the plan a couple of weeks ago, he seemed a little nervous. But my wife told him that his slightly older cousins had stayed overnight with Bubbe and Papa a couple times so he was now ready to as well.

Kai said, “I’ll make it my mission!”

We drove up to their house in Michigan and had lunch together before we departed. Kai was not happy to see us leave, but neither was he particularly distressed.

When we phoned that evening, his grandmother assured us that he was doing fine and had done all of his favorite things. But Kai himself was not too talkative. We thought he might be mad at us.

We thought that nighttime would be the hardest time for Kai, but they maintained our custom of reading with him at bedtime, and then Bubbe slept in the same room with him so he was fine.

The next day, they filled the day with fun activities.

Kai introduced them to coloring Easter eggs.

They went to see the snow and ice that are still on Lake Michigan.

And they went hiking at a nearby nature center.

When we got back late that afternoon, they were on their way out for another walk. Kai was happy to see us, but he still wanted to go walking with his grandparents. We could see that he was perfectly fine, and they confirmed that Kai behaved very well the whole time.

At one time we would have thought that this would be a Mission Impossible. But Kai completed it with flying colors.

Happy Passover

Celebrating Passover is one of Kai’s favorite family traditions. I think it’s the result of the rituals that he has come to know and love, and because he gets to see his grandparents who shower him with love.

He was ready to begin the activities as soon as our guests arrived.

Here you see him setting up the Seder plate.

And when we sat down at the table, Kai eagerly followed along, or in some cases led us through the Haggadah. There was no skipping any steps with him.

He took center stage when it came time to read about the 10 plagues. Kai was ready with his paper-bag hand puppets that he had made a couple of years ago.

In the background of the following picture, you can see that it was a snowy evening more appropriate for Hanukkah than for Passover.

When it was time to eat, Kai sat at the table nicely, even without his iPad. And then he waited patiently while we adults finished eating before he went on to step 14, searching for the afikoman.

It is no longer a surprise for us when Kai behaves well and has great interactions with his relatives. We have come to expect it.

But it is still something we appreciate greatly.

Happy Pesach, everyone!

A Real Play Date

Our son’s therapist at school told my wife about a boy in Kai’s class that he is friends with at school. She thought that this boy, E, was a good match for a play date for Kai.

It has been a long time since we’ve matched Kai up with another child on a play date.

There are challenges, not the least of which is that Kai’s school draws kids from more than a dozen different suburbs so most of his classmates do not live in our neighborhood. E lives two towns over, about a 45 minute round trip away. So it’s not like Kai can just walk home from school with him or stroll over to visit any time he wants.

But it is not just the distance that is a factor.

For what seemed the longest time, Kai did not really play with other kids. Most play dates we set up for Kai when he was younger involved him doing his thing while the other child did their thing. It was mostly parallel play, with a minimal amount of interaction.

More recently we learned from the staff at his school that Kai does interact with other children. And we did try to set up the occasional play date, to varying degrees of success. But it’s hard to find another child who shares the same interests as Kai. And Kai never expressed wanting to have another classmate over to the house.

His mom and I have been his only playmates outside of school. And while it is nice to have that bond with our son, we want Kai to have a friend besides us, or at the very least, the capability to have friends.

And so we decided to pursue a play date with E.

My wife invited the boy over, communicating through staff at school and E’s sister as E’s parents do not speak much English.

This past Friday was the big day. I think I was more excited, and anxious, about it than Kai was.

I repeatedly told him to be nice to E and to play with him.

“Yessssss” Kai groaned, tired of hearing me.

My wife told me that the E would come to our house with Kai after school, they would play for about three hours, have dinner with us, and then she would drive him home.

That seemed like a really long time. I was sure my wife would stress out trying to keep them occupied for that long.

So I was surprised when I called her after work and found out that they had been playing nicely.

My wife told me how they played “kendo” for a while in the backyard using fallen tree branches as the proxy for Japanese bamboo swords.

Then they came inside and raced some vehicles as they made a makeshift track out of books and other things.

Finally, they played Wii.

When I got home, they were having dinner. And then after dinner I joined them on the Wii for a game of Mario Kart. I got to see the boys really talking to each other and interacting. In most homes, that is nothing unusual, but it was a beautiful sight for us.

By the time we all dropped E home at his house, the boys had been together for nearly five hours. There were no incidents; it was all just fun.

Kai said he had a good time. So we will definitely want to do this again.

Two kids playing. Something most parents can take for granted.

But for us, it is another big sign of progress.

Striking Another Boy

So much for the hope that my son would have a better day at school.

When I called my wife after work yesterday, she told me that Kai had a major incident at school. He had struck another boy.

Every Wednesday, Kai’s school rewards students who have been safe for the past week with a video during lunchtime. Kai had had an incident earlier in the week so he did not qualify.

He’s known for a few days that he would not get to watch the movie, but he still has difficulty handling disappointment. And so it seems that he was upset when other kids were enjoying their movie while he was not.

What happened after that is open to question. After Kai’s teacher phoned my wife, my wife had the impression that Kai hit another boy for no reason other than that boy getting to watch the movie that Kai could not.

But when we questioned Kai at home later, he said that he approached the boy to ask him what movie they had seen. When the boy ignored his question, Kai got mad and hit him.

Whether or not that was the case, it still did not excuse him from hitting the boy. (And, fortunately, the boy was not hurt).

My wife and I discussed Kai’s punishment over the phone, and she talked to him sternly about it before I came home. He would not be able to use the iPad until the weekend, and if he did not finish the school week off strong, he would not be able to use it over the weekend either.

When I came home, Kai was not joking around about magically losing his Point Sheet. He knew that we would not be in any mood for silliness.

I reinforced to him that hitting a boy was not an appropriate or acceptable response. I asked him if he apologized to the boy, and he said he did.

His teacher had let my wife know that Kai had bumped his head after the incident. I asked Kai how that happened. He indicated that he deliberately hit his head on the floor in anger, something we have not seen at home in a very long time. I rebuked him and warned him that he could get brain damage if he did that.

The only positive, such as it is, is that I did not hear Kai blame anyone else for what happened which is what he usually does. He seems to understand that he was the one who did something wrong. He seems motivated to have better days today and tomorrow.

Hopefully he will be able to do it.

Magically Bad Day

I usually get a pretty good gauge of my son’s day at school within seconds of stepping into the house after I return home from work in the evening.

If Kai runs over to greet me and eagerly encourages me to look at his Point Sheet, then I know that he must have had a very good day.

If he is engrossed in his iPad and greets me in a friendly, but distracted way, then I know that he had a good, but not especially great, day.

And if he comes over and says, “Dad, whatever you do, do NOT look at my Point Sheet!” well, I know that he did not have a good day.

And that is how it was when I came home last night.

I heard my wife telling him to go get his Point Sheet. He had apparently hidden it somewhere and she could not find it.

He told her, “Mom, don’t let Dad see my Point Sheet.” Apparently Mom is allowed to see it but Dad is not.

I don’t yell at him if he’s had a bad day, but I do like to hear what happened. Oftentimes I will then talk with him about how he could have handled a situation differently. I don’t think I am being unreasonably harsh, but my wife says that Kai is scared to show me his Point Sheet on these days.

After much urging, he finally brought it over. But then he folded it up and hid it. “See? I did magic! It’s gone!”

Eventually he made it reappear and I got to take a look at it. 71%. Not as bad as I was anticipating after all that drama, but bad enough that he had lost his iPad privileges at home for the day.

Kai never likes to talk about what happened that caused his score to be so low. And it wasn’t so bad so we did not get an email from his teacher to explain anything. So we are left a bit in the dark on this one.

I just hope that when I get home from work tonight, there will be no need for any magic tricks.

Who is the Picky Eater Now?

We went out to a Japanese restaurant last night to celebrate our anniversary.

My wife ordered amaebi (sweet shrimp sushi), which Kai and I had never had before. The body of the shrimp is served as onigiri, wrapped with a ball of rice. Our server, the Japanese owner of the restaurant, asked my wife if she would like the heads of the shrimp as well, which she did. The entire head of the shrimp is deep fried in a light batter.

Kai did not like the sushi as we forgot to order it without wasabi, the Japanese horseradish that Kai does not like.

However, he was eager to try the shrimp head. He asked what the two small black things were and we told him they were the eyes. I was not sure I wanted to eat the shrimp head myself, but Kai happily gobbled his down and said it was good.

So, I tried it, too, and was surprised how tasty it was. The whole thing was very crispy and easy to eat.

My wife and I ordered a large platter of sushi for ourselves, only some of which is pictured here.

For Kai, we always get regular shrimp sushi and he ate them after my wife scrapped off the wasabi.

This time, though, he also wanted to try octopus. My wife and I do not like to eat octopus, being too chewy for our tastes. We warned Kai that he might not like it, but he still wanted to try it.

We were very surprised when he said he liked it. In fact, he liked it so much that he wanted us to order a couple more pieces for him.

So, the little boy who once was such a picky eater is growing up to have an adventurous palate, surpassing even his parents in some respects.

Good for him.

And it will be good for us, too, as we expect to be spending quite a bit of time in Japanese restaurants later this year.

Then and Now: Wedding Day

Today’s Then and Now features a picture of my parents on their wedding day.

The thing that stands out in that picture is the big smile on my dad’s face. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him smile like that.

The “Now” photo is actually from seven years ago today, when the three of us officially became a family.

Happy anniversary to my wife and son!

Then and Now: The Grand Canyon

My sister and I found a bunch of my parents’ old photos and we have been going through them. It is an eye-opener to see them so young.

Of course, we know that they must have been young at one time, but it is hard to picture them that way. I think we all tend to remember old people as they become after they are old, rather than what they were like in other periods of their lives, particularly before we knew them.

One of my projects will be to scan these old photos.

It has been fun to see that before they had kids, they traveled to some of the same places that I have taken my wife and Kai to recently. From time to time I may post some of the pictures they took during their travels.

This first one is from the trip they made to the Grand Canyon back in 1954, 60 years ago.

And this is a photo of me and Kai there last week.

Spring Break Vacation, Day 6 – Going Home

We had a few hours after we woke up before having to head to the airport to go home. Kai wanted to use the pool one more time. It was a little cold for swimming that early in the morning – temps in the low 50s – but we didn’t want to disappoint Kai so we braved the cold and took the plunge.

We had a good flight home, with Kai insisting on holding our hands during takeoff and landing.

As we came into Chicago, we saw gray skies, a far cry from mostly sunny Las Vegas and Arizona. It was a sad reminder that our vacation was over.

I think Kai will tell you that he enjoyed the vacation. Though his lasting memory of Las Vegas may be the stench of cigarette smoke rather than the shows or attractions we saw. And what he enjoyed most on the trip may be the extra iPad time he had on the planes, hotel rooms, and on the drive to the Grand Canyon.

But I hope the sight of the Canyon will stick in his memory as well. And with the perspective of time will come to appreciate these experiences of traveling to new places.

I just know that I got to once again live out my dream of exploring these wonderful places with my family. And that memory will brighten all the gray days in Chicago.

Spring Break Vacation, Day 5 – More of The Grand Canyon

We stayed only one night at the Grand Canyon so we wanted to make the most of the morning before heading back to Vegas in the afternoon.

The western portion of the National Park is not accessible by private vehicles so we caught the shuttle bus and picked a couple of spots to get off and see the sights.

Pima Point was quite spectacular, but very windy. With the temperature only in the 40s, it was cold.

Kai got upset with the wind and he and my wife tried to shelter themselves behind this sign until the next bus came.

They were happy when we were able to warm up with hot apple cider and hot chocolate at the next stop, Hermit’s Nest.

After we took the shuttle back to its starting point, we got in our car and drove to the eastern part of the Park, stopping at a few spots along the way.

Here’s the view at Grandview Point:

And the one at Lipan Point:

At the eastern end of the Park is Desert View where they have an old watch tower.

We climbed to the top.

And had a great view out the window.

We had someone take one last photo of the three of us.

And then it was time to drive back to Vegas where we would catch our flight home the next day.

In Vegas, we saw one more hotel lobby, this one at the Bellagio where we went to have dinner. They have a spectacular exhibit featuring flowers and Chihuly glass sculptures.

It’s always a little sad when a vacation is coming to an end. But we feel good that it was all that we hoped it would be.