Tour #1: Failure
The Famous Brands Marshmallow Tour promised an unforgettable, unique experience with free marshmallows at the end. Sadly, their plant closed down earlier this fall and we drove all the way out there for no reason.

Tour 2: Failure
Apparently Ocean Spray, while still operating their business from this site, decided to follow the marshmallow people's footsteps and they too closed down their tour. Lame.

Tour #3: Ethel M's Chocolate Factory
A quick tour, but nice. We got free chocolates at the end! Yummy!

Funny Candy Mold
The best part of the toury day was seeing this candy machine's funny label. :)

Cactus Garden
Dad takes a breather and enjoys the cactus.

Tour #4: Ron Lee's Clown Museum Tour
Wasn't a tour of clowns, but a tour of people making little figurines and painting them. While some were in the shape of a clown, most weren't. They did however have a cool mural that I think was good for photos.

Water show at the Bellagio
My brother Charie and his wife Stefani

Charlie & Elvis
How can you turn down a photo opp like this?

Parents with Elvis
While I don't think my parents ever saw Elvis perform when they were younger, they did get a photo together in Vegas.

Me and Elvis
And after taking everyone else's photos all weekend, I wanted a photo of me too. Enjoy! (Notice the short hair, having grown out for a full month by now!)

The Fremont Experience
My cousins Jon and Jim at the lights show. Jon's a soccer stud from Iowa and Jim's a college boy now living it up in Chicago. :)

Group photo!
Thanksgiving dinner means getting dressed up, eating lots, and attempting to squeeze everyone in for a group photo. Sadly, whoever I handed my camera to this year didn't quite take a steady photo. Ah well... at lease you can still see everyone...

Big family
With eighteen relatives all at one table, it was a pretty big affair. The fancy Italian place we went to had a special back room set up for us, and a special Thanksgiving meal catered in. Quite nice.

Eating
Mom, Dad, and Charlie all smile for the camera

Elvis and Prescilla
Charlie and Stef check out one of the swans at our Embassy Suites

Tradition
Every year, we pass around $2 bills and the family all signs each others. It's pretty fun looking at how signatures change over time... some didn't have the younger cousins, some had parents writing when kids were too small, some had awkward 5-year-old writing, some had loopy middle school writing, etc. Fun tradition...

The other tradition
Every year at Thanksgiving we also have a gift exchange... one white elephant gift, and one real gift. :) You pick a number, get a gift, can trade, can strategize, etc. Pretty entertaining, though sometimes the strategies get rough and some people end up with gifts that weren't quite what they were wanting.

Again at the Bellagio
Uncle Tom generously bought the family tickets to see O, the underwater Cirque de Solei show at the Bellagio. It was very cool, and afterwards many of us hung out to try our hands at the slots or video poker. :)

The Koehn girls
Stef, Mom, and I are adorable, aren't we?

Buca di Beppo
Buca's great for big groups, and the Pope's table fit all 16 of us! Creepy, but fun!

Jim, me, Meghan, and Vince
Always fun to snap photos during dinner. :)

Vince
Vince is Meghan's boyfriend and his arrival at the family gathering was the first time anyone brought a S.O. to the event. He's fun and we were glad to have him. :)

Jim & I
Our last night in town all of the cousins gathered in Jim's room for some kid bonding. :) It's hard when we only see each other once a year, but we took turns with the Book of Questions and had fun catching up with everyone.