SoCal Adventures - Pt. 1

Our first stop had nothing to do with southern California, but it was on the way there...
We were nervous about Liam driving 14 straight hours (and it before the first time he's been in the car for more than 5 hours at a time), and Todd was really wanting to stop in Vegas for a kind-of early birthday celebration. As it was, due to 3 construction stops and lots of potty-breaks it still took us 12 hours to get there - but am-I-ever counting my blessings, one of them being a child who is a good car traveler. Liam did amazing! We left at 4am, Liam did not go back to sleep when we moved him to the car but he did eventually take 2 short naps, watched one movie, and looked at lots of books. He was so happy, even when we would get out for gas or whatever, and then have to put him back in his seat a short time later - he didn't fuss. I was nervous for me too - I get carsick just driving around Nampa sometimes, so I rode in the passenger seat everywhere we went, and I felt pretty good that whole day.
We got to the MGM Grand at about 3 that afternoon (time change) - Liam was very excited to see get there - he looked out the window, with an arm-sweeping motion said "Las Begas, lots of buildings and cars," yup.
We were hungry so Todd and Steve and Liam ran off to the Bellagio buffet, and Linda and I wandered until we found something that sounded good. Apparently Liam had had enough of sitting at that point (and was probably tired too), and kind of fitted about being at a restaurant. When we met up with them he was still pretty fussy, and that pretty much only got worse throughout the day. It was also decently warm - between my belly and my feet I was very uncomfortable. Linda, Steve and I took Liam back to the hotel were in bed by 9 - we were probably the only ones in Vegas asleep that early. The next morning we wandered a little bit, got some breakfast, hit up an outlet mall and were off again.
We didn't take many pictures since Liam was not the happiest kid... but here's what I've got:

The view from our window.

Lions in the lobby.

At this point, he was done.

The one thing he was pumped about... "candies." He picked orange and black.