Bran's in Mongolia: Planes, Trains and Elephants

On January 16th, I boarded a plane and headed to Las Vegas, Nevada to meet my dad for vacation. We watched the Bellagio Fountains, ate nachos at El Diablos, played "toy dice" and walked all over the strip!

Dad and I in front of the Golden Nugget!

We went to see Terry Fator (a big ventriloquist who won America's Got Talent several years ago). He was great!

From there, I boarded a plane to LA, California to vacation with my mom, brother, sister (Cody's wife) and most importantly, my nephew! We rented a house, walked along the pier, shopped in some cute places, slept in and played Mexican Train every night!

My nephew, Gideon - the one I was most looking forward to seeing as he was born after I left for Mongolia! He's wearing a shirt I made for him before I left - it says "I love you" in Mongolian.

My brother, sister, nephew, mom and I at the San Clemente Pier - it was beautiful.

Yup, I'm his favorite. Aunt.

Amy and I with mom in the background.

Mom loves the ocean - too bad it was too cold to swim in.

This is how he and I spent all our time in the car - staring at each other. I couldn't get enough of that face!!!

After that, I boarded another plane and went to Chiang Mai, Thailand to meet one of my closest friends, Karen for vacation. We went washed and fed elephants, flew to Bangkok, went to an aquarium, saw several temples, took an overnight train back to Chiang Mai, ate at some fancy places, had our feet done and explored Thailand. So. Much. Fun.