Ella's Big Girl Room

I've been wanting to post pictures of Ella's room for awhile now, but I was waiting for it to be 100% done. We are still working on creating a cushion and pillows for her window seat (it's huge!), we need to switch her dresser with a taller, white dresser in Maxwell's room, and my mother in law is making some beautiful lace balls to hang with the poms she did in the bay window. But it's a lazy, rainy day so I'm posting the room as is.

I use a Canon Powershot, a simple point and shoot, but something is funky with the setting because all my pictures are coming out really grainy and kind of blurry?

 Click here for the 'before pictures'

Ella's Big Girl Room...

Paint- Sherwin Williams Front Porch, it's really pretty pale gray
 

This was the big window seat I got Mike to build. He did such a good job, this puppy is huge! See how we can tuck all her junk  treasures underneath? We lost floor space but Ella spends lots of time playing on top. This has become her favorite spot to play dollhouse. It will be super comfy once we finish the cushion.

 

The bed frame is a Craigslist find from Gma Judie, painted white.

Little details...
An old window painted white and embellished with liquid chalk. We can draw and erase. She's really into Tinkerbell right now so we've got a quote from Peter Pan. 

I love this wall. My mother in law had these old frames for me. They were spray painted an antiqued white. The prints were either etsy or free printables via pinterest. 

Ella's bedding is my favorite part. I found it two summer's ago and tucked it away for her big girl room. Target's Rachel Ashwell shabby chic bedding.

My girl popping in to ask me why I'm taking pictures in her room.

Craigslist night stand.

Cuite pie.

Favorite, faithful horse.

Fabric bunting, etsy, here.

Free vintage printable via pinterest, here

Other etsy prints found, here, here, and here

I wasn't ready to tuck this suit away. I used hot glue over fabric in a frame and displayed it over a photo of Ella wearing the same suit at the beach.

That's it! Wish my camera wasn't so blurry.

Little Trees

Let Christmas begin! After a failed nap attempt, I brought a table out back and let the kids decorate trees for their rooms. While I thought this would be fun for them, I was actually trying to snap a perfect pic for this year's Christmas card. Instead, real life happened and the trees kept tipping over and the ornaments fell off.

The pictures came out fuzzy, but it was fun for awhile. M & E keep dragging me by the arm to show me their trees displayed in in their room- which was the point to begin with.

 

NEVER Stay At The Excalibur Hotel And Casino, Las Vegas

On our way to Utah we stayed one night in Vegas to break up the drive. While staying at the Excalibur, we were robbed in our room while we were sleeping. I posted this review this morning on TripAdvisor and Yelp:

WORST hotel experience I have ever had. We were robbed while we were sleeping in our room and the hotel told us it is our fault. The Excalibur's customer service has been disgusting.

We stayed in Vegas for one night on a Thanksgiving road trip and chose Excalibur because we thought our little kids would like it. The room was cheap but they charged us some extra hotel fee of $15 on the phone (through the hotel directly) and also an additional $17 when we arrived. After checking in we found our room dingy and dark but didn't think much of it. We played with our 3 1/2 year old twins in the arcade and after dinner went to our room for the night.

Our older daughter (21 yrs) and her boyfriend (23) were on this road trip with us and didn't arrive from out of town until 12 30 am bc they had worked that day in California. When they arrived at 12 30 we were obviously sleeping and they knocked on the door, we gave them hugs and they went to sleep in the bed next to us. The room was stuffy so kept the AC unit on. It was very old and LOUD. We woke up at 6 the next morning to the bathroom light on (which we had specifically turned off). My husband's wallet was on the ground opened, with his cash gone. My daughter's boyfriend's wallet was put back into his pants on the floor by the bed and his $200 cash was also gone.

When we spoke to the hotel they connected us with their 'risk management department' they informed us that this happens. They said that people roam the halls and push open doors. They told us that because we didn't deadbolt the door (which we usually do but it was overlooked bc it was so late), and we didn't put our cash in the safe, they were not responsible. We spoke with many managers that day and on the phone in the days following. We filed a police report at the Vegas PD.

The main problems I have are,
1. Their doors don't work properly. Multiple people in risk management (security) and in hotel management told us that their doors don't always lock automatically and you have to pull the door and lift the handle to make sure it close. I will always use the deadbolt in future hotel stays anywhere, but I don't believe this makes a robbery our fault.

They have unsafe, faulty doors and they have no plan to fix them. Knowing that this happens, they still do not have security cameras in the tower we stayed in (tower 1), nor do they have security officers on the floors monitoring the safety of their guests- even though they admitted that they have had intruders in the past.

And using the safe? I understand that it is wise to lock up extra cash when leaving the room. But I do not accept that it is our fault that our money was stolen while we were in our room with our children asleep. I get sick thinking that whoever this was could also have take our little twins out of bed and kidnapped them.

2. We have received no apology or compensation at all. Money is money. It was $400 dollars lost, but this is about so much more than that. From the beginning we were dismissed and given the run around. We had woken up early that morning to get back on the road to finish our drive to get to our Thanksgiving vacation. While my husband met with security and management we stood with the little kids and waited. And waited. And waited. No one once offered to comp the room while they looked into it. No one offered breakfast vouchers for us to feed the kids. So while it was not initially about the money, I now feel it's personal and I'm furious.

We have spoken on the phone to all the people mentioned above and after reviewing our case, we were told they do not take responsibility and the incident is our fault. I don't accept this and we have been in contact with their corporate office, though I don't imagine we will ever get back what we lost.

I'm still very unsettled that there was someone in our room, going through our things while we slept. I get anxious thinking about someone taking our little ones and in some ways I'm thankful we didn't wake up because I don't know what would have happened if my husband or daughter's boyfriend would have caught the person.

The Excalibur has shown no regard for our well being as guests and I STRONGLY advise against anyone ever staying there. The allure of an inexpensive rate is not worth your safety.

Thanksgiving In Photos

From California to Utah...

First stop, a night in Vegas (a separate post about that to follow)

Games in the arcade

Made it to Utah, and the kids finally got to play in the snow

 

 

 

 

 

Friends

Night time board games

A visit to the planetarium

A movie in the dome IMAX

First time ice skating!

Bowling

 

Indoor golf

And a restful Thanksgiving day