I almost forgot that I haven’t blogged about our Vegas trip! 36 hours in a place I’ve never been… and they had Starbucks. What more could one hope for? So, here’s a pictoral of our trip.

Friday - Feb 1
Off to the airport we go. Maria came to my house, we went to Cindy’s house, then drove to Christy’s house. She let us leave the car there and took us to the airport so we didn’t have to pay Park and Fly. That rocks! More spending cash.

Arrived in Vegas - Now to find Erika
We met up with Maria’s friend Erika at the airport and took a cab (which charged us too much!) to the Planet Hollywood hotel. The hotel is right on the strip. I was looking a bit bedraggled by the end of the plane flight but we headed down to Starbucks (sg!) and off to the casino for a few hours.

Maria and Erika

Cindy and I

Slots - aka The Little Machines
By the end of the trip, Maria was cursing the slots as they bring her no luck. Between Cindy and I, we kept breaking even with the slots then losing what we brought. But hey, it was our first night and we weren’t prepared for the roulette table. I liked watching the action, but I couldn’t bring myself to put down $10 on one number. I need a table where the stakes aren’t as high. I was really hoping to play poker, but the tables are intimidating.

Bedtime - 2:19am (5:19 Florida time)
We finally made it to bed at around 2 am, which for us was 5 am. Maria and Erika were still out there until around 6am. They’re way tougher than us! I have to say that the Planet Hollywood Hotel has the *best* beds ever. They were So comfy and the comforters were to die for. I should have snuck one home. I would have needed bigger luggage.

The view from our room was awesome.

Day 2
The room view the next day was quite impressive as well. I guess anywhere you stay if you can see the strip, it’s impressive. But I was oohing and aahing.

So here we are, ready to start our day. We were going sight seeing. You can see a peek of Maria just waking up behind us (after only 2 hours) to get ready for her hair appt at the salon. Come to Vegas, hit the spa. Sounds good to me, eh? If only I had decided which service I would want.

Straight to Starbucks for us for a morning coffee, then off to the slots (I think we played a whole dollar… oooh, big spenders) and THEN on to sight seeing.

Now there’s a lot to see on the strip and let me tell you, Cindy and I walked the whole thing. When I say the whole thing, I’m not exagerating.

We went over to Caeser’s with Erika to check on Maria. Caesar’s is gorgeous. Why can’t my front entrance look like that?

Maria’s hair was in progress, so we left Erika on the very long couch she coveted and headed on our way.

We continued on all the way to the Stratosphere, then jumped on the monorail back up to PH, napped, walked over to NY/NY and then went on the roller coaster. I highly recommend the roller coaster. It was awesome!

Then we walked through the Paris hotel (our 3rd time through that day) and I found this fabulous ceramic cup for my Mom. It didn’t hurt that it came filled with a complimentary (lol) margarita.

We had dinner and then went back to our room where I took a bath in a really large tub while Cindy took a nap. Did I mention that poor Cindy had a cold the whole trip? Then did I mention that when she took off her shoes from our really long day of walking, half her foot was completely blistered. I felt so bad. I literally walked her feet off. We went back down to the casino for a few hours then back to bed since we were leaving the next day.

Day 3
So here we are, exhausted and ready to go home. I’m looking a bit rough around the edges and that’s a good sign that it’s time to go home. Vegas was great. I can now say I’ve been there. I think I’d like to go back maybe one more time. Although I might bring a mask to take out some of the smoke in the casino’s. That really tore my lungs up. Oy! We flew home and were back in the house right after supper to say good night to the kids (if my kids slept that is.)

Where to next???

After being involved for the last few weeks in my search for Nicholas’ bed, my friend Robin (the craigslist girl that she is!) called last night that a new Thomas bed had been listed. I borrowed Papa’s truck and headed over to the other side of town. Aunt Cindy saved the day by picking up the kids while I drove back and got the new bed unloaded. We just went upstairs and Nicholas was very excited. He almost seemed stunned. Then he said “Downstairs now. I need more trains.” and proceeded down the stairs to get some more trains to bring back up the stairs to play with on the bed. It’s a big hit!

A little catch up now:

My Little Pony
Bella is almost at the age where she’s growing out of My Little Pony. But almost is the operative word. I took her down to Kissimmee to see My Little Pony Live on Stage and she had a great time. She made friends and enjoyed the show. Next year she won’t be interested, but this year, she’s still my girl, halfway caught between Princesses and Hannah Montana. After the show we stopped at Old Town to have a snack before making the drive home.

Laney’s Birthday
How is it my girl is eight! That’s just silly. She was just a teeny beanie just a wee bit ago. Well, it’s true and I’m amazed. We enjoyed Chuck E Cheese for the party (love the pizza) and the kids went hog wild running around CEC on a Saturday. It was *crazy* busy! Nicholas loved every second of it. I’d say Isabella enjoyed it, although that would be a guess since I only saw her at the beginning and end of the party. Otherwise her and Laney were off and about.

Saturday … continued…

Just in case you thought that was the only thing going on Saturday. Nope! We also had Isabella’s skate lesson and Austin’s birthday party. In the morning, we headed over to the Wagner’s to celebrate Austin’s 6th birthday. It was a soldier themed party and the kids were all out and about on the go cart.

Friday Night party!

The night before the big birthday’s was a big one. It was Austin and Delaney’s actual birthdays. We met up with Kiki and the kids at the mall to hang out, do Build a Bear and have dinner. Bella also wanted to get her ears pierced… again. Third time’s the charm we hope. She promised 6 ways to Sunday that she would let me take them out and then (the important part) put them back in so they wouldn’t grow out… again.

Before I forget…
The Hannah Montana movie concert was a blast. The girls loved it. They screamed and stood up and danced and sang and just were little concert goers in training. It was WAY cool.

Ok, quick story. So Nicholas is doing ok with the potty training. Not great, but ok. Each night before he gets his jammies on, he gets naked and pees in the potty. He’s really good about it. Last night, he was running around bare and sitting on the potty then getting up. I asked him, “Did you pee on the potty?” He said “No.” I said “Well, hon, you need to put the pee pees in the potty.” He goes running off. A few seconds later he returns carrying a bowl. He proceeds to scoop a handful of peas out of the bowl (from dinner) and put them in the potty.

“There Mama! Peas in the potty!”

(This story could also be called “The Adventures of Literal Boy”)

We just got an email from Tyler Place that they updated their website. It is absolutely beautiful and I ended up looking at every page (even the ones that I wasn’t interested in) but found a few cool surprises in Job Opportunities and Kids and Teens Programs Main Page. If you’re up for the hunt or would like to see where you *should* be vacationing… www.tylerplace.com.

Also, it looks like the end of my week long sickness is finally arriving. I’m still pretty much living on gatorade, but I can function, so that’s better than the last week

Well, work struck and here it is at 1 am and I’m on the way to bed. We had everyone over tonight for Kay’s birthday. Bella insisted that Granny got a Webkinz, so now we’ve got Granny sucked into the Webkinz world. I actually really enjoy it and Bella can now be easily bribed with webkin posts of presents paid for with my virtual money. Hoo ya! Works for me. She’s working on her Legendary Crown of Wonder (I snicker when I think of what this is possibly going to look like completed) and we’re enjoying the fun. It’s something we can do together and we now have a gift she REALLY likes for the holidays you usually give lots o’ candy. What could be better? Have a great night all and I’ll see ya soon!