Enjoying Vegas

Neil and I got to take a couples trip to Las Vegas in April. Neil was part of a relay race in the Nevada mountains. The race was called Baker to Vegas and the teams were made up of law enforcement from all over the world, although mostly CA agencies. Neil and some of his coworkers were asked to be runners on the Modesto team. It was such a joy to see Neil work hard and train for this competition. His dedication to the run and team was awesome. He is looking forward to being asked back as part of the team for next years run. Although he said it was very hard he would do it again in a heart beat!

And while we were in Las Vegas, Auntie Hollie babysat...

And I'm still hearing stories of some of the fun they had. Hollie has told other family members that she love my kids, but doesn't want any of her own. When we came home (a day late I might add) she looked beat up!!
Here's a list of the things that Auntie Hollie did with the kids (according to the kids)
- Rented 7 movies, bought popcorn
- Painted with Mom's paints.
- Made life size paintings of themselves
- Alex was a girl for the weekend
- His transformation included makeup and dresses
- Put makeup on Alex while he was asleep then took pictures of him
- Slept with Auntie in Mom and Dad's bed
- Made an island out of blankets on the middle of the floor
- Blew bubbles in the kitchen
- Went to Chuckie Cheese
- Wore our pj's and Alex wore a dress inside a store to buy smokes
- ate a hamburger in the bathtub while taking a bath
- used half a bottle of bubble bath for one bath
- Ate at McDonalds almost everyday

Alex was sound asleep while his makeover was happening.


They wiped it off of his face after the pictures were taken.

And I'm sure more will come up later. Needless to say, Samantha had a blast and Alex didn't want us to come home from Vegas. He actually told me he hated me and wanted Hollie to live here! Little turd!!

Andrea Bocelli in Las Vegas

Neil surprised me with a trip to Las Vegas Nov.30-Dec.3 to see Andrea Bocelli in concert at the MGM arena. It was such a wonderful concert and we even had some of the worse seats in the house!! I still cried because his voice was so beautiful live. He had a huge orchestra, a choir, a soprano and a tenor who shared the stage with him. I would say he sang about half the songs that were preformed. The rest was split up among the others. It was an opera style concert and most of it sung in Italian.
We stayed at the Gold Nugget on Fremont St. It was a very nice hotel but quit far from the strip so everything we wanted to go to was a cab ride away. A plus to staying off the strip is that your hotel room is cheaper. We won't stay there again or on Fremont St. Neil and I aren't into the gamboling thing so most of our time was spent on the Strip.

Another fabulous evening was spent at the Paris Hotel listening to the dueling pianos. We got there really early (the show started at 9) so we could get a seat. We stayed until they ended at 1am. How the show works is the audience requests rock-n-roll songs, along with a tip, and these guys play and sing it for you along with some comedy. It's a free show, except for the tips and alcohol you consume.