Las Vegas, Nevada

Kevin and I took off Tuesday, Nov. 26 and headed to Vegas.  We left the boys with my parents.  They went to the beach in the RV and then spent the rest of the week playing at grandma and grandpa's house.  I don't think they missed us at all.

See that giant slot machine?  It was $2.00 a spin.  Lots of people tried it...and lots of people lost.  It seemed to take a lot of effort to pull that handle down.  This group of 4 ladies won twice (not sure how much), but they put their money right back in and then left with their winnings.

These flowers are on the ceiling of the Bellagio lobby.  They are Chihuly flowers, and yes, they are glass.  They are so pretty. This hotel is always so pretty to walk through.  

I really like the look of the Paris casino.  It's pretty in the day, and it's pretty at night.  Know what else is pretty?  That butt on the light board in front of Bally's.  It's advertising their big show, Jubilee.  We didn't see that one.  We did see "O" at Bellagio (an awesome Cirque du Soleil show with water) and "Mamma Mia" at Mandalay Bay.  Of course you already know how I feel about that one!  December 16!  The movie DVD is out December 16!

The view from our hotel room.  Kevin did the $20 "trick" to upgrade our room.  I'm not sure it worked entirely as it seemed like a standard room to me.  We were on the 14th floor and the room had been remodeled, so maybe it did work.  We could kinda see the strip-oh and the top and side of parking garages.

Kevin drinking diet Pepsi this time.  We did try us some jello shots.  We were resting our feet here, waiting to see "Mamma Mia."

Daylight in Las Vegas

Here are some pictures of Vegas in daylight.

This is not Italy. It's the Venetian hotel/casino. Just ignore that giant Rita Rudner on the building in the back-she's wrecking the ambiance.

The Eiffel Tower at the Paris casino. It's half of the size of the original. Kevin said they originally wanted to make it full size, but couldn't because the airport is too close. I guess I can see their point, but gosh.

Kevin and I went up to the top of the Eiffel tower. That big hotel is the Bellagio. It's a really pretty, rather pricey hotel/casino.

We stayed up top to watch the fountain show in front of the Bellagio. I'm sorry for the picture. I had to take it through these tiny pesky bars that are all over the place. The Paris casino owners are fussy. They don't want people throwing themselves off of the fake Eiffel Tower, thus ruining peoples' nice vacations.

Can you see the balloon in front of Paris? Further down (out of the shot) is Excalibur, where we stayed the night last summer, on our way home from our big roadtrip.

The Fog

We woke up this morning to lots and lots of fog! The boys were thrilled by it. Quinn said it was the "best day of my life."

Here's a picture of some of the fog on our way to my parents' house this morning. Kevin and I dropped the boys of with them. They headed off to Pismo Beach to "camp" in the RV. You may be wondering what Kevin and I will do without them.

Vegas baby!!!

Sure we'll miss them, but we will drown our sorrow in mai tai's and beer, shows and gambling and SHOPPING!

Gobble gobble gobble!

I am not forgetting Thanksgiving, I promise. In fact, check this out...

This was the project we did tonight at Tiger Cubs. The boys especially loved the glitter leaves-er feathers!

The big one is mine, and the cute, little one is Quinn's.

So, there you go. I remembered Thanksgiving-Yay, me!!

My PMC class projects

My friend, Sheri, and I took a PMC class last Saturday. PMC is precious metal clay. It's clay with real silver in it. You basically use it like you would polymer clay, but it has to be fired. Once fired, it's an actual metal piece! It's really cool, and now I have to get a blow torch! Fun fun fun! The class was all day, 9am-6pm in Oakland. It was part of BABE, a really cool bead show.

Here are some of the charms I made. One of them (the one on the top left) didn't turn out real well-it was the first piece I fired and I was too close, so the flowers on top sort of melted. It happens. I'm happy with the other two charms though. I have 2 other pieces that the instructor is kiln firing for me. I'll post those once I get them back.

I'm addicted. Must have silver clay.

Oh, and you will be happy to know (or maybe not, depending on where you live) that it was close to 80 freakin' degrees today!

Happy November!

I know Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday, what with Christmas and all. I just wanted to take the time to wish you a very Happy November!!

November, Mickey style!

I have decided that I want to do something Christmas related-I know what you are thinking, I didn't celebrate November long enough. Hang on.......picture me, nodding my head like Chevy Chase did at the Grand Canyon, in the movie "Vacation." Anyway, I want to celebrate things I like during the Christmas season. Starting Dec. 1, I will blog one thing I like about Christmas. This will go on (and on, and on, and on) until Dec. 25. Here are some sample ideas for you. Oh, and don't you worry, I'll have plenty of other stuff to blog too!

Isn't this pretty? It's ice. We went to this show "Ice"-I know, original, but hey, I didn't think of it-when we were in Florida last year. It was really cool (literally and figuratively). This says Christmas to me!!

How about this cute thing? This yummy tree was in one of the windows at one of the Disney parks.

Oh yes, and you can't forget the family pictures on Christmas morning! It should be lots of fun-well, at least for me, and I certainly hope for you too!

Rock the Vote!

Happy Election Day! I was very excited to cast my vote this morning. I even went on my prep. It's very exciting.

Here's how I sent the boys to school this morning. Aren't they cool?

Up close. You've got to love Children's Place. I thank them for making these shirts and for selling them hella cheap!!

More Madonna

Another wacky shot of Kevin and I.

Jessie, Kristi and I (I'm behind the two drinks-and no, they weren't both mine. I was simply sampling the gin and tonic.)

Kevin said I left off the "good" picture. Here it is. Cool light effects. Do you see her?

Get into the Groove...

Kevin and I went to see Madonna tonight with some friends. It was a lot of fun, and not just because of all of the beers! Madonna really knows how to put on a show. She has so much energy! It appeared that everyone had a blast.

It was a real monsoon when we got to the arena. It rained, rather a lot too, all the way up to the doors. We were very drippity.

Here's the stage and audience just before show time. Photo taken from our nose bleed seats, courtesy of Kevin's iphone.

See her? She's a little dot!

Strike a pose.

Oh yeah, the tour shirts for Madonna were of the regular variety, except for one. It said "Express Yourself" and had a picture of Obama. Cool.

Halloween 2008

Another Halloween has come and gone! What a blur.

Riley was a Special Forces officer and Quinn was Darth Vader.

Here's Quinn in his school parade. I took the morning off from my school to go to the parade at the boys' school.

Here's Riley in the parade.

This is my friend, Michelle. Cool costume huh?

The boys lounging in front of Border's. We were trick-or-treating there in the afternoon. We got a little rain during the evening, but not enough to turn around and go home. Do we have lots of candy? Oh yes.

I'm ready for Christmas.