Vegas was a Samantha-Fest

You can see that we had alot of fun in Las Vegas with young Samantha Swan. I need to thank John and Jennifer for allowing us so much time to bond with Sam, she was an absolute delight during our visit. With Jennifer working early hours, we were able to pick Samantha up Thursday night when we flew into Vegas and she spent the night with us at the Sunset Station hotel. She was sleeping when we picked her up, but she got a second wind when we got to the hotel room and she was checking out every drawer, cupboard, closet and water closet in the joint. We were finally able to get her to settle down and to sleep by about 9:30 and she slept through the night until about 7 AM the next morning. If Jennifer had brought her over Friday morning, Sam would have had to get up at 4:00 AM and then go back to sleep after her bottle. We got Samantha up after she took a nap at about 10:30 and bundled her up and off to the Black Bear Diner, her first restaurant that we visited when she was first born in December of 2007. She made a fine mess of crackers and water and had a grand old time. From there, we went to the zoo in Vegas. This zoo is a non-profit affair and it looks it. Several of the main animals have died in the last few years and not been replaced, but they had a small petting zoo and lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Samantha was fascinated with all of the animals and enjoyed a small group of Canadian River otters that had a nice pen with a glass front over the water and the otters would jump into the pool swim across the front of the glass by Sam and then hop out and run into the adjoining cage. Sam was running back and forth to try to catch the otter and clapping and laughing. We also saw a huge male peacock with it's feathers out in all of his glory as he pranced in front of several female peacocks. It is a small zoo and you get close to the animals. We fed the goats and watched the monkeys and were done about ninety minutes after we arrived. Sam was tired and slept on the ride home.

Friday night we met Jennifer and her roommate, Dina, at their house and then took them out to dinner at Claim Jumpers. Samantha was a hit with the wait staff as she enjoyed french fries and ranch dressing along with cut fruit and water. We had a good visit with Jennifer and got caught up on her life and Dina's and left them about 8:30 as Grandma and Papa were tired.

We were up Saturday morning and off to Jennifer's by about 10:00 AM , after an IHop breakfast. Samantha was sleeping and we visited for awhile until she awoke and then took off with Jennifer and Sam for the Bass Pro outlet store. Darla and I had visited it on our last visit to Vegas and it has a huge aquarium in the middle of it as well as many stuffed bears, deer and even a huge giraffe. Samantha was in heaven and the pictures above are of Jen, Sam and I at the Bass outlet, Darla and Sam at the petting zoo, Sam with a stuffed deer that was the same size as her and she dragged it all over the store, Samantha styling in a camo cowboy hat, and Darla and Sam chilling before bed one night. We had a ball and Samantha had a great bit of fun with her family. She sees John's Mom just about every other week, so it was special for her to hang out with the Lyon's for a change. Saturday night we were able to meet Jennifer's friends as they had nine friends come over for a barbecue. I enjoyed Jennifer's friends, but was so proud of Jennifer as she took time to tend to Samantha's needs throughout the group gathering as she put her in her high chair and fed her, got her a bath and down to bed while we all enjoyed the company. Jen is a very good and attentive Mom. Darla and I took off after Sam went to bed and made a sizable donation at the casino that night and didn't get to bed until after three o'clock with the time change.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny Vegas day and we stayed at Jennifer's and just relaxed in the sun. I got a bit of a burn as I didn't put on any sunscreen and the desert sun is so much stronger than the valley sun. Samantha was kept in sunscreen and in the shade as we relaxed together. The kids bought us pizza that night and we sat and relaxed watching movies and enjoying Sam being at home with her toys and cats. Darla and I were able to give her a bath that night and she got all of us wet playing and laughing in the tub. We packed up about 8:00 and took Sam with us back to the hotel for our final night in Vegas. Samantha again slept until we got to the hotel and was raring to go with her second wind when we got back to the room. She ate her Graduate's yogurt snacks while Darla had sunflower seeds and I had peanuts.

Monday we had planned to go to the park and let Samantha ride the swings and merry-go-round, but Vegas decided to give us a wind inferno with gusts up to 45 miles an hour, so we had a Denny's breakfast and then went back to Jennifer's to spend the day. John agreed to let us watch her Monday as that is his day and we arranged to meet him at the outlet mall at 3:30 PM. Jennifer gets off at 2:15 PM and asked us to meet her for an early dinner, so she could spend some time with Samantha. John met us at the restaurant and took Samantha. The kids are still not communicating as they should and it's hard to watch from the outside. John is still really betrayed and hurt and pretty caustic to Jennifer. Jen has never handled strife well and doesn't stand for John putting her down and the stress level in the room was palpable. It was good seeing John and I hope they can get to the point where they can co-parent Samantha as that is in the best interest of my granddaughter.

Work was waiting when I got home and I have 9 reviews and salary discussions to hold by Friday. On top of that, I'm taking Thursday afternoon off to play golf. It is Cheryl's birthday today, Dad's yesterday and Chris' last Thursday. It must be March. Hope you are all well and Happy.