Vegas Bound

Darla and I are off Tuesday to Las Vegas to see Jennifer, Michael and Miss Samantha. This is the deal that we got. $403 after taxes for 3 nights in a 600 sq ft suite at the Rio, two flights to and from Vegas and a rental car. Actually the rental car comes courtesy of AA Advantage air miles that were set to expire on 9/30. I was able to book a Hyundai Sonata for the three days that we will be in Vegas. We leave Tuesday afternoon and return on Friday night. We are looking forward to getting away and celebrating Jennifer's Birthday...today by the way...Happy Birthday Jennifer!! Darla and I will take the gang out to Maggiano's on the strip on Thursday night. We will have Samantha spend the night with us on Tuesday night and then take her to breakfast at the Black Bear Diner, sort of "our place" with her and the first restaurant she ever went to as a baby. It will be a fun trip and we will return next week with a passel of photos.

I talked to Darryl this week and he hasn't got his flights arranged yet, he had hoped to have that done this weekend. He has paid for his golf and it is non refundable, so he is coming. I haven't been able to book a house for our trip yet, all of the owners want a three night minimum, but it is the slow season and I hope to swoop in the last week and get a deal on a two or three bedroom place. I went ahead and booked a two bedroom suite at the Howard Johnson's in Pacific Grove to hedge my bets. It is about a block from the beach and one of the newer hotels in Pacific Grove. Almost all of the rental services have told me to wait until October 1st and check back with them as the owners will deal if they don't have a week booked out and it will be a slam dunk. I'm not willing to bet our golf trip on that, so booked the HoJo's and we can cancel that if we end up booking one of the cottages.

I took a road trip with Neil, Boyd, and Pamas this Saturday up to the foothills community of Valley Springs and La Contenta Golf Course. It is a challenging and memorable track with a lot of hills and twists and turns. So many golf courses are forgettable with one hole that looks like the next and it is nice to play a unique track like La Contenta. It also appealed to my cheap side as I was able to book a foursome with cart for $100. I put into play the new Exotics driver that I bought on EBay and so far the reviews are very good. I'm hitting it a bit lower and longer with more carry once it hits the ground. Pamas played in the finals of our Club Championship scratch flight for the second year in a row and I was routinely bombing my drives past him. I shot a very encouraging 39+39=78 on the course and feel like my game is really peaking right now. Funny how fast it can change. Boyd and Pamas both shot stellar 74s and Neil shot 88. It was a nice ride up with the guys and we had a lot of laughs on the 75 minute ride up and back. I really enjoy the road trips for golf and even enjoy more being able to come home mid afternoon and sink into the pool in the back yard. The pool temperature is 85 degrees and we did hit 100 degrees yesterday and today for the first time since early July.

Darla had Silpada events yesterday and today and did well at both of them. She was up and out of the house at 6:30 this morning and I slept in until 8:30 (Such decadence!). We did make it to church last night and then out to Cha Cha's Mexican restaurant for margaritas and dinner. I fixed myself a nice egg, ham and potato burrito for breakfast and then went out to wash and wax the car. When I had used the rubbing compound last time on the water spots, it left rings in the paint as I had used a circular motion when applying the rubbing compound. You are supposed to use a back and forth motion, so I stripped the wax and treated the surface again with the rubbing compound and then re-waxed the car again. It looks much better, but not perfect. I will add another coat of wax in the next week or so.

Darla just said that the boys and Becky are coming over to swim. Daniel and Becky fixed us Chinese food on Monday night and we had won ton soup, fried rice, sweet and sour chicken and teriyaki pork. It was a nice change. It's alot of work to make the Chinese food and Darla usually only does it for bigger groups than just the two of us. I've been eating good all week.

David just got here and I heard a huge splash in the pool and it was him leaping in and cooling off. He comes over about three times a week after work and relaxes in the pool after a hard day. He has enjoyed being back at the architecture firm in Sacramento and doing his Cad work with them. He has also enjoyed the extra do-re-me as well.

I put my Callaway 460 Big Bertha up for auction on eBay and paired it with a Callaway X 3 wood that I bought and quickly changed out for an Exotics 3 wood (thus the move to the Exotics driver). I guess I am committed to the Exotics driver now, but the extra distance is paramount if I'm going to get back into single digits. My handicap will drop back to an 11 on September 1st due to my recent hot streak.

We get back from Vegas late Saturday night and I have a tournament at the club on Saturday. Bob is coming in from San Jose and it will be good to see him again.

Our nephew, Lucas, ended up with a breathing problem last week and spent two nights in the hospital. He was having trouble breathing and they told Alicia to bring him into the hospital. They had to open his airway and wait for the constriction to pass. They aren't sure exactly what happened, but he is back to all boy and feeling fine again, so Praise God.

Well, I will be back at the keyboard next Sunday and I will bring you tales of Vegas and lots of pictures. Have a great week and God Bless. Ciao.