We are just back from Las Vegas, arriving back at 8 o'clock this morning after getting up in Vegas at 3:40 AM. I actually slept for an hour when we got home because I was exhausted. We had a fun, eventful trip. It was great to see Jennifer, though hard to see her 10 pounds down and using a cane to get around to keep her from bending at the waist too much because of the incisions and swelling from her surgery. She was a trooper as she kept up with us most of the trip, but I could see her getting tired and a bit run down as the days rolled on.
The hardest night for her was Saturday as we had dinner reservations at 8:30 and didn't get done with dinner until about 10:15. Sam was great and stayed with us both Friday and Saturday and gave Jennifer a break. She needed it.
David, Darla and I got into town at 8:30 and grabbed our rental car and headed over to the Palace Station to get booked into our room. The charge was $15 to check in early and we were only going to check into one room. The lady at the counter checked us into both rooms and didn't charge us at all. The only bump along the way was that dad and Shirley were off the reservation and we couldn't get hold of them to pick them up and take them with us to Jennifer's new home in North Las Vegas.
Daniel and Becky drove in about 11:30 AM and joined us at the hotel. I took the gang out to lunch at In n Out burger and we went back to the hotel and visited for awhile. Dan and Becky had a plan to ask Samantha to be their flower girl over the weekend.
We headed over there at 3 PM as Darla and I wanted to go to Samantha's school and pick her up. We surprised her and we were able to meet her best friend and have a chance to see her school. It is very nice and relatively new. From there we headed back to the house. They live in a nice gated community, close to Sam's school and close to John. Their house is a two story, three bedroom home, close to 2000 square feet on a large lot. The garage is nice sized as well with a nice work area in front of the cars. They plan to put a fire pit in the back yard and will get an above ground pool for Sam. The heat in Vegas is oppressive and it is almost a must to have a pool. The only problem they will have is keeping the water temperature below 95 degrees as the heat hits in July and August.
I had planned to pick up some steak and chicken and barbecue for Jennifer, but she told me that they had left their barbecue in the Bay Area. I guess it was filled with charcoal or something (imagine that). I did some research and found a barbecue place not far from their home. They were not aware of it, but it was perfect. We got a pound of beef brisket, 12 ribs, some mac n cheese, some baked beans and a pound of BBQ chicken, and we added a large order of killer fries made with hot sauce and sour cream. We had dinner for 8 and it cost me less than $8 a person. Dinner was great and we played cards and relaxed with Jennifer in the early evening.
We finally heard from Dad and Shirley who had been out shopping during the day and gambling. They called about four o'clock and we headed over there to see them at about 8 o'clock. Sam went with us and we relaxed with them for about an hour and we had to get Sam back to bed. Dad and Shirley plied her with jelly beans and she ended up back at the hotel "bed jumping" between the two queen beds. We finally got her to settle down and to sleep about ten. It helped that Darla and I were exhausted from being up at 4:30 for our 6:15 flight in Sacramento.
Saturday we had to take Samantha to her ice skating lessons at noon. We slept in until about 8:30 and then gathered the kids and went out to breakfast at the Egg and I. There was a wait (as always) and we left there about 11:25 for the drive over to the Fiesta casino Ice Rink. It was great watching Sam practice her skating and she seemed to love having us there as well. She is very precise in what she does and works hard to do everything perfectly. She took first place in her show last month.
We hung out at the pool in the afternoon in spite of some high winds in Vegas. The pools at the Palace Station are located in the courtyard surrounded by the motel buildings and it blocked the wind pretty well. At one point a dust devil dropped down and picked up some construction material and it flew up into the sky at least 100 yards high. I'm sure it eventually rained down on some cars or people, but it was pretty impressive when we saw the papers and wood flying overhead.
Saturday night was drinks and appetizers at Dad and Shirley's where we all put a good dent into his Canadian Mist and Ginger Ale stock. We headed over to the restaurant and had a tremendous time celebrating David and Darla's birthday. We bought the dinner family style and ordered steak, clams and linguine, gnocchi, mushroom ravioli, Italian salad, bruschetta, calamari, spaghetti, crème brule, tiramisu and lemon cookies. We had so much food left over that we brought leftovers back to Dad and Shirley's and actually ate dinner Sunday night on what was left over.
Sunday we all met at 10 o'clock at The Black Bear Diner for breakfast. Daniel and Becky were driving back that night and we wanted to make sure to spend the day together. Dad and Shirley went shopping and bought some peppers and onions, some flour tortillas and used the leftover steak for fajitas that night. We went back to the hotel and spent about an hour and a half out by the pool and Sam met some friends and played right up to the point that we headed back to the room.
We had an early dinner at Dad and Shirley's. Daniel and Becky took Samantha to frozen yogurt and asked her to be their flower girl. David and Jennifer and McKenny went along with them. Darla and I went with Dad and Shirley to Circus Circus for some adult time. The kids joined us later and McKenny and Jennifer took Samantha up to the circus area and they played the carnival games. Darla and I gambled for awhile and then went up and joined Samantha to watch a juggling act by a Chinese woman acrobat who juggled with her feet. We said our goodbyes shortly after and headed back to the hotel to pack.
Jennifer and Sam did get together with Dad today and they all went to the pool at the Hilton where they were staying. It was a fun trip and both Darla and I are exhausted. Sam is a bundle of joy, but very high energy.
We are off to Mexico on Saturday and will be gone a week. I do have wireless internet there and will have some time to work on the blog. I am not bringing my golf clubs and don't plan to play. It is Darla's trip and we plan to do some sight seeing ands a lot of relaxing during the week. I hope you are all well. We missed Darryl and Cheryl and randy and cake on the trip, but did have a great time. Ciao.
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