Vegas, Pt 1

As I mentioned before, I am back at home now. The whole family has been easing back into the real world, and for the most part it has gone well.

It would've been nice to have had a mellow, commitment-free weekend on the heels of our mellow, commitment-free vacation, but alas... it was Recital Weekend. It is truly crazy how one 90-second ballet routine can impact YOUR WHOLE DARN WEEKEND.

Let's begin with Saturday. First -- having missed the last month of class -- we had to pick up the costume from the doorstep of a classmate. Then, we weren't sure what time the rehearsal actually was, so I futzed around the house, putting things away and stressing about my lack of details, until my husband actually drove to the studio and reported back by cell. SHE WAS DUE THERE IN A HALF-HOUR. Ugh. I think we set a world speed record for shower, make-up and bun arrangement (yes, make-up is required).

Today was show day. She was due at the Performing Arts Center at 1:30. With my advance knowledge of this, we were able to enjoy a slightly less hectic shower/make-up/bun arrangement routine. And we actually got there 15 minutes early. Shocking!

We snapped few photos outside, but Foxy was eager to be dropped off backstage (they must have cookies back there or something). I dropped her and then got the hidden flower arrangement from the back of the car and made my way inside, where I got to sit and twiddle my thumbs for a good half-hour.

The girlie performed half-way through the first act, and I was allowed to retrieve her at intermission. She wanted to stay and watch the rest of the show -- and I figured I'd make full use of my $18 seat -- so we made our way to Row FF #23, where she planted herself squarely on my lap and refused to move to the now-abandoned seat next to me. Or any of the four empty seats extending from that one. Suffice it to say, I have some serious kinks in my neck and likely will for the rest of the week.

The show was, shall we say, comprehensive, and we didn't get out of there until about 4:40. At that point, we needed to stop by my parents' house and do a few pirouettes while still wearing the fluffy tu-tu ensemble.

So, what was the point of that info dump, you ask? Just proving to you how a 90-second ballet routine can eat up an entire weekend. Told ya so, right?

In an effort to wrap up this travel blog, I'm happily returning to a simpler and more relaxing time: Our first day in Vegas. In all honesty, the unhurried, freeflow nature of this entire vacation is fading fast, becoming supplanted by the crazy frenetic pace of our daily life, and I'm glad I have the excuse of a couple remaining blog posts to revisit it and eek out a few more "ahhh..." moments.

Now for the photos. Here are a few shot from the RV as we pulled out of Bryce and headed toward Nevada. The campground had teepees, by the way. And again we hit the "Welcome to..." sign on our way out.









A break in the action for more cute reading "bondage"...



And a shot of Mr. Lord of the Highway:



Then, after a few hours of driving, we finally rolled up the strip. Let me tell you, you haven't rolled up the strip until you've done it in a 31-foot Itasca, baby.



We sighed a bit and felt bad for the poor folks at the Circus Circus RV lot as we cruised by. Because really, why would you stay in a tin can in 106-degree heat when you could stay at the Monte Carlo for $79 a night?

Especially when it has a lazy river and a wave pool??





In case you missed that those were my crazies waving in the back, here's a close-up crop:



Guess who was grumpy about the "cold" water?



The boys finally took a break from swimming and chilled out on the chaises, displaying their full array of scrapes and bruises from various biking incidents...







And they pulled out the instamatic camera and took a few of their own shots:



After we swam and wolfed down some nachos, we headed into the air conditioning and found the cupcake shop. (Nothing serves as a nacho chaser like a gourmet cupcake, according to our kids.)

Foxy demonstrated that she curtsies almost anywhere, including cupcake shops:





Next door to the cupcake place was a sports and TV/movie memorabilia store. Brian and I wandered around for a few minutes and then realized that the kids had made themselves comfortable watching one of the Star War movies.





Apparently, it was the one movie they hadn't seen in its entirety, so they begged us to let them stay and see it through. The nice man who worked there said that they were open until 11:00, and therefore he couldn't care less. I opted to head upstairs and shower and left Brian to wander the aisles of memorabilia until the movie ended.

Before showering, I snapped a quick shot out the window of our room:



Once the family was reunited we headed to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show. Unfortunately, we had no idea when it was going to start, and the kids were wiped out and starving. So we found the Bellagio snack bar and scrounged up some dinner... And that was pretty much it. I swear, I have never seen my kids go to bed as quickly as they did that night. Brian did head down to play a few hands of poker, but I was quite happy crashing with the short people. Maybe it was the culture shock of our campsite-to-Vegas day, but the four of us were SPENT.