Memorial Day

We had a great Memorial Day. April was in town and arranged to meet us at G'ma and G'pa's house. We had G'pa's chicken for lunch then we watched pictures of Todd's graduation. We all went and did some shopping together later. I am afraid that it wasn't as fun for April as for the rest of us. She couldn't find any of the things she was looking for and then hit her head as she was getting into the van. Hopefully her ride home was much better than her shopping. After we dropped April off we went back and picked up Nan, G'ma and G'pa and went to a book store and to some home stores to look for a BBQ basket for mom and wire cupboard drawers for me. It was just nice to be together and enjoy each others company. Don't we have a great family?

Last of Vegas/ Boulder

These are the last pictures I will post of our great weekend in Vegas and Boulder. There are lots more where these came from. There are lots of figures that came from Treasure Island when it was remodeled; Hence, Nan kissing the cute guy. There were a couple of slot machine that they kept open and you just reused the quarters that were there. That way we could play and not gamble. It was fun and a lesson in how often you lose. The ice cream machine was kept filled and stocked with cones. It was not only the kids who loved it. Now I will not bore you anymore with this vacation. We'll find another one to bore you with soon enough.

The ice cream machine by the pool didn't help the weight issue

 

Making new friends....actually a manakin

 

Susanne won't appreciate this, but I love it

 

Ye's be warned...definately a pirate theme

 

one of the man-made caves

 

teaching her young

 

Spoiled? Mmmm, M&M's

 

This fountain and stuffed cougar seem to be a great spot for long horned sheep to get water. We saw several.

 

Nan and Allie went to the Shark Reef. These are the cool jelly fish

 

Oops, No captions

Ok, I will just make the notes here for the following pictures, then I will post one at a time so I can do the captions. I don't know how y'all post the way you do.
The second picture is looking over the balcony at the Luxor. We stayed on the 18th floor and it was pretty cool to look down onto the 3rd floor "adventure" level. We had previously gone to King Tut's tomb but didn't do anything else at the Luxor this time. We did go to a medival banquet and jousting at the Excelsior.
The next pictures of of the place in Boulder. (See comment below)
The big house has a regular swimming pool and at least 8 bed rooms. Most rooms have their own bath, although two share a bath. Many have their own sitting area, but not all. Then there are three more buildings. Two of them are complete houses with attached garages and the last one has a gym (at least 30 pieces of equipment) and a half court, airconditioned basketball court. It has a covered patio with pool table and an open patio. There are tons of grills, patios, firepits and tables around the property. The lowest level has a 25 foot deep pool (that is the one with the big boat). It is so deep so you can cliff dive, dive off the masts and go down the very long attached water slide. It was a killer fun slide. Allie loved the pools and would have stayed all day and all night if she could. The temp was in the high 90's so we loved the water and swam both day and night.
I'll post more tomorrow.

The M & M Store (That is Melville & Melville)

 

Vegas Vacation

We were invited to visit a palacial mansion in Boulder with Rick's brother. Kim (the sister in law) has a step brother who was one of the original sellers at NuSkin. This is only one of his houses. He is very generous with his properties. It was fabulous and the pictures don't do it any justice. We also spent a night at the Luxor. Hopefully the picture captions will tell the story, or I will write again later to explain more.

Smart Woman

I want you to know that you are reading the writings of a very bright woman. I know how and when to do things. Susanne and I spent about 5 hours doing yard work this morning. We cleaned out some more ground cover, cleared a few more small trees, hauled rocks for a border and Nan finished painting the slide platform. When we came in I was exhausted. Rick had some gift certificates from work so he picked up hamburgers on his way home from work. I read the paper, ate, and then took a nap. Here comes the smart part. While I napped Susanne had to stay awake because Allie no longer takes naps. She needed to do something to stay awake....so I woke up to a clean front room and kitchen. A self cleaning house! That is pretty good! Actually Susanne is great at pitching in everyday. Our house has been staying pretty tidy, thanks to her efforts. She won't know what to do when I don't work all summer and start helping more.
I just thought you would want to know what a good kid I have.

Allie stories

Allie is a source of great hilarity in our house, especially lately. Here are several things she has said and done recently.

• She no longer calls her mom "Mommy" or "Mom". Now she is "Susanne Arena" (Susanne's middle name is Sarena). I am now Chubs, as everyone else calls me. She also sometimes calls me "Crazy Wolf" (we have no idea from where that came) and even "Crazy Woman".
• She came into my room while I was doing homework and said "I'm going to do your homework." I wouldn't let her have my pencil, but once I finished, she took it, made a few scribbles, and proclaimed, "I did your homework!" She also told me to "lay down" (she never remembers my corrections of "lie down") on the couch and open my mouth, "like Winkie Wonka." She then proceeded to stick a spoon and a chopstick in my mouth. (She was referring to the scene from the new movie in which Wonka's dad looks into his mouth. She used to say Willie Wonka; we don't know why it's "Winkie" now.)
• Before "Susanne Arena", she came into my room one time after her mom went to work, and said sadly, "Mommy leave." I repeated, "Mommy left?" She corrected me, "No, leave."
• She received a poorly-made doll from a neighbor. The first or second day after getting it, its hair fell off and later its eyelashes. Tonight its head fell off. We were talking about how to put it back on, and she said, "Let's leave it off."

These are just some of the funny things she does on a daily basis.