Name that Famous Person

Who can name the tall guy in this shot?? He was right in front of us at Caesar's Palace, and I ran after him to get a photo, but didn't catch up in time without making a fool of myself. (Amy, I'm betting on Chris to have the right answer first!)

Las Vegas!!!

We got home late last night after 4 great nights in Vegas! The weather was hot, but bearable. The Grand Canyon weather was 59 and rainy though!



Highlights of the trip include:

*Marc and I getting bumped to first class on the flight out since there were no seats for us together in the coach section. We felt very superior to everyone else on the plane! :)

*Awesome Italian bakery/coffee shop in our hotel

*Grand Canyon trip - very impressive place to see, and a fun road trip too

*Discovering video rapid roulette, and continually coming out ahead on it by betting my kids' birthdays!

*Figuring out how to play craps and winning at that our last hour there

*Staying up till 3 am, when I usually can't make it past 10:30!

*Getting to know the other Jill much better, and getting along great

*Riding the roller coaster

*Coming home with as much $ as I left with!

*Day old bread - It was really "Dill bread", and was awesome, but Doug and I both heard "day old bread" when the waiter pronounced it

*Judy's Subway sandwich - This little subway we stopped at on the way to the grand canyon, where Judy made the best sandwiches ever!!

*Learning my way around the Sports Book and successfully betting on baseball and horses



Lowlights (is that the correct term??) of the trip:

*Having flight delays both ways, and having to return to the airport after being on the runway to have maintenance come aboard and work! On the way out, some guy pulled down the oxygen mask and couldn't get it to stay up. Leaving Vegas, we had a 2 hour delay, then on the plane had to return because we didn't have enough power. That made me feel confident.

*The other Jill getting stuck in the elevator at our hotel

*Arizona - very pretty to see for a few hours, but a little let down by it, and don't have to worry about ever moving there

*The super cold rain at the Grand Canyon

*Losing some baseball bets that Marc recommended us to bet on

*The laser show downtown - We were all expecting some awesome laser show and it was really just like a tv show on a roof. We were all a bit let down.



I'm sure there are some other things I should have added but am way too tired to think of them! I have lots of photos to post, but will start with my favorites.

The Jills at the Grand Canyon



Tim, Doug, Jill, me, and Marc at the Grand Canyon

Marc and I at the Wynn

Marc and I after eating at the Italian Restaurant in our hotel

Mia, 4 months

I already shared Mia's latest tricks and cute things she does in the earlier post, but here are the photos to go with it. Mia loving her baby, eating cereal, sitting up, and the last one is how I found her the other day. Luke loves to play with her, and I discovered her with about 20 matchbox cars in her swing!

Swim Lessons

For the past 2 weeks, Luke took the beginner class of swimming lessons. After overcoming some serious shyness on day one, he learned a lot and became very brave. He never did pick up a ring off the bottom of the pool, but was able to go under on his own, sort of float, kick, and jump in -- that's was his favorite thing, especially off of the diving board! He'll take the next set of lessons in 2 weeks, which should be interesting, because he'll be the littlest one in there, with kids up to age 11. The last photo is of Luke at the end of lessons, holding his Red Cross certificate.

I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

I'm still around, and have lots of photos to post, but have just been too tired or busy to do it. Tomorrow (Saturday), Marc and I leave for Vegas!! We'll be there thru Wednesday, and are going with some of Marc's friends. We'll go to the Grand Canyon on Monday, so even though that'll take the whole day, it'll be a great side trip and something I can cross off of my "Places to go someday" list! The kids are going to Marc's parents' house, where they'll be joined by two 14 year old girls visiting from Italy, so that should be interesting for them!
Here's what's happening in our lives... I have photos of all these things, but you'll have to wait until next week to see them!
Luke finished his 2 week beginner's swimming lessons. The first day, his shyness got the best of him, and he sat on the edge of the pool the whole time. We weren't going to go back, but I'm so glad we did because he ended up learning so much, including jumping off the 10 ft diving board without floaties. We went ahead and signed him up today for the next level of classes in August.

Mia is changing so much. She had her 4 month appt last week and is only 13 lb 1 oz (I say only because she was about 12 pounds at her last appt), and is doing things that 5/6 month olds do according to her doctor. She does have a slightly large head, but we love her anyhow! :) She has begun rolling onto one side, but then gets stuck on her arm. She ate cereal with bananas last week and loved it so much! We haven't made it a daily thing yet, but will soon. She is also sitting up and laughing tons!! The cutest thing is that her little dolls cheer her up. When she is sad, we give her a doll, and she eats it, squishes it, loves it, and is usually happy again. To sleep, we lay her down with her paci, mobile on, a doll on each side of her head and usually Giraffe is close by.

I'm starting to feel bad that I didn't post all these photos, but not bad enough to do it now! I'll update again Thursday, with tales of all the money we won and Elvis sightings.

Fourth of July

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We went out to Brenda's for the 4th. It was rainy off and on and cooler, but we found some time to get in the pool, and then made it to the fireworks. It rained before and after them, but managed to stop during them, so we got lucky! Brenda and I were so excited to use our new cameras because she pointed out there was a "fireworks" setting on them. I think I took about 20 fireworks photos in the end just because I could.



In other news, I've been trying to keep busy this summer doing some different things than usual. Brenda and I took a scrapbooking class last weekend, and tomorrow she's going with me to Dream Dinners, where we'll make a bunch of servings of meat mostly then freeze them to have meals for the next weeks. We're also hiring Marcus to come babysit tonight so Marc and I can see a movie. And, I bought my first item off of Home Shopping Network last night - the Crop A Dile! Way cool if you're into cards, scrapping, or even just crafts.



Next week Luke starts swimming lessons. I hope he doesn't start and end them the same day, and that he'll actually get in the water and try things. Then in 2 weeks Marc and I head to Vegas!



And one of the best things of all was yesterday when the woman who subbed for my maternity leave sent over the "first batch" of her teaching supplies for me. She is a retired 3rd grade teacher, and offered to finally part with her things and give them all to me. Her husband brought 11 large storage tubs yesterday full of educational books, manipulatives, file folder games, and one was full of just pencils and stickers! And she has more to send eventually. Teachers LOVE free stuff, and this was just more than I think anyone would expect to just be given!

Uncle Marc's Day Out

Marc rarely gets hilighted on my blog, so I thought today he'd get his moment. Marc enjoys having Carsyn around with Luke, and even took them to inflatable fun land (all those inflatable jumpy things/slides, etc) about a month ago on his own to celebrate the end of the school year. Today Brenda and I were planning to go to Austin to a scrapbook class, and Marc suggested to me that she bring Carsyn over while we were gone to play. We ended up going out to their house last night to swim, and decided to have Carsyn come home with us and spend the night, then stay here all day today. Well, Marc was on his own with them from 11:30-5:00ish. He chose to take them to feed the ducks and to the playground downtown. While they were out, he took them to McAlister's for lunch, along with Mia. He was trying to order for them, but they were running all over the place. Next thing he knew, Carsyn pushed Luke to the ground and he was curled up screaming on the floor. About this time, Marc told the person at the counter to just cancel his order. So he took them outside, and Luke was now crying because he didn't want to leave, and then Mia started to cry too. So, they came home and had pb&j for lunch. I give him a lot of credit for first of all, suggesting Carsyn come over knowing he'd have all 3 kids for the day, secondly, taking them out to the park, and thirdly, attempting lunch out at somewhere besides McDonald's! And this is all around nap time, when the two were up late last night, and up early today. I told Brenda to ask Carsyn what happened and I guess Marc is a liar, because Carsyn claims ( and Brenda said her daughter NEVER lies!) that Marc wouldn't let them eat, and Luke was crying because his stomach hurt because he had to poop. Then Luke told me they didn't eat because Marc had no money - and I found out that's what Marc had to tell him to get him to leave!! I didn't want to forget this moment, and felt Marc was due some credit for being a brave dad/uncle, knowing the kids were tired, and Mia has been super fussy all week! And after all that, when I got home, he took Luke out to play baseball, played board games with him, and now they're off to DQ for a treat. I think he deserves a hand!