What happens in Vegas...

This weekend Spenser and I got to take a trip to Las Vegas for a dental convention with his office. I was very nervous about leaving the kids. I was nervous that they would be OK and nervous for those kind enough to watch them. I was worried that Zach would wake up in the night, like he does almost every night still, and I hated to have to inconvenience someone with 3 extra kids. Luckily, the Johnson's are some of the greatest people, and offered to help us out. It at least made me feel a little better leaving knowing that the kids would be well taken care of.

We flew out on Thursday night. One of the assistants was so afraid of flying that she had to take a couple of valium. She cried getting onto the plane, while we sat on the runway, when we took off, and when we landed. I felt so bad for her and readily offered Spenser's hand for her to squeeze! Our plane was delayed in San Jose for over an hour and so we finally arrived at the Las Vegas airport around 12:30 a.m. We arrived at the Pallazzo, which is connected to the Venetian, and managed to pick the slowest person at the hotel front desk and so didn't get to our rooms until just before 3 a.m. It's been a long time since I've stayed up that late!

The conference started at 8 a.m the next morning and we made it down there just in time to pick up a few of the left over breakfast scraps. Then it was lectures all day. I forgot how tiring that can be! We finally left the hotel and got to see some of Vegas at 7 p.m. that evening. This was definitely a trip involving more business than pleasure!

We walked around a few places trying to find something to eat with Venn and Cathy. We ended up at an Italian restaurant in Caesar's Palace. After dinner we walked over with them to the Bellagio since they had tickets to see "O" cirque du soleil. Even though we thought the show would be fun we decided that we would rather walk around and chat since we had time together, rather than siting some more.

We visited the Chihuly in the lobby of the Bellagio. They were quite impressive.

The Chihuly are made up of 2,000 hand blown flowers.

We then walked through the Botanical gardens. These poppies were quite beautiful.

These tulips were pretty, but we decided that our nearby tulip festival is a little more impressive.

It was then time to take a stroll back outside where we stood and watched the fountain display a couple of times. It really is quite impressive.

Seeing the Bellagio and the fountains always makes me think of Ocean's Eleven!

Before heading back to the hotel we stopped by the Mirage and watched the volcano display there. That wasn't quite as good as I think I remember it being.

Saturday was another full day of lectures. At least they provided you with all manner of goodies as you sat and listened. There were huge candy bars, popcorn, Hagen Daz ice cream and unlimited beverages on tap. We just pretty much sat and got fat.

I left on Saturday afternoon, since I didn't want the Johnson's to have to manage 3 extra kids at church on Sunday. My flight was delayed and so I didn't get home until around 11.30 p.m. When I called Johanna she told me that everyone was asleep, so I decided to leave them that way. It was a little bit scary going back to the house myself!

This is where we spent most of our time. Of course this picture was taken after I left.

Leaving the Pallazzo

Zach was of course the only one who was overly excited to have me home. He hasn't left my side since. It was an exhausting weekend, but hopefully things were learned. It was reconfirmed to me that Vegas still isn't my favorite place. I'm not a fan of the drunken people and scantily clad girls that seem to be everywhere. It has been 9 years since I was last there and I think that I won't be rushing back any sooner than that in the future. I also learned that Zach sleeps though the night when he's not at our house. Thank you Johnson's again for being so kind to us. We hope that the kids were really as good as you said!