Granonny came for a visit this week. We were all very excited to see her- the last time she was out to see us was in July ’09. We had Aiden’s first t-ball practice the night she came in. Aiden did pretty well-hit the ball a few times and did some fielding practice.

Mom got here hair done by Andrea the next day and because Teresa is so sweet! we got to go in to town for some shopping on Thursday. Teresa kept Finn for me after preschool and also picked Aiden up from school. We got to stay in town until about 1245. It was really nice! Then...on Friday we got packed up and headed out to town to Las Vegas! Woo-Hoo!! 

I have wanted to visit there and, as our time is getting slim here in this corner of the country, I figured while Mom was out would be a perfect time! It’s not a bad drive up there- about 5 hours. We got there around 7ish and went straight down to the strip. It was about dark and all the lights were on and the sidewalks were ablaze with people. We all got an eyeful and it was the perfect introduction to the city!

We spent the next day on the strip...time in adventureland in Circus Circus for the boys...

 Then we headed over to the Bellagio. Our intent was to see the fountains but walking in to the hotel we came right into the conservatory. It was a beautiful Spring feast for the eyes...and the nose! There were tons of flowers...hyacinths/tulips/daisys...tons of them in fabulous topiaries and creations. Bumblebees and fighting ants...a potter’s trowel and some big purple mushrooms too! It was SO neat! I could of stayed in there for a long time!

We made our way to the M&M candy store which had been promised to the boys. That was crazy! It’s really just a huge store with all things M&M- highly overpriced! But they got to pick out several slections of M&M’s...there were colors I’d never seen-black, chartreuse green, silvery grey. It was a fun store to see.

We spotted some movie characters on our walk up the boulevard...

the boys really enjoyed posing with the fellas from Star Wars!

Then we headed back up towards the Bellagio for the fountain show. This was GREAT! It was a short spectacle but totally worthwhile to see! The music is perfectly timed with the fountains and the water at times would come out sounding like an explosive-super high up in the sky too! Loved that! 

The visuals there in Las Vegas were really quite outstanding! And when I say visuals I am talking about more than the architecture! The people! The people were amazing as were the clothes they wore and didn’t wear! Haha! It was a visual feast for the eyes to see all the different people. Mom and I could have sat on a bench on the strip and just watched people the whole day! It was just that good!

Our hotel was not quite the luxe event that we would have liked it to be but we knew that going up there! It was clean and spacious and it worked just fine for us. I can say that if we ever go back to Las Vegas... we will be child-free and we will treat ourselves to the fun of a NICE hotel room and good food and gambling! Like the way a Vegas trip probably should be!

Our last day up in Nevada we got going and headed out to see the Hoover Dam. Only 30 miles from Las Vegas it was a great trip for us to make. We took the power plant tour which took us down into the dam and we saw the huge generators that create the power. It was really a cool tour! What an amazing structure it is...the work that was done back then before the advent of modern technology. Men worked every day of the year-granted 2 days off per year and if you missed one day you were fired! The pay was $4/day of which $1.40 was garnished for food,lodging and transportation. The guys who were paid the big bucks were the boom operators and they made @ .50 cents more! They worked like that for 5 years to get the dam built. 

What prosperous lives we lead today!