Movin' on up, to a big old penthouse, in the sky

Jason and Yvonne decided to get away for a day a couple weeks ago during spring break. We both felt like we just needed some quiet time alone -- to take a break from the pressures of closing out the last job, starting a new job, travel, shuttling kids to school and ballgames, and a lot of big decisions that are weighing on our minds.

Rather than go out of town, we took advantage of great rates at the Trump Las Vegas -- they called it their "One Suite Deal" -- $89 for a suite on the Strip.

It was too good to pass up, so we went out of town, in town.

Ironically, it was the both time for either of us to stay in a Las Vegas hotel. Yvonne has lived here for 13 years and visited for most of her life. Jason has lived here for 29 years. It was about time.

So we get to our room, a simple studio suite with a view of the city. But when we got to the room, it looked like a hotel the Who had partied in circa 1974. Mattresses were up against the wall, garbage was on the floor...you get the idea. We returned to the front desk, where the clerk was very apologetic. She promised to make it up to us.

Did she ever. We were upgraded to a 56th floor premium suite with south Strip view. It was unbelievable. We were right on top of Treasure Island, with the Wynn, Encore, Palazzo Tower, Caesar's Palace, and the rest all at our feet.




The master bathroom (there were two) was about as big as our first apartment. Everything was marble, glass, big screen plasma televisions, high end appliances...luxury all the way. Since this was a big step up for us, we tried another first: room service. We felt like big shots eating salmon, roast chicken, grilled veggies, and cheesecake while overlooking the Vegas Strip.



Not that our $149 a night room discounted to $89 wouldn't have been fine, but the $500 a night room discounted for $89 was better.

We could get used to the high life. But not too used to it. When we got to our upgraded room, the first thing Jason said was, "If I had known we'd have such a great room, I would have brought the kids. How fun would that be?"

(Bonus points to anyone who recognized this blog entry's headline as a line from the theme song to "The Jeffersons." We were fortunate, and nostalgic.)

A dam good Saturday

A few weekends ago we drove to Hoover Dam for a tour (the headline is the only "dam" pun you'll read in this post, although there were about a thousand said during the day).

Touring the dam is on our "bucket list" of things to do before we move. After eight years in Las Vegas, it was time to make our first family trip to one of southern Nevada's most recongnizeable icons.

We've driven across the dam several times, but never gone inside. We finally had a Saturday when we were all in town, had no ball games in the morning, and had nothing but time, so away we went.

Besides our history of living in southern Nevada, we feel a connection to the dam because Bechtel, the company Jason works for, was the lead in Six Companies, the consortium that built the dam. Building the dam helped build the company in which Jason has built his career.

The post-9/11 tour is much more rushed and much less inclusive than the old tours, but it was still fascinating to journey deep into the concrete structure. We saw the turbines that generage megawatts of electricity for the southwest, the diversion tunnels that moved the mighty Colorado River from its ancient bed, the steep canyon walls that daredevil "high-scalers" leapt across to place dynamite, and the incredibly low water levels.

The kids also had fun walking across the dam, going to Arizona and back.

We finished it with burgers at the Boulder City A&W, an old burger joint that Jason used to stop at after Scout outings to the lake. Greasy burgers, fries, and onion rings capped off a fun morning. Good to check that one of the list.

Robin in the Hood

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to participate in the O'Roarke Elementary School and Missoula Children's Theater production of "Robin Hood". The Missoula Children's Theater brings theater to schools across the country, travelling by truck to help schools put on plays -- from auditions to performance -- in just one week. Our kids auditioned on Monday, practiced after auditions on Monday and then Tuesday through Friday from 3:30 to 8:00 p.m. Then they performed twice on Saturday.

Carson and Dylan both tried out for the play and they both made it. Carson was the Sheriff of Nottingham (he loves being the bad guy) and Dylan was a skunk (we teased him it's because he stinks -- he was a good sport). They were both awesome performers. When Yvonne asked Carson if he enjoys acting, his response was he would perform every day if he could. He likes it better than baseball or anything else. I say....you go Carson!

Another highlight was that Yvonne was asked to play the piano as an accompanist for the play. She learned the music, participated in the practices Wednesday through Friday, performed with the kids on Saturday, and had a blast. It was fun for her to see her boys work hard at memorizing lines and songs and also interacting with their friends. She even had a part -- she was shot by an imaginary arrow -- so she was a pianist AND an actor.

After watching the Saturday afternoon performance of the play, Levi was impressed. He turned to Yvonne at the piano and said, "That was good. Can we rewind it and watch it again?"

It was a long week, but the pay-off was great.

A day of dark clouds, with a great silver lining

We decided to go to the Clark County Fair last Saturday -- partly to see the fair (which we'd never been to) and partly to watch our friend Katie perform (she was singing). We bought our tickets a week early online and looked forward to a day at the fair.

So Saturday finally arrives, and it's dark and rainy. And cold. Not "fair" weather. But we'd already bought tickets, and we'd planned on meeting Katie's family (the Piets) there, and we'd been looking forward to it, so we went despite the awful weather.

Traffic to the fair was light (not a lot of people as crazy as us, I guess), so we got there no problem and met up with the Piets in the rain. Our kids had a good time getting soaked, and later enjoyed looking at the 4-H animals (rabbits and chickens and cows) and checking out the agricultural exhibits (the kids always have fun together -- and they really seemed to like being in a big tent, out of the rain).

Katie's performance was worth the drive (to quote American Idol's Randy Jackson, she's got mad pipes, dawg) and we watched several other singers perform (while finding ways to crack each other up during the show).

By the time the show was over, the rain had gotten worse, and we were getting hungry, so we figured we'd eat at the fair and then get out of there.

There was a short delay as Colin decided he wanted to ride the mechanical bull. In the rain. It was the best five bucks we spent that day, watching him ride -- or try to ride -- the bull twice. Watch the video and you'll hear us all laughing. Colin had fun, and was a good sport while entertaining all of us.

Following Colin's "8-second ride", we were off to the massive food court. If it was deep fried, high fat, cholestoral packed, and over-priced, it was there. The thought of buying fair food and eating it in the rain was more than we could bear, so we headed to big city Overton (about 10 miles away) for lunch. We were told in small-town Logandale (site of the fair) that there were lots of choices in Overton. But after we eliminated our family's first choice (it turned out to be a bar), the Piets' first choice (an American restaurant that was closed), and a mutual choice (with too long a wait), we headed to, yep, McDonalds. The food was hot, fast, predictable, and the kids loved it. Plus we all (four adults, eight kids) got to dodge traffic across the highway between the cars and the McDonalds. Twice. Ah, good times.

So it was a wet, soggy, but fun day with great friends.

OK, you got the picture of the dark clouds and how we rescued a good day. Now here's the silver lining.

Since our day hadn't really gone according to plan, we figured we'd take the scenic route home through Valley of Fire State Park, a colorful collection of rock formations way out in the southern Nevada desert.

Lo and behold, after a long day of rain the park was not crowded, and it was gorgeous -- sunlight breaking through the clouds, deep red rocks, dark moist sand, vivid wildflowers, lush green sage, and a rainbow that seemed to stretch across the entire sky.

We piled out of the vehicles to really experience the park. The kids had a blast scrambling across the rocks, and running through the sand. They ducked through caves, leapt across chasms, raced through ravines, caused their moms' hearts to race as they scaled great heights, and sat on ledges to ponder the state of things. There was lots of laughing and chirping and talking and playing. As adults, we had fun watching the kids while taking in the spectacular scenery -- and enjoying a quiet afternoon together.

By late afternoon, as we were taking it all in, the adults agreed: thank goodness for the rotten weather. Not that the fair wouldn't have been fun for the day (and in fact it was a morning we'll laugh about for years) -- but leaving early, touring several Overton restaurants, chowing at McDonald's, dodging traffic, and then experiencing a singular day at Valley of Fire provided a day we couldn't (or wouldn't) have planned. It was a day for the ages, with our families together to enjoy it.

By the time we left Valley of Fire, the kids were wore out -- it was a quiet ride home in both cars as the kids slept on the way home. We ended the day with dry clothes, and pizza and brownies together at home. Wow, what a day. Looking back on it, maybe the clouds had a gold lining...