Hoover Dam and Daddy Time - 54/365

Hoover Dam, lunch at PBR rockers, chloe rode bull, 50 shades of gray

Today we were up and at em early to take an express tour of the Hoover Dam. We were meeting our Pink Jeep tour guide for our four hour tour.

The pink jeep was absolutely adorable and super nice! We were first to be picked up, so we got the best seats in the bus! Yay!

We just started off on our adventure when our driver Chris' phone rang. He asked Jennifer to answer it, since he was driving. She was a little taken aback, but she answered it anyway. Here, it was his office, so she chatted with them for a minute. It was nothing important, they just wanted to say he phone lines were down and to call cell phones if he needed anything. What a hoot.

He was a super nice guy and we enjoyed all his stories and jokes on the way to the dam. We were all throwing around a lot of damn dam jokes. It was fun.

One cool thing on the way, we got to see snow on mountains that the locals haven't seen snow on in YEARS. With the weird weather front that brought all the rain to Vegas last night, it left snow on the mountain tops. It was beautiful!

We finally got to the dam and I had forgotten just how enormous it was! HUGE!

I couldn't bring my scooter in the van, but I was able to get a regular wheel chair. I was kind of bummed needing people to actually push me around. I loved being able to just drive myself, but oh well! We really enjoyed the dam tour and then we hit the gift shop before we headed back out.

I was happy because I was able to get Reagan a couple pressed pennies for her collection. She has really taken a likening to them, so we've started getting them whenever we come across some. We keep them in a little glass bowl in the kitchen where we can look at them all the time.

After our tour, we hit the Miracle Mile shops to find a lunch place. We ended up at a cool western themed bar, with AWESOME food. They gave you so much it was CRAZY! Mary Jane and Jennifer's hot dogs were longer than their plates. It was awesome!

The restaurant had a mechanical bull and you got a free ride with a restaurant receipt. Of course the birthday girl had to give it a go! Chloe did fantastic. She stayed on much longer than the rest of us could have. It was a hoot to watch.

After lunch we decided to take a little rest. We were going to take it easy tonight and just catch a movie.

We decided to see 50 Shades of Gray. It was a good movie and we're glad we finally saw it. Jennifer and I giggled like little school girls through the whole thing. I made Nana sit on the opposite end from me, too! LOL! It was a little intense, but very good!

After that, we went to have some drinks and some food at Planet Dailies before we went upstairs to pack and get ready to head home tomorrow.

Meanwhile at home, Reagan and Jim continued their playing around the house and watching television. They really have been having a good time. Jim doesn't get a lot of one on one time with her, so he is for sure savoring these special moments.  

Relaxing with daddy

 Game time!

 Sofia Tea game!

 The girls on the Dam tour!

 Jenny talking to the driver's office

 Hoover Dam!

 Us with "Crazy Chris" as we called him

 Chloe Riding the bull!

 Jenny and her giant hot dog!

 

Scooting Around Vegas & a Birthday Party - 53/365

So, this morning, we headed down to the hotel lobby to rent me a motorized scooter. We called down to ask how to rent one and they just happened to have them downstairs. Yay, I guess....

It was a little embarrassing at first, but then it was kind of fun. It had a fun little horn and went pretty fast! They actually said to keep it toward the "turtle" setting because people have flipped them. I cranked it up to "rabbit" a couple times and was gone in a flash!

After we got my scooter, we headed over to Caesar's Palace to do a little wandering. We stopped and did a little gambling as well. No one really hit too much, oh well.

After Caesar's we went back to the hotel and napped, because we were still pooped from our adventure at the ER all night, last night.

We got up around four and got ready for dinner. We were heading down to the Venetian to have dinner at Zeffarino's. We ate there last year and just had a wonderful meal, so we wanted to go again. It did not disappoint again this year!

After dinner, we were heading over to the Mirage to take in the Boyz II Men show. We were pretty excited for this show, too! Turns out it was AMAZING as well! They were phenomenal and so humble. At one point during the show, they were giving out roses. Nana and Chloe headed down to the front to try to get one. Nana was able to grab one after one of the Boyz II Men guys accidentally fell off the stage! He was ok and laughing about the whole thing, but he loosened his grip and she was able to get one!

After the show, it was pouring down rain. Yep, in Vegas. I had the scooter, so we had to wait for a handicapped equipped cab, to come. One finally came and now we were heading down to Mary Jane and Chloe's hotel. They were staying at the extremely fancy Mandarin Oriental. Chloe is doing an internship with them, so they got  a bit of a discount.

The hotel was amazing! They had a beautiful bathroom with a bucket filled with wonderfully smelling bath salts. I just wanted to take a quick soak, they smelled so good. They also had a beautiful bedroom area, with an absolutely HILARIOUS video playing. It was supposed to calm you down, but we just laughed. There was a lady bouncing on the couch and a lady walking through a forest! The room even had an "intimacy kit" we all giggled about.

The hotel left Chloe a little surprise of Champagne and a beautiful cake. Chloe was nice enough to pop the champagne and share with us for a little toast. It was so sweet!

After we hung out for awhile, we decided to head back and get a good night sleep, since we were off to the Hoover Dam early in the morning.

Meanwhile back at home, Reagan and Jim took in a birthday party today. Samantha, Amy and Mike's daughter, was turning one! Jim said Reagan was a little shy at first, but warmed up quite quickly to everyone! She had a blast and absolutely loved the cupcake decorating part of the party! They had a good time.

When they came home, they just hung around the house and played games and watched shows. The weather has been so crappy, they haven't been able to do much!
They had a fun day though.

Reagan decorating cupcakes at the birthday party!

 Enjoying some shows this evening.

 Me in my scoot, next to a "Wet Floor" sign

 Dinner time

 The gals

 Boyz II Men

 After the show

 Nana and her rose

 Champagne toast

Vegas & Snow - 51/365

Vegas! Limo to hotel, eat at Burger, Pool at Paris, dinner Mon Ami Gabi, saw people at heart bar

Today we got up early to catch our flight to VEGAS! It was nice staying at the hotel, we could just wander down the hall to our gate.

Our flight was smooth, but super long. I wanted to try to sleep on the plane, but that didn't happen. OH well!

We got to Vegas and were off to catch our limo to the hotel. Jenny was nice enough to arrange that service for us. It was awesome! Our driver was super nice, too!

We got to our hotel and checked in, but our room wasn't ready yet. We decided to go have lunch at BurGR, Gordon Ramsey's restaurant. It was DELICIOUS! The appetizers and the burgers were to die for. We got three different kinds of milk shakes and "adult" push up pops for dessert. It was all delicious!

After we stuffed our faces, we wanted to go enjoy the sunshine, since it was going to be 75 in Vegas today! Woohoo! The pool at our resort was being redone, but we were allowed to use the pool at the Paris, next door. It was lovely just lounging around for the afternoon.

Finally, our room was ready, so we went over and took some lovely naps to get charged up for the evening.

Tonight, we were having dinner at our favorite restaurant in Vegas, Mon Ami Gabi. It's so delicious!!! The have the best steaks and fries in the WORLD! Yum!

After, we went back over to Planet Hollywood, to meet Mary Jane, Chloe and the crew at the Heart Bar for a little bit. We had a great time catching up with everyone.

We did have a weird guy that tried to encroach on our area at the bar. Jackie put him in his place though! LOL!

Also, there was a dancer, dancing on a little platform by us, so Aunt Pam put a dollar in her undies. We were HOWLING!

It was a super fun, but super long day for us!

In the meantime at home, Jim had to go to work, so Jim's mom watched Reagan.

She was supposed to have gymnastics, but it was cancelled for the cold. Sigh....

They had a good day playing around the house though.

This evening, Reagan and Jim went out to play in the snow for a little bit. Then got some nice hot baths. It was going to be a winter storm starting tonight and tomorrow for them. Yuck!

Jenny and our driver

 Nana and I in the limo!

 Lunch time

 Our room

 Heart Bar partying

 Jackie throwing down!

 Pam made a friend!

Ready to play in the snow

Warm bath time!

Bath drawings!

 

 

 

Last Vegas Day and Grandma's House - 95/365

Today, Jim and Reagan spent the day and Grandma and Papa's. 

Reagan colored with Papa and they all had lunch and just played. They had a great time spending time with them and hearing all about grandma's recent trip to Disney. Grandma even brought Reagan home a cute dress, top and sunglasses. She was thrilled! 

The rest of the day they just hung around at home and took Brinkley for a walk. 

Over in Vegas, we were pounding the pavement, yet again! We started with a breakfast buffet in the Palazzo. It was delicious! We had these yummy champagne drinks with strawberries...to die for!!! Cheers!

After breakfast, we caught a cab down to the Las Vegas sign. There was a marriage going on with Elvis as the "priest." It was hard to take our pictures without having him in our pics. UGH! 

After that, we got a cab to the MGM Grand. We wanted to walk around and check out the setup for the ACM awards that were live from there the next night. We didn't see any stars, but we did get to hear Miranda Lambert rehearsing. It was pretty cool! 

After we checked that out, we walked over to New York, New York. We did a little gambling and had a drink at a cool little bar called Pour 24. Our bartender was pretty nice. He was from Pittsburgh, so we talked football a little bit and how he liked living in Vegas. It was a nice little chat. 

Next, we hopped the monorail over to the Paris. By this time, we were hungry again, so we were looking for food. The Paris wasn't offering anything that we wanted, so we hopped a cab back over to Palazzo and went to a cool pizza place. It was nice and quiet and the pizza was excellent. 

After lunch, and running on 3 hours of sleep, literally, it was nap time. We all took a break for about an hour and a half. It was nice to rest our feet. 

Nana, Jenny, Pam and I had tickets for the High Roller at 7:30, so we booked it over there. It just opened that week, so it was really cool to be part of the first riders! The view was AMAZING and you didn't even feel like you were moving. The whole trip around the wheel was a half hour. SO COOL! 

After that, we went back to the room to get MJ and were ready to hit the Keith Urban concert. That concert was AMAZING!!! He played for nearly two hours. He even came out to a small stage right near us where we could almost touch him. It was too cool! After the concert, we were starving, so we ordered room service while we packed up to leave. It was 1:30 am and we had to be up at 6:00 to get ready to get to the airport!! We scarfed down some cheeseburgers and hit the hay. 

What an amazing trip with SO MANY LAUGHS! We can't wait to do it again. We want to make it a yearly thing!  

The photo of the day is us girls at the Las Vegas sign.

The view from the high roller...

Finally, Reagan hanging out with Grandma and Papa Greg.