Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving

I can still hear the slot machines in my head! We had such a great time in Vegas but it feels good to be home. Las Vegas is not a cheap place to go. Where else can you spend $60 dollars on an appetizer and two drinks at any restaurant? Walking around Vegas during the holidays you would have no idea our economy isn't doing well right now. There were people everywhere and loads of foreign tourists. At times it felt like we were in a different country.

We weren't real lucky with the slot machines (I don't like them because they just eat my money). One night when James was playing poker I had to ask for more money because I kept losing. Luckily James did well with poker and covered some of my losses.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We had some good meals and had tickets for KA. We went in the theater and were waiting for the show to begin. All of a sudden all of the lights went on and someone made an announcement that the show was canceled because of technical difficulties. Everyone thought he was joking and nobody got up. James realized he wasn't and we rushed to the ticket line and got to exchange for tickets on Friday night. I'm glad we got to go. It was absolutely amazing, especially the set. We were mesmerized!

We had a great time but are glad to be home. It was nice to have a mini vacation.

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Vegas Baby!

It is the best day ever. James took the day off because he needed some mental health time off work. He hasn't really had any vacation days off for well over a year. At his old company he was trying to save vacation time for the trip to Vietnam. When he switched jobs and moved to CO his last day at his old company was on Friday and then he started his new job on Monday. So, today we slept in and went to our favorite breakfast place, Einstein's bagels. Yum! We are going to exercise outside and then pack.

We are headed to Vegas today! We are going to see KA tomorrow night and are just going to relax and have fun. We aren't huge gamblers but we will try to be lucky. :) We got such a great deal and will be staying at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. The hotel room is almost as big as our whole house!

We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. This is our first without our families so the trip will help. We will get to see our family over Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Monday, November 24, 2008

The First Attempt

We drove up to a town close to Vail, CO, on Saturday to stay with our friends who are renting the condo for the winter. The mountains were absolutely gorgeous!



We went to a fun brewery and then spent the night playing the Wii. James made chili so that we could eat it for lunch on Sunday after skiing. The chili was a hit. The whole pot of chili disappeared on Saturday night (after we had eaten out). Oops!
Sunday morning Eric attempted to take the dogs for a walk but they wanted to play. They ran around the condo and had a great time until they got covered with hitchhiker seeds. That delayed us for quite a while. Molly enjoyed the attention as we all tried to pick them off of her. She got a nice haircut. It still looks a little lopsided and we are still finding them.


We then got dressed in our ski gear and headed for Breckenridge. The worst thing about the ski gear is the boots. They are heavy and hard to walk in. It felt like I was wearing bricks and yes, I was the slowpoke of the group. The gondola ride was a little scary but beautiful! It was windy and we did stop a few times which scared me to death but it was worth it. When we got to the top we all put on our skis and little did I know the next lift would be the trickiest. As soon as I got my skis on Eric helped me get in line as I proceeded to fall. He had to help me up and then we got to the easy lift (looked like a treadmill). I was terrified! I couldn't even stand in my skis. I told the guy that I hadn't done it before and he basically pushed me on. I took off with my skis on and somehow managed to make it on the lift. As we got up to the top of the green slopes (bunny) the hard part was getting off the lift. Somehow I managed to get off without falling and stopped. We spent most of the afternoon learning how to make a wedge. I got really good at this and anytime I felt like I was going too fast I just wedged down. I learned how to get myself up after falling which was not a small feat. James did like zooming down a little more than I did.


We survived and will try it again. Our friends really helped us but we could definitely use a few more lessons. It is frustrating when little kids zoom past you on the hill. On the last run James was switching back and forth down the hill and the next thing he knew his ski got caught and he went tumbling down. A little kid asked, "Are you okay?" That was a little hard to get used to. The little kid skis are so small!
Needless to say we are both sore but we will definitely going to do it again. Maybe some day we will be on the blue. We'll see. We love the mountains in the summer and the winter. If only we could just have a condo or house, then we would be up there every weekend. One can wish, right?