The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round!

Let me just tell you how glad I am that today is over. When I first got hired back at Reagan, I was told that I would have to get my CDL in order to drive the activity bus since I'm one of the softball coaches. Since everyone is trying to find place to save money, this was an obvious first. If you are the coach of a team, you have to be able to drive the bus since you are already getting paid. No more hiring drivers just to drive a team around.

So in July I went through the CDL course with a coworker of mine. It was a week long class and on the last day we had to take 4 written tests. There was a test on the brake system, a general knowledge test, a school bus test, and then a passenger (coach) bus test. I made 3 100's and a 95. Not too shabby.

Then we were told that it would be up to us to take our paperwork to get our permit and then have someone work with us to drive and learn all the different aspects of the skills test. So I went and got my permit to buy myself about 6 months. Softball season doesn't start until February 16th, so I knew I had time and put it on the back burner. That back burner was still burning, though. I thought about it often. It loomed over me like a dark cloud. 'You need to take care of this!' that cloud would scream at me!

So enter January and being back from Christmas break. It's time to get serious. I start talking to my coworkers and asking them about the test. They told me about what they had to do and most of them said it wasn't a big deal. 'You'll be fine' they said. So I went driving with a friend of mine and turned some corners and practiced backing up a little bit. I was pretty impressed with myself and felt pretty good.

Now it's time to schedule my test. So I call and leave a message. I call the next day and leave a message. I finally get my AD to get the guys cell phone number. After I tell him I'm ready to take the test and I need to schedule a time, he asks me if I'm ready to do the 68 inspection points that make up the pre-trip test. EXCUSE ME?! I just kind of chuckled and he told me that he was serious. I would have to point out 68 different things on the bus and talk about what I'm looking for to make sure they are working ok. I said, into the phone, ' Holy shit.' He just started laughing and said that someone lied to me! Then he went on to tell me about the skills test I would have to pass and then it's time for the actual driving. Up a mountain, down a mountain, parking here, driving there, turning here, train tracks there. HOLY SHIT was right.

Now I'm in Panic Mode. With tears in my eyes and a shaky voice I tell him I'll see him Thursday. It is currently the Friday before hand. That leaves me ONE week to get my shit together.

So I study. And I study. And I study. But words only mean so much. I can read a list of words over and over again, but if I don't see what I'm talking about, it's worthless. So I meet a guy on Tuesday night who walks me around the outside of the bus. I take pictures of the stuff under the hood and I print them out and label them. I study all Tuesday night. Wednesday another coach at Reagan met me at the bus to go through the stuff on the inside of the bus. His advice was stop being a book nerd and studying and just chat the guy up. He told me all about his daughter and his son and asked me who doesn't like talking about their kids. I just laughed and we continued. I had another good friend of mine that told me in order to get what you want in life, just get on your knees! (That sounds like it's going to be sweet, but she was talking about something else, not the praying part!!)

So today was T-Day (test day!). I got up at 6:00 and got my shower, the whole time going over and over that bus. I figured out where I was going, looked through my stuff one more time, said a prayer (or 1,000), and then I was out of the door. As I was getting dressed I was thinking about what I should wear. The guy that taught the class this summer was the one that was doing the test. He was a really, really nice guy. I remember talking to him and he had quite a Southern drawl and we talked about hunting. So I knew he was a good 'ole boy. On went the cowboy boots. Jeans and a black turtle neck sweater. It was, after all, 32 degrees when I left home!

So after getting very lost, I made it to the bus garage. Right on time. I met the guy in the office and then we headed out. The pre-trip started. I. BANGED. IT. OUT. Absolutely killed it. He had complimented me on my written test grades, so I had to show him that I meant business. The only things I left off - the damn steering wheel, horn, and the handrail. Seriously? I can remember the alternator and the entire braking system (including the hose, chamber, slack adjuster, and drum), but I coudn't remember to turn the damn steering wheel to make sure it wasn't loose? I would have loved to have aced that test, but I'll be ok with a 92!!

There was another guy there, who actually took the class with me this summer and wasn't too impressive, so I waited for him to finish. While we were waiting I took the coaches advice and talked about his daughter and his son and what they were doing now. Homeboy made a 94. Damn. He came to play. I'll get him back.

Off we went to the DMV to do our skills test in the parking lot. Pulling down a lane and back and staying in it. Stopping on a line. Backing into a space. Basic stuff. After watching a trucker fail it, I was a little bit nervous. KILLED IT. 0 deductions for a 100! And a thank you!

Now it was homeboy's turn. While he was doing his test, the guy looked down and noticed my boots. He told me that he liked them and talked to me about how his son wears boots all the time and how they can be really good for your feet and how I must have meant business to come in there with my boots on. Mission accomplished. He loves me.

Homeboy had 0 deductions for a 100, also. 1 test left. I have to step it up.

So I saddle up and head out on the open road. We take left turns, right turns, get on the highway, park on the road heading up and down, answer questions about the bus, and a bunch of other crazy stuff. I. KILLED. IT. TOO. A 94. Beat that, homeboy! The only thing I did wrong was take a few turns a little too fast and couldn't stay in the closer lane. I am my father's daughter, what I can say. My right foot is 65% lead. The guy told me I passed, shook my hand, and told me congratulations. I was done. This was over. THANK. THE. LORD. I can truly relax for the first time since the beginning of August.

(Serious side note: I do want to say that the guy who did the test was great. He had the approach that once we get this license, we won't be taught how to drive a bus anymore. We'll be on our own. So not only was he testing what we knew, he was also teaching us new things. When homeboy told him he had been an awesome teacher, his response was, 'Well that's a lot of answered prayers.' He is a great, great guy and is really good at what he does.)

Now it's homeboy's turns. He did ok. Even though he curbed it a few times, stopped as he was entering the highway, and botched railroad tracks, he did an ok job. Obviously needs a little more practice, but it was enough to let him pass. Not that anyone else was really paying any attention to this game I created that pitted me against homeboy, but I went home knowing that I hit him where it hurt, and I WON!

So I left that place with my bus driving license, my sassy cowboy boots on, and two men that were very impressed with my intelligence and my ability to manuever a large vehicle. Mission Accomplished.

VEGAS BABY!

Official Disclaimer: This post is going to be REALLY long. It is going to cover our week long honeymoon to Vegas, the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, and LA. I have included 78 pictures, but that's pretty good since we came home with 556 pictures. Continue, if you dare!


First, let's talk about how we decided on a Vegas honeymoon. When I think of honeymoon, I think of umbrella drinks, white beaches, clear water, and basking in the sun all day long and dinner and dancing at night. Ja can sit still for approximately 5 minutes, so I figured that wouldn't be a good idea for the two of us. We toyed with cruises, New York City, DC, and several other places. Neither of us had been to Vegas and Ja had never been to LA or the Grand Canyon, so it fit us perfectly.


So we got married on February 28, 2009 and since we are both teachers decided to wait until Spring Break so we'd have a week and not have to take any days off. So we ended up going April 11 - April 18, 2009. So I am finally posting this almost a year later.



Ever since I can remember and I could write, I have always written down what happens on a trip. Trips are amazing because you keep doing awesome things, but once you do the next awesome thing, you forget the details of the awesome thing you just did. So, that has continued and I kept a record of what we did day to day on our honeymoon. Enjoy!





Friday (April 10, 2009)

Friday was the last school day before Spring Break. So Ja + I both put in a good day of work and then we headed home to pack for the week. We then jumped in the car and drove from Jacksonville to Greensboro to stay with our friends Brian + Michelle. The live about 10 minutes from the Greensboro airport and that is where we found the cheapest flights. Not long after we got there and chatted for a few minutes we all hit the hay knowing we'd be up early the next day.

Saturday (April 11, 2009)

I don't remember if there was bad weather or what, but we woke up at 5am Saturday morning to a phone call saying our plane had been delayed. We checked online and it wasn't really clear if we were leaving on time or not, so at 5:30, Michelle took Ja + I to the airport just to be safe. We knew there was a chance we'd have to sit around, but better safe than sorry! When we got to the airport we found out our flight had been delayed until 11:30. We figured Michelle was already back and in the bed, so we just made ourselves comfortable. The Greensboro airport is not a big one at all, but we did find a place to get a little breakfast. Then we found a spot on the floor and slept a bit while we could. Around 10:30, this is how we felt:

At 11:30 we got on the plane and flew to Atlanta. Our trip was finally underway!

After about an hour and 5 minute flight, we were in Atlanta. We shoved in a sandwich and then hopped on the plane to Vegas. We landed at 3:00 local time and after the 4 1/2 hour flight we were ready to get things started. When you step off the plane you are greeted with slot machines! Our first!

So excited!

Our first dollar lost!

We finally made it to our shuttle and got to our hotel. Thanks to Ja's parents, we stayed at a Wyndham resort. It was absolutely beautiful!

The lobby:

The view of the strip from our room:

The place where all the magic happened...haha!

Our building:

Once we got back to our room, we were hungry and tired. When we checked in Ja's parents had flowers and a bottle of wine sent up to the room. We then decided to order room service and be sassy, but when we looked, all the offered was pizza! Bring it on! So we ate and drank our wine. After relaxing for a little while we just decided we were going to rest for a bit before going out. That was at 6:30pm. We woke up from our 'rest' at 2 am to get ready for bed.

Sunday (April 12, 2009)

We woke up about 7:30 after 13 hours of sleep. I think that's the best thing we could have done. We were so ready to go!

So after walking around our resort and getting some breakfast, we got on the shuttle that took us to Harrah's casino. It was about 9 am, but people were already up and at 'em, even if it was Easter Sunday! I did feel a little guilty about that, but what can you do! So we played slots for a minute because I thought slots would be my jam, but we got bored quickly. So we found a roulette table. There was a guy just setting up, so we sat down and chatted with him. We told him we had no idea what we were doing and he showed us exactly how to play. When a woman walked up to me and asked me if I wanted a bloody mary, I asked her how much it would cost. I had heard that you get free drinks in Vegas, but damn if you don't! She said nothing and even though I'm not a huge fan of the bloody mary, I helped myself! Why not!

Our first roulette bills down:

We moved tables a bit and that morning we ended up winning $110 on roulette. Not a bad start! After gambling for a while we decided to venture out to the strip. The shuttle drops you off at the back of Harrah's and we hadn't even gotten to the good stuff yet! After walking up the street a bit, we decided to try Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for lunch. We had a few margaritas until we felt pretty good and a VERY delicious lunch. They have the best nachos I have EVER had in my life.

They've got booze in the blender! It's a margarita that you can get right out of there!

They had awesome tables and chairs for sale. The were themed with some of Buffet's songs. If I was rich and lived on a beach, I would have had me some of those!

After lunch we headed across the street to Ceasar's Palace.

This is the statue that is in the middle of the casino floor.

We played roulette again and walked away with $100. I'm pretty sure that Ja did most of the winning on the trip, but I definitely had my good days, too. We did pretty well!

Once you get through the floor, you get to the shops. The ceilings are unbelievable and you feel like you are in ancient Rome with the statues. The only things that bring you back are the Dior, Burberry, and Gucci stores around you!

This is the Trojan Horse that is the entrance to the FAO Schwartz in Ceasar's Palace. Unreal.

Back in college, Ja went to Italy. He has told me about gelato since we have been together and how unbelieveable it is. We were so excited when we saw this gelato stand. We waited in line and marveled at how beautiful the display was.

The couple in front of us ordered two small gelatos. As we were picking out our flavors and ordering, the couple's total came to over $18!! As soon as our guy turned around we booked it. I'm sure it was delicious, but no thank you!

After Ceasar's we went back to the hotel to relax for a bit. We also wanted to get changed and ready for our first Vegas night. So we hopped the shuttle back to Harrah's. Before we got to Vegas, we knew nothing. We didn't study, we didn't plan, we didn't read books - nothing. It made it a real adventure because we learned as we went. So, when we saw signs for the monorail, we had to check it out. Wouldn't you know it takes you up and down the Strip so you don't have to walk! Why didn't we think of that! So we took the monorail to the next stop. We got out at Bally's, Paris, and the Bellagio.

The Bellagio at night. Breathtaking.

We walked to the Paris casino. I had no idea the Eiffel Tower was in Vegas! We decided to check out how much it would cost to go up in that bad boy.

The inside was unbelievable. The ceiling was a sky and one of the legs of the Eiffel Tower came right into the casino. We waited in line for about 45 minutes, but then it was our turn to go up. We walked down what looked like a Paris street that led up to the elevators. I was starting to get more nervous the closer we got because I do not do heights - at all! But it's not every day you are on your honeymoon in Vegas, so I wasn't going to puss out. The view was unreal. It took me a minute to get out of the elevator, but I'm so glad I did. We saw the entire Strip out into the desert.

We were also able to see the Bellagio water show from up there and it took our breath away. They play music that you can hear up and down the strip and the water dances to it. Absolutely incredible.

Once we got down and I got my stomach settled from the swaying, we walked up the Strip some more. We saw the Bellagio sign that had the 'O' advertisement and I got extremely excited. I was going to get to see 'O' later in the week and it was a dream come true!

We had dinner at McDonald's the night, classy I know!, and then decided we could walk back to our hotel because it didn't look that far away. Well what looks like a block or two ended up being nine or ten blocks! We finally made it back and crashed!

Monday (April 13, 2009)

Since we were staying at a timeshare we had a living room a kitchen. So to save money, we just figured we'd get some lunch meat and bread and eat lunches in the room. The resort had a shuttle that left at different times during the day and for $3 they'd take you to the nearest grocery store. Since you had to pay for each person, Ja got up early Monday morning and went to the grocery store for us. He got back and we had a bite to eat and then we got out all the pamphlets we had picked up in the lobby and sat down and talked about what we'd like to do. Once we got everything mapped out we had a meeting at 11:30 with the Wyndham people. This is where they take you around and try to talk you into buying a time share. 2 hours later we finally said absolutely not and no means no (which dear God they did not take too well) and walked away with a $125 AmEx card, a 3 day 2 night vacation, and free tickets to 'The Mentalist'. Not too shabby for some overbearing sales people! They had offered us a limo ride to the Miss America pageant if we had just said yes, but we stood strong. Good try though - flash some girls with big boobs in front of Ja and he's libel to agree to anything! After that we went back to the room and ate lunch. Then we jumped on the shuttle and took the monorail to the MGM Grand.

MGM's famous Leo the Lion seen at the beginning of all MGM movies! Ja has a mild obsession with lions, so he was really excited about this guy!

We were now on a part of the strip we hadn't seen yet. Across from the MGM was the New York New York casino. Check this thing out! Skyscrapers, Statue of Liberty, Brroklyn Bridge, giant rollercoaster, Hudson River...craziness! By far my favorite looking casino.

As we walked down Las Vegas Blvd we saw M&M world. Ja's LOVES M&M's, so this was a must. It was a pretty awesome place. Showed the different M&M characters through the years and had lots of stuff you could buy. Bedroom sets, race cars, T-shirts, and all kinds of other money grabbers!

Ja's favorites are the peanut M&Ms, so he was excited about getting a picture with Yellow.

Across from New York New York is Excalibur. This is where we would spend plenty of time later, but we were just taking it in as we passed by.

By this time we needed to head to the Hooter's Casino to see our 'free' show.

We walked into the Hooter's Casino and redeemed our 'free' ticket that we got for the cost of 2 drinks, which were magically $25. Still not too bad for both of us to get into the show for 25 bones. I had no idea how amazing the show was going to be. It's in a little theater and is pretty intimate. Gerry McCambridge is 'The Mentalist'. He is a magician who also has unbelievable observation skills. He would have someone stand up from the crowd and he would be able to tell them their name, where they are from, their brother's name, that they were pregnant when they just found out the week before. It was CRAZINESS. The pictures below show Gerry holding a phone number. He asked some questions and singled out a girl who he brought on stage. He then asked her to write her phone number down. While she did that he singled out 7 more people to come up on the stage and grab an envelope from a stack. Gerry then showed her number and then one by one the people on stage took the number out of their envelope and it was her phone number in the exact same order. Sounds like it's rigged, but there is no way it could be. It was incredible.

He even got duct taped his eyes shut and then got blindfolded and just from talking to people he could tell them all sorts of things. It was pretty amazing. The TV show 'The Mentalist' is based on Gerry's skills and his idea of what would happen if his skills took him into the police field and what he would be able to do. Awesome show if you've never watched it!

Jason with Gerry:

Gerry and me:

Jason and Gerry's assistant (and yes I took this picture! He's married, not dead!):

After the show we took the tram to Mandalay Bay to see their shark exhibit. Wouldn't you know that we got there about 4 1/2 minutes after they closed. We never did get to see those sharks. We'll just have to go back!

So then it was back to Excalibur to get to experience it. We ate dinner at Pizza Hut and even stopped at the Cold Stone for a shout out to Karen Harmon and my ice cream scooping days. We could have eaten fancier than we did, but we figured we'd rather gamble then waste it on food! So we went to the floor and played roulette, blackjack, and a few other games. I lost $80, so it was time to go. We are by no means big ballers and we had a certain amount each day we could gamble and once it was gone, it was gone. So we left Excalibur so we could see this end of the Strip at night. Unbelievable. Really is the city of lights.

New York New York at night.

We were so excited when we saw our first bride and groom! She was bopping around Vegas with that gown on. Made me so proud!

The homeless aren't allowed to be on the Strip, so some of the hide by sitting down on the bridges so no one can see them unless they are walking across. We came across this guy and just had to give him a dollar. Gotta love the honesty!!

We also ran across a bunch of the infamous wedding chapels. Had to get a picture of one!

Tuesday (April 14, 2009)

While we were on the western part of the country, we decided we would take advantage of some of the other awesome stuff around Vegas. Ja had never been to the Grand Canyon so we signed up for a day tour of the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. It was an awesome, awesome experience. We left about 6:30am and got back about 6:00pm. It made for a long day, but it was a great adventure.

The Hoover Dam. Definitely awe inspiring. What I couldn't even get pictures to show were the bridges being built across those mountains and the men you could see working right on the edge. Very much worth the trip.

Ja was making me so nervous. We went to Mather's Point and Bright Angel which are spots along the Grand Canyon. Neither of them had rails and Ja was walking right to the edge. He finally got me out on the rock above for a picture, but then he had to be a pain in my butt and step into this crevice to make it look like he was falling.

A little newlywed love! I love this picture, even if for some reason I look like a duck!

When we got back from the trip we showered up and headed to dinner at Toby Keith's 'I Love This Bar & Grill'. We drank beer from Mason jars and had a great dinner. They played really good music and we had a good time watching everyone dance. We were so exhausted we just couldn't manage to get up.

After dinner we were planning on bring frisky, but it had been a long day and we knew we had another long planned for Wednesday, so we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Wednesday (April 15, 2009)

One of my very best friends from college, Patrick, headed to LA right after graduation to try to make his way into the movie business. While he is writing Oscar worthy scripts, he also gives tours at the Sony Studios to get by day to day. I knew we couldn't be that close to him and not see him. Vegas to LA is about a 4 hour drive, which isn't terrible. So Ja went to the car rental place and picked up our car and then we hit the road about 7:30.

The scenery on I-15 in Nevada.

As we were driving along we realized we had merged onto I-40. As anyone from Wilmington knows, I-40 is the highway that connects you to the rest of the country. It is also the highway that Ja and I drove thousands of times our first year of dating while I was in Winston Salem and he was in Jacksonville. When you are leaving Wilmington there is a sign on the side of 40 that says 'Barstow, CA 2554 Mi'. So as we were driving along we saw a mileage sign for Barstow. We looked each other and started freaking out. We were going to get to see the 'Wilmington, NC 2554 Mi' sign!! So as we reached the end of I-40 it took us 15 minutes to try to get back to the Wilmington sign. We kept missing the exit that got us to it. After about 8 wrong exits we had it figured out and there we were!

Once we got the pics we hopped back in the car to finish our journey to Cali. The snow covered mountains were unbelievable. Pictures don't do it justice!

The year after we graduated from college, my friend Maggie and I came out to LA to see Patrick. We ate at In-N-Out burger once and I was hooked. So when we got to Culver City a little early, we were able to swing in a grab a burger. They are so simple - yet so amazing!

Then we headed to the Sony Studies to meet Patrick. I was so excited to get to see him in his element.

All around the lobby they had some of the props used in the Sony movies. The had stuff from Talledega Nights, Big Daddy, Spiderman, as well as one of my all time favorites, Sleepless in Seattle. It was so cool to be so close to the actual movie props.

We had a great tour, thanks to our great tour guide. That's Patrick below in the blue jacket leading us around.

One of the highlights of the tour was getting to see JOHN CUSACK!!! I have always loved him and thought we were supposed to be in love since his love interest was a Sarah in most of his movies. He had come in to do some voice overs and we saw him walk between two of the buildings a few times. I was about as close to him as I was to Patrick when I took the picture above. He moved too quickly to get his picture and I was trying not to freak out completely. It was awesome! We also got to see the Wheel of Fortune studio, a Foley stage where they make the sound effects, sound stages where some of the biggest songs have been recorded, and some other really awesome stuff. Did I mention I got to see JOHN CUSACK!!!

After the tour Patrick hopped in the car with us and we headed down the Pacific Coast Highway to an awesome seafood place called Gladstone's. We had a fantastic meal and got the most gigantic martini glass of awesome calamari.

Patrick and us after dinner.

Then it was time to have some fun. We saw some Baywatch cars around the beach and got inspired. Welcome Pamela Anderson and The Hoff to the scene.

Me and my hunky lifeguard husband!

Just had to stick my feet in. It was COLD as mess, but you just gotta do it!

Then we made our way to the UCLA campus. We didn't have time to do all the touristy stuff, but this was one thing I HAD to do. When Maggie and I came and ate at Diddy Riese I have had dreams of it since then. When you walk into to this store of dreams, you pick out two freshly made cookies and the ice cream of your choice, and then they hand make you an ice cream sandwich. Ummm...yes please! We were also able to sit and talk to Patty Cakes for a bit before taking him back to this apartment. He had moved since the last time I was in town, so it was good to see his new place. Thanks Patrick!!

After we dropped Patrick off we jumped in the car to head back. It was about 8, so we knew it'd be late getting back. Ja drove most of the way and when I could tell he had had it I jumped in while I could. He took a nap while I drove and then I was done, so he took over again. By this time it was about midnight. We were both beat, but since we had the car we figured we'd drive to the older, north part of the Strip. This is where Circus Circus, the Golden Nugget, and some of older casinos are. It's called 'Downtown' and the monorail doesn't get there. You can cab it, but it's a pretty good ride and we just never did. So while we had the car we drove through the downtown area just so we could see the famous hotel that once made up the Strip. We also saw some tattoo shops and lots of the cheap little wedding chapels and even some drive thrus that you hear about! When we got back Ja took the rental car back and got in about 2am. We were beat.

Thursday (April 16, 2009)

Thursday morning we woke up at 11:30. After two days of traveling, we certainly needed that. So we took it easy and then headed out. We made our way to the Bellagio to pick up our tickets for 'O' that night. We gambled a bit and did pretty well. We had lunch at Planet Hollywood and Ja got his picture taken with a real Vegas showgirl!

We headed back to the hotel to get ready. This was our big night out. Seeing a Cirque du Soleil performance has been a dream of mine since I can remember. I saw their specials on TV years ago and was instantly captivated. The tickets were certainly not cheap, but it was the one thing we had to do and we splurged a little. I had no idea how good the seats were, but we'll get to that later. So after we showered and got all niced up, we headed out to see some of the night time things we hadn't gotten to yet.

First of all we had to get our picture taken with Siegfried and Roy. You're in Vegas. Have to.

Then we headed to the Treasure Island casino. In front of the hotel there is a big pool of water. There are two full size pirate ships and on one it is full of scantilly clad female tramp pirates and the other has the men. The women have captured one of the men and then end up having a sing off and a canon fight. It is pretty entertaining with everyone dancing and singing around. It ends up with the queen tramp heading up stairs with the guy she was arguing with the whole show. Figures. Slut.

Then we went to the Mirage. In front of the Mirage is a multi-million dollar volcano that erupts every hour on the hour. It was pretty incredible. The sound effects and the explosions were pretty awesome.

Then it was time to go to 'O' in the Bellagio. This is the lobby to the theater. I got a good few pictures before I got in trouble, but the artwork was just spectacular.

When we walked in to take our seats, the escorted us to the very front row in the very center two seats. I was blown away. Of course you can't take pictures in there, so check out the trailer *here* and it will give you just a taste of how unbelievable it was. I just can't even put into words how amazing it was, so I'm to stop trying! Watch the trailer.

Friday (April 17, 2009)

Friday morning we woke up about 9 am. We headed to MGM in hopes that Ja could see the lion since the first time we went they weren't out. We were in luck! There was a big guy just laying on top of the walk way. They are asleep a huge percentage of their life, but it was just awesome to see him laying there. He looked like our boys! He was so pretty!

Ja with his badass face on because he was posing with his boy, Leo.

We left the MGM to try to see some of the casinos we hadn't seen yet. We made it to Bill's Gambling Hall and it was pretty cool. Looked like an old time gambling saloon. They also had margaritas for $1. Did I also mention that you can drink anywhere in Vegas. You can get a drink in one place and march your happy butt all over the place with it. Pretty cool just because you certainly can't do that here! After Bill's we stood in one of the ticket lines. We wanted to do something a little risque and a little show girlish. We decided on X Burlesque. I'd never seen a burlesque show and they had signs all over the Strip, so we said why not! We then stopped by the Venetian. It is a pretty awesome place. They have the gandola's in the front and a huge mall and awesome casino. The picture below show what you walk up to!

After sight seeing we made our way back to Excalibur, where we had done our best gambling. The roulette tables had our pockets by the end of the week and we were hooked. After a while I was winning by $20 and Ja was up $106. We needed to leave if we were going to make it to X, but we alsmost couldn't. We finally got up and walked away. We left with about $200 more than we started with, thanks mostly to Ja.

We headed to the Flamingo where we hung out with some real Flamingo's in the courtyard.

We gambled some there and then it was time for X. We went in with some really interesting people. There were some guys there by themselves. There was a couple that looked happy, but that got very unhappy when the girls walked out on stage and homegirl got mad. What did you think they were going to look like? I wasn't paying money to see ugly girls get a little naked and dance around. Suck it up sister. Just to give you an idea, this is the *ad* they have all over the Strip. It is a topless show, but I thought it was very well done. The dancing was good, the props and sets were intriguing. I quite enjoyed it. And I got to see something scandalous in Vegas. Life was good! We got back to the hotel and to bed at about 1am and had to get up about 3am to get to the airport on time.

Saturday (April 18, 2009)

So we got up at 3am and caught the airport shuttle at about 3:30. Our flight to Atlanta left at 6am. So we had a 3 hour time change and a 5 hour flight. We got to Atlanta about 2 and our flight to Greensboro was delayed and left about 4:05. We got back to Greensboro about 6pm and Brian came and picked us up. We then drove to Leslie +Will's to stay the night.

We had an AMAZING time and Vegas was definitely everything we wanted to it to be. We drank, we gambled, we saw 'O', we walked the Strip, we learned the monorail, we saw the Hoover Dam + Grand Canyon, we drove to LA, we saw some topless chicks, and we got to do it all together. I am a very lucky woman married to a very lucky man! Anyone want to head to Vegas tomorrow?