Jades End Of School Program

This seems to be the only way I can get y'all to see Jade in her end of school program. This happened a week ago already but emailing the file was a problem since it was so big so I am trying this. Not sure how the quality is going to turn out but it is worth giving it a try ... hold thumbs and turn up your sound. If it is very unclear, Jade is the one in the center in the long pink dress. I wish y'all knew her voice and that the sound was better because you can definitely hear her above the rest ... definitely another proud parent moment !!!

Click the play button twice if it doesn't run the first time ...



If you want to follow along with the words in case you can't make them out they are as follow, or I think those are the words :-)

Our God is a great big God
Our God is a great big God
Our God is a great big God
And he holds us in his hands X2

He's higher than a skyscraper
He's deeper than a submarine
He's wider than the universe
and beyond my wildest dreams
And he's known me and he's loved me
Since before the world began
How wonderful to be a part of God's amazing plan !

And so on ...

She is also riding her bicycle without her training wheels and I need to load that on here too if this works, again holding thumbs. Please let me know what you think ... leave a comment in the comment section just below this, click the link if you don't know how to do it and it will walk you through it :-)

Hope you enjoyed that ;-) Thanks.

And It Gets Worse !!!

Oh well just when I thought poor Jade had had her week of the wars and it was almost over, yesterday morning, (Thursday) Jade woke up around 6am crying, she said her ear was sore, now knowing Jade and how high her pain tolerance is, when she says something is sore, you know it is really sore !!! So we gave her a good dose of Tylenol and she went off to sleep for another hour then woke up as normal for the day to get started.

I phoned and made her an appointment with the doctor but in the meantime had to attend her last day of school program which she looked like she was now up for. Well she looked like a little angel (mommy's angel) and sang so beautifully but the entire time whenever I looked over her way, she was tugging at her ear. So after she did her part in the program, I whisked her home for another dose of pain medicine and then it was off to the doctor.

Well 8 weeks ago we were in there with an ear infection in her right ear and well this was the right ear too and now she had a blister on her eardrum, which apparently is very painful, poor thing. I thought we were over the ear infections when she had her tubes put in at golly, I can't remember, round about 18 months I think or was she two ... I guess I should know these things, bad mother that I am :-( But anyway, apparently ear infections is not something you out grow so this might be a never ending thing with us, but I pray not. So we have antibiotics for the next 7 days. She had a bad afternoon yesterday, high fevers and just sleepy so she had a good long sleep after we got back from the store and woke up feeling a bit better.

Today she almost seems good as knew, running around here like a cheerleader, it's amazing how from yesterday she is so different. I asked the doctor yesterday if the blister would pop and she said probably not but today she has a lot of liquid coming out her ear so I phoned them back and they said it probably did pop but at least some of the pressure has now been released which is why she probably feels so much better.

Anyway this being the Memorial Weekend it's a BIG POOL weekend and well we now have no swimming for 7 days which absolutely is awful, we had two pool parties to go to which now we will have to pass on. I wouldn't take her anywhere near a pool and have her watch others swim while she can't especially with her being the little fish she is. So I guess we will have a quiet weekend, actually if Jade stays feeling well we will be off to Speedstreet tonight which is the big Nascar celebration we have here once a year, just before the big race on Sunday, I think it's Sunday, my Nascar friends will shoot me for not knowing that LOL !!! Speedstreet is always fun but the past two years it rained on the day we went which really wasn't as fun, still hot but not fun. It looks like we have perfect swimming weather for the next 7 days so come on y'all pray for it to get cold and to rain LOL only kidding !!!

At least with us going to the doctor she got her finger checked at the same time, the doctor said it is healing well but to keep it covered and also out of water for the next 4 odd days so you see, things really happen for a reason I guess. Jade is a trooper though, nothing brings her down which is why her being the way she was yesterday was so sad :-(

Kathy, that bath bubble blower and karaoke is from the Lakeside Collection, I think it is www.lakeside.com I love them !!!

Oh and on a last note, my mom went and had her stitches out today and she said it was horrid and extremely sore but thankfully that is over. I think my dad thinks it is her punishment for making him clean so much around the house, stuff she can't do, shame the old man is taking strain LOL but like the typical man, when my mom is better and she takes over again, he won't appreciate her more, the stuff we do just always gets taken for granted, that's a women's life for sure !!!

So for all my American friends, have a wonderful Memorial Weekend, travel safe and for the rest of you, well I hope you have a good regular weekend :-)

Ouch ...

Well I am updating today being Wednesday but tomorrow is Jades End Of Year Program at her school so I will probably update you more then but wanted to quickly jot down as much as possible here so ...

It's been a rough week for Jade, poor thing !!! She is very close to riding her bicycle without her training wheels, she has been for the past few weeks practising on the grass in the back of our house, on Sunday she fell really hard and took a nice gash out of the back of her knee but thankfully that is healing up well, just in time for the next accident. And before I get to that one, last night Dave took her out front on the road and she actually rode pretty well without his help. She even managed to get going without him holding the seat like he does to allow her to get her balance. Of course she and Dave are equally excited at the fact she can now almost do this but Mom well ... let's say that I just don't watch, it's better that way !!!

Then last night just before bedtime, Jade wanted to watch a movie upstairs in her playroom. You see this past weekend I worked my butt off steam cleaning all the carpets and moving her playroom around. Now she loves her playroom and spends much time up there, she has a great work station to craft at and that is just her thing ... so thankfully the transition was a good one anyway ... so she wanted to watch a movie and Dave taught her how to put the video into the machine on her own, yeah I know videos are a thing of the past but daddy has just been too lazy to connect a dvd player up there yet but I am sure he will do it soon after this last experience.

She pushed the video in far with her thumb and the doors closed and she got it jammed in there and well I guess from the look of her thumb she jerked it out without thinking ... yuk, yuk, yuk is all I can say, it's on the inside of her thumb but she has taken the skin off the entire length of her thumb and almost the entire width too, it's gross. It was a pretty clean cut and the lose skin, ok am I grossing you all out here ? The lose skin just fell back onto the open wound and we didn't know what to do, thank God, Dave was here. Anyway we have a Parmedic that lives next door and a nurse that lives three houses away from us, not to mention a brain surgeon just doors away from us too but we called the nurse over and asked her to take a look. She said that we need to leave the skin on there to protect the wound from bacteria and just cover it with a waterproof bandaid for a couple of days and then open it up to dry once it start healing on its own. It's just such a big wound on that tiny little finger :-( and too keep it clean, what a mission but we just have to do it.

Thankfully Jade said it isn't sore so that's good at least if it gets sore we will know there is something wrong, heaven forbid that happens.















The above pics were taken two nights ago in the bath (obviously). I bought her this little radio, bubble blower, karioke machine which she loves, you can see how much fun she was having :-)

Then a quick update on my mom, she is doing really well recovering at home, slow but good. I think she realized after being home for just one day that she had to take it easy after she over did it on that first day. I think what is making it tough too is the fact that she says it is so very cold there that she can't get warm, thankfully the fireplace in the house does help some and a hot blanket on their bed helps too, it's only the start of Winter for them, it's going to get really cold still.

Anyway my mom will kill when she sees I have posted this picture but how long is that scar, wow, I know it's a hip replacement but still I didn't think the scar would be that long. She goes to get stitches taken out I think she said Friday, hopefully it will be quick and relatively painless ...



As I said I will probably update tomorrow too or maybe after the weekend, it's a long one for us, yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, it's Memorial Weekend here and the pool opens full time next week, it's only been open here weekends over the past two weeks, now it will be open only in the afternoons coz some kids here are still in school but at least Jade and I will be able to go use the pool in the afternoon. I think it is another week or two and then it will be open all day, we can't wait.

There is the usual pool opening party on Saturday but we have another party the afternoon so probably won't be able to attend, my girlfriend Tina's baby Layla turns one, and well they have a pool there too so Jade can swim there too since she will have overdosed in our pool by the end of Summer. Giving that a second thought we will have to see how her finger is doing !!! Anyway she doesn't get to see Layla's brothers Tyler and Louis as much since their mom went back to work so that will be a treat for her in itself even without swimming.

Last but not least ... still not many comments coming in ... come on y'all, make this worth my while and let me know you are actually reading my blog and keeping up to date with life over here :-)

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there ... I am thankful that my mom is home from the hospital today, I am sure that was the best gift ever for her. It's still going to be a tough recovery but thankfully today she said that she is managing the pain much better and although she knows everything is going to be a challenge for a while as long as she has help from my dad, she said things should get better and better every day, I hope so !!! My mom is not someone that likes to rely on anyone so that too is going to be a challenge for her but again, thankfully she is home and ok !!!

Before I go on, I just want to thank everyone that kept in touch with my mom while she was in the hospital, not being able to get up and do stuff made for a very boring time in her private room without a TV or phone, cannot believe they have hospitals like that, I have said it before but it makes me realize how lucky we are with the luxury in our hospitals over here. Thank God she had her cell with her so people could be in touch with her on there. Thank you too for all those that called me and emailed me to keep up to date with how she was doing, your concern was appreciated by myself and my family more than you know :-)

I have had a nice day so far, Dave had Jade make a whole bunch of crafty stuff for me yesterday which she gave me this morning, too cute :-) Hey even my hubby made me a home made card, now I think that is because he forgot to buy me one but I could see he put in a bit of thought and that is what counts the most. They also gave me a cover for my new cell phone and a magazine subscription I have wanted for a while :-) Then we got done and went out for breakfast, everything was crowded as you can well imagine but we had a yummy breakfast and then went on to Concorde Mills for a while, which for those that don't know me well, it's one of my favorite Malls.

Now we are home and relaxing, we will probably BBQ later and then relax further for the evening, I hope, get energized for another week.

Have a good one :-)

Gymnastics Update

Yesterday was Jade medal test at gymnastics and did she make us proud. All but one in her group are her age or older but there is only one other kid in the class that gets close to trying the things Jade tries, as you can see on the high bar above the cheesepit, she is a little dare devil. Not everyone in the class goes on the high bars either, she scares me half to death sometimes when I am sure her dad is thinking, you go girl !!!

It was fun for Dave to see all the things she has learnt over the last year, to be honest, I think she does better when him and I are not there because when we are she goes into showoff mode but still it must have been good for him to see at the very least, what he is paying for :-) hopefully now he knows he is getting his money's worth.

After the class the teacher that grades them pulled me aside and not only promoted Jade to the next class but she is actually going to skip the next class which is a TK (transitional kindergarten) class and go directly into the Girls Novice class which is the entry level class for gymnastics skills on all Olympics apparatus, how cool is that :-)

Her teacher said she is strong and very brave and she thinks Jade would be bored with the next class and wanted to put her in something that was more of a challenge to her. I don't know what the cut off age for this class is but I know you have to be at least 5 to be in it and in August when she starts in this class Jade won't be 5 yet but they know that and said she will be fine ... let's hope.

Anyway so that was our proud moment. My silly camera didn't get good pics but I have attached some pics for you to see, they got silly little trophies compared to their medals half way through the year but I think the little ones liked this award better.

We took her out to dinner to her favorite restaurant afterwards to celebrate :-)



















Have a good weekend everyone and I am sure I will update again on my mother but just in case my weekend gets hectic, Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there.

Mothers Day In The Hospital

Just spoke to my mom and although she seems to be getting on fine, she is still not where she should be walking wise so they are thinking she might have to stay there through the weekend, Mothers Day in the hospital !!! Well thinking about it, they will probably spoil the moms in the hospital more than my dad will spoil her at home so she is probably better off there :-)

She was still waiting to see the physiotherapist but had walked a good deal today and had sat in a chair for over three hours but still no stairs, so I personally think she should stay there as long as possible.

She sounds better though, in better spirits so that's the best part for me, obviously she is in a good deal of pain all the time but at least now she is taking the meds to help her through that. I am worried though they put her on something for her blood, I need to find out more about this later but I think whatever the problem, it is because she hates the hospital food and is not eating ... the more I tell her she has to eat something, she says the food is gross. I wish she would just order in something from the canteen downstairs, I mean, how difficult can that be ???

Anyway more later. Oh I have to post about Jades gymnastics too, exciting stuff, we are very proud of her !!!

For Those Following My Moms Recovery

Just wanted to let everyone know that my mom is doing well, although in a lot of pain she is hanging in there. I just spoke to her and she is about to get a massage since walking today for the first time and doing physiotherapy on top of that, it has taken a lot out of her.

She says that it's weird that you almost need to learn to walk again, that the hip that was replaced just doesn't want to do what she is telling it too, sounds really ouch to me.

Anyway they have told her that she can go home as soon as she walks and can get up a few steps, I told her that she needs to stay in there as long as possible so she can get as much help as she can before she is going to have to deal with everything herself at home, I am sure my dad will obviously help her but he has to work too so she is going to have to try and relax till he gets home or have to do it herself, I am hoping with my mom it is not the latter.

She also tries to be a hero as far as not taking pain meds but I told her she must take everything they give her to help her through this process, I don't know how she does it.

But anyway, that's the update for today. We have gymnastics this afternoon, Jade has her medal test so that has us excited :-) I will post later on how that went and will obviously have a pic or two to post.

Through Surgery Fine ...

Ok there is absolutely nothing more frustrating than being a million miles away from family and trying to get information about a loved one going through surgery and getting nothing !!!

Well after lots of tearsand what felt like a never ending day, I finally got through to my mother tonight and she seems to have come through it fine, she has lots of pain and feel yucky from the anesthetic but she survived and the surgery was a success. She has not seen the doctor as yet but that is what she has been told. I guess I will be in touch with her in the morning when she will make more sense and would have more information.

Thank you for all those that have called and emailed their concern, I know I appreciate it and am sure my family does too. I will post again soon.

Nothing Too Interesting Going On ...

Well it's been a week since I last updated my blog, now that update took forever so I will keep this one short, what is more I got only one comment after all the updating so I am a little unmotivated right now :-(

Anyway we had a slow weekend, Friday we had Jades Parent Teacher conference and it went really well, Jade seems to be where she needs to be at the moment, they even as much as said she was above where she needed to be but we won't focus on that at this point, as long as she is getting all she is being taught and trying her best to concentrate and learn the best she can, we are happy, so yeah we are proud parents right now :-)

Then Friday afternoon Jade said she had a headache which I never get from her so I took her temperature and it was quite high so I gave her some Motrin and within minutes she passed out on the sofa and slept for 2 hours. Woke up like a new person although she still had the temperature and ran it the entire weekend, you would hardly have known, she is a tough little girl. She seems to be over it today so who knows what it was. Thankfully the weather was pretty yucky which meant staying indoors was no big deal.

Dave and I managed to sort out our computer room which I hate to say is the one room in our house I have totally no control of, it looks like a pig sty all the time and I just don't know what to do about it but for now everything is off the floor and that is a start ... let's see how long that lasts.

My mom goes in for her hip replacement surgery tomorrow and I have to say I am totally freaked out about it. Being so far away is hard, I guess it is the price we have to pay for moving away but still, I am taking strain right now. I spoke to her tonight (SA time) and I could hear that she was now getting really nervous and now that she knew more of what she was going to go through she is a little more freaked because she didn't realize how big a deal this was all going to be. Her surgery is at 10am tomorrow morning, it's a 2 odd hour surgery after which apparently she will be in ICU for 12 odd hours and then sedated heavily for the next two days before they get her up to walk.

One of my neighbors mom went in for this surgery a while back and I have been following her recovery which has been great and really quick actually, the big thing I think for my mom is she is going to need to take it easy for a while to heal up completely, now for my mom that is going to be a mission, for anyone that knows her, they know what I am talking about.

I had to hold back the tears tonight when I spoke to her, I really do hope and pray all goes well. Thankfully she had a private room which we didn't think she would get and my dad is there with her, for how long, I don't know but he is there now, that's the main thing. I guess I have gotten used to the luxury of hospitals here where your hubby can sleep over in your room if you have a private room, they have a Lazyboy kind of chair in there that you can sleep in and well if there is a cot (fold out bed on wheels) available they will wheel it in for him to sleep in comfort, how cool is that ? Also my moms said there is no TV ... now ok that would totally kill me but with the yucky SA TV programs I guess she isn't missing too much although she will get bored quickly. What shocked me the most is there is no telephone in her room, what is more there isn't even a roaming one they can plug into her room, this is when I realize how lucky we are to be here, how can they not have stuff like that with technology being what it is, that's not a luxury, it's almost a necessity. Anyway so I am going to have to work out something so I can call her on her cellphone which is a mission since landlines are just so much cheaper :-(

So please, keep her in your thoughts and prayers and hope that all goes well.

I will update you in the next day or so on how everything went.

Back From Vegas

Wow, Wow, Wow !!! That is what Vegas left me with, what an amazing place I cannot wait for the opportunity to go back, I would even go as far as to say it was the best experience I have ever had in my life, ok next to getting married and having Jade ... better cover my ass on that one (hehehe). Ok for people that have been there this might be an interesting new post but for those that haven't I hope I don't bore you half to death, I will try and slot in a few on my 400 odd pics I took so you can see a little of what I am talking about !!!

Oh golly, I don't even know where to start, so for those that didn't know, Dave and I left for Vegas early Saturday morning the 14th (on my dads birthday - Happy Birthday Dad !!!) and got back very late Thursday night the 19th, that was almost a week without our baby which was very weird but she had a ball staying with my neighbor which is such a God send and her four little girls, some of which are Jades best friends in our road :-)

We obviously called her daily sometimes many times a day but she really wanted very little to do with us, she was having so much fun, that at least made being away a little easier for us, we were really very thankful for this opportunity, I feel very indebted to Tina.

Dave had a conference to attend Monday - Thursday so we tried our best to see as much as possible on the Saturday and Sunday, the three hour time difference helped us have more time to see more on Saturday but also wore us out big time. I should have taken my pedometer with me to record how much we walked because my golly did we walk a lot, especially the Saturday, the Sunday we were a little tired but the adrenalin of Vegas keeps you going. Sunday evening we took a 6 hour tour which was awesome and a great way to see Vegas at night, see stuff we might not have seen had we not taken the tour, we also learnt a lot about the history of Vegas and they even took us to downtown Vegas which is like the old Vegas Strip for a lack of a better way of explaining it.

Some of the things on the tour were the Stratosphere which is this high tower that over looks the strip, that was cool but I couldn't believe that up there they have what they call extreme rides off the side of the tower, they are extreme but more insane if you ask me, I was nervous just watching them. Then we went to the Hotel Rio which is slightly off the strip so I am glad we got to see it. The atmosphere there is like Mardi Gras, they also have a free show there that emulates Mardi Gras, they have dancers and performers in costume and floats, only these floats are up on rails on the ceiling, they are all lit up with people in them, they even threw beads like you would expect to get at Mardi Gras, very cool. At the Rio I also got an opportunity to see some of the Chippendale's and I will stop there before my husband closes down my blog (hehehe) !!! Very cool !!!

In The Distance Is The Stratosphere And Below Are Two Of The Rides You Can Take Off The Top ... Madness Or What ???

This Was At The Rio, The Mardi Gras Party I Spoke About, I Know These Pics Are Very Dark But Below You Can Try And See What I Was Talking About When I Said The Floats Were On The Ceiling.

That Of Course Is My Attempt At Taking A Pic Of Two Of The Chippendales, Only The Security Weren't Impressed With Me :-(

Then we went to the Bellagio to see the musical water show, Dave and I had already seen it but this was an opportunity to see it at night which was very different. Unfortunately it was a little windy so not as nice as I expected it to be but still the show is amazing. Then we went into the Bellagio to see the conservatory which we had also seen during the day but I thought it would be better at night but it really wasn't the daytime viewing was way nicer. Anyway this room if filled with a garden theme, butterflies, snails, ladybugs, different kinds of watering cans and just absolutely beautiful mind blowing gardens, everything is made of flowers, now this is hard to explain but hopefully the pics that I slot in here will give you more of an idea, apparently these flowers get changed out frequently but we also got to see it at the best time of the year which was a bonus. In the middle of this room there was a greenhouse kind of house, you know a little house made of glass but there wasn't plants inside, it was like a mini butterfly farm, it housed the most amazing butterflies, this was one of those times I wish I had Jade with us, she would have loved it. I have never before seen such big butterflies.

The Bellagio

This Is Where They Have The Water Show, When I Can Figure Out How To Put Video In Here I will Paste In A Small Video To Give You More Of An Idea Of What It Is Like.

This Is The Conservatory, It Was Just Amazing, These Pics Do It No Justice. Oh And That Roof Above Cost 10 Million To Put In ...

Everything Is Made From Flowers !!!

This Was The Butterfly Farm.

That Was A Water Arch Everyone Is Walking Under, It Goes On And Off As You Walk Under It, Giving You A Fright Of Course.

I Know These Don't Look Amazing, You Kind Of Had To Be There.

The final stop on the tour was downtown Vegas which was really cool, it had all the old casinos there but still a very lively atmosphere, the biggest attraction is that and again this is all very hard to explain but imagine casinos running down both sides of the street and between the two sides there is this huge canopy when I say huge they say it is 4 blocks long or 4 football fields in length, well every hour on the hour the lights get turned off and this canopy comes to life, it is the biggest TV screen in the world or so they say, it is run by 32 odd computers, hard to believe but true, if I can figure out how to put a video on here I will have to paste it here for you guys to see, absolutely mind blowing !!!

This Is A Daytime Pic Of The Canopy, It Actually Is A Lot Bigger Than It Looks In This Pic.

It Has A Different Feel To The Strip, Actually Very Lively And Well I Enjoyed It Enough To Go Back In The Daytime By Myself :-) Oh And Jax That Last Pic Is For You :-)

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Dave went off to his conference which left me alone to do site seeing till about 6ish in the evening. This was nice in a way because Dave really hates to walk and take everything in and I just love it, the only thing was that when I did see something that was wow, I didn't have anyone to share it with, so it was a little lonely doing that on my own but still, I got some good shopping done and just walked in and out of everywhere to see as much as possible. I also managed to get a little gambling in, those machines scare me so I had a coin jar on my desk at home that I cashed in and got $27 and that was my gambling money well, I won a couple of times and even though I was only playing the one and two cents machines I managed to finally cash out at close to $200 which again was a big wow factor to both Dave and I since Dave knows, I have no problem winning, it's the walking away that is tough for me, I usually put all my winnings back into the machine, this time I was adamant to walk away and I did :-)

This Was The Casino Royale, The Casine I Won The Most At, I Was Playing The Wheel Of Fortune Machines.

What was nice also is there is a bus on the Strip called the Deuce and it is a 24 hour hop on and hop off bus, $5 a day which is really nothing. I used this bus constantly, it really helped me get to see so much more. Also when Dave was done at the conference he would call me and see where I was and then catch the bus to where I was, it really worked for us !!!

I think what is cool for me in Vegas is that every hotel and casino has a theme, these hotels are so huge, some of them even have full malls inside them, it's amazing. I can hardly tell you which was my favorite because they were all fantastic, maybe the Venetian which is obviously the Venice Hotel, it has a canal running through the middle of the hotel and mall and they have gondolas on these canals, you can take a ride if you like, and the person steering really sings and you get to kiss under the bridges just like I have always seen on Tv, too cool. The Paris is also great with a huge Eiffel Tower outside, apparently it is a third of the size of the real one but probably as close as I will get to Paris ever so, that was neat to see too. Most the hotels had entertainers in the bars and lounges and it was nice to stop at watch those at times too. We certainly saw enough Elvis's :-) And the dualing piano's were cool too.

This Is The Venitian, There Was So Much Construction Going On In Vegas It Wasn't A Great Time For Pics But That Building You See Behind It Will Be An Extention Of The Venitian Making It The Biggest Hotel On The Strip.

Now Isn't That Just Pretty ... The Trip Runs Right Through The Hotel And Shops Inside ...

That Obviously Is Paris Right :-)

Very Pretty At Night, The Entire Strip Actually.

Lots of the Hotels had free shows too, like Treasure Island had an outside show where two pirate ships dual and one eventually gets sunk, the pyrotechnics were really good for this one. And on that note, the one at Caesars Palace was good too, it was one where statues come to life and do a show, this one was called fire and ice, we were so close to the stage that we could feel the heat from the fire, mind blowing, I am sure by this point you are all counting how many times I have said amazing or mind blowing but it really was. Talking about Caesars Palace the weirdest thing happened to us, Vegas is huge, and busy, busy, busy, people everywhere, but I was sitting at the stage waiting for the show to start, Dave went to see the Exotic Cars Exhibit when this guy that I recognised walked past me, it was Tony, he used to be married to someone in Davids family, he lives in the States and was in Vegas with is new wife and in-laws and my golly I walked into him there, is that not amazing. I called him over and we chatted a good while till Dave arrived and then they caught up. What are the chances of that happening, and it did !!!

This Was The Ship At Treasure Island Where The Hold The Sirens Of TI Show. Two Ships This Size Dual And Get Blown To Pieces, The Other One Actually Sinks, Great Show To See, It Was Very Sexually Charged But Still Not Too Bad For Kids To See Too.

Doesn't Dave Look Comfy (Hehehe) ?

This Was Caesars Palace

Unfortunately I Never Went Back To Video The Statue Show, These Are Not The Statues But Just Another Decorative Setting In The Middle Of The Hotel.

Dave Went To See An Exotic Car Exhibition, He Said It Was Pretty Cool But Wishes He Could Have Sat In The Cars And Got A Closer Look.

This Bike Actually Had A Slot Machine On The Gas Tank ...

This Was Tony And His New Family ... Still Can't Believe That Happened !!!

This Is The Mirage Hotel And Casino, Not That Every Hotel Doesn't Have A Casino ...

That Water Feature On The Right Is Actually A Volcano That At Night They Make Erupt, Again You Can Feel The Heat Of The Fire and The Water Actually Has Flames On Top Of It As If The Lava Has Run Over The Sides, Very Clever And Fantastic To See.

The Mirage Is Where Sigfried And Roy Used To Do Their Show.

I Actually Went To See The Sigfried And Roy Secret Garden That I Had Always Heard About, There Was A Big Dophin Training Center There And The Garden With Their Lions And Tigers In It.

Even Though They Don't Do Scheduled Shows, I Was Lucky Enough To Be There During A Training Session, It Was Really Cool And Actually I Have Never Been That Close To Dolphins Either.

Something else that was weird to us, is people drinking all day long and all night of course, you could buy a beer or drink anywhere and walk in the street with it, they had these yard long glasses that everyone was carrying around, just weird to us. And the smoking, we don't know too many people that smoke where we live but I tell you now, I think everyone that smokes in the States was in Vegas this week, going into those casinos was sometimes too much for me, my clothes stank like I was a smoker and I would wake up every morning as if I had smoked a box of cigarettes, yuk !!! I now also totally get the 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' motto, it's a crazy place, the constant buzz is unbelievable, you have to experience it to know what I am talking about and although, this normally would not be my scene I can't wait as I said before to get the opportunity to go back again one day, I loved it there.

Before going on, here are just some other pics I had to put in somewhere, there were just so many hotels, I couldn't put all my pics in but wanted just to add a few pics of the cool ones and some of the other attractions and stuff we saw ... I know this is a never ending update but man ... there is just so much to tell :-)

This Was The New York, New York Hotel, It Really Is Amazing, Having Actually Been To New York, It Really Does Look Like New York, Inside And Out.

This Was The MGM Grand, There They Had A Lion Exhibit Which We Went To See, Saw The Cutest Cubs Too ...

The Luxor Is Where We Stayed, Dave And I Were Both A Little Disappointed, It Was Nice But At $300 A Night You Expected Wow And It Wasn't That. It Was Pretty Neat Though And The Brunch Buffet Was Out Of This World.

This Was A Tram That Went Between The Madelay Bay Hotel, The Luxor And The Excalabur Hotel, It Was Pretty Neat Too.

This Is The Mandelay Bay Hotel, This Is Where Dave Had His Conference. They Have The Most Amazing Beach Pool, With Waves and Sand, In The Middle Of Desert, That Is Amazing. Oracle Had Their Last Night Party There But The Weather Wasn't Great So We Didn't Stay Too Long Unfortunately, It Could Have Been Great !!!

This Is Harrah's And For Anyone That Knows Chris Ball, This Is Where He Stayed When He Visited Vegas Last.

This Is The New Planet Hollywood, They Only Recently Took This Hotel Over From I Think It Was Called The Aladin.

This Is The Excalabur Hotel, Really Cool One With Knights and Dragons etc. It Was Our Neighboring Hotel So Until I Found An Easier Way To Get The Bus, I Walked Through This Hotel A Bunch Of Times.

Oh My Golly, This Is M & M World, 4 Floors Of M & M Stuff, A Kids Dream, 22 Different Color M & M's Really Neat !!!

M & M Was Next To Coke World, This Was Similar To M & M, They Had The Whole History Of Coke And Tons Of Coke Logo Stuff, Amazing ...

This Was The Harley Davidson Cafe, Dave And I Had Dinner There One Night, New Model Bikes Were On Platforms Ran On Tracks Above Your Head For All To See. That Bike That Is On The Outside Is Apparently Made From Propper Harley Parts ...

Ok, This Was At The Wynn Hotel, These Were Amazing, Similar To Stuff We Saw At The Bellagio Conservatory, Take A Look Below At The Detail, Can You Imagine How Long That Must Take And How Often It Must Be Changed Out, Not To Mention The Cost !!!

A Vegas Wedding Chapel, There Are So Many Of Them, Even All The Hotels Have A Wedding Chapel In Them :-)

This Apparently Is The Largest Gift Store In Vegas Although They Say The World, I Doubt That, But It Was Big, I Spent A Good While In There. Not A Great Part Of Town Though.

Dave Figured If You Want To Make Big Money You Have To Play The Big Slots (Hehehe).

But He Didn't Win His Millions :-( Apparently This Is What A Million Looks Like.

It's good to be home again though and to get back to normal, having said that Dave and I are still battling the 3 hour time difference, just can't get up in the mornings and everyone that knows me well knows I am not a morning person anyway so I am taking strain but trying hard to get back to normal.

Dave went back to work Friday actually, Jade is back to school, not much longer and she will be on Summer Break, give me strength !!! There is great excitement that she and I are driving up to Canada in June to get my cousin, Karen and her three girls and to bring them down here to us for a vacation, it is going to hopefully be a fun road trip for her all of us, or I pray it will be it's 12 hours at the very least in the car with 4 kids, ok am I mad or what ? Nope I am just desperate to spend some time with my cousin again, she has been my rock since I moved to the States and in all that time I have only seen her once, time for another visit :-)

Ok, I think that is enough for this update, oh one more thing, my mother in law turned 70 in the week we were in Vegas, congratulations, I hope you had a fun party. Dave and I were suppose to be partying that evening as well at Mandalay Bay, the Oracle last night party but it was so cold outside we didn't stay too long, which was a huge pity because it was a beach party and although you were in the desert, you were at a huge pool with waves and beach sand, pretty neat, sorry the weather didn't play along.

And Some Last Pics, This One Is For My Brother ... Take A Closer Look Below !!!

(Hehehe)

So Bye Bye Last Vegas By Night ...

And Las Vegas Blvd !!!

Last but not least, thank you Dave for having me tag along for a vacation of a lifetime, I hope you had just as much fun, I love you.