Vegas baby!

Last week my schedule opened up due to some new guys training and an overflow of officers on graveyards, so I was able to take Katy and Nick on a surprise trip to Las Vegas for an Annivegasry or Annevadaversary if you will. Katy figured out where we were going once we went east of I-5 and she realized there was only one thing out there in the desert. Still, she was super excited and it made the anticipation of my last 3 weeks of planning all worth it. I'm not one for keeping secrets. We stayed at the Paris, since I probably won't get to take Katy to the snobby European one for another 20 years, at least it had the same name! Fortunately, we only lost around $200 to the casinos but definitely made that back in the amount of food we ate at the buffets (much to my waistline's chagrin)! Here's a tip though. At an adult location like Vegas, a 4 month old who needs routine 2 hour naps every 3 1/2 hours does not bode well. But, when one young boy's stomach only feeds on breast milk, and one young mother's bosom can't pump out a week's worth of said milk in a moments notice, he comes along for the ride.

In a nutshell, here was our week: late night drive, early morning stuffing of faces, walk a mile to see lions sleeping, picture taking, more eating, watch fountains to music, lose money, drive to Hoover dam, look at the Bodies exhibit of cadavers, see pieces from the actual Titanic, walk by lots of illegals handing out flyers for hookers, more fountain gazing, more stuffing of faces, more walking, ride to the top of the Eifel tower, lose more money, you get the idea.

Since neither Katy or I had been to Vegas since our pre-teen days, it was a lot of fun seeing how much more stuff there was to do, especially since we pretty much couldn't do a thing back then due to our age. We would've liked to have gone to one of the shows, preferably Cirque de Soleil but it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to bring a baby in to a $100 a ticket show and as for child care, well that would have worked if we wanted to pay some lady $180 minimum to watch Nick for 4 hours. We'll pass.

I will bore you with one story before I show the pictures. While watching fountains rise and fall to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," Katy observed a few ducks in the surrounding pond/water area. Here's how the line of questioning went:

K: How do you think these ducks got here?
R: They flew Kates. How do you think they got here?
K: I don't know, maybe imported?
R: Right, someone just crated some poor ducks and hauled them to Vegas.
K: It could happen. How are you so sure they flew?
R: First of all, logic, they can fly.
K: No they can't (with a hint of sarcasm herself)
R: Second of all, I saw one flying while we were at Hoover dam.
K: How do you know it was a duck?
R: What do you mean how do I know it was a duck? The same way I know these birds in front of us are ducks?
K: Yeah, but you don't know for sure, I mean how do you really know these are ducks?
(Let me pause and say that I can't believe she set me up to say a great line that I never thought I'd actually get to say about ducks, so here it comes...are you ready? do you know the line too???)
R: Well, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the week. Go to our Picasa site for all of them.

Nick enjoying the new hotel room and going on about 3 hours of sleep at 2am when we got there.

Rob and Nick doing what we do best while in Vegas...watching in room TV. Nick has some hair growing to do!

The Eifel Tower, Vegas style

Empire State Building at New York, New York

Statue of Liberty at New York, New York with Excaliber in the background

On Wednesday we had a beautiful sky, this is right outside our hotel before leaving for Hoover Dam. It ended up not raining until halfway through Thursday, and then only misting really.

Mead Lake, created by the creation of Hoover Dam

Katy and Nick on the edge of the Hoover Dam with the new bridge on the left being built for the freeway overpass and the visitor center on the right.

We got some cooky Brit who was also carrying a Nikon to shoot this for us.

Through the Hoover Dam looking glass


And here it is, where Pierce Brosnan took that famous flying leap in GoldenEye, or whatever James Bond film it was. Also known as Hoover Dam

Mead Lake from the other side of the dam.

Nick and Katy enjoying a laugh, probably at my expense

Or perhaps they were laughing at me pretending this dam builder was pooping on my head

Us after the Bodies and Titanic exhibit still trying to calm Nick down

Nick and I enjoying some guerilla time at Rainforest Cafe in MGM

Ahhh the fountains at Bellagio

On the way home we stopped by my roomate from the Academy, Jason Graham, and his wife Tina's house in Victorville. Jason works as a Chippie in Riverside. Their son Nathan snuck in this shot with Jason and Nick