Up, Up, and Awaaaayyyyy.....

We had yet another action packed weekend! Last Sunday we helped our dear friends Keith and Jessica celebrate Lilly's 4th birthday.

Jessica, being the creative mind she is, had a "hot air balloon" theme, and had the house decorated with some makeshift hot air balloon decorations made from round, colorful Chinese lanterns with little baskets attached to the bottom. She also made her own hot air balloon pinata filled with goodies for the kids (didn't manage to snap a pic of it before the kids destroyed it).

In keeping with the balloon theme, she spent two hours filling 200 water balloons. Judging by the picture, can you guess how long those lasted?
The kids cooled off in the pool:
And then we celebrated the birthday girl's big moment:
I think Aidan loves Lilly. He demanded to be right next to her as she opened her gifts and was helping her out by telling her what she was opening. Sweet Lilly didn't mind a bit:

...buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks...

Last Friday, we enjoyed a nice evening at the ballpark to watch our favorite minor league team in action. While it was sweltering, there was a pretty pleasant breeze along with ice cream for the kids, and cold frosty beverages for the adults.

We got there about an hour early to secure a parking spot, and grabbed some pre-game pics:
Such a delicate flower...good thing she had a fan to cool herself off:
You'll notice two things about this picture. 1) Aidan's skinless nose - compliments of a "friend" at school who pushed him down on the concrete. 2) Who is this 8 year old, and what happened to my 3 year old?!?!?:
Indy's new skyline with it's new hotel:
It seems like every time we go to a game, it goes extra innings, and this time was no exception. We decided that if it was still tied at the end of the 10th inning, we were going to leave and bypass the fireworks. Almost as soon as we said that, the home team broke the tie for the win! We hung around to see the fireworks, and they didn't disappoint:

Boatin'

This past Sunday we were able to join Memaw, Pepaw, and Uncle Drew on their boat along with Paula and Samantha. It was only the first time this season we've been able to make it to the boat, so we were very excited to get to go. And even more special, my nieces had never been on a boat before, so they were even more excited than we were.

Before we hopped in, Memaw and a nice picnic lunch for us to enjoy. I snapped this pic of my guys coming back from the men's room, and I thought, "How cute, they're twins" and Sean's shirt even tells me so:
Paula, Ava, and Samantha pre-boating:
Pepaw got the boat going pretty fast which the kids always love. Samantha was sitting near me, and I don't think I ever saw the smile ever leave her face - it was very sweet! We anchored the boat and everyone got out for a swim (except me - I HATE lake water, so I usually chill on the boat).



Since this was the girls' first time on a boat, that meant it was also their first time tubing. They loved it, and it was so precious to see their smiling faces enjoy the ride (the pic below is pre-takeoff, thus no smiles just yet):

Viva Las Vegas: Pure VIP

Our last night in Vegas, we ponied up with two other couples for a VIP booth at Pure nightclub. This would be the second time I kind of felt like a celeb in Vegas: getting to bypass the line, having our own server, bottle service, roof-top access, and the private dance floor (no, not like that)...this was the dance floor for VIP only, and the other scrubs had to share a much more packed one in the front of the place.

Three pretty ladies ready to get their drink on (pictured with me are Sean's director's wife Tiffany, and an agent from another branch, Jessica):
Hee hee...this would be Sean's director, Matt. Matt used to be in the Disney Ice-Capades, and is a pretty sweet dancer. He was tearing it up:
Did I mention roof-top access? We went up to the roof of Caesar's and got to experience The Strip's night skyline with a bird's eye view:
Love you honey - had a WONDERFUL time, and was so happy to steal away a few days together :)

Viva Las Vegas: Dinner and a Show

We knew that when we went to Vegas that we absolutely had to see a show. I had heard from many people that it really didn't matter what we saw, because everything is good. More to come on that in a bit...

Before the show, we ate at the very nice Italian restaurant in the hotel, Rao's. It was SOOOO yummy! We had a few cocktails at the bar while we waited for our table and made friends with the bartender - and it must have worked well, because I got a free drink out of it!

After dinner, we had some time to kill before the show started. We headed across the street to grab a few more reasonably priced cocktails and headed back to Caesar's to wait for "Absinthe" to begin. Before we left for Vegas, we did some research and heard wonderful reviews, and it was conveniently playing at Caesar's.

We got a little bored, so we took some silly pics, including my super cute Vegas shoes in front of the Caesar's sign:
We planked on the columns:
OK, here's a serious shot:
Gosh, how do I describe "Absinthe"? Let's call it a cross between acrobats / dirty jokes / super-human tricks - like this guy balancing atop of roughly 8 chairs stacked on themselves:
Penny Pibbets was the stand-up comedienne:
These guys were FREAKY strong and coordinated. And we're pretty sure we saw them perform at a Pacers' halftime show a few years ago:
The closing act:
And the emcee / ringleader, The Gazillionaire (is that you, Steve Buscemi?)

Viva Las Vegas: Touristy Stuff

Our trip to Vegas marked the first time I officially gambled. Of course, I have bought a couple lottery tickets in my day, but this was the first time I gambled in a casino. It was a pretty big deal - I played $20 on slot machines, got as high as tripling my money, and eventually cashed out even with where I started. I call that a win, seeing as how I didn't lose any money.
We had the whole day Saturday to do whatever we wanted. We decided to walk The Strip and get some sight-seeing in. We started at The Venetian:
The painted ceiling over the indoor gondola in The Venetian:
We also stopped outside of Treasure Island to take in some pirate scenery:
This would be the very pretty, very lovely Forum Shoppes mall attached to Caesar's. This mall contained stores like Gucci, Fendi, Christian Louboutin, Versace, and Bath and Body Works (I just thought the wide range of stores was quite silly). If I had won some money gambling, I would have done some serious damage:
We hiked about 2 miles all the way down to my old stomping grounds: Circus Circus. The last time I was in Vegas I was 10 years old, and this is where I spent most of my time. And not so surprisingly, it looked pretty much the same as it did back then:

Viva Las Vegas: The Cabana

One of the perks of the trip was the cabana Sean's company rented out by the pool each day. This was one of the two times I felt as close to a celeb as I ever have! Think: a waitress popping in checking to see what we needed, a TV, a fridge stocked with drinks and snacks, a place to sit, and misters cooling you as you bake by the pool.

Caesar's had something like six pools, and they were all very pretty. Except for the "European Sunbathing" pool - didn't venture to that one...
Here I am enjoying a nice, frosty pina colada:
Sean chillin' out front:
And the view from my lounge chair. Drink it down, it always goes down smooth:

Viva Las Vegas: "The Oscars"

The Vegas trip was an award trip that Sean won from his company for reaching a certain level of sales. I am very proud of him for all of his hard work! Most of the trip we were able to do what we wanted, and there were only a few cocktail hours and a dinner where we had to do something with his company.

Friday night was the formal awards dinner where the company honored the top agents and managers in the country. It was really fun to get all dressed up and fancy. I got to get my hair styled and a manicure at Color salon in the hotel - it was fun! It was a very long night because we had two cocktail hours and the 4 hour dinner. When all was said and done, we were there about 6 hours!

Here we are looking spiffy at our table:
The ballroom was decorated beautifully with lots of pretty lighting, flowers, and other decor:
And there was even entertainment! There was a contortionist (who was phenomenal), a Jay Leno impersonator who looked like him, but sounded like Joe Pesci. And then there was a Bette Midler impersonator. Let's just say she really wasn't the hit of the show. All of the Elvis impersonators must have been booked: