On Vacation

Heading out

I dropped Harlan off just after 7 a.m. and had to wait til 11 for my turn.

The crazy branch of the Domina family brought me to the airport.














Leaving behind the grey skies of Portland.





I understand the "no people" near the engine symbol but what is that other symbol? Is there a missile in there?

Contrast in mountain peaks

I think this is Mt Jefferson poking out of the clouds.

This uniquely striated range is just west of the Las Vegas area. Photos taken through a plane window aren't the highest resolution.

For this girl, who grew up near the Northwoods and Lake Superior and moved to the very green Northwest where tall evergreens are abundant, this landscape is so foreign. Even watching from the plane was strange. I just can't wrap my brain around it. Because I've not studied geology, I was looking down and wondering how all of the diverse patterns and colors came about. Very interesting

On the ground in...VEGAS

From the plane. This was taken just after touch down. No clouds in sight.

This was taken as it was starting toward dusk. If you look closely you can see the beam of light pointing straight up from the top of the pyramid.

Out in front of the Luxor where we are staying.

Room for improvement

I didn't realize I have such an issue with heights until we were assigned a room on the 14th floor of the pyramid. We had a great view of the Excalibur Hotel and Casino! But the walkway just outside the door hangs 14 floors out over nothing and the building flexes. Rational thought would assure anyone that it was perfectly safe, but I rarely am accused of being rational. Poor Harlan :0(

The desk clerk told us that we could change rooms any time during the week. So 10 minutes after checking into that room we were back in the lobby changing rooms. The desk clerk that we talked to this time said "No problem." She changed our reservation and gave us a gorgeous, larger room on the first floor of one of the towers. She waived the additional cost too!

This is the view from our new room. And we have a deep bathtub for me to relax in. Time to stop at one of those shops and get some bath salts :0)

The Mandalay Bay Resort 

and Conference center

This is where Harlan will end every day. He is done by 4:30 each day and doesn't have to be there until 10 on most days. So we are going to do some exploring.

Inside the Luxor

This guy is near the food court and a few other restaurants.

I should pop into all of the resorts and check out their wedding chapels. This is in our hotel. It was closed for a private party. We saw the women from the wedding party. The bride was beautiful in a white buckskin Native American dress. The bridesmaids and flower girls were not in Native American dress.

We may visit here

We plan to visit this

The Titanic sunk 100 years ago. This is supposed to be the largest display of Titanic memorabilia anywhere. Krystle really wanted to be here to see this. I hope I can take pictures!

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Location:Las Vegas

Family time

There aren't words other than...

Wyatt, Genevieve and Danika worked on this flag banner. They were so excited!!!

Momma and the girls and Dad and the boys.  Spending time in the family room after pizza watching a movie.  Just as it should be. 

The big kids weren't crazy about the interruption but they are so happy to be spending the whole weekend with Mom and Dad! I'll be blogging from Vegas, hopefully. If not I'll have a substantially large blog when we return.

Har and I are out of here!

 I'll, hopefully, be blogging next time from LasVegas. If I can't, I'll have a substantially large post when we return. Praying that everyone steps up and does what needs to be done to hold down the fort for us.

The weekly menu has been posted on the fridge, most of the shopping for it has been done. If I get a case of ramen, nobody should starve.

That time of year

Our youngest is going to be a freshman 

It is hard to believe that Cameron is going to be in 9th grade this Fall. He will still be in Oregon Connections Academy.  We are one of the original "pioneer" families in ORCA and will be starting our 8th year. It's an amazing program and improves a little every year. We have to decide, soon, what classes Cam is going to be taking. He already has a couple of math credits so that is a good start. He'll definitely take Geometry but could probably take Algebra II at the same time. I guess it's time to call an advisor.

Play date for Wyatt

 Wyatt's friend's mom and I talked back in the Fall about getting the boys together for an OMSI outing. She came up to me yesterday and said, "How about tomorrow?" It worked for me.  Since we both have  memberships and Wyatt is on mine we decided to meet there after school.

 We got there a bit before they did so Wyatt and Genevieve took advantage of the temporarily dry weather and ran around a bit outside.

We got our hands stamped and waited in the lobby area and Science Store.  That place has a lot of great learning toys and games. There was more than enough to keep us busy until they arrived.

 One of Wyatt's best buddies, Everett.  They really enjoy spending time together. We are going to make sure that they get some more opportunities before the end of the school year.

Partly cloudy and very windy Portland

 These three pictures could almost be put together in a panorama. The photo above has a building in the center that I call the "Access of Evil" building.  It looks like a black void in the cityscape. Any time day or night it looks ominous. I have no idea what the building really is called.

 The photo on the left has the floating Newport Bay restaurant in the lower left corner and part of the marina. The right hand picture has KOIN tower, one of the most recognizable buildings in the city.

River residents

 These geese were navigating some pretty choppy waters today.  I wish I could have depicted just how windy is was.  They saw us looking at them and Genevieve threw a few rocks down the bank so they thought we had food.  It didn't take them long to turn around and come up to the walking path of the Esplanade under the Marquam Bridge.

Wyatt's artwork

I should have asked him what the interpretation of this watercolor poster he made is. 

 It is one of the art projects he's done in Mr Lamp's art class. 

Wyatt loves to create things. He does a very nice job.

Cookie making with Coco

Frappuccino fiasco 

 I made the mistake of letting Garrett have a taste of my frosty coffee frappuccino. He didn't want to give it up and had quite the baby fit when it was taken away. Aunty Coco came to the rescue and got him to forget his "poor me" attitude.

Coco's cookie helper

The pictures speak for themselves. 

Now if we can just get him to realize that all of the cookies aren't for him. 

Sheesh, these almost two year olds are greedy!

May Day!

Our workers reward dinner

 







Har and I decided to take the kids out after they worked so hard to get the porch cleaned up for us on Saturday. We went to the "Burrito House".

While we were sitting around the table enjoying our pre-meal chips & salsa, sopapillas with honey, soup and salads. Garrett started coughing.  It turned out he was choking on a chip and ended up chirping said chips. 

Cam was sitting on my left and Garrett on my right.  As things focused on Garrett and we realized he was fine we looked up to find Cam had moved. It seemed like he instantly teleported across the room or something. It was quite funny at the time.

He did come back and everyone ate their delicious meals.

Didn't bother him much

Garrett took everything in stride just like he does most things. (The wetness on the front of his shirt is in no way related to the above account at the restaurant.  He simply has learned to spill his spill proof cup!)  He has also taken a liking to the new storage bins we got.  His clothes are inside of this one.  He  lays on it and props his feet up on his porta-crib. Little goof!

Special commission

Krystle's fiance Nate had his friend, that makes the incredible pottery pieces, make this special order cup for Krystle. It is really beautiful workmanship and very "Krystle". 

Anabelle started the month with cuteness

Cherise sent these pictures today. Little Miss standing up and playing and working her three teeth on a piece of watermelon.

Just love getting pictures like that!

Mayday Flower Photos

Danika's class had just gotten to go outside to play when we drove up to pick her up. So Genevieve and I walked around the school taking pictures of the blooming rhododendrons while Danika played for a little while. We didn't make any Mayday baskets for anyone's door today, but I got a bountiful bunch of pictures of these beautiful blooms.

One final photo before we took off. April showers really did bring May flowers.