Unpacking and Reflecting

It's nice to be home. Don't get me wrong, I really liked my alone time with Bob, but it is nice to be home with the kids. It won't be long before we won't have to make such grand preparations for a three day weekend and will be able to hop into a car and go. It's a little bittersweet. I sometimes wonder what I did with my time before kids.

If my writing sounds subdued, I'm just a little tired. We really had a great time and, for the first time we have left for a weekend alone (this is our third time), I felt like everyone was ok at home. That was comforting and allowed me to relax a bit.

Jerry Seinfeld was really good. He wasn't great, but really good. His opening act (Tom Papa) was excellent. If you hear of him coming to town, you should see him... he's hilarious. In Seinfeld's defense, it's a lot harder to keep up an act for an hour than it is for fifteen minutes. The evening was really fun though, which is what matters.

I think the best choice we made was to rent a car. It was very liberating to hop in our car and not wait for a cab, plus it was extremely cost effective. We drove around (with the windows down!) to Lake Las Vegas, down the strip to gawk, and even to the mall. I don't remember the last time I went to the mall, let alone with just my husband. It was nice (being with Bob, the mall part was so-so).

We played two low buy-in poker tournaments (~$45). Bobby won the first tournament and I came in third. I came in sixth on the second one. It was fun, but I'm a little sick of poker. That's Bob's game anyway, I'm just along for the ride.

I did have a few trip related and post-trip thoughts....

1- Vegas is a weird place. It was fun, but I've never been a partier and can't understand the party lure. I fought with myself from saying something to the women I saw primping (and pimping) themselves (i.e. "c'mon ladies... have some respect for yourselves and put your 'girls' away! They don't need that much air.").

2- The cool thing about Vegas is there is so much to do that there is something for everyone, except children. I don't think people should take their kids to Vegas for vacation and stay anywhere near the strip. Whenever I saw someone pushing a stroller it made my stomach turn, especially in a casino or on the strip. It's just not a place for them...

3- I forgot I had a dog. I feel kind of guilty about that. When I was gone, I thought about my kids often. I called the house twice a day and Lola once a day. The night before we left Vegas, I noticed a billboard addressing abandoned dogs and was struck with the fact that I owned a dog. It's not that I don't like her (she's actually growing on me), but it's still too new and my brain was too preoccupied thinking about the kids.

4- I hate snowy, cloudy weather. It was great to come home and see the kids but so depressing to descend through the clouds, into Buffalo, and see it gray and blah. Perhaps that has me a bit morose. We are here because family is here and we live in a great community, but there has to be some other great community in a warmer climate that Bob's family would move to. Perhaps this merits more investigation.

5- Not all buffets are the same. We had a coupon for our hotel's buffet (buy one, get one) and it was OK, but the Bellagio buffet was the best by far. Luckily, we were able to eat the Bellagio dinner buffet for a discounted price and everything was divine. The sushi, pasta, crab legs...everything was excellent; don't even get me started on the desserts. (As an aside, why do I crave the stuff that is bad for me? Why can't I lust for steamed veggies after a tiring day?) If you get to go to Vegas, you have to eat at the Bellagio buffet.

6- My dog really smells bad, worse than I remembered. She stayed at a great place that has three dogs and came home happy but more fragrant than ever. I'm too lazy to give her a bath right now so I sprayed some Febreze for Pets on her. It sort of worked but now she's a weird hybrid of smelly dog and fresh flowers. It's a Jekyll and Hyde sort of thing where sometimes she smells good and sometimes smells repulsive. I'll have to give her a bath before Thursday.

7- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was perhaps one of the worst movies I have seen in years. It didn't even make any sense. Hello, aliens? What the heck is that? The writing was terrible and even the action scenes lacked any spark. I can't believe I paid money to watch it ($11.99 in room movie). It was so bad I started packing while watching to feel like my time wasn't completely wasted. We watched a bunch of movies (that weren't animated!). Get Smart was great and laugh out loud funny. Mama Mia was just weird. Anytime you string ABBA songs together and try to work a story in between, it's going to be odd (and I even like ABBA). Also, Pierce Brosnan cannot sing. I just felt embarrassed for him.

8- It will take me a week to recover from this trip but it's worth it. I'm glad Bobby thinks it's important to take time out to be together. Spending more time with him reminds me of all the things I like about him and why I married him. He's such a great guy. I can't wait for our next weekend trip together. Next time, I want to go on a three day cruise to the Bahamas and hope for an absence of hurricanes and food poisoning.