You Know These Guys!

It was Saturday, August 16 as Mike and I were lying on the grass at the Ogden Farmer's Market that we decided that we needed to go down to Las Vegas to see Mike and Jenny, who had recently been transferred there from a very REMOTE location in Chile. To make a short story even shorter, we left the very next day and drove down there together.
No kids. Just the two of us.

(I must take a moment of here and thank Mom and Dad for offering to take the kids and making this quick trip possible. We couldn't have gone without you.)

To avoid any confusion, from this point out, I will be referring to MY Mike as Mike #1 and Jen's Mike as Mike #2. I can think of a few other names to call Mike #2, but I will refrain. ;)

So anyway... Mike #2, being the uber cool Fly-Boy that he is in the USAF, took us peon Civilians onto the Air Force Base and right into the Thunderbird Museum. We sat through a short little film on the Thunderbirds (I think I slept. It wasn't boring, if I remember correctly. I was just tired...) and then he took us right into the hangar where all the jets are stored. I will just say that is was absolutely beautiful and that hangar was cleaner than any room in my house, or even all the rooms in my house put together on a clean day.

After the museum we went to the "petting zoo" as Mike #2 refers to this place. Basically, it is a yard where a bunch of enemy tanks, helicopters, heavy artillery are all laid out and where you can actually get into them and "play" on them. As we entered the "petting zoo" you could just feel the testosterone rumbling in Mike #1 and Mike#2. Here is Mike #1 in a Russian Helicopter. (Rumble, rumble!!!)

And what trip to Vegas would be complete without a trip to the Strip? We were only there for a couple of hours, just long enough to see the Bellagio gardens (HOLY WOWZERS!) and make a trip down to the M&M Store.

Can you say "HOLY HYDRANGEAS, BATMAN!"?
I had to check a few times to make sure that these plants were real and not some life-like imitation. Yep, they're real. And the one in my yard still has never bloomed. =(

My sweet friend, Jen. =) Jen is one of my "bosom friends" as Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables would say. (Not THOSE bosoms, Mike #1 and Mike #2!) I love Jen for many reasons and admire her for so many things. Mike #1 calls her "Mrs Goodwrench" because she can fix just about anything in a car or house that we other women (and Mike #2) can't even pronounce.

I wanted to post these pics of Mike #2 and Jen's kids so that those who knew them while they lived here can see how much they've grown.

Here is the lovely first born of the trio. She will probably kill me for posting this picture of her, but I think she looks beautiful. She is sporting her "back to school in Vegas" fashion, which resembles the fashions of Irene Cara in Flash Dance back in the 80s.

Actually she is just in her jammies getting ready to go to bed. Except she never really goes to bed. She and my fist born would stay up all night if allowed.

And here is lovely Kid#2, in a rare moment that she is actually playing the Wii instead of her brother. This one is as sweet as can be and would just sit and talk to us while we were visiting. She would also give me her pennies so that I could buy Skittles out of the family gumball machine and feed the yellow ones to Boo, the family dog.

Here is kid #3. He loves to play the Wii, and will beg non-stop for you to play with it with him, which really means just come up and watch him play. This one never stands still while playing. He's literally bouncing off the walls. I watched him "run" 2 miles one night playing Wii Fit. He could probably kick my butt at running. (Not to mention Mike #2's butt too).

All in all, it was a great trip and one that Mike#1 and I needed.
Here are a few more highlights that were not mentioned before:

*watching Brady Bunch reruns together. How is Jan ever going to earn up enough money to have that platter engraved?!
*Spicy Chicken, Baby!
*looking at and coveting Jen's fabric stash.
*Creamy chicken soup and bread bowls!
*watching Mike #1 kick Mike#2's butt at Wii archery.
*and last, but not least, using the men's restroom with Jen at the M&M Store on the Strip. The line for the women's was 12 people long where the line for the mens had... zero. Carpe Diem, right?

Thank you, Mike and Jen, for letting us come visit you on such short notice, for feeding us, for taking us everywhere, and especially for giving us not only the shirt of your back, but quite literally the bed out from under you.

"I get by with a little help from my friends."
~John Lennon