Life, Love, Laughter: Getaways, Special visits & Summer time fun!

We have been a busy little family of 4 these past few months! After the 4th of July the business started. First we headed up to Dike, IA to visit our friends the LeConte's! We packed up the kids and the car bright and early one Saturday morning. A day of golf was in store for the Daddy's and a day of play was in store for the Mom's and kids!
We had not seen them since Danielle and Allison's Birthday's so we all had presents for the girls!

The Daddy's headed out with a couple other guys for a day of golf. Tony and Emily live right on the course so it was very nice to keep peeking out the window in anticipation of the guys coming up to the hole they live on. They arrived and took a short break, you know in time for an ice cold beverage and a re-stock of the cooler! They were having a blast and it sure was HOT out this day! The kids hoped on the carts for a few holes and had a blast!

The kids came back and went for a swim, played outside, inside, rode the Jeep and Truck around the yard, they were crazy kids! They sure had a lot of fun!! The Daddy's came back and we all got cleaned up, Emily had a sitter lined up for the kids and the parents went out for a super nice dinner to Celebrate Tony's Birthday!

We had a fantastic dinner and it was nice to get out for some adult conversation! Happy Birthday Tony! All while the kids were in great hands with an awesome sitter back at the house. We had such a fun day and can't wait to see them again, hopefully one or two more times before the newest LeConte family member arrives in November :)
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The next week this Mama was off for a girls vacation! I hate to say it was needed because all parents ( Mom's and Dad's deserve a break) but it was much needed and I was SO excited for a girl trip to know where else other than VEGAS baby!
I was off with my Aunt and Cousin to do some Celebrating for an entire week! My Mom so graciously came back to watch the kids while I was able to get away and Brad was able to keep his same work schedule, it was perfect! I turned 30 and my cousin Kim will turn 40 in a few short weeks, this trip had been in the works for a few years now and we were all looking forward to it!
We arrived on Monday and stayed downtown at the Golden Nugget for a few nights, the trip started off rocky as the hotel could not find our hotel reservations. So we stood in the casino with our luggage until they got it figured out. After this we were ready to head to the room, drop our bags, freshen up and find the nearest bar! We did just that and before we knew it, it was 4am, we were eating breakfast and crawling into bed at 5am! We were living it up!!!

The next morning, or should I re-phrase that, 4 hours later we were up and ready for a day at the pool! The Golden Nugget pool was awesome, had chairs in the water and even better....a super fast water slide that went right thru the shark tank!!!! Ellie and I climbed the stairs and we down it first it was a blast, I tried not to freak out the way down but I did a little ;) I came out to my cousin standing waiting for me at the end and she's pointing and laughing, yes oh yes, my top was down, opps! HA! We headed for some refreshing drinks after that, grabbed a few chairs in the pool and relaxed the afternoon away, after all it was the coolest place to beat the 100 degree heat!
That evening Kim's friend Jordan met up with us and we headed to a Murder Mystery dinner, Marriage can be Murder. It was fantastic, hilarious, jaw dropping and the food was great! So much fun! We had the perfect table and could see all the way around us, the action was everywhere! Check out the cop with the daisy dukes, LOL hilarious!

The mystery kept us going all dinner long, I was way off on who the killer was but it was still a very fun experience!! Downtown was so much fun. Not the hustle and bustle of the busy strip, the odds are better so you win way more money (just ask Kim ;) ) and we had so much fun going from Casino to Casino, trying cheeseburger sliders at midnight for a snack from White Castle, awesome shrimp cocktail from a favorite place, just made your own experience and it is a TON of fun! I always loved the light shows too!

This is from Hogs & Heffers bar, wow was it a red neck kinda place! Women dance on the bar, take off their bra and the bartenders are just a tad bit raunchy, okay a LOT raunchy, yelling at people. Fun place to have a different type of scenery!

Downtown every night several bands played, this night was a little Run DMC, I was diggin it!

Mud Slide....YES please!

Take your pick!

Golden Nugget pool & shark tank at night

Next stop was to move a bit further down the line to the Rio! This hotel/casino is beautiful and the pool is amazing!! We made sure to set aside a couple pool days so it was kinda important to find a nice one, the Rio does not disappoint! We stayed here when we came a few years ago and just love it. The awesome thing about the pools is that they are close together but still separate enough that it doesn't get overly crowded, plus they have a pool with a sand beach!!! We spent the day at the topless pool, hilarious, absolutely hilarious! The funniest part was watching the men....who by the way had to pay a cover just to get in!!

Dinner down on the strip at the Hash House, HUGE plates of food!

We spent some time on the strip and went to a show called Viper Vixens. A friend from HS was the main part in the show so we surprised her and went. It was really good, the girls were all very talented and it was great to see Deena! The nice thing was that since we rented a car we could check out other places that are favorites of Kim and Ellie's also. We went off the beaten path to Silverton which was a super cool place, it has a Bass Pro Shop attached and even a Mermaid bar! We ate at the buffet which was amazing the crab legs were to die for and the pork was super good, they had a whole pig on the buffet, kinda gross to look at but it was delicious!

I had a fantastic trip with my aunt and cousin and am very much looking forward to doing it again soon! We had a blast, stayed up all night, got a few hours sleep got up and did it all over again with bloody mary's to get us going and cool drinks by the pool! A perfect girls getaway, thank you Kim & Ellie! Happy Birthday!

I was so fortunate in having my Mom and Sister come and stay with us while I was gone. The kids can never get enough Grammy & Britni time! My mom arrived the Saturday before I left and stayed until the following Sunday. The kids were perfect for her, as always!