PHEW!
Our vacation is over!  It was a great time - and I must say, perfectly planned.  (Of course, it was, I planned it!)
Day one:  fly to Las Vegas.  Our flight left in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to finish packing, get a good meal in and get to the airport to wait....  The boys were excited because they had never flown before!  Easy flights with Southwest - we got the seats we wanted and no major problems.  I would definitely fly them again.  I paid extra to get the early check in - so we had good seat assignments in the 20s on each flight.

Day two:  Get up and get to the Hacienda Hotel outside of Vegas near the Hoover Dam.  We were to catch a float trip in the Black Canyon at that hotel.  We got into their van and drove to a restricted area (cool!) and got in these huge rafts to float the next 12 miles.  The Dam was right behind us - an awesome sight to look at from the river on up.

Here is Mike, after we've gone a little bit away from the Dam.

After our float trip, we went up into the Dam itself.  We took the Powerplant tour, which was the shorter of the two offered.  It was very cool to ride down 50+ stories in a smooth elevator - and it took only seconds.  We got to see some of the generators.  Awesomeness!  I must say, going in the afternoon they say won't be crowded, and it wasn't.  We had about 48 people on our tour - and it seems like that was everyone at the dam itself.  When we went out to the observation deck, it seemed as though we had the whole place to ourselves.  

And the best part?  The boys got to go to the Dam(n) gift shop and get some Dam(n) souvenirs.  They were so happy to tell everyone they were going on the dam tour, and going to the dam bathroom.  We have warned them NOT to tell it that way when they go back to school!  

We went on the Strip that evening.  We parked at Treasure Island (free parking at all the casinos!) because we were going to see the free pirate show outside.  We waited and got pretty good "seats" (we actually stood) and could see both sides of the show - the pirate side and the siren side.  It was a cheesy, lip-synched show, but still, we enjoyed it.  What we didn't enjoy was the THRONGS of people trying to all leave at the same time.  The boys and we saw an altercation where M-F'er was thrown around like you or I would say "and."  I just knew that fists were going to fly - luckily, they didn't.  But we got to walk around and see the lights and go into another casino, the Venetian.  Mike and I didn't gamble even one cent.  Honestly, I would have, if the machines had made sense to me bu just looking at them.  I really felt like kountry with a  "K" come to town.  After a stop at a few souvenir shops - yes we joke that this was the 2013 Ronaye Family Gift Shop Tour - I was just D-O-N-E.  It was 11:30 p.m. and time to go back to the hotel!

More to come on the week's adventures later!

 

Done.  With.  Work.  For.  The.  Day.  But is' not yet 4:00 p.m. and I don't get to leave until 4:30 p.m.  And I don't feel like asking to leave early.  So, I was having middle school angst, and now I have family vacation angst.  We are scheduled for a BIG vacay in the summer, complete with rental cars, flying and lots to see and do.  All my angst is with Southwest and their boarding - the boys have never flown before and I want to make sure we can sit together.  They are too old for family boarding.  Yes, I will pay the early check in fee.  I am still worried.  But the savings are TOOOOOO much to not consider them seriously.  Mike, too, is adamant that each parent sit with a boy...  Sigh.  Now for something random.

This is an old photo of mom.  It just makes me giggle.  I hope that 30 years from now when the boys are telling THEIR children about their Bammy, they remember she was cool enough to sport an eye patch and a do rag.

I have middle school angst like there is no tomorrow. Andrew starts 6th grade next week. I don't remember being this nervous when I started middle school. And I had every right to be nervous then. I started at First Baptist in the 7th grade after being at Ashley Hall for 6 years. Bruce was at FB, so that's where I had to go. Nothing like being tortured by your big brother on a daily basis. We rode the bus together. Yeah, Mom, that was a GREAT idea. Thank goodness I met Kimmie Hughes that year. We're still friends... I actually CRIED last night after the middle school orientation. I can't begin to tell you why, other than my baby is growing up. This is what it is all about. Raising your kids so they do grow up. I'm just not ready. Not by a long shot. Here's to hoping that by Wednesday I've gotten over this. I'm okay with Colin being in the 5th grade this year. Been there, done that. I think I'll even be okay when he finishes. But with Andrew, I'm so angst-y. I hate it! I don't know if part of it is related to his recent outbursts, which are partly hormonal, I'm sure. But he is DYING to get some independence, and I'm just not ready to give him as much as he wants. Yes, I realize that at some point I'm going to have to, but not now, okay? I think I should probably be happy that 2 or three days out of the week he still will hold my hand when we walk somewhere or give me random kisses. And I am happy when he does that. I just dread the day when it stops...