Viva Las Vegas

A last minute work obligation gifted Damon and I with a quick trip to Las Vegas sans kiddos.  We have visited Vegas several times in the spring, but this was our first fall trip, so it was neat to see how the casino decor changes with the seasons.  This is fall at the Bellagio...

In our free time between meetings we tried to get as far off the strip as possible.  Our first excursion was kayaking in Lake Mead...

We kayaked to some islands in the lake and explored rock formations and caves.  Those of you who know me well know how much I love a good cave and a rock scramble.  Maybe I read too much Tom Sawyer as a kid...

Our second adventure was a hike in Red Rock Canyon.  Can you make out the Vegas strip in the background?  This is our favorite view of it.  The one from FAR away...

The photos up until now reminded me of our honeymoon.  We have tons of random photos from our honeymoon with just one of us in them.  Apparently as young people we were reluctant to ask anyone to take our photo.  Now, with Damon's orangutan arms and the advent of the selfie, we can have a photo together anyplace, anytime, but since we're not really big into selfies, sometimes it leads to me having a weird neck thing going on in the photo.  Who cares?  Hopefully one day years from now we peruse these photos from our shared room at the nursing home and marvel at the fact that we still possessed our own teeth at this point in our lives...

This place rocks...sorry...could not resist!

Can you find me?

It was great to have a couple of days together to focus on work and each other, but it's always nice to be back with the kids.  They just make life more complete.

Cille's 2nd Grade Field Trip to Audubon Zoo

Cille was more than ready for her class field trip to the Audubon Zoo...

Checking out reptiles with her friends...

Cille used the map on her own and planned our entire day together at the zoo.  This little girl is so independent and we are so proud of the way she leads.

Fall Break in San Francisco, Part 2

Our adventure continued with a voyage in San Francisco Bay...

The kids loved their foul weather gear...

Corinne takes after Mawmaw Shirley when it comes to holding on...

I am not a huge fan of selfies, but there are a few times in life that exceptions should be made, like anytime you are hanging out under the Golden Gate Bridge...

Corinne thought our boat ride was a major snooze-fest...

View of the city from the bay...

A submarine with a broom on top of it symbolizing a "clean sweep"... (Their torpedoes never missed a target!)

Cille with Sea Lions (often confused with seals) in the background.  She feels like these are her peeps...

We had a MARVELOUS hike at Lands End, and the kids had so much fun winding their way through the labyrinth and giving their father and I heart palpitations as they teetered close to the edge of the cliff.  This was Cille's favorite rock in the labyrinth...

All that hiking can wear a kid out, so we caught a few z's in the car on the way to rock climbing in Berkeley...

Berkeley is crawling with deer.  I have the feeling that they don't get too many Louisianians in that neck of the woods to help thin the deer population out...

Corinne was super excited about her audio tour of Alcatraz...

The big kids loved it, too.  No, seriously, the big kids LOVED it, and Watts even shared all he learned on the tour with his class once he got back to school.  Considering that he saw the morgue and learned about a prison uprising in which a few guards were murdered, this may not have been an appropriate tale to share with TK students...

Corinne was still a little ray of sunshine at Pier 39 while we grabbed some lunch...

A random stranger gave us balloons because we are just living a charmed life and stuff like that happens...

Stella made balloon creations for the whole family...

I am not auditioning to be the world's most awkward hand model...I was trying to capture a good photo of the LSU football Stella made for her brother...

We had so much fun rock-climbing and explaining what a "sanctuary city" is to the kids in Berkeley that we went back for more the next day...

We wrapped up our trip by burning off some steam at a local playground while we waited for our flights back to the red states...

The hallmark of a good trip is that the kids are all tuckered out!

See the exhaustion in their eyes?

Well, maybe Cille caught a second wind...

Late addition...our awesome captain on the Bay Voyager took photos of our group on the boat.  He uploads them to his Facebook page, but apparently his computer crashed and some of his photos were delayed in being posted.  I randomly checked a few months later and found these great family shots...