It's Good to be Missed!

We are back from a little weekend getaway to Las Vegas. Previous gambling benders (very minor ones, in my book) prompted the Harrahs properties to offer us 3 free nights hotel in Vegas - we chose the Flamingo, one of our old favorites right on the bullseye of the Strip. We saw Lion King and did some other general sight-seeing, but we spent the heart of Saturday and Sunday lounging at the pool and hanging out. We did some gambling - Kathy came home with $60 more than what she left with, courtesy of the slots and roulette tables. I was not so fortunate. Believe it or not, I'm not a big sports book gambler. Sports are too unpredictable, though nothing tickles the ego bone of the average male quite like putting their money where their sports smarts are. Everyone's an expert and is willing to pony up. Well, it seemed automatic to me that the Rangers could easily beat the lowly Orioles when Cliff Lee made his debut, so I made a bet where I had to put up over $100 in order to win $100 back, then the Orioles proceeded to beat the brains out of the Rangers. I only relay that story so I can say it in clear black and white and be quoted on it: I'll never bet on sports at big-time sports book again. $10 for a Super Bowl square? Fine. $10 for an NCAA tournament pool? Okay. Betting over a hundred bucks because I know that the Rangers will win? An automatic sure-thing win? Never again. Then my luck wasn't any better at the Blackjack tables, but I did make over $150 at the roulette tables, and just screwing around on the slots I turned $15 into $86 in about three minutes. In all I spent about what I think we would have spent on any other entertainment in Vegas, but doing on the gaming floor should mean free room offers again.
Grammy (Keith's mom) and Grandma (Kathy's mom) took turns watching and staying at our house with Kole. Here's Grammy's report card on the weekend:

"I loved having the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with Kole - I don't get to do that as much as I would like. We had a great time together! He was an absolute angel ... well ... MOST of the time! We had two little incidents: once he was with me in the bathroom when I put on my makeup. I stepped into the bedroom to get my toothbrush (literally seconds) and when I got to the bathroom door he was "cleaning" the toilet with the toilet brush (actually, pretty darn cute!) The other time he was running back-and-forth down the hall - laughing and having a ball. He did that 3-4 times, then I noted the last time he ran down he didn't come back. I got up to check on him and he wad climbed to the top of the changing table! I gave him a swat on the butt (he didn't even cry!) and told him "NO!" He looked crushed when I said that. 99.95% of the time he was an absolute joy and a little angel and I'm so glad to have spent time with him!"


We are treating the bruises on his butt and he's recovering nicely.

Kidding! We've swatted his fanny and hands for some things when he absolutely refuses to listen and gets into things he's not supposed to. Right now he really doesn't care. His Timeout seat is one of his favortie spots to hang out and sing. Discipline is a slow road right now.

Here's Grandma's recap:
"I'm so glad you're home. I know you didn't miss the little devil at all. I hated taking care of him the whole time. He was awful 99.9% of the time. The rest of the time he was an angel. Thanks for letting me take care of him."

So, there's plenty of scarcasm in his DNA to do him well the rest of his life. It was a great vacation, a good breather away from everything, and it was great to be back.