Life and times of Ryan

Ryan and Hunter skateboarding... is there anything else... .

Ryan doing what he likes to do!

The Duke

It's a nice weekend for golf...

Beka and Sara Michelle Gellar (From Scooby Doo, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Ryan and Beka kickin' it with Jeff Gordon

Ryan and the Blue Man Group

Vegas Road Trip ~ Part 2

Day 3~ Monday April 2nd....
Ryan and I slept in until about 9 am... believe me we needed it... but Josh and Boo were out of the room by 8.. they just got up and ran..haha! They headed downstairs at the Excalibur to check out the rides they had, they rode a 4-D log ride, sounded strange but they liked it... then they went and got crispy creme donuts ~ they brought a small box back to our room to entice us...hehe! We all got ourselves together then walked over to the Tropicana to pick up our Dirk Arthur tickets and walk through thier mall upstairs.. We got in line for the show got drinks and sat down to enjoy the show ....He was a magic/illusionist and he had a black panther, white tigers etc...he did some crazy things like make the front of an amtrak appear... crazy amongst other things...We all liked the show and it was better then being in the 93 degree heat... haha! We complain of snow then we complain of heat ... I tell ya...
After the show we walked up towards Gameworks and the M n M store... Beka drug me into the Big Adidas store while the guys went into gameworks, she bought a water bottle and then we headed to meet the guys at gameworks... we went from there through the M n M's store .. from there to the Coke store ... we were all thirsty so we ordered the sampler tray .... you get 16 small cups of different coke products from countries all over the world, we passed them around and each tried a sip or two... this was actually kind of fun... there are some very strange flavors out there... none of us liked the Italian one... and the one from Africa was a lil strange with some kind of ginger root in it... the kids actually enjoyed this... and it killed some time before our next long walk...haha!
Now it's almost 5 (time sure flies in this town) must be all that walking....aaack! We head up toward Aladdin (now changing to Planet Hollywood) we buy our tickets for Stomp Out Loud at 9 pm... then more walking up to Bally's for dinner ( again 2 for 1 coupons...haha) ... here I am in Vegas and I am barely gambling...the machines are now screaming my name everytime I walk by... now I have to run by them... after dinner at Bally's back down to Planet Hollywood/Aladdin for the show.... Stomp was excellent .. I didn't expect to like it so much but we all enjoyed it tremendously~ during the show I let Josh know that I was exhausted and that Beka was too so lets grab a cab back to the Excalibur... 1 block in Vegas is actually 10 haha I am not joking either... 1 casino = 5 0r more blocks... believe me my dogs were barking... oh heck they were HOWLING!
After Stomp it was almost 11~ more walking all the way through the desert mall of the casino/hotel... dogs are wimpering now... I say we go to valet and get a taxi... but when we got there... no taxi's... wait something is not right with this picture.... Josh and the kids take off and we end up "BEHIND" this "HUGE" casino... on a street that has construction and doesn't even look familiar to us.... I see the MGM Grand off in the distance but it looks like miles away... I am ready to sit down on the curb and cry... but we push on... we find another entrance to the parking garage and go down and finally catch a cab back to the Excalibur... awwwwwwwwwwww back to the room... the kids get in thier comfies and turn on the tv... they both admit they are wiped out... so am I... Josh says lets go downstairs... aaaaaaaaaaaack more walking... so he rubs my feet for a bit and down we go ... AGAIN! (No wonder I am tired)
Downstairs for a night of nothing special... no big wins... just breaking even ... finally I say I gotta catch some zzzzz's about 2 or 3 am back to the room.... Mr. Cashman was good to me on the way back to the room I stuck a $5 in a penny slot and hit a Mr. Cashman bonus... won 36 bucks... YAY! Time for bed... more days to come...
I will be gone Friday and won't be back until Sat late afternoon... I will probably post another day or two on Sunday... Happy Weekend Everyone... Peace ~ G

Our Vegas Pic~~ hehe!

- Get Your Own

Vegas Trip ~ First 2 days

Well we're back and finally somewhat recooperated.. yes you need a vacation just to recoop from your vacation.... one of these days I'm going to take a real vacation where you actually just lay around on the beach and get fed grapes...haha!
We left Saturday morning at 6 am March 31st... yeah early even for me... at least for a Saturday... we drove our car to Pasco and picked up our rental car in Pasco for our road trip with the kids... I had reserved either a chevy impala or a pontiac grand prix but when I got there to pick up the car the guy behind the counter told me they were out, OUT? I reserved this car 2 months ago, he said I can put you in a Chevy HHR ( I had no clue what this was) to which I said is it smaller or larger then what we were supposed to have? He proceeded to tell me it was a tad smaller, I just looked at him with a look to kill... Josh and Ryan were in the bathroom at the time so it was just Beka and I ... So I said look we don't want smaller, Josh is 6'7" and we have 2 kids smaller is NOT AN OPTION!!!! Well needless to say he put us in a Chevy Equinox for the same price which is like a small SUV... it was very comfortable with cushy leather seats, XM radio, a/c, and all the new stuff like the compass in the rearview mirror etc... we were happy ! We unloaded and parked the subaru loaded up the Equinox and were on our way!!!
We stopped and grabbed a bite to eat at Carls Jr. ( we don't have those our way) then the kids told me they had forgotten thier toothbrushes , and Ryan forgot his deodorant ( that is why mom should pack...lol) so I ran over to the value-rite and grabbed the forgotten items , got some ice for the cooler full of drinks ... pop, water, gatorade etc... and now we really are on our way!!!
Well the next 8 or so hours are a blur of interstates and highways and naps etc... maybe a few potty stops along the way, nothing too terribly exciting... the excitement of our Saturday was stopping at this place called CJ's for dinner ( we were hungry and needed to stretch) we got a cooky waitress that the kids still talk about.... she proceeded to tell us her whole life story and her fear of driving etc.. etc... we couldn't get a word in edgewise... this girl was a nut! We just wanted to eat and go... she just kept rambling and rambling... finally we saw an opening and took it ... Josh saying we need to get back on the road (she then again told us her fear of driving, nuts I tell you) we get out to the the equinox and Beka says, what is wrong with that girl? I said I dunno, lonely, insecure who knows... she sure could talk couldn't she! We fueled up and headed out again... back on the open road... it's late about 10 pm now... kids are sleepy so is mom... Josh is still doing ok... ( must be the truck driver in him) we drove until about 1 am then stopped at a Rodeway for the night, decided to get an early start in the morning with fresh showers!!!
Sunday 7 am up with a shower and out the door... fueled up again and headed out on the highway... life is a highway I'm gonna drive it all day/night long! The day was gorgeous... I love the Utah desert the different colors of the dirt and sand the deep deep hues of orangish/red and all the rock formations... beautiful! We made it to the border of Arizona and drove through these absolutely breathtaking painted canyons... ok so we didn't make it to the Grand Canyon on this trip but this was pretty close... we were only in Arizona about 27 miles until we crossed into Nevada... we hit Las Vegas about 10:30 am and since we couldn't check into our room until after noon we decided to head to the Silverton , it has a HUGE Bass Pro Shop we thought Ryan would like , he did! It had rock climbing walls, shooting places, games and everything you could possibly imagine.. The kids bought thier dad a shirt and a car mug for his up coming birthday, we spent about an hour or more just wandering around... Next to the Bass Pro Shop there is a HUGE saltwater aquarium with small sharks, stingrays and all kinds of tropical fish we sat and enjoyed that for a while... then we watched a diver get in and feed the stingrays along with a mermaid later ... yup a real mermaid...hehe! Then we headed to the Silverton Buffett to grab lunch we were all pretty hungry by now... this place was beautiful the way the wood was and glass and fire in the walls... it had all the elements...totally hip... totally cool!!!
Lunch over and we are all stuffed, roll us to our hotel... We jumped back in the Equinox and headed to the Las Vegas Strip to check in at the Excalibur... as we were turning off the highway we watched a black man that was holding a sign for food or money get into a war of words with a woman about who's turf it was... Ryan thought that was pretty cool... puuuulease... he pulls out his cell phone and snaps a picture ( he says you don't see this stuff in Leavenworth... cool) Ok now to find parking at the Excalibur... now this is a trip in itself... we ended up walking a looooooong looooong way! Check in was no piece of cake either.. it's already after 3 pm and the lines to check in are horrendous.... aaaaaaack! This place is HUGE! It's spring break and seems the crowds are bigger then the norm... finally we get our room keys... we opted for the $10 upgrade per night for the suite... which to be honest if you have kids is worth it but if its just the two of you don't spend the money... what it gives you is an extra couch and chair... I know big deal... but since my kids don't much like to share a bed being teenagers ... it gave Ryan a couch for two nights so that was good! We kind of unpack and head out again... we meet up with my brother Matt who is down in the Poker room... and Tosha is still at her seminar... we hit base with Matt and decide to hook up later with them... we walk across the street to the Luxor... I had never been there before so we had to check it out...we go upstairs to the IMAX theatre, the kids decide they want to check out a show and do the 4-D ride... so we pay for it and in they go... we start to head downstairs to meet up with them in an hour and we run into Carrot Top ( The comedian) he is buff not the skinny dude he used to be, was cool to see a somewhat celebrity though... We walk around the casino to check it all out... I see a machine with frogs all over it and tell Josh it's calling my name... it's whispering Giiiiiiina, Giiiiiina.... so I sit down for a spell put in a $5 (it's a penny slot) granted a penny slot really means... if you are playing 20 lines a 20cent bet at least unless you are betting more... so basically why not play 5 cents or more...lol, but knowing all this I still like the penny slots... hehe! The cocktail waitress comes around and I order a coke.. Josh orders a corona with lime and sticks some money in his machine, finally we are doing what you are supposed to do in Vegas...losing wages... isn't that why it's called Lost Wages...haha! Then something happens... the cocktail waitress comes back with our drinks and I click the button on my machine ... and hear the bells start dinging... Josh says woot baby you are winning something... I say yeah probably only like 300 points ($3) but nooooo I really was winning... the machine cashed out at $367.00 so I made $362.00 off of it.... what a way to start our stay in Las Vegas... Weeee I like this! We walk back upstairs to meet with the kids and since I won big (big to me) while the kids go in the 4-D ride , Josh and I got our picture drawn for $43 bucks ... I had to spend my win on something fun!!!! After the ride we walk over to New York New York, via the mall in the Mandalay Bay ( Ryan bought a hat there)... the kids go on the rollar coaster (long lines again) we check out the ESPN Zone (Beka thought that was cool she is our sports nut) then we head to Nathans to eat.. we had buy one get one coupons... oh yeah did I tell you JOSH is the COUPON KING...hahahaha! The coupons did save us over $ 5oo on our trip so I am not complaining! After dinner the kids were worn out so we headed back to Excalibur and went back to the room ... Ryan and Beka wanted to lay around and watch TV and look out the window...hehe... it was already after 10 so they were in for the night... Josh and I then walked over to the Tropicana for players cards to get our free tickets for tomorrows show with Dirk Arthur and the tigers ( magic-illusionist show) we broke about even with what we played that night then back to the room for some well deserved sleep.....awwwwww!!! Oh yeah we did meet up with Matt later... never did see Tosha she was already at the Mandalay bay with her girlfriend (she was there for a seminar) they had a black tie dinner that night until after 11 so we really didn't get to spend much time with them on this trip but was nice to say hi and catch up!
Monday April 2nd.... hmmmmm I have my days all mixed up so I am going to finish this on my next post with some help from Josh and the kids since I can't remember what order we did things in...I must be getting old ....aaaack! Until then hope you enjoyed our trip report... Love you all... Peace ~G

Road Trip 2007

I'm working on a post on our spring vacation road trip... be patient... back to the grindstone here ... time time time ... I will be posting a slide show soon... ! Keep checking I will have it up in the next day or so! G