The time of our annual adventure to Jean, NV (that's pronounced Jean Nebada) has come and gone. Here are some of the highlights:
Our inaugural stop was "the long hike" at Flagstone. We drove the 'zukis in and dropped off the guys, accoutred in their hiking regalia, to conquer the first two post of the mine claiming season. Here's the whole gang.
We spent Thursday at Easter Sunday. Tomas LOVED going for rides on the 4 wheeler and in the 'zuki. He's also been talking nonstop about how Dad and Grandpa went "up up up the mountain - around around." Hazel and I got to hang out together in the shade while everyone else worked. She thought eating licorice was grand fun - so sweet, so messy.
Friday was spent hanging out with the Stratton Fam in Vegas. I spent the morning hours getting a root canal (yippee!) while Tomie and Hazel played with Corbin and Jenna. Tomie is still talking about getting teeth "work d'on." (Hopefully he's still interested after his upcoming dental appointment, because he's got some teeth that need to be "work d'on" too.) After naps, we went to the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor. At the beginning of the exhibit we each got a "boarding pass" with a real passenger's information and at the end there was a list of who did or did not survive. I'm happy to report that Jane Richards and her two daughters, ages 8 and 2, made it through the ordeal alive. Unfortunately, of the male passengers in our group, only Dr. Frauenthal (Levi) survived. He was returning home from his wedding in France; his wife and brother also survived.
Saturday we spent the morning at the Lied Museum. We could've spent FOREVER there. The kids loved it - okay, so I did too; I'm a sucker for science museums! Tomas especially appreciated the fact that Clifford was there this month.
After lunch we headed out to the hotel pool. Tomie was being a chicken about the water being too cold, even though it was the perfect temperature. Hazel, on the other hand, was ready to play play play!
Some other miscellaneous highlights of our adventure were:
Tomas and "his" hat that he pretty much stole from Levi. Notice Levi is wearing the blue hat in the first pictures, but Tomie's has it later. Yeah, we still can't separate him from it.
The sparkly, lovely opal ring Levi bought for me to wear in place of my wonderful wedding ring that refuses to fit my now chubby finger. What a nice anniversary/mother's day present!
Eating in public with my children - ARGH!
Seeing the wild donkeys up close and personal this year. They were only like a hundred feet away. That was pretty cool.
Tomie getting to sleep in his "tent bed."
Having all the crusty casino ladies ooh and ahh over my cute baby girl.
All in all, it was a fun trip, but I was ever so glad to come home again. I missed my little garden, drinkable tap water, and having a separate bedroom from the children. Isn't it funny that I'm always dying to get away from the house, but after adventuring there's no place I'd rather be. Even if it is a messy bit of chaos, there's no place like home!
