Viva Las Vegas

Wilson mesmerized by the Gondola lady's singing

Last week we had the opportunity to go to Vegas so that Mike could go to a Woodworking show. There were some pretty amazing things there, and he learned a lot from the classes. We also got to have a little fun! My mom, aunt and little cousin (born the same day as Whitney) met us there so that I had some company during the day. During the week we stayed at my parent's condos so we had a kitchen and room for the little girls to play with all of their toys! Mike and I got to go out on a couple of dates...we met some friends from Lovell and watched the volcano erupt at the Mirage and saw the fountain show at the Bellagio. We loved that so much that we took everyone else there on our last night. Whitney clapped for the show at the Bellagio although she didn't like how loud it was. Mike and I also saw the Cirque du Soleil performance of Mystere. The performers are so talented and truly amazing. We didn't quite understand the whole story--it was a little too out there for us. We got tickets at the front of a small balcony wall and at one point a guy playing a bird character jumped up unexpectedly and screeched right in my face, I totally screamed, jumped and then started cracking up. It was so funnny--even the guy was laughing. Mom & Auntied left around noon on Sunday but we still had a few hours to kill so we went and took the kids on a gondola ride at the Venetian. It was soooo hot. We planned on riding the inside ride, but it was a 40 minute wait--so we braved the heat. Wilson just loved it when the lady sang. It was fun.

We were set to fly out on Sunday around 5:30 so we got the airport at 3:15. We were waiting and waiting, and 5:30 came and went...finally they said they had given our plane away to another flight (they were on their 3rd plane), but they were working on getting another plane. Then they had a plane, but no crew. Finally we had a crew too! So we boarded, then the captain came on and said the plane had a fuel leak. So we unloaded the plane. Then they had another plane--YAY!--but Billings is such a small airport that there aren't very many workers late at night, so the runway was going to be closed, so they said they would have to put us up in a hotel for the night. We finally boarded a shuttle to the hotel at 9:45! Then we had to meet the shuttle back to the airport at 6:00 (no sleep). So we get back to the airport, and get on the plane for an 8:00 takeoff--yay! We got settled, kids asleep, and Mike and I were even dozing. We take off down the runway full speed, and then they slammed on the brakes! WOW--so scary. Apparently there was a fire indicator light that came on, but no fire. So we taxied back and unloaded. There was a wire problem, but they fixed it and we finally got back on and made it back to Billings around 1:30 Monday afternoon. Boy were we tired! Fortunately the kids were so good! It was nice to finally be home:)