remember me?

I remember you.

so much to say. (that now makes 3 song titles in a row used in this post.)

let's start at the very beginning, as I hear it is the very best place to start. friday, I left work early, and finished packing. we wanted to leave ourselves enough time to stop at nicole's to pick up the stroller, get to the parking thingie, and have plenty of time in the airport to check in and go through security, and hopefully to eat something, since they don't serve food on planes anymore. we had expected some traffic, as we were heading into the city on friday night at around rush hour. and we did get stuck in traffic for a half hour - ABOUT 5 MINS AWAY FROM OUR HOUSE. so of course, I started to panic. but we got there in good time, we picked up the stroller, we parked in the lot, and we made it to the airport on time. they couldn't find our tickets, which was panic-inducing for the 10 or so minutes it took to get things straightened out. we ate in a stupid restaurant in the terminal that didn't have room for luggage (duh! you're a restaurant in an airport terminal!!! you need room for people's carryon luggage!!!) and got on the plane first, due to bella. however, we sat on the runway for an hour...but bella was pretty good about it. she slept for most of the flight, on the floor, under the seat in front of me, like luggage.

we got to vegas okay, albeit very late. we took a cab to the travelodge, and please believe me when I tell you that you should never EVER stay at the vegas south strip travelodge. the rule was that the kids were not allowed on the carpet without their socks on.

saturday, we hit the strip early. so early, in fact, that nothing was really going on. we had breakfast at some america cafe, that had a big giant 3D map of the US. apparently, nevada is only known for reno and vegas, and pennsylvania is known for pittsburgh, the liberty bell, and washington's crossing. (iowa had like tumbleweeds, I think, and this really weird circus looking thing. what the hell is that?) I can't remember what utah had but I do know it wasn't polygamists, to my surprise. and texas had a whole mess of stuff. anyways.

trent and sean rode the manhattan express roller coaster at ny ny, we played video games, we walked all the way up the strip from ny ny to past treasure island and the wynn. it was a looooong walk and a lonnnnnnnnnnng day. we rested at the travelodge for a millisecond and then headed to fremont street for dinner. we ate in a hokey old timey casino's steakhouse with all the rest of the senior citizens. the food was eh. we watched a stirring americana something or other (complete with ear-splitting piercing eagle cry) on the big overhead arch thingie and then paid the $20 cab fare back to the 'lodge to sleep.

sunday, I had an interview for work, and while I did that, sean moved us out of the 'lodge and into the paris hotel and casino. I will say this for the travelodge - it made the hotel at the paris seem like staying at the four seasons. "look! nothing weird in the tub!! the water in the sink turns off! there's no weird stains on the bed! the TV has a remote!!"

of course, the highlight of sunday was meeting the utah contingent. the place rebecca picked was not near the strip, which was great. it was good to see that real people live in las vegas. when we arrived, they were already nestled into a big table in an alcove, and they had ordered a huge plate of fried stuff for us to eat. I know missuzj already said it, but meeting them felt easy and natural. they were just as I thought they'd be (except I hadn't seen a picture of kodi that did her justice) and we had great conversation. katy was amazing with bella, holding her and helping wrangle her, and she has this really great laugh. rebecca has a really sing-song voice that is soothing, and her hair is just as excellent as it looks on her blog. kodi was super cool and kiri was really pretty. we had lunch and just bullshitted for a while, then they waited for our cab to arrive, and we all headed back to the paris. we walked through the shops, stopping in a baby store to look at things that were all really ridiculously priced, and then when we got to bally's, sean, trent, kiri, and katy took bella and window shopped while kodi, becca and I gambled for like 15 minutes. it was great. we watched becca win $100ish while I lost every goddamn penny I put into a machine, and kodi taught me the wonder that is wheel of fortune, slot style. I was so sad to see them go. I didn't really have a reason to go back to vegas again before I met them - now sean and I both want to go again and hang with them.

monday was the first day of my conference, and sean took the kids to circus circus' indoor amusement park, which I suppose was amusing. not much for bella to do, poor kid. although sean reported that she got bum rushed by some kid named austin. after the conference, we went to dinner at the paris buffet. we are not really buffet people, but we wanted something quick so we didn't have to wrangle bella as much. after dinner, we took bella and trent up to the room, put away all harmful things, and let trent babysit while we went down to finally gamble together. when we got downstairs, we miraculously ran into nicole's mom carol and her friend claudia. they invited us to breakfast, and we got to gambling. sean played some online blackjack and we both did slots. we were down a bit of money before going back up to rescue trent from the bella monster.

then the fun really began.

at 3am, I woke up to a weird sound. it was like muffled yelling or something. the light was on in the bathroom and sean wasn't in bed. I went into the bathroom to see him praying to the porcelain goddess, vomiting like I have never heard or seen him vomit. he was ashen and shaky. he'd been in there a few times already, apparently. I did what I could, he got sick some more, and he went back to bed. he woke up a few more times violently ill, and by 6am, I knew I had to get him some water. I called nicole (it was 9am there) and asked her to look up symptoms for food poisoning, and he had all of them. I went to get him the water downstairs and talked to the concierge to tell them what happened. they sent up a security guard, who took a report from sean. he offered to have sean sent to a medical facility to be checked, but he was feeling better. he downed a gatorade and some water after the guard left, only to violently throw it up about an hour later. he was so shaky and faint and so sick that I called back down to the concierge and asked them to send the guard back up to take sean to the medical facility - and told them I wanted them to bring a wheelchair, since I didn't think sean would make it on his feet.

I stayed in the hotel room with the kids while sean was waiting to be seen at the clinic. finally, they saw him and told him they'd give him IV fluids. I took the kids out to caesar's so we didn't go nuts in the room, and after nearly 2 hours of fluids and 2 prescription medicines for nausea and diarrhea, they sent sean back to the hotel. I met up with him and he assured me that he could watch the kids while I tried to catch the second half of the day at the convention. by evening, he was still quite weak and tired, so I took the kids out to dinner and shopping at the aladdin. there's more to this story, which I'll tell you later.

wednesday, we woke up and went to the airport for breakfast and our flight. bella fell asleep before the flight took off at 11am pacific, and she stayed asleep for the first half of the flight, on the floor again under the seats. then she woke up and wanted to explore the plane. she walked up and down the aisle, touching people's legs and arms lightly as she went. some people thought it was cute, and some clearly were annoyed. whatever, bitches.

our luggage made it to the baggage claim an hour and a half late, and our shuttle took forever. we didn't get home until after 10 eastern, not having had any real lunch or dinner. so we ate and went to bed. thursday, I called out sick - I was exhausted and bella hardly slept.

sean is feeling better now and is eating normally. bella, however, is not feeling well again and still has fluid in her ears, though it isn't infected.

lady luck must have been on vacation while we were in vegas, but at least I can say that I met the smith sisters and kodiri...that was totally worth it.

pictures soon, promise. god, it's good to be back.