what a week we've had...

Well, it's been a busy, busy week for us and I think we're all exhausted!  This past week we celebrated two birthdays, attended a Halloween festival at G.Q.'s school, went up to the strip on two different days for a little fun, hung at the park, did some shopping and managed to squeeze in lots of eating out. Some highlights of the week:

1.  Dinner on the patio at Mon Ami Gabi.  My first time at a French restaurant and it was delicious!  I found a new wine I loved and had an amazing dinner of onion soup and salad, plus some fabulous fresh French bread.  I think everybody else enjoyed their dinner just as much as I did; their meals ranged from steaks to mac and cheese to seafood stew.  Probably my favorite part of the meal, was when we were ordering and I watched G.Q.'s eye light up and he exclaimed "WOW!  MOM!  Did you see that?!"  Mon Ami Gabi sits across the street from the Bellagio fountains.  It's rare we go to the strip, so that was G.Q.'s first time seeing them and he was amazed!

2.  After our dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, we headed to Sugar Factory for dessert.  Everybody was stuffed from dinner so dessert we going to be shared.  G.Q. wanted a cupcake and it was almost his birthday so he got his own.  I managed to sneak away and ask the waiter to put a candle in his cupcake.  G.Q. was so surprised when it came to the table with a candle and we sang to him.  "How did he know it was my birthday, mommy?"  G.Q. kept asking.  I finally told him that I was sneaky and asked them for the candle.  An unexpected highlight was seeing the Indy cars in town for the weekend race down Las Vegas Blvd.  We heard some commotion and engines roar and then saw the cars race down the road.  It really was pretty cool!

3.  Guess what?  We went out to eat again...this time at YardHouse.  So good!  I love that they have a good portion of their menu dedicated to vegetarian selections.  The husband and my father-in-law like the large selection of beers on tap.  G.Q. loves that it's very closely located to an arcade that he was promised a trip to after dinner!  It was his birthday, after all, so we couldn't deny him some tokens in the crane game or videos games.  G.Q. somehow lucked out and won something from that rip-off machine they call "crane game."  I hate it but G.Q. loves it and insists that he can win something every time.  G.Q. won enough tickets playing games to buy himself some crap-behind-the-counter with his short-stack of tickets.  Why is that junk so appealing to little kids?  Again, it was his birthday, the visit to the arcade was a treat, so I sucked up my hate for it for the evening.

4.  The Stratosphere!  We went to the Stratosphere because G.Q. wanted to ride a roller coaster and they have a ride, The Big Shot, that he is just tall enough to ride.  He's tall enough with shoes on, but apparently they're picky and made him remove his shoes, so he didn't get to ride.  Bummer.  But the husband and my mother-in-law got their thrill on, all while I was trying to keep myself from getting sick being up so dang high on this tower.  These rides go up over 1,000 feet off the ground and go out over the side of the building.  Why would anybody want to strap themselves into a ride and dangle over the side of a building?  I have no idea but the husband had a blast!   He's a big kid and I love him!

5.  Spooktacular!  G.Q.'s school had a Halloween festival for the neighborhood.  They had carnival games, a haunted house (G.Q. was so pumped about this!), a costume contest and food.  Our first stop was the haunted house, which was very tame, but G.Q.'s first one ever and he was thrilled to be in it.  He got more excited as we turned each corner.  When it was over he said "that was creepy but not scary!"   Next it was costume contest time.  I was so excited about this contest because I made G.Q.'s costume and was almost 100% certain that he'd win!  As they kids paraded around I heard so many people say "There is Perry!"  Whew, so glad they knew what the costume was!  G.Q. was getting tired of the parading around but got a little excited when we was named runner-up in the contest.  We were beat out by a zombie, which was a bummer, but the zombie had some pretty amazing make-up.  I'm guessing somebody in the family or that they knew did it professionally because they could have been in a movie with their make-up. 

I could go on and on with our activities, but I'm too tired to remember them all.  Seriously, I'm pooped out!  We had a blast, had a great time celebrating mine and G.Q.'s birthdays.  Grandma and grandpa are home now, back in Ohio.  The guest bedroom has been stripped down and linens are washing as I type.  Life is settling down and returning to normal schedule.  By the weekend I'm sure we'll all be caught up on sleep.  It will be nice to return to normal but we're sure going to miss grandma and grandpa.