Summer

Ruby somehow heard about hot springs and wanted to go to hot springs for vacation. Well, there happened to be hot springs about an hour outside of Vegas and I booked it for me and Ruby (Maggie didn't want to go). We took a cab out there and the address was a bar. We went inside to ask if we were in the right place and they freaked out about Ruby being there so we went outside. There was nothing else around so we waited. While we waited, I called and messaged the tour company but no one ever responded or showed up.

Eventually, we took a cab back to the hotel. We grabbed Maggie, got some dinner, and watched TV. 

The flight home was BUMPY! I'm not a fan of flying and it was zero fun. When we finally touched down, people applauded and the girls were like, oh they didn't like that either. I told them, I don't think anyone enjoys turbulence like that.

We went to an escape room with Laurie, Grayson, Ella, and Jillian. It was old west-themed. 

Ruby told me that the boys in her grade were playing Squid Games at recess and she was going to join them but decided their game was nonsense. 

Ruby asked me, what's that guy's name: Dr. Vader? So now she calls him Dr. Dark Vader. 

Ruby and I have been watching Too Cute, which is basically a show about kittens and puppies. Ruby said something and the mom cat, I swear, just stopped and stared at her. It was uncanny. Every time we watched it for the next week, she'd say, mom that cat's looking at me.

Ruby and I have been working on a new, bigger puzzle and, one day, Maggie and I just both sat down and silently did the puzzle. It was very nice. 

Ruby told me that she thinks other mothers don't tell their kids they love them as often as I tell my kids. Essentially, I'm overdoing it.

Ruby brought up that I read a lot but I don't watch much TV. I told her that sometimes I can and sometimes I can't watch TV. So, she suggested watching TV with subtitles so I can just read what's happening. 

Maggie went over to Paige's house and came home with part of a pizza. Ruby wanted a piece and Maggie said, did you pay for the pizza? For whatever reason, I found that hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing, then Maggie couldn't stop laughing, then finally Ruby. Ruby keeps saying to me, remember when Maggie asked if I paid for the pizza?

Michael Jackson

 After the Sphere, we got dinner at an Italian restaurant and then we went to see a Michael Jackson Cirque de Soliel show. It was amazing! I love Michael Jackson's music.

These pictures are out of order. Multiple pictures with Maggie and various friends.

That's Maggie with Sally's kittens

This is us at dinner, before the MJ show. 

That's the show!

This is us at the airport. Above her is Ruby's Diner.

Ruby with a Canadian tuxedo: jeans with rainbow overalls over and a blue jean jacket on top.

Buddy peeking at me.

The girls doing a puzzle.

This is me and Ruby at the tennis center.

Grand Canyon and the Sphere

More Grand Canyon pictures!

These guys are just in this neighborhood! Can you imagine?

This is me and Laurie at Hoover Dam as littles. Gwen sent me this picture.

This is the Sphere. It was incredible, like truly amazing. At first, it just looked like a bigger than average movie screen and I thought, huh this isn't so cool. But then they show Earth from a distance and as they zoom in the screen becomes the entire room. It was unbelievable. An elephant walked over us and looked down at us and it was there. It was amazing. Another time, we were in a concert hall and then we were on the stage and the people in the boxes around us were looking at us and my brain couldn't process that they weren't actually there.

Getting ready for the MJ show.

Grand Canyon

 We had to get up bright and early to go to the Grand Canyon. Getting breakfast was a pain and we saw a guy getting dragged out of the casino in Treasure Island (where our bus picked us up). The guy who drove the bus NEVER. STOPPED. TALKING. His throat must have hurt. He stopped for 20 minutes on the way out and 20 minutes on the way back. It was insane. 

The girls were less than impressed. We couldn't really do anything so we just took pictures and walked around. We got tickets for the sky bridge. It's a huge glass bridge and when you look down, it goes seemingly forever. Unfortunately for me, my lizard brain freaked the fuck out. I walked on the little strip where you can't see down and tried not to vomit. It was a quick trip.