Viva Laughlin

This is the first trip away that I actually wanted to get home! Heather and I went on our 2nd annual poker tournament trip in Laughlin, Nevada this last weekend. We went alone this year, being that nobody else could make the trip. This new found tradition started in May of 2007. (Just happens to also be Canon's conception date! ) We were traveling home from a family reunion in Durango, Colorado. Being that Heather and I still had another couple of days off, (and money burning holes in our pockets) we decided to stop in Laughlin, play some cards, stay the night and head home the next day. My parents were gracious enough to take Shani the rest of the way home and keep her for the night. While playing at the Aquarius, we both hit big hands playing Crazy 4 poker, giving us both free entries into the Fall, Crazy 4 poker tournament. This included a 3 night stay, an entry into the tournament, and a catered dinner for two after the tournament. This meant we had two rooms and 4 dinner tickets! Cool!! We decided to bring Heathers parents with us. They enjoy playing the slots and are fun to be around. We don't get the chance to spend a lot of time with them so we thought this would be fun...AND IT WAS!! We had a great time! We traveled over on Thursday, played for a while that night and went to our separate rooms. We met for breakfast every morning and sort of went our separate ways during the day. Heather and I turn into a fun-loving, newlywed couple while there. We discovered this little secret while on a trip to Vegas. There's just something about being away from the kids that lets us relax and have fun. Believe it or not, we actually like each other! We always have a great time! Heather and I attended the tournament for about an hour on Friday and Saturday and then resumed our running around.

(This is my 2nd plate of legs!)

Last year we found an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet at the Edgewater on Friday night. WOW!! It is here that I began to wonder why gluttony is a sin!! I think the name of the buffet should be "All the crab legs your stomach can handle." I go crazy when I'm there!! Pushing over little old ladies (which there are a lot of in Laughlin) just to get to my best friend in the world.....the crab leg guy!! You hand him an empty plate and he gives it back to you LOADED with hot, steamy, delicious crab legs. It's all in slow motion. The noise around you is silenced. There is one light in the room, shining down on your plate full of yumminess. Who cares about the other hundreds of choices of food! That would just take up more crab leg space in my stomach! Anyway, where was I? Well, we didn't win the tournament, but we did hit big hands again which entered us into the tournament again this year!

We were planning to bring Heathers parents with us again, but they were unable to come, so we started asking around to see who would be interested in going this year. Unfortunately, I think it was too short of notice for anyone to go. So, we went by ourselves. We headed over on Thursday again, played in the tournament Friday, but we went shopping at the outlets after this time. Little did I know, we were embarking on a journey. We shopped for hours and somehow managed to make it back to the hotel, both loaded with huge bags of winter clothes for the kids. It was then that I started to miss my little buddy. It had only been one day away and we both wanted to see him. We already couldn't wait to get home. We again went to the Edgewater seafood buffet Friday night and totally stuffed ourselves and played in the tournament again on Saturday. If I had bet more on the last hand, I would have made it into the semi-finals...but I didn't. So we went to the catered dinner and played some more before heading off to bed, knowing that we were leaving the next morning.

We arose Sunday morning and ate one last buffet breakfast(on the house...again) and headed home. When we were just blocks from the house, Heather started getting butterflies in her stomach, excited to see the baby. (I think it was the crab legs!) We picked him up and went home. Poor baby was sick!! What is it about leaving your kids for a couple of days and them getting sick?? I took him to the doctor Monday morning and he has an ear infection. Poor little guy barely has a voice and has a cough. In no way am I blaming this on the people that were watching him, because he started to have a runny nose before we left. To see him, you would never know that he's sick. He stills crawls all over the place and is as happy as a clam!

Well, what do you know, while there we both hit big hands again, earning us both entries into next years tournament. We are hoping to bring along with us more people next year. Please let us know if you're interested. We would like to make this an annual tradition. And if you hit a big hand, thats just more people we could bring the following year!

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you never figured it out, we were ceiling fans for Halloween! Get it?