A Mother's Day Girfriend Reunion

When most people go to Las Vegas, it's probably for entirely different reasons than us.

It had been 14 years since my college roomies and I had all been together in one place.

After talking things over, we decided that Mother's Day weekend was the perfect opportunity and with all of us coming from different parts of the country, Las Vegas seemed the obvious location for spending a weekend together without breaking the bank. Money isn't exactly growing on trees these days.

It helped that our former roomie Tour Guide Mary, was along with us on the trip. She's the one on the left.

She's a travel agent, and knew from her contacts all the best places to eat, shop and stay.

We're all moms with growing kids at home, and none of us wanted to spend any more than necessary to to make this reunion happen. Especially with one of us having recently gotten engaged and needing to pay for the upcoming wedding.

At the last minute, the other three of us put our heads together and decided to spring a little impromptu Bride-to-Be Scavenger Hunt on her.

She's a good sport, and set about fulfilling every item on her list.

Being in Vegas worked in our favor because there were so many crazy things we could make her do wearing the hat and the boa.

What we hadn't counted on was the surprise heat wave, and the itchy misery inflicted on poor Lynette when the feather boa kept sticking to her in the heat. Not to mention shedding white feathers nearly everywhere we went.

And for four Bible College roomies in "Sin City" for a weekend...well, it was an eye opener, let me tell you.

It is true what they say about there being Wedding Chapels on nearly every corner.

My general impression had always been that this would be a little like a fast-food version of a 'real' wedding, but we passed a couple of chapels located in the bigger hotels which actually turned out to be very classy establishments.

There are also a lot of beautiful locations throughout the strip in which to hold weddings and to take photos.

We passed a beautifully landscaped veranda near a pool in the Hilton which was preparing for an outdoor wedding with a gorgeous view.

There was also a piazza area overlooking the Bellagio fountains that is probably a sought after wedding reception location.

The Bellagio Fountains were a beautiful sight to behold.

They are choreographed and set to 'dance' to music. Pictures simply don't do it justice.

There were many fun and beautiful fountains around the strip, all of which looked very refreshing on the really hot day we were there.

Here, to fulfill one of the items on her 'list', our bride-to-be had to climb into a fountain.

Here I tried to get Lynette with a fountain statue's wings as her own, but they came off looking more like antlers, haha.

And I can't tell you how many different Elvis' we saw in that city.

Including this one (with our bride-to-be) which frankly didn't look very authentic or legit.

He was, however, happy to help Lynette mark one of the items on her list. Perhaps overly so.

I was amazed by all the decor we saw in the various buildings along 'the strip' where we stayed in one of the Hilton Hotels.

Copius amounts of money had no doubt been spent to encrust the casinos and the shopping areas in the glitz the glittering city is known for.

This was a gold bubble ceiling that looked very heavy hanging above us.

This fixture was made of hundreds of thin cable wires suspended from the ceiling and each holding a couple of crystals on it, one forming part of the top of the globe and the other part of the bottom. It was a huge installment (bigger than a VW Bug, I'm sure) and beautiful from every angle. It must have taken an enormous amount of planning to get each cable the right length and for all the crystals to form the perfect orb.

This entire hallway had these lights above us.

And another one in green.

This light fixture was, like, was totally tubular.

These colorful umbrellas were suspended from the domed glass ceiling at the top of an escalator.

This gorgeous stained glass also served as a skylight by day.

This display consisted of hundreds of strands of crystals, draped in such a way as to completely encrust the space in 'jewels'.

While most of it was interesting to look at, and some of it tasteful, on the whole, instead of being breathtakingly beautiful and awe inspiring, most of the decor in Las Vegas came across as rather...gaudy. Bordering on tacky.

It rather reminded me of a verse in the Bible: Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. -Proverbs 11:22

This city was no lady.

Earlier in the day, the city streets felt like any other city to me. After dark, however, things changed, and took on the Vegas vibe.

In one very public fountain crosswalk area, we saw a rather second-rate costumed Hello Kitty dirty dancing.

C'mon...Hello Kitty?

All the other costumes a panhandler might have chosen to use (most likely without permission) to turn a buck and they had to dance for dollars in Hello Kitty? Cover your eyes, kiddos!

But what was even more appalling to me was when we drove past one establishment and saw my boys' favorite Disney characters...good old Buzz and Woody, standing out front.

I'm not sure if you can see it or not, but it would appear that the Las Vegas version of Woody has recently undergone a tracheotomy. He was pouring a water bottle into a hole in his neck!

Yes, boys and girls, this is what happens when Woody the Cowboy smokes all his life.

Disney should really look into licensing infringements, because I'm not sure these particular versions were sanctioned by Walt's people.

There was also a particular group of people in bright orange shirts, who along one section of the strip kept trying to thrust nasty advertisements into the hands of each passing person.

We were pleasantly surprised to observe that the vast number of people passing by refused to touch it, let alone look at it, and in fact seemed appalled by it.

Gave us all a little glimmer of hope that perhaps there is still some decency left in the world.

Being known as a city that never sleeps, we found that very little along the strip in Vegas ever closed down. If we had been inclined to go somewhere at 3 am, we would have found plenty of places open for business.

We had all heard tidbits over the years about how in gambling meccas like Las Vegas and Jersey City, the casinos have spent untold billions honing their money-making schemes into the most profitable establishments possible.

In my college art classes, I remember a unit which touched on the 'psychology' of colors, and doing a paper on how fast food restaurants employ the use of certain colors and flooring and arrangements of furniture to encourage people to eat quickly and move along.

Likewise, in the multi-billion dollar Casino and gaming industry, colors, patterns, lighting, music and even 'aromatherapy' scents are used throughout casinos to keep patrons awake and on a seeming adrenaline rush, enough to keep them sitting at their slot machines or gaming tables frittering away their money.

We also observed that you can't usually see the out-of-doors from the casinos because they don't want you to think about how it might be your usual bedtime or breakfast time...they want to keep you focused on one thing...wasting spending your hard-earned money.

After seeing the sights during the day, we were all exhausted and crashed back in our hotel suite where we talked long into the night, having so much catching up to do.

The hotel casinos were arranged in such a way that even if you wanted to get a late night coffee or a snack from one of their little bistros, you had to first wend your way through casinos which they hoped would entice you to sit down and play.

We noticed that all the carpets in every casino we passed through were wildly patterned and colored versions which had been very carefully researched and selected to contribute to guests spending.

We determined amongst ourselves that it's all a very elaborate scam.

It was sad to see how many elderly people were sitting alone at machines, as though they'd come in alone on a tour bus, and aimlessly whiled away their time and money.

Nobody ever seems to 'win' anything, but many play on the slim chance they would, and far too many get sucked into spending way more than they should.

As we wandered around the hotels and other sights along the strip, I found that I craved the sunlight and out of doors. Probably because of all the smoke hanging in the air. In Las Vegas they permit smoking indoors. I'm so thankful for the clean air laws in public places back home.

During the course of the weekend, that smoke triggered more than one unpleasant episode for me and one of the other girls (who didn't even have asthma). Nasty stuff, that second-hand smoke!

We girls did have a fantastic time catching up, hanging out by our hotel pool, shopping and catching up over meals.

It was awesome how things just picked up right where they had left off the last time.

We had such a blast together, just as we always did back in college.

I sure do love these gals, and am so glad the Lord dropped us into each other's lives as roomies 20 years ago.

By far, our favorite place of the entire weekend was located just beneath the Eiffel Tower replica.

It was an indoor mall of sorts which had carefully rounded moldings throughout the vast space and was painted in trompe l'oeil, with store fronts built to resemble the streets of Paris or old Europe. Much like an elaborate set in a movie studio.

While it was creative and beautiful and fun to walk through, something in there triggered a serious coughing attack that I wasn't sure I would recover from.

I suspect now that it was probably a combination of an inadequate air-exchange, filtering and ventilation system for as many people as were crowded inside, cigarette smoke, and possible off-gassing from whatever materials they used to recreate the faux base of the Eiffel Tower, which extended into the building there as though we were walking beneath it.

Whatever it was, it had the same musty, asthma-inducing odor that certain places in amusement parks have when they employ large amounts of wire mesh and that expanding foam stuff they use to sculpt fake rock and whatnot to create a semi-realistic 'look' to a ride.

Whatever it was made for a constant tickle in my throat that didn't go away until we entered the nearby restaurant for dinner.

This was perhaps our favorite place in all of Vegas.

The French restaurant, Mon Ami.

The food was a bit spendy but spectacular.

The cool thing was, we didn't feel terribly guilty eating there, because we hadn't lost money in Las Vegas.

As a matter of fact, we had all earned a little extra cash during our weekend in Vegas.

There were two places Tour Guide Mary knew of along the strip, both tied to major TV studios, where you could preview upcoming, in-the-works TV programs, take a computerized survey afterward and get a handful of Vegas coupons and $15 or $20 for your efforts, depending on how long the process took. Both were under an hour from start to finish. In the end, we each earned $35 cash.

We all sat together and previewed the same program, but could not speak to each other until after we left. They also requested we put our cameras away. It was clear they wanted our direct individual attention and opinion, not influenced by anyone else.

In both places, we were given a handheld device with a button on it which you either held or depressed at various points throughout the preview, depending on whether or not you liked or would walk away from whatever you were watching. In this way you 'rated' the entire episode moment by moment.

Afterwards there was a multiple choice survey which you took on a computer and depending on what your gut reactions were to the programming using the hand-held device earlier, you had the opportunity to explain your like or dislike of it.

We were glad to be able to give our input on one show we hope never goes into production because of a very poor portrayal of family values, and another which had a fresh and interesting take on the whole 'big brother' thing, but involved too much senseless violence and reckless behavior by the main characters in the story which never showed the reality...the naturally resulting consequences of their actions, which we all felt would be very misleading to younger, more impressionable viewers.

While this was an interesting experience, we all felt a bit dismayed with the types of things showing up in TV shows today which are deemed to be 'entertainment' by the producers and networks. A lot of garbage, for sure.

We also walked away with a very real awareness of how much money the studios were willing to lay out to hone their upcoming TV shows, with distinct agendas, which are then foisted upon an unsuspecting viewing public who may not even realize they are being influenced and shaped by what they view/hear on a regular basis.

A great deal of money is being spent to dictate what Television and Movie viewers see, and like it or not, the standards are nowhere near as high as they were 30 or 40 years ago and are far more influential to the course our society is on than we might like to believe.

While we did appreciate the cash that helped pay for our dinner, the experience only served to further cement in us the desire to limit network and cable programming, as well as a host of other influences in our homes.

My roomies and I found plenty of time to kick back, rest and reminisce. Here we found a little outdoor cafe where we could rest beneath the palm trees and misters as it was a scorcher of a day.

Andrea and I roomed together on campus during our freshman summer.

Lynette and Mary were my Freshman year roomies.

We've all been great friends ever since. We all still have so much in common and share so many memories from that golden year of our lives.

Though it was hot, and we all got a bit sunburned, we had a fabulous time catching up.

It's something we all hope to make an annual event, maybe switching to a beachy locale next time around.

When Lynette and Mary boarded their earlier flights on Sunday, Andrea and I headed off for more shopping at an outlet mall, and took in a movie and grabbed a bite to eat before I dropped her off at the airport for her flight home.

Exhausted, I made the long, unusually windy drive back home to my own family. It had been a most wonderful weekend.

:: :: :: ::

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Jeff had decided to take the boys and their cousin K on a little nature hike on Saturday.

It involved a huge outcropping of large rocks

a rather daring climb (along with a bunch of the resulting battle scars, scrapes and skinned up knees)

a nest of owlets

a giant gopher snake (which they encountered way up high on the rock formation, mind you) and which Judah poked at with the toy sword he'd brought along on the hike.

I know it looks like it might be, but that's not the snake near Judah. At least I don't think it was. Oh, mercy... However, he is in a cave or animal den of some kind. I'm quite sure I don't even want to know the story behind that picture.

The view from the top was all worth it, though, at least from their perspective.

Beautiful, yes, but I must say I was relieved that they did this particular trip without me.

I'm afraid I don't do dangerous climbs with rambunctious 5 year olds or knife bearing teenagers or snakes very well at all.

Mother's Day Trip to the Poppy Reserve

For Mother's Day this year, Jeff took note of what I'd mentioned that I would like to do and planned an outing to the beautiful Poppy Reserve in Antelope Valley, California.

I'd asked to go early early, as I was wanting some sunrise photos and to catch the transformation as the poppies began opening to the sun.

This meant rising after just four hours of sleep.

While dashing around to get ready well before dawn, I kept hearing birds chirping outside and thought it was a bit early for birds, but didn't give it too much thought.

Until we'd dragged the boys out of bed, opened the front door and very nearly stepped on this:







Isn't he adorable?

It was chilly outside, and the parent birds we'd heard chirping earlier had apparently fled when the door opened, so the boys put a pile of weeds around the baby bird to keep it warm.

We surmised that the poor little guy must either have fallen from his nest under our roof tiles, or had simply not gotten the hang of learning to fly.

We told the boys that if he was still there when we got back home, they could find some worms for it's food and take care of him until he flew away.

After getting into the car, Jericho fell immediately back to sleep.

Judah, on the other hand, stayed awake the entire way there, peppering us with questions like, "Will da birdie still be dere? Why are we driving in da darkness? Is it night time? When is it gonna be day time?" Why did we have ta get out of bed in da dark time? Where are we goeen? Are we goeen on fa-cation? Are we goeen to da zoo?"

Finally, we arrived at the reserve.

The sun was just peeking up over the hills.





It was super-windy. And cold. And for some dumb reason, I'd not worn sensible shoes. We had to hike the paths with me wearing some slip on heels. Doh!

Nevertheless, the scenery was spectacular and worth every bit of discomfort.





The brochure the Poppy Reserve provided said that Spanish Explorers used to be able to see these rivers of golden-orange flowers from their ships, and nicknamed them La Sabanilla de San Pasqual (the Altar-cloth of St. Pascal), in reference to their shepherd saint who tended his flock far from church and village and knelt in fields of wildflowers to commune with God.

Modern day Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre are all areas that at one time used to be filled with wild poppy fields, but today, the only large fields left are in the rural Antelope Valley region of Southern California.

We watched this little bird struggle in flight against the high winds. It finally stopped to rest here, and didn't seem at all afraid of us as we got close. I wondered if he was friends with the little bird-family we'd met earlier that morning.



The poppies were truly a sight to behold.







The brochure also mentioned several types of snakes known to live in the region.

I was very glad that we didn't see any of them. In all our 12 years of living and camping in the deserts of the Southwestern U.S. we've seen only one snake. Ever.

And I'm not complaining.





The boys were real troupers. It was 6:15 am in this particular photo.

Jericho still had that puffy-eyed, fresh out of bed look, but that cold wind and the brisk walk helped to get our blood pumping after the long drive.





I loved the backlighting in the following photo...the whitish curled over stalks are the pre-bloom stage of a weed called Fiddleneck.





While walking the pathways, Jeff took this photo of Judah tucking his little hand into mine. It was cold and he'd just told me, "I wuv you, mama." **heart melts into a puddle**



I always wonder if such moments will be the 'last' time my little guy does such things...he's growing up so fast.

For fun, we also took a shadow family portrait.



And later, just the boys and me...and the poppies.



Naturally no trip is complete without the boys pulling some goofy stunt or another.

My tripod became Judah's Tommy Gun.



Jericho found this rail to be great for sliding. Over and over and over again. It didn't hold the same appeal for Judah, who was stopped by every post because he was too little to slide down the top of the rail.



As we were leaving the Poppy Reserve, we'd driven a mile or two away and came to a bend in the road where we were surprised to see this



Here's the black sheep in this family.





Though minutes away there was a Poppy Reserve where you couldn't touch any of the flowers, here the sheep could graze to their hearts content.





Such a pastoral scene would be incomplete without the shepherd, watching over his flock with care.



His faithful sheepdog (at center) pricked up his ears and appeared ready to come racing after us when we pulled over on the side of the road to take these photos.



It was truly the icing on the cake to get to see such a sight after just viewing the poppies.

Back in the warmth of the car, the hilly roads finally lulled Judah to sleep.



We stopped off for breakfast as soon as we hit civilization, and then headed back home.

There was time for a long leisurely nap before having a little Mother's Day BBQ that evening for all the local moms in our family.

Our Nephew's son Baby B does "the Mowgli" over to Auntie K on the back porch. He can walk, just barely, but prefers this four-legged method above all.



Meanwhile, Cousin J and Judah ride around 'the outback' in Judah's jeep.

The one he got for Christmas which is already missing a headlight.

Need I explain that he was trick-riding when the accident occurred? Legs sprawled across the hood, hand on the gas pedal? MmmHmm. That's our Judah.

I'm already praying for that long-distant day when he begins to operate real vehicles. With horsepower. And torque. And peer pressure. Lord, have mercy!





I just love the little 'baby-bird' look of Baby B in this picture. He's such a cutie-pie, and seems to love our dog.

Oh, and speaking of baby birds...our little visitor from early that morning was nowhere to be found when we arrived back home.

The very next day, I saw a bird bearing a striking resemblance to him, fuzzy feathers and all, sneaking food out of our dog's dish.

Some moms are distinguished as the kool-aid moms of the neighborhood...but it appears I've am the dog-food mom to all the critters in our 'hood.