Do I Have Powdered Sugar and Syrup????

The guest suite seemed to have a revolving door from February through the beginning of April. Andy was here (I know I blogged about that already, I am not THAT behind) and the end of February marked a visit from Schelley Olhava, then in March a visit from Jess and Maddie Boynton and the end of March Christine and Brielle Rodrigues visited. All were great visits and I hate to condense down to one entry, but I am going to attempt it. Sorry gals.

We'll start with Schell, who came for a weekend and it turned into a pork filled weekend. It wasn't the plan, but we fed Schelley pork at like every meal! How is that possible??? Ribs, bacon at breakfast, leftover ribs for lunch, more bacon at breakfast and Schelley chose to continue the pork theme with a pork taco for dinner the last night!! I don't think Adam had seen Schelley for about 5 years. I saw Schelley about 3 years ago in Portland while on vacation with my dad, Pam and Adelle. It was a great visit. We showed Schelley the sites one doesn't normally see in Vegas – the Springs Preserve, Red Rock Canyon, the vast expanse of housing that covers the valley. Aka, the non casino trip! We tried to get reservations to a local Thai food place that Schelley knew about, but since they don't answer the phone during non business hours, we did not get to go. Next time we will feast there. (We went there Easter weekend, and a feast it was! Too yummy for words!) Oh and I'd like to make note in my blog that Schelley has crowned me Best Hostess since I emailed her to ask her what she likes to eat for breakfast. It is a crown I wear proudly and if getting it was that easy, what other titles can I acquire??? Any title from Schelley is a total compliment!!!

Next up, Jess and Maddie! They flew in from San Antonio. We haven't seen them since June of last year, so it was so great to see them! I really miss Jess, we traded babysitting a lot and is just all around a super duper friend. Definitely one of those friends you hope to meet while your husband is in the service – always there for you! I am lucky to have made a few of those types of friends since we moved away from home. We had a full week – something every day. One day we ventured out to the Las Vegas Zoo, which is in a residential neighborhood across the street from a non strip casino and the big Cox Communications building. It has no parking lot, you park on the street and chickens come out to greet you. Let me say this 'zoo' (and I use that term lightly) had more chickens and bird poop than I can even describe. We could have taken a chicken or 10 home with us. We go up to pay and I have a coupon – they didn't honor it. Flat out said they don't honor that coupon. This was kind of surprising and startling. Not that I am cheap, but I mean honestly, it was from the Entertainment Book, I didn't make the coupon or anything like that. I think honoring coupons is just good business, but what do I know??? We get our tickets and go in. In Florida, we had a little zoo that we all kind of laughed at b/c it seemed pretty hokey. Well, the LV Zoo makes the Panama City Beach Zoo seem like the San Diego Zoo. It was that bad. And did I mention the chickens? There were a couple of lions, a chimp that watches TV and a whole mess of chickens!! That was the low of the week. We ventured out to the Mirage to see their dolphins and lions, tigers, jaguars, oh my! Of course, the Springs Preserve, b/c we take everyone there! And it wouldn't be a visit with Jess if we didn't get out and do some shoppin'. Jess and I also got semi-addicted to a new game on the Wii – Carnival Mini-Golf. It was hilarious, we played it for hours while the kids played, napped, went to bed, etc. Also while Jess was here, Rowan had some major milestones – taking first steps, eating his first popsicle and I think cutting his first tooth too. I think he was totally showing off for Jess – stinker!

And then Christine and Brielle came for a long weekend that seemed too short. I haven't seen C&B in a good 3 years and Brielle was a baby. So this visit was such fun getting to know Brielle and of course, catch up with Christine. It didn't feel like 3 years had gone by, I felt like I just saw her last weekend. An awesome feeling. Since they flew in around lunch, Adam stayed home to give Row a nap and I took R & R to pick them up and we did some sightseeing on the strip. I have to note seeing C & B at the airport – Brielle is like Christine's Mini-Me, except her hair is shorter than Christine's and bounces up and down, so she does have a resemblance to Side Show Bob. And I say that with love; even Christine says she looks like Side Show Bob and can't wait to tease Brielle about it when she's older. We had lunch at the Rain Forest café, walked down to the M&M store, watched the 3D movie and huffed it down to the Bellagio to watch the fountains. Rachel did not wear socks with her shoes and got huge blisters. Thankfully there was a CVS on the strip where I could pick up a round of water for the gang and band aids. The strip has it all. We also ventured out to the Valley of Fire, which is so beautiful. Even more so than Red Rock Canyon. We picnicked a bit; the kids climbed around on the rocks and played in red sand. The weather could not have been better. Let's see, then Monday we headed to the Springs Preserve – I know, we take everyone there! Something fun about the SP is that every time we go, we enjoy something different. My kids have been lots of times, so when we go with someone new, they always are interested in something different so we experience the SP in a new way. It is so big and has so much to do, it really does happen every time. Of all the people that have come to visit, Christine and my mother in law, Jamie, are the ones that I really looked forward to taking. I just knew they would appreciate it maybe more than I do.

Let me also add that Brielle is a riot. First, she is total tomboy and doesn't like to be called pretty, she's 'cool'. Not even pretty cool, just cool. She had cous cous for the first time and loved it. She called it Blues Clues, which was so funny. She told me she really liked Blues Clues at dinner. She really is a fun kid that gets it. You can joke with her and tease her and she just gets it, there's no other way to describe it. I really enjoyed getting to know her. Of course, being the tomboy she likes Russell and Adam more than me, but that's okay!! Sniff. Ha!

The visit with Christine was a great one. I look forward to future visits and hope that we can meet up down in So Cal for some play time too. Oh, and in reference to the title of this post. Since I have my hostess title, I emailed the ladies to ask what they like for breakfast and the kids' fave foods. If the kids aren't happy, then no one is. So, Christine emails back, do you have powdered sugar and syrup, in regards to eating waffles for breakfast. Do I have powdered sugar and syrup? I mean honestly, who do you think you are dealing with here? Do I have powdered sugar and syrup?