Vegas

• 1 late start
• 2 car alarms
  
• 1 scary car ride
• 1 stop for fries
  
• 1 aerobed
• 1 jack-and-jill bathroom without doorknobs
• 4 babies
• 3 sudden outbursts of unison singing
  
• 1 swimming pool
• 1 40-minute wait
• 1 table for 19
• 4 pizzas
  
• 2 buckets of chicken
• 6 boxes of leftovers
• 1 play room full of toys
• 5 miles of trail run-walking
  
• 1 bike
• 40 pieces of french toast
• 2 pints of home made syrup
• 1 hot tub
• 1 nap
• 1 walk to the park
• 1 phone call to 911
• 1 almost-missed dinner reservations
• 1 Santa Fe Chicken Tostada Salad
• 1 almost-missed show in the Wynn
• 90 minutes of beauty
• 40 minutes of "shopping"
• 1 much needed night's rest
• 1 blue berry muffin
• 1 throwing up fiance
• 1 puking soon-to-be-father-in-law
  
• 2 CTR cut-outs
  
• 20 minutes late to church
• 45 minutes of church
• 10 handfuls of chips and crackers
• 100 indexed names
• 120 Mega Blocks on my bed
• 3 times
  
• 1000s of laughs
  

Adventurous

I've lived through a series of movies the last four days. Remember the opening scene of Home Alone when the family is swimming in mass chaos as they try to get to the airport? That is my future in-laws. After waiting for a good hour and a half, The Boss arrived and sent everyone into a frenzy of car packing and last-minute to-dos. We were all packed tightly in the car when BrightBoy-who so tightly packed the car, turned off the toilets (I didn't even know it was possible to turn off a toilet), switched off lights and locked the doors-walked out the garage door and tried to get in the car. For some reason, when he pulled on the handle, the car alarm went off and it seemed like a perfect fit for the sitcom I just lived through.

The drive down was treacherous. I've never endured roads that bad, and I was fuming at the driver for a short period of time. Trying to seem optimistic, I smiled when MotherCheer looked back and asked how we were doing. In my head I wanted to answer, "I've seen my life pass before my eyes half a dozen times, but sure, everything is just peachy." Between the blizzard and the fog, all I really wanted to do was bury my head in my pillow and drift off to a sunny, safe dream land-where the carpets may be dirty, but at least they're dry and keep my feet warm, until the car pulled safely into the driveway in Las Vegas.

Two days ago at breakfast we were eating and suddenly the entire family broke out into song about one of the grandkids with customized lyrics and everything. This wasn't the last of the sing-a-longs. I felt like we were in Hairspray. Except I didn't know any of the lyrics.

Yesterday morning reminded me a bit of Meet the Parents, except I'm not the one creating commical episodes at every scene change. I'm just the one laughing at them. Just like in Dan in Real Life, we had a big family exercise morning (which made me wonder if the talent portion of the evening was coming up). Everyone geared up, and true to InLaw form, we got off late, but I didn't mind. I was sore from the run the day before, the ride over was through a beautiful landscape.

The Boss was stuck on coming even though he may have not been up for it. So rather than run with the rest of the troops, he got all geared up with helmet, spandex, biking shoes and all, and coasted along side the rest of us. That is, until we turned the corner and headed toward the mountain on a hiking trail. The road bike just doesn't do so well on rocks. And neither did his feet in those shoes. The OLDEST! told him that the bike could handle most of the trail which may have been the grossest over-statement in the history of the world. We ended up taking turns carrying the bike along the five-mile trail and wishing for a gurney to strap The Boss to inorder to get him out of there.


We all made it. Barely. But I couldn't stop laughing at the hysterical sight of us with The Boss propped on our shoulders and the bike getting caught on branches as we trudged through the muddy trails on our way back to the car.

Adventurous may be an understatement.