At the end of April we got ourselves a lovely visit from Jen!  We all love it when she comes to town.  I don't know how I got to be so lucky but still, after all these years, I am absolutely convinced that I hit the jackpot when I met my little, long blond-hair neighbor in kindergarten/first grade.  When we met, I was a scrawny, scabbed knee, crazy-haired, incomprehensible (at that point, I still had about 8 more years of speech therapy ahead of me) tomboy.  Jen was a year older, musically cultured (a violinist and already an ardent fan of david bowie) and stunning with her waist long hair and rocking rainbow tube-top.  But most of all, she was liquid sunshine with her easy laugh and kind nature.   And that has never changed.

Off we all went to see the Vegas adventures.  Now, since this will be our 4th year here, you will, no doubt, recognize all of the sites we visited.  There are some great things to see here in Vegas, however, not so many that we don't often repeat ourselves.  The good thing about that is that we happen to really like visiting them, so apart from being a little repetitive with the pictures, we enjoy ourselves every time.

So...Hoover Dam.  We got beautiful weather for this one.  Not too warm yet and not chilly.

We knew that Jen would love little ghost town, Nelson.  We ventured into a few of the corners that we hadn't seen before.  Like two awesome, rusty bathtubs just sitting there in the middle of the pathway.  Who doesn't need a picture like that?

Here is a very dramatic back-of-the-bus-pose.

It seemed as if Jen and Laina didn't even see that giant sign that said, "private property" when they headed over for a close up of the plane.   I chided at them after I got the shot.  :)

Rock hunting.

I also learned a thing or two about desert plant life.  This lovely cactus that we are standing by is called the 'jumping cholla. '  Apparently it will detach from the main plant from even the slightest touch of a hand.  (this makes it seem like it jumps onto an unsuspecting passerby)  It is full of very sharp spines and will immediately attach to your skin and then curve into a firm spiny gripe, making if very difficult to detach.  Really, a horrible, frightening plant.   

Also a very beautiful one.  (By the way, we are not as close to that sucker as we look.  We were very cautious about standing far enough away so that there would be no accidental touching)

We also hit the Bellagio for an afternoon.  (surprised?)  I can't help it.  I love how different the atrium looks every time.  It really is fantastic how they fill that space with such creative and beautiful plant designs.  The Japanese garden did not disappoint.  

We also saw a few oddities of the strip, like this toilet like exhibit.  The water would start to swirl until it flushed out of sight.

As usual, we loved our visit together and enjoyed catching up.  Sometimes I dream of living in San Francisco...until I think about the prices and traffic, of course.  

Boyscout Camp.

Now.  I really don't have any real information about this camp out.  I will let you in on the very few details I have.

This was a weekend trip.

This was with the Scout.

It was to some Falls (that is really a stretch of the imagination, as you will see.)

And some caves.

Robert and the boys really like to camp.

Yup.  That's it.  Here are the photos.  And the incredible informative descriptions that Robert gave me when I went through them.

Here are the Falls.  Rob doesn't remember the name, so I will do the honors.  Let's call it "The Big Dribble."  Because seriously...you gonna call that sorry little spout of water a Fall?

Here is a close up from under the Falls.  Drip.  Drip.  Drip.

Rob says, "It was very cold.  See the ice?"  Yes.  Yes, we do.

Rob says, "The boys hiked up to these caves."  I added, "Oohh.  Was it called Skull Rock?"  He said, "Huh.  Sure."  We have really exciting conversations these days.

Close up of the boys.

Here are some pictures from inside of Skull Mountain.  I thought these were nicely done.  Rob said.  "Oh.  Thanks."  Riveting.

Austin by a couple of trees.

A random mountain somewhere in Nevada.

There you have it.  Boy Scout camping is super cool and memorable.  They'll be talking about this one for years to come, I can just feel it!

We did our Easter hunt in three different phases this year.  We used the same eggs but reused them for the big kids, Jason and finally for little Emmett.  Ethan, Austin and Laina hid the eggs for the little boys.  It is fun to watch them enjoy both parts of Easter this year.  The challenge of the hunt (we were tough!) and the joy watching their little brothers light up every time they found an egg.  Those big kids are on the cusp of leaving behind all of these childhood games, but I'm glad to see that they aren't too cool for them yet.  I'll be so sad when they decide to be indifferent, 'whatever' teenagers.   Since the time is a-comin', I decided to flood this post with five million pictures.  You're welcome.

Ethan hardly kept still long enough for me to even get one picture of him!

There y'all are.  (Did you make it this far?)   I got my proof that my big kids are still kids.  For now.