Re-cap. Or something.

I haven't moved from this comfy chair since we got back from Michigan on Monday afternoon. Lie. I have moved, but I haven't accomplished anything important, so I may as well have stayed here. I am still recovering from the vacation. And by vacation, I don't mean fun-fun-fun!- I mean Fun-YIKES-CRASH! Families are tiring. You know why? 'Cause both Davin and I come from crazy families. Yes, it's true. Joe and Sandy's family: CRAZY. Wes and Cheryl's family: CRAZY. So.many.people. This girl can't handle the chaos. Not true. I can because I did. But still, you know what I mean. And if you're thinking I didn't I have fun, you're wrong. As it turns out, you can be completely stressed out and still manage to enjoy yourself. Who woulda thunk? We were on the lake every day. I think we hit every beach in the Keewanaw. We saw lots of family- so.many.people. We ate Ambassador pizza- YUM. I ate Mackinaw Island icecream and didn't get sick. (I've since tried 60 varieties of icecream since we've been home and it seems I am cured- uh oh!) But the highlight of the trip....oh, the highlight!!!! ROFL....hold on....LOL....it's a funny story....LMAO....okay, -deep breath-. On our last night there we went to Sedar Bay to visit Grandpa and Grandma. (That's not the funny part...although they are entertainment alone). Grandpa had lit the sauna, so we had to sauna-swim, right? Well, Dan and Lynne were there also so we headed down together. The waves were big. And I mean BIG. So we had to ride them. That's the funny part. Well, not that we rode the waves, but being in the waves, and screaming, and then watching Dan and Davin try do tricks in the wave. ....okay, so you had to be there. Whatever. But you know that laugh, when you every bit of tension is released (so.many.people) and nothing is holding you back- you laugh and feel so light??? It was wonderful. It was the perfect end to a fun, chaos-but-laughter-filled weekend.

And I got pictures to boot:

And if you want to see the less-funny-just-cute pictures, click here.

Going to the Goob, Goob, Goob!

How about you, you, you???

Have a good weekend everyone!!!

~I got sick every day from the sun and heat.
~Other than that is was perfect. :)

Ventura Beach, CA???

Anyone been? I booked a vacation for us to go in April- I'm really excited about the beach but am still looking for opinions. Wonder if it would have been smart of me to book a flight too? Oh well. Another day.

WARNING: Babbling about Vegas!

Vegas is not typically the place to go to relax. Far from it, in fact. There are lights, noise, and endless action. But if you want to escape from reality and turn your brain off, so to speak, it may be the perfect destination. And, if you stay at a luxury hotel, you can even fit in some of that ultimate relaxation when you need it. My destination: The Bellagio. Aaaah. The place is unbelievable! Talk about guest luxury! Even as the lowest ranked guest (me), I still felt like I was living like a millionaire. Although, when I think about it, I am sure millionaires only stay in full suites with a bowling alley or a basketball court. Or is that just celebrities? Either way, that's over-kill. But cool. Really cool... Back to my low-level status at The Bellagio. Here are some points worth mentioning. Most I hadn't experienced or seen before, some I have, but either way, it pretty crazy:

*I was always greeted as Ms. Kangas, whether it was at the front desk, calling house keeping, or passing the elevator guard.

*Yes, there was a man at the elevator lobby to make sure only guest used the room elevators.

*There were many sets of elevators. The set for my floor included six elevators for 11 floors. Do the math- I never had to wait for more than a few seconds.

*The drapes were electronically controlled. How lazy is that? You just lay in bed and open or shut the drapes.

*A HUGE soaking tub, and a walk in shower that could fit five people. If you really wanted it to...

*The bathroom alone was as big as my bedroom at home.

*The fully stocked mini bar. Oh, funny story. I was nosing through the mini bar, picking stuff up and looking at them and putting them back. I was putting back a first aid kit (I think $12 for a couple bandaids, 1 ibuprofen, 2 aspirin, and alcohol wipes), when I felt a click. Turns out the entire mini bar is on a sensor, and any time you take something out your room is automatically charged. Oops. I called the front desk (answered, Good afternoon, Ms. Kangas. How may I help you?), and they cancelled all the charges I accidentally made. I roughly totalled it up- well over $100 it would have cost me for the few items I looked at. Again, oops.

*Nightly turn down service. Sweet. Nothing like coming back to your room to have it all cleaned (and I thought I had kept it clean!), you bed turned down, relaxing music playing, and a mint on your pillow. Now that's what I'm talking about!

I'm sure there is more I'm forgetting right now...

The botanical gardens were, as always, amazing. I have this one picture. Either you will find it cool, or, like me, you will find it disturbing. While making your decision, keep in mind that the dude's eyes moved and blinked. And his eyebrows moved up and down. Eew! Oh, and there were TWO of them.

What else is there to tell??? Other than losing money, of course. The first day I sat in the sun by the pool. LOVED that! I did a lot of shopping at Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood. And by shopping I mean looking at stuff and wishing I hadn't wasted my money in the casino. :P Oh, the second day I sat in with a focus group. We watched a potentially new (never gonna make it!) television show. About a deep sea fishing competition. SO much fun! :P Then the other ladies and I got to talk about how incredibly boring it was, and say that we would never watch it. Except one girl said she might because one of the guys was cute- but only if he took his shirt off. After about 90 minutes of being there I walked out with a $85 check- YAY! That was my way of redeeming my casino loss. :) By last night I was Vegas-ed out so I took a bath and watched TV and went to bed at 9:00. Nine o'clock in Vegas- just when people are getting ready to hit the town. Hey, I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. Plus, a girl can only take so much Vegas.

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Now I am sitting in Salt Lake City on a three hour layer over. I know I've been really babbly, but I haven't been on here since Saturday- that's a LONG time for me. I could have gotten on at the hotel, but they charged $13 for the Ethernet cord. Ha!

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Okay, you can wake up now. I'm done. :D

Escape from reality

Recently, Davin and I suffered a rough set-back in the adoption process- long story short, we were going to have a baby boy 3 weeks from now, and after 7 weeks of working with the birth mother and father, they decided they wanted to raise the baby. I won't go into that here, but after about a week, we needed an escape from reality, so we headed to our own heaven on earth, the north shore. We have always stayed in Two Harbors, but this time we stayed on the canal. We walked around the canal, did some shopping (even got a Christmas gift for Davin's parents!), and watched ships come and go. I haven't done that since our parents brought us as kids! It was an amazing get-away!

We wanted to watch a ship come through at night, so we parked ourselves out on the pier fifteen minutes before it was due to leave. We didn't factor in that after pushing off, the ship still had to maneuver its gigantic a** through the port in order to get out onto Lake Superior. So we waited two hours. And it was COLD. The freezing wind affected our brains a tad, and we started getting loopy. First, I looked at the lighthouse and said "Hey, I didn't know lighthouses had addresses!"

Then we read this sign that said those who vandalized the lighthouse would be fined $2500. Half of the money would be given as a reward to the person who had information on who dunnit. So...we thought, "Hey, one of us should vandalize the lighthouse and then we can collect the reward money." Never mind the fact we would be fined double what we would receive. Or that we would NEVER vandalize. ...hey, this was funny at the time.

In the end, we were able to put aside the grief we had been feeling, and just act stupid, and think we were SO funny. Plus, waiting for that ship was worth the wait!!!

The next day we took a drive. It was a bit past peak season, but beautiful none-the-less. I couldn't believe I had never been to Enger Tower or 7 Bridges Road! We will definitely make it a tradition to hit them up every time we head north.