Hi Everybody! Thanks for the warm wishes! Trip . . .

Hi friends! I want to thank you sooo much for the thoughts and wishes last week for our family and the loss of my father-in-law. You are so sweet and I really appreciate the support of this little community. We got through the week and everything was very lovely. Our 19 year old son who is a trumpeter had the honor of playing Taps for his own grandfather, who was a WWII veteran. A very poignant moment . . .

The last couple of days, we have been out of town in honor of my husband's retirement. He is a long time educator in both the public schools and on the university level. Yep, for the first time, I will be the only one getting up to the alarm when school starts in the fall . . . trudging to work uphill both ways in the dark and cold  . . .

Anyway, back to the trip. We went to Las Vegas for a couple of days, which is about 2 and 1/2 hours drive from our house. We go every once in a while to shop, eat buffets and have a change of scenery. Yes, you read that correctly, unlike other people who go to Vegas, we really do go to shop! We have Dillards, Walmart, Costco, Kohls, JC Penney, Bed, Bath and Beyond etc in our area but if we want more variety than that we either go 2 1/2 hours south to Vegas or 3 hours north to Provo.

Well, I surprised my husband with where we stayed in honor of his retirement. We stayed at "The Cosmopolitan" and it was beautiful. We had a balcony and an amazing view of the Bellagio Fountains.

Here are a few pictures, but they will not do it justice. . .the property and suites are beautiful.

But wait, here was the most exciting part . . .The. Parking. Garage. I am so serious . . .we loved it. First of all, there are digital signs that tell how many open parking places are available on each level . . .no more driving around and around looking for a non-existent parking spot. 

Wait, there's more . . .all of the individual parking spots have a light over them (green-available, red-taken, blue-handicapped) so that you know exactly where you can park as you look down each row!!! (Sorry for the poor picture)

We decided that it was completely worth the price we paid for this outstanding hotel just to see the parking garage . . .I know, I know, we are goofballs!

Well, that's it for now. I've got some school stuff I will start blogging about soon, as we start to get re-organized here at home. I hope you have a nice evening!