12 Hours ...

Long story, about a very short trip to Vegas.  :)  Two weekends ago, Kyle picked up a last minute trip.  Within an hour or so, it went from him going by himself, to his dad going with him, to his parents volunteering to watch the kids overnight so I could go with him.  Believe it or not, I had never been.  It was a total whirlwind of packing, getting the kids & house ready, booking a hotel & figuring out what one wears for a night in Vegas, when pretty much all one has is a Mom wardrobe.  [I am quite certain I was the only one in jeans & not in a mini dress/skirt/shorts that ended at the top of the thighs.]

Anyway ... it was basically a date night, but in Vegas.  We got into Vegas at about 5pm.  Took a taxi to the hotel [Vdara], got dressed & hit the strip.  We ate an incredible dinner at Yellowtail.  Watched the fountains at the Bellagio.  Then called it a night, since we had to be up at 5:00am - when Kyle started work.

The next morning, we took a taxi back to the airport and went our separate ways for awhile.  Kyle was on the clock & I was just a hopeful standby passenger trying to get on his flight back to KC.  Long story short ... the overbooked flight had some no-shows, so I got a seat [thank goodness ... I was really sweating it, knowing this 12 hour trip was going to get a lot more complicated!]  I had already warned Kyle not to say anything on the PA system ... but I could tell I sort of burst his bubble.  So I said, "If you can't help yourself ... keep it a 1 on the embarrassing scale of 1-10."  He said "If I can't help myself ... I know I'll go straight for the 12."  So as he told us all to buckle up & enjoy the ride ... I braced myself.  Then there was a little "Love you, Pooky Bear".  That was the 12 he was talking about.   That's our joke pet name ... it's not real.  Yet it doesn't matter when there are 160 people that hear it, does it?  :)  There were some laughs, a few "WHAT?!?"s which cracked me up ... and 1 lady who thought it was endearing.  So, speaking of bursting bubbles, I had to assure her he was trying to embarrass me, not woo me.  :)

It was fun.  Again, it was just a date night ... but in another city, where we got to stay in a very swanky 53rd floor hotel room, and instead of driving me home, he flew me home.  It was totally spontaneous - thrown together just hours before we left ... yet at dinner, I realized the date.  12 years ago that night was when we met, in Columbia, MO. 11 years ago that night, we got engaged in Pensacola, FL.  Sort of a significant date ... but with all the busyness of our lives these days [3 kids, school starting, basement remodeling, etc.], we didn't realize what day it was, 'til we were in Las Vegas, NV.  Sort of cool.  :)