Wal-mart unattended

Last night so friends and I went to Wal-mart. I'm not an overly big fan of the place because of the lack of organization and check-out clerks. But it does stay open late and we needed a few things. I was a little more impressed with this Wal-mart. I know WM has been attempting to clean and organize the stores better and I applaud their efforts. The lines were still a bit long but not too bad. The lady behind us, though, needed some help that WM could not give her. It was obvious she was a grandmother watching her 3 or 4 year old grandson. She was buying him a bouncy ball. When I was kid, this was a treat. This child deserved no such treat. He did not listen to his maw-maw and definitely needed a good whippin'. And I will always remember this child's name because the lady said it about 20 times, attempting to get his attention. His ball bounced all around the check out line and even landed between a woman's legs. He became preoccupied with a few things and wondered off from his caregiver. She was getting her change back and he took off through the double doors into the lobby. I was not about to let this kid get run over. I followed him into the lobby and kept an eye on him until this woman made her way to him, a few minutes later. Seriously? And then, did she thank me or even reprimand the child? No. Simply, "C'mon (name),let's go home with your bouncy ball." If was that child, I would have been spanked, the ball would not have been purchased and the stranger would have been thanked for their service. She gets the award for the least inattentive woman of the evening!

Vegas, King, RC, SD and airplanes.

This past week Ginny and I took a trip to Las Vegas! No, we didn't get married. We met her parents and brother (Donnie, in case you were wondering) there. We had so much fun. Our original intent for the trip was just to go to California, where she is from. But we decided that a stop in Vegas to see Lion King would be a great way to kick off the trip.

We landed at the airport Tuesday night and her parents picked us up. The first thing we noticed was the dry, cool climate. It was wonderful! We left 95 degrees and 80% humidity and went to 70 degrees and about 0% humidity; so nice! I experienced In-N-Out for the first time.

It was pretty delicious. I was hungry, as I always am. It was about 1 am our time when we finally ate so it was a little weird eating that late. I really enjoyed the fries (animal style, of course) and the hamburger was way good too!

We stayed at the Southpoint hotel. It's fairly nice. It's at the south end of the strip and everyone kept saying it was a great location for the strip. The town didn't seem very busy to me so I wasn't too worried about where we stayed, in regards to the strip, but it was easy to where we got for the next part of our trip...Lion King.

I've always wanted to see this show, every since it came out! The show was showcased at the Mandalay Bay theatre. We all went and really enjoyed it. The costumes are awesome and most of the actors were really good. I didn't enjoy the older Simba as much as I'd hoped. He was the understudy but I still was hoping for more, even from an understudy. He just didn't capture it for me. Timon and Puba were awesome but I think my favorite character was Rafiki.

After the show, we walked the strip. I was kinda disappointed because we didn't get to see a ton of stuff because it was so late. We did get to see New York, New York and the Bellagio. NY, NY, has a dueling piano bar where two guys play piano and sing requests. That was way fun! Then we went to the Bellagio to try and catch the water show but they must have already stopped doing it by the time we got there. Sad. But they have a garden inside the hotel! It's got real flowers shaped into different creatures. VERY gorgeous! Then we walked back. We went through the Luxor which is an awesome looking hotel! I LOVE hotels. I would love to go on a vacation where I just go stay in different great hotels. I could stay in Las Vegas for a couple weeks, I'm sure!

The next day we left and headed for Rancho Cucamonga. We stayed with Ginny's aunt and uncle. RC is in a valley surrounded by grande mountains! I miss the mountains so much. And the weather was very pleasant as well. While in RC, we ate spaghetti at Vince's, got free hot dogs at the largest tent sale at Tai Pan, had a family bbq and got burned by one of Ginny's cousin. OH and I realized I do not like toddlers close to pools; I'm a nervous wreck! I did wake up in the morning one time, though, and had to go read outside at the pool. The lighting is a little bad in the picture, but you get the idea.

We also went to San Diego to visit the temple there and meet with a friend of mine for dinner. The temple is beautiful inside, of course. Sadly, the outside is under construction so I didn't really get to enjoy the grande splendor of the facade. It is still an amazing temple, though! Our dinner with Chase and Paula was fun. I haven't seen him in a few years and never met his wife until that night. They are adorable. We also went to the Mormon Battalion center. Ginny said it had been remodeled and looked a ton better. I thought the church did a superb job with the presentation. I also ran into a friend of a friend that is serving there. The church is so small! We drove back that night and I realized why California is known for their driving. HAHA!

My trip back to LA (Louisiana, not Los Angeles) was bitter-sweet. I was definitely glad to come back home but sad to leave Ginny, California AND not happy I had to ride 2 airplanes home. Ugh, recently I've developed a little flying phobia. I'm not sure why I have it. As a kid, I flew a lot! But now, I really do not like the ascent at all. And turbulence? Really? I honestly contemplating Dramamine. But I forged through it and enjoyed it as much as I could.

The trip was fun. I was able to meet a lot of Ginny's friends and family and we all had fun. There was a lot more that we did but I'll not bore everyone with details. I enjoyed California and would hope to go back one day.