Las Vegas 2009

Another year and another family trip to Vegas. This year we went with Paul's family to celebrate his father's 80th birthday - Happy Birthday Tom!

Not only was it Paul's father's birthday but it was his parents' 51st wedding anniversary too though none of us remembered that at the dinner.

Much of our time in Vegas was spent at the pools at the Flamingo and I took no pictures of that this year but here are some photos from the other things we did this year.

The first night we were in Vegas, Paul's oldest sister babysat for all of the kids while the parents went out to dinner. Before we went to dinner, we all gathered in one of the hotel rooms while the kids got ready for their Bingo Party with Aunt Mary.

Emily wanted to ride the roller coaster at New York, New York so she and I walked down the strip one afternoon and took some photos and visited M&M World.

At the dinner, electronic gadgets were the big attraction for all of the younger generation!

Paul & I had wanted to see The Beatles™ LOVE™ by Cirque du Soleil® at The Mirage for years and we finally made it on this trip. What an AMAZING show!! I'd love to see it again. There is so much going on that there's not way to take it all in going one time. We think the girls would really enjoy it too.

Photo by: pengrin

As always, we went to Circus, Circus and spent some time in the Adventuredome. This has become somewhat of a tradition when we go to Vegas though after we're there for awhile we always ask ourselves why? They really need to provide more places for parents to sit since we are always waiting while the kids are on a ride. It's an exhausting day but the kids seemed to have fun though we adults think that this may just be a tradition that has run it's course.

And, here's some video clips taken & compiled by Emily:

I don't know when we'll be doing this again since there's no major event coming up next year that will get Paul's whole family to Vegas. One thing I didn't do in Las Vegas was to go to the Donny & Marie show at the Flamingo and we were even staying at that hotel! Bad, bad fan - okay, not really since their show was dark except for the first night that we were there so there really wasn't a time that I could go or I'm sure that I would have.

I Can't Believe It's July Already!!

And, this is the first post I've made this year - YIKES!! No excuses really other than I just haven't made the time to do it. I'm not going to try to catch up on everything that's been going on in our lives this year in detail but here's the condensed version:

• Paul continues to work at a job that lets him play with remote control airplanes. Pretty cool - our nephew thinks so and recently told someone that he might do what Uncle Paul does when he grows up. Brewing (and drinking) beer is still one of Paul's passions.
• I enjoyed my first year of teaching computers at Hannah's school but it definitely consumed a lot of my time ... and still is. Lucky for me that I love computers! I'm still taking a lot of pictures for the school and the ballet school and some just for me.
• Emily finished her sophomore year of high school and this year was in the spring musical at the school. She still loves to sing. This summer she plans to get her permit - MAJOR YIKES!
• Hannah finished her first year of middle school and seems to have adjusted well. She continues to love ballet and other types of dance and takes multiple lessons a week. In addition, Hannah is taking guitar lessons and will attend DayJams again this summer playing guitar in a band.

Paul & I recently celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary which seems like nothing compared to his parents. This past week we, along with all of Paul's brothers & sisters and their families and other relatives and friends, went to Vegas to celebrate Paul's parents' 50th wedding anniversary!! I can't imagine 50 years ... man I'll be old when we get there. HA! We spent a lot of time at the pool at the Flamingo with the kids, went to the indoor amusement park at Circus Circus one day with all the kids, shared a wonderful evening in celebration of Tom & Lillian's 50th and went to see Mamma Mia - oh and some people gambled a little but I didn't. Here are a few pictures from our adventures in Vegas:

Cousins in the pool at the Flamingo

That's Emily & Hannah on the roller coaster at Circus Circus!

Hannah getting ready for the party

Emily spent much of the weekend with her younger cousins attached to her somehow!

Cousins at the party

Another generation of cousins at the party!

Happy 50th Anniversary to Paul's Parents!!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Wow it's been a busy summer just with the girls' music & dance lessons, camps & celebrity events (not to mention their required reading for the new school year) but I did manage to take a few short trips myself this summer.

Original Idols Live!
In June, a friend and I went up to Pleasanton, CA to see The Original Idols Live! at the Alameda Country Fair. Why would I drive for hours to see this you ask? Well, one of the acts on the Original Idols bill is The Cowsills and I've wanted to see this show since they started doing it and this one just worked out.

Barry Williams is the MC for the show and introduces each act. He starts out the show doing a parody about The Real Greg Brady. It's very funny. During casino shows Barry also does Johnny Bravo stuff but there isn't time during the fair shows.

The first act on the bill is Bo Donaldson. Bo is very nice but just isn't the "rock star" type at all and he's just in the background on keyboards and doesn't sing at all. The Heywoods aren't any of the original Heywoods and they guy that sings lead is an okay singer but not super impressive. Really they're the "house band" for the other acts more than anything.

The Cowsills are 2nd on the bill and they do a great job - we saw quite a few people giving them a standing ovation at the end and from the emails I've gotten there were some people there to see one of the other acts who now LOVE The Cowsills. The first show was short - it absolutely had to be an hour long and no more - so The Cowsills only did 3 songs: The Rain, The Park & Other Things, Indian Lake & Hair. The 2nd show had 4 Cowsill songs - the 3 from the first show plus We Can Fly.

In the first show after The Cowsills Barry Williams & Susan did a duet on a BeeGee's tune. I really like this and Susan sounded great - she is so cute and she loves to tease Barry! At the end of the number she says "OMG I'm singing with Greg Brady". lol In the 2nd show Barry did a solo number - very musical theater.

Next up was Leif Garrett. Leif did a decent job though seemed to somewhat lose his place during one song. He definitely had fans there. I really liked his original number and he invites fans up to dance during I Was Made For Dancing. The first show there were way too many people on stage so during the 2nd show they cut off the number of people they let on stage. Susan came out and danced with Leif in the 2nd show. I tried to get a picture but she was right behind a mic stand.

The Bay City Rollers close the show and they definitely still have fans out there. They were fun and I especially like Saturday Night since The Cowsills come back out and join them. The Cowsills have a lot of fun on this number with Paul dancing across the stage and Bob playing cowbell.

This was very fun and I'd love to see the casino version someday since it's a longer show. If you'd like to see more photos from this trip, you can see them at Original Idols Live!: Pleasanton, CA - June 22, 2007 6pm & Original Idols Live!: Pleasanton, CA - June 22, 2007 8pm

Catalina
At the end of July, Paul & I took a weekend trip to Catalina. I had never been and Paul hadn't been to Avalon in more than 20 years. We spent the weekend sight-seeing (don't bother doing a night glass bottom boat tour) and hiking (okay I will admit that I only made it 1/2 way on one of our hikes - note to self get in shape!) and just hanging out in Avalon. It was a very relaxing weekend and we plan to go back sometime and do some things we just saw and didn't have time to do this time around. I didn't take any pictures until just before we got ready to head back to the mainland but here are a few of Avalon Harbor:

Osmonds 50th Anniversary
I have been an Osmond fan since the early 1970s and have made some really good friends as a result. When The Osmonds announced that they were having an event to celebrate their 50th Anniversary in show business I knew I had to be there. Having seen The Cowsills lose two brothers, I realized that this could be the last opportunity to see all of The Osmonds on stage together plus I knew that I would get to spend some time with friends I hadn't seen in person in quite awhile. So, last Sunday, a friend and I headed over to Las Vegas and The Orleans hotel for this event.

The action started on Monday with a Meet & Greet at 1pm. Okay I wouldn't have called this a meet & greet since there wasn't really any meeting & greeting happening. It was, as dubbed by some Osmond fans, more a Sit & Stare. All 9 Omsonds were on stage at the Orleans showroom doing a question & answer session, singing a few songs, doing a few promo bits, etc. My friends and I sat near the back because we refused to join the insanity in trying to get a good seat. The lines were ridiculous; people started lining up as early as 7am and even before the doors opened people were pushing. We sat on the stairs near the showroom and just watched and took a few pictures. The photo below does not do justice to the size of the crowd - there were lines going both directions and they were really long.

Even though we were in the 2nd to last row and a little off to the side we could see fine since there are only 20 rows in the showroom. I did take photos during the Meet & Greet and here are a few. You can see all of my Meet & Greet photos at Osmonds 50th Anniversary: M&G.

On Monday night was the first of three concerts. It was amazing to see all of The Osmonds on stage together again. I really enjoyed the show but felt Marie's section could have been shortened or maybe just changed up a bit for each show. I was happy to see that Alan was playing the piano and even performing without his cane some of the time. Here's the set list from that show - thanks to an Osmond fan who wrote it down and posted it:

• Down By The Lazy River
• Havin' A Party
  (Andy Williams came out after this to wish the Osmonds his best)
• The Proud One
• At the Rainbow's End
• I Can't Live a Dream
• Rainin'
• Rock & Roll Music (with a Jay drum solo)
• I'm Still Gonna Need You
• Going Home
• Marie:
  
  • My Favorite Things
  • Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
  • Paper Roses
  • Medley of:
    
  • You're Still New To Me
  • Read My Lips
  • Meet Me In Montana
  • No Stopping Your Heart
  • King & I Medley
  • Sound of Music Medley
• Donny
• Soldier of Love
• Breeze On By
• Will It Go Round In Circles
• Puppy Love
• Donny & Marie Medley
  
  • Morning Side of the Mountain
  • Make The World Go Away
  • I'm Leaving It Up To You
  • Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing
  • Deep Purple
  • It Takes Two
  • I'm a Little Bit Country/Rock and Roll
• Through The Years (All 7 Osmonds with Alan on piano)
• Medley
  
  • One Bad Apple
  • Double Lovin'
  • Yo-Yo
  • Let Me In
  • Love Me For A Reason
• Crazy Horses
• He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
• Are You Up There/I Believe

After the show on Monday night was another free for all aka the after show party/reception. Other than Osmond kids the only Osmonds that came to this were Merrill, Jay & Jimmy and they were literally mobbed the minute they stepped into the room. I didn't even try to get close to them or to the area at the front where they were cutting the cake. The cake was good though.

Tuesday brought Jay's Film Fest or as it was dubbed by Jimmy Jay's Snooze Fest. We wandered up but really didn't watch much of this. It was hosted by Jay's wife, Kandilyn, and it was fun to see her since I hadn't seen her for years.

Tuesday night there were two shows but we only went to the last one. At the show on Monday night most everyone stayed in their seats - standing once in awhile to applaud, etc. but not rushing the stage or anything. We had heard that there was a stage rush during the first show on Tuesday night so it was no great surprise when it happened again at the show we went to. We were in the 5th row on the side and could still see as long as the people right in front of us didn't stand but I felt sorry for those who had gotten the front few rows of seats in the middle sections because they couldn't see unless they stood for the entire show. I had one friend who can't stand for that long and she ended up getting her money back since there was no way she could have seen anything. The good part of this for her was the Orleans people then found her another seat right in the midst of the Osmond families - so she got to see the rest of the show and she got to hang out with the Osmond family. The set list for the last show was similar to the first show with the following exceptions:

• Marie's son, Stephen Craig, sang 100 Days/100 Nights with Merrill, Wayne, Jay & Jimmy
  
• Donny didn't sing Puppy Love
• Jimmy did a medley of some of his old songs
• Knock On Your Door
• Tweedle Dee
• Long Haired Lover From Liverpool
• The Osmond Brothers medley was mostly covers of 70s tunes rather than their own:
• Yesterday
• September
• Take a Chance On Me
• Crocodile Rock
• That's The Way (I Like It)
• Superstition
• Too Much Heaven
• Tragedy
• ABC
• I Want You Back
• One Bad Apple
  
• The finale did not include Are You Up There/I Believe

By the third show the Orleans staff was no longer attempting to keep people from taking pictures so I pulled my camera out during this show. Here are a few of the photos I got:

Jay, Merrill, Wayne & Jimmy Osmond

Marie's son, Stephen Craig

Marie doing King & I Medley

Donny Osmond

Singing Through The Years

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

You can see all of my 3rd show photos at Osmonds 50th Anniversary: 3rd Show.

And, oh yeah, I did say how I spent my summer vacation - that's because not only are the girls going back to school soon so am I! I'm going to be teaching computers at Hannah's school this year.

Reconnecting with Family

It's been a long time since we got together with my family. We're spread out all over the U.S. and just haven't had the chance to spend time together in the last few years. Last weekend we all gathered in Tucson for a mini family reunion where we had fun reconnecting and in some cases meeting new members of the family.

Here's a little of what we had fun doing:

Hanging out in a park

Going to the zoo

For Emily, singing at dinner

And for Hannah, getting wet!