Rich's 40th Birthday!

This weekend we celebrated Rich's 40th birthday...Vegas style! Not only was it Rich's birthday, it was the return of the Yee-Marini annual Vegas extravaganzas! It has been a couple of years since the last Yee-Marini annual trip...simply because neither family wanted to have any more kids. What?? What...Why??? Well, let me explain, the past four Yee-Marini trips either Cindy or myself had been pregnant (unknowing to us). So, instead of tempting fate...we took an extended vacation from each other and our annual trips to insure the Yee and Marini families were done expanding. We are so glad we looked into this thing called birth control...because we missed each other something crazy.

When we finally met up with the Yee's on Saturday...it was like star-crossed lovers. We were so happy to be there and to be together in Vegas again! Rich's birthday was the perfect answer to an excuse meet up again. In honor of Rich's birthday, the loving-thoughtful-wife that I am...I spent the first night in sin city with another man. Saturday night was part two of my Bon Jovi Mania and Cindy and I rocked, danced and sang our little hearts out. Before the show we went to this fabulous restaurant, Shibuya (as food and restaurants are always the main focus of our trips), in MGM and sampled some food that I NEVER sample. I swear it is Steve's focus to get me to eat things and try things that I would not look twice at...and he succeeded. I tried Yellow Tail Sashimi and I am still alive. I don't think I would ever order it...but YEAH ME!!!! Everything was delicious. Rich and I commented later that one of the best things about traveling with Steve and Cindy is that we eat places and try things that by ourselves, we would never dream of. They are a good culinary influence on us.

On Sunday we headed to the shops. There is this new shopping center in Vegas that is really cool. Our main reason for going was that they have a Tommy Bahamas Restaurant there and we thought we had to try it. Every time I walk into a Tommy Bahamas I think of Steve, so it was only fitting that the four of us dine there for lunch.

These pictures were taken right before lunch outside the restaurant.






Here is what we ordered...

The sampler pyramid.

Coconut Shrimp


Crab Cakes


And Ahi Tuna...and I tried it. YEAH ME AGAIN!!!!


Rich's Ruben Sandwich


My Crab Bisque soup


Cindy's Steak Salad


Steve's Huevos Rancheros


Us fooling around and being silly.

Lovely Cindy.


I know you are probably thinking...Why in the world did they take pictures of the food. Because it's what we do. We have been doing it for years and it would be silly to stop now. I don't eat raw stuff, so it was a pretty big deal (for me) to try the tuna. And guess what...it wasn't bad. And, again, I am STILL alive.

That night we ate at the Aria buffet. Steve and Cindy stayed at Aria...it is the newest grand casino/hotel in Vegas and so it was determined within the first minutes of the trip that we had a mandatory obligation to test out the buffet. Shocked?? In keeping with the food pictures, we decided that we would create our plates during dinner in the best presentation possible for a buffet.

Here are some of our attempts.





As you can see three of us took the challenge seriously...Rich was just hungry.


Us at dinner...



On a walk through the shops at Aria.



Here is the inside decoration at our hotel for the Chinese New Year...Year of the tiger. (No, not that Tiger...however it does seem like he has been in the news A LOT this year)



Here we are on the last day..sad to be leaving, but so glad we were able to have this weekend together.




I think Rich had a great birthday weekend. He was in his favorite place, with some of his favorite people, doing his favorite things....eating and gambling. Happy Birthday Lover!

The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls (from top left, Lynn--aka Dorothy, Kelly--aka Sophia, Kristin--aka Blanche, and Me--aka Rose)


We escaped this weekend for Sophia's (Kelly's) 30th birthday. This weekend has been planned for months and a little snow wasn't going to keep us from going. As we drove up Friday night, peeling out of the parking lot at school and our neighborhoods, we couldn't get to our humble abode fast enough. Our colleague Claire let us rent her fabulous cabin for the weekend and it was the perfect setting for our little get together.


The cabin was fabulous! Did you hear us screaming, laughing, cheering when we got there and turned on the lights? It was perfect. We texted Claire when we first got there and told her that we simply were not leaving. Within the first twenty minutes, drinks in hand, we were planning on when to bring our families back with us. We have been known to share every once in a while and we figured this might be one of the times we could play nice.


The Meals--I thought I would document the health portion of the weekend. You would think that just because one of us is a veegan--due to her health--that our menu this weekend would have been considerate of that. I am here to tell you...not so much. She was on her own. We planned each of us to take a meal to prepare and that way we didn't have to leave the kitchen/couch area of the cabin to go out to eat. Within the first thirty minutes of being there I was already busy making my breakfast casserole for the next two mornings. Drink in hand, ingredients added, breakfast was done.


Other goodies...



The Drinks--Dorothy (Lynn) let out a scream during one of the more white knuckle moments of our drive. When we yelled...WHAT??? WHAT IS IT???? She screamed that she forgot the Jungle Juice. Now, I understand the scream/panic, because I was going to pretty much have my glass full of it the entire weekend, however our driver did not share in her rage. We learned quickly that Blanche (Kristin) does not appreciate a blood curling scream out of nowhere during a snowstorm. Who could blame her! Anyways, when we got the the cabin, a grocery list already being made for the morning, we were greeted AGAIN with Dorothy's bust your ear drum screech....she had brought the Jungle Juice. All was well in the land of the drunk girls for the weekend. This is the Jungle Juice.....


The Plan--The plan for the weekend....simple--nothing. We had no plans. We each picked our spots on the couches, cranked up the fireplace, and chatted. And chatted. And then chatted some more. I had bought three books for the weekend, a little anxious I would get through each of them and not have anything to read...however, I made it to page 15 of the first book. This admission is shocking to most of you, and not lost on me. I could not believe I came back with three unread books. Did I mention that we just sat and chatted???

Before the trek...


That was us. Clueless to the trek before us. As we left cabin at noon, little did we know that by 2:00pm, we would only be at the Raley's four miles from the cabin. Say it with me...ROOKIES!!! As the drive was long, all of us just kept reminding ourselves how lucky we were that no children under the age of seven were in the car with us. No crying, no whining, and no potty breaks to deal with. We passed the time...you guessed it, chatting. Occasionally the birthday girl would SCREAM at the top of her lungs, "I can't believe we are still in F%#@ing TAHOE!" We would just remind her that we were in no hurry to get home and it was okay. This from the girl who was praying we would be snowed in.

Speaking of snow. It snowed. And snowed. AND SNOWED. On Saturday at 12:00PM, I was thinking, "Oh, how pretty...it's snowing." By 10:00PM that night, I was saying, "Oh shit, it's still snowing." We had all joked about leaving lesson plans in case, gosh darn it, we got snowed in. But, in all seriousness, we needed to get back. So, for ten hours straight we watched a little winter wonderland surround us. The next morning we saw that it was probably okay, not too much that it would have stopped our trip back. Five and a half hours later, we were home.

Here is a picture of our view on the drive home.


Thanks for a fabulous weekend ladies. Happy Birthday Sophia!!!

The Way We Were

Four girls and a baby! That was us, walking through Chico last week, reminiscing of the days we were husbandless (a new word) and childless. I only spent one year of college there, the other three....a few more. I moved back for this boy...which I guess is okay because I married him, it all worked out. However, that year of independence is not lost on this girl. Looking back that was one of the best years of my life and I have these three girls to thank for it. So, to Emilie, Jenny, and Melissa...let's "tea" off.

When we got to town, the first stop we made was to the Bear. A fine local establishment that on occasion serves beverages to those who need to quench their thirst. I am not going to lie...on Monday, that was the very first time I have ever walked into that bar and ordered a water. The bartender looked at me, smiled, and then said, "Do you want a lemon with that?" Clearly, he was trying to spruce up my drink at 12:05pm as much as he could.

The Bear!


Catching up over lunch.


After lunch we walked over to the BMU, aka the bookstore. It is now ten times nicer than it was when I was there. Funny, I miss the smelly old room that was located in the basement. Now there was an entire section dedicated to Apple and a Clinique counter. Seriously?


We strolled through campus, checking out all the old buildings that I once dreaded walking into on a daily basis. We talked about old classes, old teachers, old everything. What I find interesting is that I really could feel heart palpitations coming on as I remembered being a student. I never want to walk into a classroom again to take notes. I never want to listen to a professor give a lecture. I never want to lock myself into a room for hours on end studying for finals, and yet I teach for a living. I lecture every day. I have my students take notes everyday. And, they have study guides for exams every couple of weeks. I am who I hated. Oh well...that's life. They will deal, I did.

Emilie and Andersen walking through campus

Another shot of the campus


As we walked downtown, pushing sweet Andersen in his stroller, we pass students enjoying their day off. I turned to Emilie and said, "I would absolutely hate living here while raising a family. These kids are everywhere." When did I turn into the grouchy old lady who lives in the weird house at the of the block?? I am thirty-three years old for crying out loud and I couldn't handle the girl standing in the middle of the side walk, oblivious to those having to out of their way to walk around her, twirling her hair through her fingers, while talking on her cell phone. THE NERVE!!!!!

A Chico visit would have not been complete until we went to Panama's. It's a bar. Yes, a bar....a very good, cheap bar. And on that day, A CLOSED BAR!!! It really probably looked pathetic, four grown women standing outside, looking through the glass yelling, "WHAT??? What do you mean it closed??? How are we going to order a drink???" Maybe it was for the best. I am not sure how we would have pulled off buying a tea, getting four straws, and sipping slowly all while taking care of Andersen.

Can you hear us saying, "OPEN, OPEN, OPEN!!"


After shopping around downtown we stopped in at Jon and Bon's for some yogurt. It was another place we could not leave town without stopping in.


Before we left town, we drove around the area where we used to live. The year I was there we lived in a place called University Village. It was an apartment that had four separate rooms and a shared kitchen. We each had a shelf in the fridge, a shelf in the pantry area, a cupboard, and a drawer....so typical of college life, but at the same time something that was completely different from at home. It was great. Thanks ladies for an amazing year!
UV...


Melissa and Jenny

Super Bowl XLIV

First of all, if I may put my two cents in on the commentary for the day...

Somebody needs to explain this to me. How is it possible for several dozen grown men to sit around for hours on end talking about a football game. Grown men bring out other grown men to relive the experience of playing a game of football. They get all excited, wear their oversized super bowl rings, and reminisce about the greatest day of their lives. I don't get it. Here's why...

1. Most of them are married, with children, so the "most important" day of their life should have been either their wedding day or the birth of child A, B, C, D, or E. (Depending on who it is)

2. The super bowl is the championship of the NFL. Which means that pretty much everyone playing the game, was born in the USA. Now, this weekend is the opening ceremonies for the Olympics...you remember them, it's where thousands of athletes go up against each other, all from different countries, competing for the title BEST IN THE WORLD! Kind of on a different scale...

3. The ultimate pat on the back. Back to the grown men who brought out the other grown men to "Tell us about the day you played. What is going on in the players mind? What was going on in your mind that day? How did you deal with playing on the biggest stage in all professional sports? What advice would you give to the players in the locker room waiting right now to come out and play the biggest game of their life?"

Cancer has not been cured. World peace has not been accomplished. And yes, another super bowl game is on the books.

On to the pictures....

Uncle Gee (Kelvin), invited us over for some super bowl fun. We had so much fun and the kids had a blast playing together. It was also fun for the adults to catch up on some much needed gab time.

The spread....


Steve sporting his Dallas shirt...so sad.


Matthew and Timothy


Little Lauren...I ache at how old she looks.


The host...he is a trooper.


The boys planning another guys trip to Vegas.


Ryan scaring Timothy with the dinosaur. Despite the picture, they played well together.


Matthew playing with Gee's remote control car (the replica is the garage).


Ryan attempting to hula hoop.


Who's got more comp??? What casino? Where are we going? Who's paying?


Did someone say cake???


Happy Birthday Mel!!!!


Mommy and Ryan. Again, the love he show knows no boundaries....


Partners in crime...Ryan and Uncle Steve.