Friday, Saturday, Sunday July 4th-6

Friday - i checked out of the mgm grand and headed for a $20 cab ride down the strip to the cancun village resort. it's normally a time share but they rent rooms as well. they shockingly let me check in early and i got my suit on and waited for the rest of the girls to arrive. they were all driving over from LA that morning. once they arrived it was like a girly bomb went off in that poor hotel room. there was make up and clothes and shoes everywhere! the room slept 7 comfortably and by comfortably i mean that they slept three girls in the king sized bed. but it was amazing! we laid by the pool the rest of the day and then got ready to go out for the night. leah flew in to meet us after a week at camp with her kids so once leah was present, we hit the strip. now. if you haven't been to vegas you need to understand that hotels are ALWAYS further away than they appear. i know this. i've known this for a while. HOWEVER, when there is a group of people who fight for control and who insist on being right about things, shockingly, lately, i just back out. i figure it's not even worth the time or effort of the battle so i just let this one go.

the shuttle let us off at the tropicana and we... ahem... WALKED the 1.8 miles from there to the venitian. not bad you say? yeah, we all wore heels too. i know. i should have known better! so we walk it. now, i don't know what time we left the shuttle, i should have looked but we sat down for dinner at 11pm. it's vegas right? you're supposed to be out all night, right? right. you are, except when you're normally in bed by 11. so, we were all exhausted. so after a mediocre dinner at the venitian's grand lux cafe, we were on our way back to the hotel. we were in bed by 130. woo hoo par-tay animals!

Saturday - we woke up around 930 and rolled on down to the pool. tried out the water slides, hung out on the rafts and enjoyed the heat. did i mention it was 112˚?? seriously! so, we were also layering the sun screen. i was the loser getting the non-alcoholic piña coladas from the hot bartender but it was worth it! they were cold and he was hot! we headed out a lot earlier on this night. we took the shuttle to the tropicana and then... wait for it... decided to have dinner at planet hollywood... which is really close to where we walked last night. so i said, "we should probably take a cab tonight so we are happier when we get to dinner." this is where it gets good. i actually heard one of the girls say, "well, i can see it from here, it can't be that far." are you flipping kidding me?? have you not learned from your mistakes? nope, guess not. we walked it. you want to know why i didn't fight? because the second night, i wore my flip flops. i could have walked miles. so we walked all the way to the buffet at the planet hollywood. now, i'm coming across as i wasn't having fun. i was having a lot of fun. i really was, i'm just someone who thinks things should be easier. so we are in line for the buffet - did i mention i HATE buffets? i HATE HATE HATE them. when something is made in quantity, it loses quality. i promise. i would rather eat pizza three meals a day than eat at a buffet. just fyi. - that being said, we're in line and i hear someone say, "well, this one is one of the more expensive ones but it's totally worth it." this is from one of the girls in our group so i lean in, a little worried. the most expensive buffet in vegas i've been to was 19.00 and that was a lot to me because i HATE THEM. so the girl who said that looks me dead in the face and says "$39.00" now, this is where i had expletives in my head and i think i threw up a little bit. i was at the beginning of a three week vacation and on a strict budget. this one meal blew TWO days of my food budget. i was not pleased. i ended up taking one for the team and just eating there... because i had no choice and went with the flow. we leave dinner, and we exit the hotel. now is when someone says we should go get those slushies from the NYNY hotel... down by the tropicana... are you ready for this... so we say, we should just take a cab, right? sure! so we first wanted to see the bellagio which is across the street so we walk over, see the fountains and as i start walking the group towards the cab stand, i hear THE SAME GIRL say, "we should probably just walk, it would save us money." at this point, my patience was gone, i had to distance myself. i am an adult... the oldest of the group and i was about to throw a crying hissy fit. wait for... we WALKED all the way back and then, AND THEN they were all in a bad mood because their feet hurt. and i know you won't believe me but i kept my mouth shut. i didn't say i told you so, i didn't slap the girl who lead the group. i let it go. but you better believe i did some sassing in my head!

Sunday - got up early and headed back to LA. turns out it was a good idea. the groom and the groomsmen were there all weekend too (no we didn't see them, much to the girls' dismay and the boys delight) and they left later in the afternoon. it took us 5.5 hours, it took them 9.5. lesson learned.

rachels goal for the weekend was to dance on a table. mission accomplished at tabú

reenacting the dance scene where a guy - played here by leah with a mustache - danced on rachels leg all night to the point of purelling her leg when we left. eww.

me, rachel and kristi

vegas sign

all of us with the sign

night one on the strip... during the hike

all of us with our mustaches

leah in the water slide WITH THE MUSTACHE so amazing.

me, steph and rach. can you tell i was annoyed?

all of us at tabú

all of us in front of the bellagio

leah, me, rachel, mer, steph all on a raft, that's asking a lot of that raft!

ingrid, me and kristi

me and mer

steph, rach, kristi and m

me

me and mer