Worst Weekend Ever II

Worst Weekend Ever II, if by worst you mean best, and by II you mean second and by weekend you mean Thursday evening through Sunday Afternoon, and by ever you mean radical. What I'm trying to say is that we spent the weekend in Vegas with the Parry family, at least most of the Parry family anyway.

Thursday we arrived in Vegas and that night we went to see the movie Hancock. Now I don't want to give away the ending for those of you that haven't seen it yet, but the part at the end where Will Smith dies in the arms of his wife, played by Charlize Theron, and then Spider-Man makes a cameo and avenges Will Smith's death, well, that part was awesome! So, overall the movie was good, but not great. But don't take my word for it. Ask Geoff Ellsworth. He was there.

Friday we went to a local pool. Brendan couldn't wait to get in the water. Then he put his face under water and got scared and he couldn't wait to get out of the water. Then he got hot and found a happy medium by standing in the three inch deep section of the pool where he splashed and laughed and got the lifeguard's feet wet along with other passerbyers. Valerie and I were also at the pool. Valerie liked to splash water too. The day ended with a delicious barbecue that Zach made and we also played some Mario Kart. I might be confusing my days too, but we also went to Peter Piper Pizza. Not for the delicious pizza, but for the games. Zach and his two kids, Cadence and Jack came with us, along with an old mission friend Dan and his wife Alise (spelling? Dan, now that I know you read these posts I apologize if I misspelled your wife's name. I'll give you my password and you can edit this part if you need to). The kids all loved the games and toys and play areas. The ultimate goal was to win 20,000 tickets so we could win this TV that looked so old you can't even find the style in stores nowadays. If you combined all of the kid's tickets we fell short by about 19, 887. So, instead of winning an old TV the kids all got handfuls of tootsie rolls. Hopefully they weren't as old as the TV.

Saturday was a special day. We got to fly in Zach's father's plane. It was a Cessna Skyhawk. It seats four people (when the conditions allow) and it was a lot of fun. It was also a little scary. It's not like flying United or Delta. The only thing separating you from the outside is a thin piece of metal and some red leather upholstery. And the only thing separating you from the person next to you is the pants you are wearing. The cabin is really tight which means even if you aren't the pilot you are still right there in the action with a steering control right in front of you and brakes rights at your feet as well as rudder controls. If I wanted to I could have knocked out Zach's dad and taken control of the plane right from my seat. If it's anything like the video games I've played, then I should have had no problem flying it. It was fun. I went first. Valerie went up second. She like it a lot too. Then Brendan went up. Actually, he was safely napping in his pack n' play. Meanwhile, Zach was in the mini- airport working on his blog and downing at least three cups of hot chocolate. It was over 100 degrees out, but he couldn't get enough of the stuff.

Saturday night we went to Cafe Rio with Zach and Amber and talked about the time I saw a 90+ year old naked when I was painting a house one time. Later that night we played more Mario Kart and set an unprecedented record on the team challenge by scoring 209 points. No one will ever beat that unless our team reunites sometime in the future.

What else? Friday morning we drove from Vegas to St. George to get some McDonald's. Then we drove back to Vegas. Brendan didn't sleep one night. Amber's brother got baptized Saturday. Amber made brownies for it. Brendan loved playing with the Parry's dogs. He loved pushing Memphis' brown button. We went to a chocolate factory tour. We went to a cactus farm. Then we came home. It was a good time. If by good you mean best and by time you mean weekend ever II.

The End