Mandalay Bay is bigger then Bothell

No seriously. Mandalay Bay, the hotel and casino at the south end of the Las Vegas strip is very likely the square footage of our small neighborhood here in suburban Seattle. I think you could fit most of the houses in downtown Bothell..inside Mandalay Bay. You could live inside the Hotel! Restaurants, games, shows, Starbucks...the only reason to leave was to see what time it was!



My lovely wife turned 30 this week. The big three-oh. She wasn't especially excited about 30, so I decided to take her away to a place where they say you can forget your troubles. Your "routine life" fades in the lights of that vast city. And it's true, you do forget your troubles.

But I believe they are replaced with new troubles such as: How the heck do you get out of this casino? And: Is it appropriate to politely refuse porn handed to you on the street? And: Why is there nothing under $10! Bottled water- $10 Seriously? And: How is it that the timeshare thieves can smell me? And: How do I avoid the porn when it's on the billboards AND on the taxis driving by AND on the flyers on the sidewalk?

We enjoyed our first Las Vegas experience despite these new troubles.



Mandalay Bay is a great hotel. We highly recommend it. They have a world famous pool/man made beach..... that is closed in January...just so you all know...

world famous,
closed in January.

Oh well. It was still fun.



The main activity for us was just wandering the strip and visiting several of the hotels to see the sights and the shows they offered.

There was of course the Paris Hotel.


And the famous Bellagio, across from Paris.




Then there was the Excalibur. A mildly family friendly hotel that was kind of a version of the Disney castle full of slots and comedy shows.



The Mirage, with it's incredibly cheesy fake volcano show. Still..entertaining enough to hold our attention for a minute and a half.



And then there's Treasure Island where you can watch the pole dancing pirate strippers get their boat blown up every night around 6:30.



Apparently the show used to be a bunch of male pirates attacking each other, and then last year someone upstairs in marketing woke up and smelled the 'skimpy-clothing-on-girls-makes-people-buy-stuff' strategy.



Caesar's Palace of course.



And then there was the Luxor..which Ruth and I fondly referred to as "the Lustor". The Luxor seemed to be the home of the topless shows as well as the famed Bodies exhibit. Which was hilarious actually..seeing huge billboards inside displaying half naked women..right next to a billboard for Bodies displaying dissected human bodies. Somehow appropriate. I don't know how.



Here's a shot of the Luxor from Mandaly Bay's Oasis. (This is my first attempt at a high dynamic range photograph for those wondering why it looks a little weird)



There really is nearly something for everyone in Vegas.

There is of course gambling...

...not our thing.

There are restaurants...


...very much our thing, and they work the same as gambling does: you walk in with money and walk out with nothing.

There's shopping...

... that's right..that's the inside of a mall.

There's pure opulence...


...and there are of course great shows...

... also our thing. We saw our first Cirque du Soleil show. It was fabulous. I highly recommend 'O'. This was the entrance to the Beatles' show at The Mirage.

Then there was Mandalay Bay's Shark reef. Me and a camera and a tank full of cool looking creatures? Very much our thing. We found it very relaxing to step out of the wonders built by man and observe the wonders built by God.

Ah Vegas..the place where you can buy your alcoholic drink from a slurpy machine off the street corner. For how much? Oh..you know..$11!!

A trip to Vegas isn't complete without one Elvis sighting.

All we have to say about the casino carpets is...

...what the?

I don't know what they were thinking or why we were studying the carpet so intently..but it was crazy-ugly!

Finally, my two favorite photos from the whole trip that I think describe this crazy city well without words. The beauty of the statues juxtaposed against the overwhelming questions of their context...

So many questions.

That's Vegas folks! As seen through the eyes of the Lepps! Vegas is an amazing place, you can go there without a time change at all, lose $1.75 on a slot machine..share a mango daiquiri between two people..and still leave feeling incredibly hung over! How is that possible?!

Happy Birthday babe!

My not so little sister

Not saying that she's large.

I'm not saying that at all.

I'm just saying that she's my little sister who's grown into an adult over the last few years. Well..It's been more then a few years I suppose, but it seems like just yesterday that we were building forts in the basement out of couch cushions and blankets. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were walking out to catch the bus for Amy's first day of kindergarden and Mom asked us to turn around in the yard for a photo.

Amy just got married. So long couch cushion forts and rainbow bright lunch boxes. My little sister is an adult and has been for a while now.

So ...

Let's start this post with my favorite photo of the whole wedding day...

Alright, now that we got that out of the way I just wanted to acknowledge that this is old news, Amy and Abraham were married this summer but I am a bad blogger. I blogged halloween before my sisters wedding. Oh well.

Here we go!

I have a guilt I carry around with me about growing up with Amy. Even after a full confession and request for forgiveness from her I still can't get the guilt off my shoulders.

Amy used to love the wheel of fortune board game. She..loved... the wheel of fortune board game. I did not enjoy it as much.

I still remember to this day, playing with my little toy men, soldiers, GI joes, legos. And then watching Amy walk into my bedroom holding the wheel of fortune board game in her arms.

Even though she pretty much knew the answer to her question, she'd still be holding the game, and she would even address me, "Hey Royden, do you you want to play wheel of fortune?"

"Not really."

"Okay," she would say and disapear from my bedroom door, disappointed.

In my memory it's cut up and edited like a movie. I see multiple cuts of different answers to the same question. Different questions but the same answer. She would always ask..I would never give her a minute of my time.

"wheel of fortune?"
"no.."

Sometimes I'd walk by the livingroom on my way to the kitchen for a glass of milk and see Amy trying to play the game on the floor by herself. You can't play wheel of fortune by yourself.

My final memory of this is seeing Amy appear in my bedroom doorway, sad and defeated, looking at the floor, mumbling the question for the last time, "..do you want to play wheel of fortune?.." waiting for the expected answer without even looking up at me. And she got it, and walked away.

I don't know why this blog just turned into a confessional. I'm totally off topic, everyone's looking at wedding photos and wondering what the heck this blog is about. Maybe I'm trying to get it off my shoulders for the last time. I'm sorry Amy. I haven't always been the best brother. Please forgive me. I need to find that dang game on ebay so I can sit down with you deal with this guilt.

We'll play wheel fortune all night.

Okay, back to photos...

Back on topic. After these pictures in the barn, we danced. At Lepp weddings there are lots of relatives, little cousins, food, and sometimes even a little two stepping.

It was a fun wedding. Abraham, welcome to the family! Congratulations and prayers for you both.