Yo, ho!

Don't be offended. If I happen to call you a ho or more likely, "hooker," it means I have the utmost love and respect for you. Just one of those little nuances in life. 

After college, I had the pleasure of living with my childhood friend C for three years. She was and is a very good girl. No drinking, no swearing, no funny business with the boys. And so, of course, our pet term for each other is "hooker." 

It still amazes me how, through life, we continue to meet new people who become near and dear to our hearts. Like a mother with a new child, my heart's openness to new friends is boundless. And I've been so lucky. Beyond my family, beyond my childhood and college friends, beyond my bloggy friends, I genuinely appreciate my mommy friends. Those friends that could be casual acquaintances or new BFF's, but for a conversation. 

With 18 month olds running around and trying to jump their way off equipment and into the ER (mine never actually hurt herself, but oh how she tried),  passing balls and balloons to one another, running side by side to pop bubbles. We met in preschool gymnastics. Casual smiles turned into conversation. The propensity for my daughter and one other particular little boy to be clumsy, wreckless, insane and crazy drew me and his mother to one another to simutaneously shake our heads, roll our eyes, and commiserate. Then there were a few others who were not afraid for their lives when around our two kids, and we started to meet at McDonald's or Friendly's before or after class. Then we started having playdates. And then girl's nights. And then, my generous friend M, suggested a few of us use her Vacation Club for a mommy getaway to DisneyWorld. It happened to be the same weekend as BlogHer '10, for which I already had a ticket and hotel room. And I'm sorry, my bloggy friends, for skipping out on meeting so many of you - but I just couldn't pass up a trip with these girls and our 5 year olds. These ladies who represent everything I value in a friend - honesty, reliability, compassion, generousity and fun. And our kids love each other like siblings.

And our trip WAS magical.

Katie actually wore her fabulous new outfits from 77kids. (In hindsite, I realize many readers may not realize why that is such a big deal, but suffice it to say that we have had SIGNIFICANT issues with Katie this summer regarding clothes. For weeks at a time, I washed the same outfit every night, to be worn every day. To my utter depression and turmoil as I fingered all of the lovely, unworn clothes in her closet.)

And she was so proud to pose in her new grunge, as we traveled over to a kids only Pirate Cruise at the Grand Floridian.

She even accepted a $10 souvenir bribe to wear one of my most favoritest Hanna Andersson sundress sets that she had never worn.

We treasured every moment of our trip.

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We even happened to overlap our trip with my sister's family and had the ultimate experience of going on a Kim Possible mission with them in Epcot.

We swam and played.

The kids were thrilled to build their own cars at Downtown Disney.

And I got an amazing long weekend getaway with my girls, most notably my favorite girl.

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The Wildlife of Vegas

If you follow my tweets or read some of my recent posts - you know that I got to travel to Vegas for the first time ever 2 weekends ago. My cousin Alaina was kind enough to get married there and gave me an excuse to extend my Atlantic City slot losing streak all the way into Nevada.

I should forewarn you that my title is not a typo and I did not mean the Wild Life. We're just not that cool...(but apparently my cousin Joey Mac-who hung with us just a little-is...ahem follow Chatterbox Rox on Facebook.) No, I wanted to share my experience with the actual wildlife. Never having been before, we just stayed at The Flamingo, the hotel that my cousin was getting married at (especially since I got comped). It was really nice, though. The pool was gorgeous and they actually do have animals there.

The pond is filled with koi...beautiful, but terribly fishy smelling. And then there were the flamingos - appropriate since it is the Flamingo hotel.

They were all trapped on a little island - but when we saw my aunt's hat, we did begin to worry that one managed to get free - and those skinny legs....she was even standing like a flamingo. But, the cigarette gave it away - we knew for sure it was my Aunt Renee (who happened to be my matron of honor...I try not to hold her disgusting smoking habit against her ;).

However, I REALLY laughed my ass off got scared when I heard about the lions. My mom has been to Vegas before and wanted to make sure we saw all the great sights and didn't waste all our money time away in the casino. She gave us an improptu rundown on all the important must-see sights of the different hotels. Unfortunately, this video of her telling us about the MGM isn't the original take...but after the intital description I just had to grab my camera and record her. I'm really not sure if she was still buzzed or just ridiculously tired...but the retake was just a little more long-winded than the original.

Holy crap, I love my mom and my aunt. I had the best time with them. I have to admit, I was a little nervous when my mom asked if she could stow away in our room. We all snore, but ironically I'm also the world's lightest sleeper and everything (except my snoring) wakes me, but my aunt was gracious enough to volunteer to share her bed with my mom every night and thank goodness - because our bunking together made the trip all the better. There's nothing like 3 nights of slumber parties when your mom brings an entire suitcase full of liquor. Oh, and I do have one more Vegas-themed post inspired by my mom to come...

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