tina k.

Vegas again....

the Monte Carlo came a calling again this summer.....

 

Pete Rose in Ceasar's

 

Randy  Coutre in Golden Nugget...

all I need to meet now is GSP, BJ Penn, Tito and I am good!!!

 

Syd @ Woodstock.....

 

went to the Golden Nugget to check out the insane pool and ended up meeting Randy....the pool is still insane plan on booking a night there just to say I swam with the sharks!!  The have a large fish tank with sharks that you swim around and a slide that takes you through the middle of the shark tank....

 

we did so much more....keeping it for another post!!!!!

Remind me to buy some Ginko

seriously!  Cliff and I went to the Toby Keith concert on Saturday and I am seriously losing my mind...I brought the camera and forgot to put the battery in there...yep left it on the  charger!  The one and only time we were close enough to see how tight Trace Adkins jeans were and no pictures...  SO no pictures from this amazing night...

15 finally

 

Sam celebrated the big 15 on Wednesday...we are only a year away from driving!!! 

 

 

 

She requested no pictures that night when we were singing happy birthday because she had just gotten off practice and looked a mess!!  Here is the dessert we made....

 

 

Oh YUM!!!!  We have cut out white flour in our family and it has really changed our eating habits...we instead in its place use soy flour as needed.  Cliff and I are down 20 lbs and the girls are just healthier!

Our gift to Sam was the big room in the house...while she was in Vegas last weekend we switched Syd and Sam's room so now she has the BIG room that they all fight over....2nd gift was a laptop.  She was she IS still in heaven!

Gotta go back...back...back to school again

whoa whoa....I gotta go back to school....AGAIN!  Grease II...come on you know the song! 

The girls started school on Monday the 10th.  Everything went great!  The girls looked cute...

 

Sam's internship at Nordstrom has really paid off...she has always had a great sense of style but now it is just a little more polished....

 

sydney did not go school shopping with us at all this summer...she was too busy going to the beach, X Games, movies, hanging out w/friends....we picked everything for her WITHOUT her!!  She loved everything and it all fit her perfect!!

 

Sage surprisingly picked out a lot more dresses and skirts this year!  She cut 7 inches off her hair too!  SHe is taking notes from her big sisters (finally)!  She is still not ready to completely shed the whole tomboy thing  take a look at the Vans with that cute little dress! 

Sage is the only one now that I can physically walk into school and take pictures the other two would be modified if I did that!  Snapped one of her and her little girlfriends and one of her and her teacher (we LOVE her Sam had her for 5th too!!)

 

 

Later on that day we dropped Sydney off at dance, Sam at soccer practice and Sage and I went to our fav mexican restaurant and ate our favorite thing on the menu ...a beef tostada with an orange bang to wash it down!!!

Summer birthdays...

all of my girls were born in the summer months...Syd June 7th, Sage July 7th, and Sam August 12th (cliff's is Sept. 12th I am the odd man out with a winter b-day).  Every year we are either at the river or in Vegas for the birthdays...not this year Sage's we were home from Vegas

we picked up her best friend and headed to Ritchies dinner for some grub...

this year will be a first in many that we will be home for Sam's b-day too..we beter make it a good one....the kids start school on August 10th so we have to be home .... the first time in almost 5 years!

We were lucky enough to spend my grandfathers bday with him as well...

4th of July

 

We made rice krispie treat american flags...

 

the annual holiday picture...

 

  

can't be much more prepared for the day than Alec..trunks, vest, & goggles...

 

the kids barely got out of the water to eat some BBQ...not the adults we were stuffing our faces with Lou's smoked ribs!!  My cousins can sure cook!  Too busy licking our fingers for pictures of them!

Off to another BBQ and swim and then fireworks at cousin Frances house... these were some of our Moapa fireworks buys..

 

remember the 3ft. sparkler from last year??? yep we bought more!

Summer @ the Beach

Nothing says summer like the beach...we have our own little hideaway in Newport total seclusion and great parking...the site is classified information..Cliff enjoys Pirate's Cove in Corona Del Mar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would do anything for natural highligts like that!!

 

didn't want to hang around to see what this guy was going to do.....

Vegas Vacation II

as I was saying..... Sage likes to go see the lions at the MGM which is right across the street from the Monte Carlo

 

 

We like to do as much free things as possible...We usually head out up or down depending where you are at the strip to Ethel M chocolate factory...you can tour where they make the candies and sample them...they even have a gorgeous cactus garden to walk through everything is free!

There are too things we do everytime we go to Vegas go see a new movie and we like to BOWL!! For this we head out to Red Rock Hotel & Casino in Summerlin just a quick 15 minute drive from the strip.  We have been know togo to The Orleans for bowling and a movie too but we LOVE the Red Rock and don't mind the short drive!

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

You eat anywhere in here and it is all FABULOUS!!!  They have a movie theater as well...we just love it here!  While we were here I had the pleasure of meeting Dana White for any of you UFC fans you will know how huge this was for me!!!

While having dinner at the Salt Lick  at Red Rock (think Lucille's's but better!!) we asked our waitress where we could buy some good firecrackers you would have thought we were asking to buy something illegal...all of a sudden voices dropped and she whispered to us " take the 15fwy north for about 20 minutes and exit 75 ( she didn't say a street name she said to watch for the numbers on the exit signs) she said we will come to Moapa there we will find anything we need."  Wow how exciting I made sure we would head there before we headed home! 

 

Well we headed out there and became nervous when 20 minutes turned into 35 minutes and it started to look like a scene for a horror film...it was so ugly.  We finally reach this place and I wish I could have taken pictures from the inside but they are firm with the rules no cell phones, no taking pictures in there!  Floor to ceiling fireworks everything you can think of!!  We spent in hour in there looking and deciding what to get!!! 

Vegas Vacation

If you know The Keyner Family you know we like to start and end the summer with a Vegas vacation.  This year we left right after the kids triathalon.  We made a stop in Baker thanks to Tammy's alien post...

 

picked up some snacks and headed out...

 

with scenary like this the drive wasn't so bad...

We are creatures of habit and have been staying at the Monte Carlo since 1998..We love the pools, the small atmosphere of the hotel, the location  to the movie theater, Gameworks, placement on the strip..its perfect and kid-friendly.

The Monte Carlo has 4 pools and a hot tub.  One regular pool, one tiny tot pool (you can just drag your chair in there and sit all day), a lazy river pool, and a wave pool.  We usually head out to the pool by 9:00 and don't get out til around 3:00...after walking all those laps in the lazy river pool it justifies eating anything that night!! 

 

 

We love to head out to Ceasars Palace mall and do a little shopping..not what you think we go to the Bath & Body works store and all get what we need for a few months (yes even Cliff he loves that place!) Sad they took out Disney store . They now have a Serendipity 3 like the one I went to in New York!!!  SO excited!!!  Now I am only a short 2 1/2 our drive from my frozen hot chocolate!!

 

We always head to Bellagio to see the new display of flowers..

 

 

Well it looks like this is going to be a three part post ...Typepad is not allowing me t post anymore photos...funny how I pay them to allow me to do this but yet it keeps kicking  my photos off... stay tuned...

 

Tinman Triathlon

The girls did a kids triathlon last weekend right before we headed out to Vegas... They did an awesome job!  Sydney beat out a whole bunch of boys!! Sage did a great job of keeping up with Syd.

During the run...

  

 

 

Transitioning into the one mile  bike ride..

 

 

 

coming back from the ride changing for the swim...

 

 

 

running to the pool for the swim...is where Syd decided to distance herself from her sister and win this thing!  She was so fast we did not get any pictures of her in the pool!