Viva Las Vegas

We had a wonderful trip to Las Vegas, far too many stories to bore you with here so I'll do a quick recap:
~"Mystere" and "Zumanity" Cirque de Solei shows and Penn & Teller
~walking the strip, judging all of the hotel lobbies

~I threw the dice and hit the dealer at our first (and last) game of craps

~we got a good run at Blackjack going, lost it all soon after

~Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay... AMAZING

~decided that staying in the biggest hotel on the strip probably wasn't such a good idea

~met the bands for Rodney Atkins and Sugarland (the ACMAwards were that weekend)

~missed Grant and couldn't wait to get back home!

Here are all of the pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNvo&notag=1

Knot Tied: Missy & Kevin!

The last part of leave was a trip down to Atlanta for Missy and Kevin's wedding (Missy is Geoff's cousin for all of you non-White Family members) They had a beautiful ceremony, beautiful weather and a whole lot of fun!

Here is the whole (unedited album): http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNvK&notag=1

Black Leave Part 1: Grant's Party

(We're enjoying our Black Leave right now and although the Vegas trip came before Grant's party I've decided that Grant is much cuter than Geoff and I were in Las Vegas so I'll focus on getting the party pictures up. Thus Part 1 should be Sin City and Part 2 the Shindig but you'll just have to forgive me)

GRANT IS 11 MONTHS OLD! I know that does not usually call for a huge party but we had to squeeze one in before Geoff leaves so we had a party in Durham on Saturday. What a great time! Friends and family from all over (we probably would have made half of our guests happier if we'd had it in DC), good food, booze and a lot of laughing. Grant made a mess of the cake but honestly didn't eat any. Mommy made a big mistake by putting candy stars on the icing which he just wanted to pick off and eat one by one. It was until he choked a little bit and rubbed his eye that the icing started to get fun (i.e. really really messy)

I didn't take as many pictures as you'd probably imagine but luckily for me Rory was there with her camera to capture the Kodak moments.
Here is my album: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNus&notag=1
And Rory's: http://picasaweb.google.com/Richardson.Rory/GrantSParty

1-9 CAV Ball

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNuO&notag=1

I got Spurs that JingleJangleJingle....

Geoff earned his Spurs today! (yes, its a big deal... the blisters prove it)

According to Wikipedia The Order of the Spur is a Cavalry tradition in the U.S. Army. For a cavalry trooper(the cavalry equivalent of the word "Soldier") to join the Order of the Spur, they must pass a series of tests set by their command, known as the "Spur Ride." Once accomplished, the Trooper is awarded spurs to be worn with his or her military uniform. The spur ride is normally a two-day event where a Soldier must pass a series of tests that evaluate their navigation, shooting, first responder, physical fitness and other military skills. The tests also normally include a written portion covering cavalry history and tactics, as well as a reciting from memory the traditional cavalry poem about Fiddler's Green.

Here are all of the pictures

(They had to get in a push up position with their boots over a log, then guys lifted the log so that the spurs could be put on their boots)

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNtC&notag=1

SHAMU

We had a WONDERFUL weekend taking a much needed break from Fort Hood and heading south. Saturday Grant had a date with Shamu at SeaWorld. (Yay AnheuserBusch for making it free for military) He actually watched the dolphin show - think poor man's cirque de solei plus dolphins and whales, enjoyed waving to the tons of other guests but had fallen asleep by the time Shamu did his feature "splash the audience". The highlight of SeaWorld was Lil Gator's Lagoon where he got to play with kids his own size (even if he was the only one that wasn't walking) He is a pro at "patting" water!

He even got to meet Crush:

Here's the full album: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNsG&notag=1