Yes, I'm very lucky that my beautiful wife Julie is originally from Las Vegas and that her wonderful mother and step-father (Jan and David) still live there.  It clearly doesn't suck heading there for Christmas about every other year.  It's not like I'm a big gambler or anything, but I always love hitting the casinos once or twice to play some small-stake craps, Caribbean stud, or one the many other poker variants popping up in casinos these days.

Last May the four of us spent a long weekend in Vegas, and Julie and I had a date together on the strip, staying at the Aladdin Hotel.  We were fortunate that trip to get upgraded to a wrap-around luxury suite and had a fabulous time.  It was so much fun that we spent another night on the strip, this time at Bally's, while Jan and David watched Jacob and Matthew.  Win-win for everyone!  Bally's is the old MGM Grand (yes, the one that had the fire back in 1980) and is in a great location near the Paris and the Bellagio.  We took a taxi down to Mandalay Bay to see Mama Mia! and had dinner at the Rumjungle.  The evening finished with a small amount of gambling (I played Caribbean Stud) and music in one of the Bally's lounges.

There were a lot of other highlights that week.  I'll convey these with some more photos and commentary.