HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW...

Monday, April 23rd marked Andrew's 30th birthday and if you know Andrew's family, milestone (or any other) birthdays are celebrated with reckless abandon. As a birthday gift, his parents, Randy and Laura treated us all to a 4-1/2 day trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Monica, Andrew's sister planned and organized the trip and kept us busily entertained the entire time.

Have you all heard of the new skywalk that just opened on the west side of the Grand Canyon? A glass floor cantilevered out over the edge, 4000 feet off the canyon floor. Is that insane, or what? I really didn't think I'd be able to do it. I'm terrified of heights. (but I love roller coasters...go figure) The skywalk is located on the west rim of the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai (pronounced 'Wall-a-pie') Indian reservation. To get there, you must travel 18 miles off paved roads on the absolute worst gravel road across the desert you can imagine. We were only able to drive 15-25 miles per hour for the entire 18 miles. The views, however, were some of the most beautiful desert scenery you can imagine. We even stopped along the way and photographed a coyote we saw trotting across the rocks. Check out this video to see all the things we did and saw while there.

Monday was spent at the Grand Canyon so we celebrated his birthday on Tuesday. Monica had made reservations for dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant inside New York New York hotel where we stayed.

After dinner we went to Harrah's to see Rita Rudner's comedy show. What a hoot! She's a very funny lady!

We all had a wonderful time together and headed back home on Wednesday totally exhausted.

As we headed for the airport on Wednesday afternoon, the temp in Las Vegas was 86 marvelous degrees! Imagine the shock to our bodies as we landed back in Cedar Rapids, Iowa wearing shorts, polo shirts and flip-flops, where it was 49 degrees and raining!