Vegas!

Well this is the last official trip we took this summer, but I may write a post on other little things we did along the way. We'll see... Anyway, we went to Vegas in August right before school started. We went with John's dad, Ashley, Kate, Mike, and Christine. I LOVE VEGAS! Growing up, I went to Vegas about 15 times (at least). We would always go in November for the carnival convention and I always loved it! Obviously I could never gamble or anything, but I still enjoyed it. We would go to some great shows, walk down the strip, and my dad would always take me on the roller coasters and rides there. So I kind of have a little attachment to Vegas. It reminds me of my childhood and of my family. Some people don't understand my love for Sin City, it's kind of unexplainable. Anywho... this summer was no exception. Vegas was just as wonderful as I had remembered (I also went May 2008), and when you add being 21 and able to drink (most of the time for free) and gamble, Vegas became even better! We stayed at MGM (though the Mirage is where my heart is, the MGM was great!). We started the trip off with a Michael Jackson tribute band at Mandalay Bay, which was lots of fun! We also saw KA (Cirque Du Soleil) - not my favorite CDS but still good, and Jay Leno - he was hilarious and one of my favorite parts of the trip!! The thing I was most excited about was the fact that John hadn't been to Vegas since he was a kid, so I couldn't wait to give him all of my Vegas knowledge :) and show him around one of my favorite cities! Now I can handle John not being an NY fan, but I would have been DEVASTATED if my husband didn't enjoy Vegas! He didn't disappoint - he loved it! Thank goodness! One day John and I walked from MGM all the way to some off-the-path bar to meet his sisters. Though we did make stops along the way (including the Forum Shops), it was the LONGEST WALK OF MY LIFE! My feet have never hurt so bad ever!! But it was fun to walk the strip (something I used to always do with my dad) and show John all the great hotels and give him memories I had from each one. John was a great sport, he didn't once tell me I was being annoying with all the information I was passing out (which I know I was). I think he just knew how excited I was to be there again...and this time with him. We spent the other days at the pool - IT WAS HOT! And we ate at some great restaurants at night. It was a short, but great trip. It was also good being able to spend the time with John's dad and sisters. Did I mention I LOVE VEGAS??

Florida!

Well I guess I'm on a role, because I'm already moving on to the next vacation - FLORIDA! Now this is my kind of trip. We've been going ever since I can remember, and I don't think we've missed a year, though the location has changed a few times. But it always stays on good ol' 30A - a place I would truly love to call home for awhile, but once again that's probably a whole different post for the future. Anyway, the annual Gregory family vacation took place over the 4th of July this year. Dad (good ol' Griswold), mom, Adrianna, and Tanner all drove in the Navigator while Brandon (wheelchair and all), John, and I took the Land Rover. We left on the 3rd and spent the night in wonderful DeFuniak Springs (now there's an exciting town!) But it did make Saturday alot more fun, we only had to drive about 45 minutes, and it gave us a whole extra beach/pool day which is always good!! We met Meme and Mitchell there, along with Jodi, William, and of course Hayden! We normally all stay in one house, but since our family continues to grow, we split up this year, but were not far apart! Jodi, William, Hayden, and Meme all stayed at Cal's house in Rosemary while the rest of us stayed in a great house in Seacrest (I just love Seacrest!) It was a perfect vacation, except for Brandon's little incident which he did not let ruin his vacation! This is by far my most favorite vacation of the entire year. I look forward to it every time! There is nothing like a whole lot of Gregory love! It is so nice to just be able to relax by either the beach or pool during the day, eat amazing food at night, and then of course take the golf cart for a little spin. This year we saw the never-ending firework show at Rosemary which was great! A little long, but great! It was supposed to rain EVERY DAY, but only ended up raining like once or twice, which is always a good excuse to go shopping! John's dad and Ashley even met us for dinner one night which was great. The trip was pretty "eventless" until our way home. Leave it to us to leave a wheelchair in the middle of a gas station parking lot. Yep, we did it! Good thing Brandon is a good sport and could laugh about it...later. There's just nothing like a week of relaxation on 30A with your favorite people! I'm already counting down the days until next year's Florida vacation! :)

Montana

Well as I promised, I am going to start writing about the vacations we took this summer. I'll go in order, so I'll start out with Montana (yes, I went to Montana!!) We went with John's mom - it was Cathy and Don, me and John, Kate and Mike, Mike's parents, and then Don's son and his wife and 3 year old, Miles. I won't lie, I was not too excited about this trip. I knew it would be fun being with John's family, but most of you know that I'm not too outdoorsy. Okay, I'm not outdoorsy AT ALL! So needless to say, Montana didn't sound like my kind of trip. HOWEVER, it ended up to be great!! It was actually nice doing something different for a change. We started out flying into Denver and meeting Kate and Mike. We then drove through Yellowstone which was really pretty. We stayed at the Old Faithful Inn which was fun. We saw TONS of geysers, and they were very interesting to look at, but John and I got to the point where each geyser started to look the same, so we started staying in the car when everyone else would get out. The wildlife in Yellowstone was my favorite! We saw tons and tons of buffalo. Lots were right up next to the car too which was cool. However, the most memorable wildlife we saw was a BEAR! We saw one in Yellowstone, but we were in the car so I wasn't too worried. However, we saw one on a hike in Montana and I honestly thought I was going to die!! It was a mom and her cub (which is the worst!) and I honestly thought she was going to charge us! I made Mike test the Bear Spray, which probably wasn't too smart because we were then all breathing it in and coughing. However, I was just glad to know that it worked. After a few minutes of freaking out and Cathy face planting off a rock, the bears decided to leave. I have never been so glad to reach the car!! We went horseback riding (I hadn't been since my horrendous 4th grade birthday party) and I did great (John however was a different story! ha!). We went whitewater rafting which was a first for me. It was freezing!!! But so much fun! We went hiking MANY, MANY times. I have never hiked so much in my life (not that that is saying much). But I really enjoyed it all. We saw waterfalls and even hiked up to one. We ate some really good food and of course drank some good alcohol as well. All in all, it was a great trip! The only thing missing was Christine!! Needless to say, the trip made me feel very adventurous!!