Boats. Beers. Babes. Bucks. Bazinga!

Last night as we lay howling with the dogs, we were trying to decide what to do with our one full day together, on this short weekend trek to Florida.

We tossed around ideas of going to the beach, the shooting range, the dog beach or park, walking around downtown or just hanging out around the hoots' nest. Then the spark of a marvelous idea came to JP and BAM! 20 minutes later we had reservations on the Victory Casino Cruise ($10 per person to board boat)!! What a great idea, indeed!

We had the morning to get ready at our own pace, have a great breakfast filled with sausage, eggs, coffee and toast and be on our way by 9:30 a.m. The drive to get to port is about an hour and a half, the boat leaves at 11:00, so we had plenty of time to get there...as well as plenty of time for "sillies"!!

The place to board the boat is called Cape Canaveral and is also the place where all of the major cruise lines leave out of Florida, it was pretty cool seeing those humungous boats!!

Once we parked, we pretty much walked in, checked in, then off to the boat & potties we went!

The boat is 6 floors of fun: 1 floor with a restaurant, 3 floors of gaming, 1 floor is gaming with a night club and the very top is a rooftop bar with live music, called The Dolphin Bar. We walked in hit the potty, then went to the very top deck to set sail. It was pretty warm...imagine sitting in the sun of sunny Florida, with tight skinny jeans on and make-up! haha Before I knew it I was sweating and sitting in the shade and we hadn't even taken off yet!

Once we set off into the sea for the day, we all headed inside for some game time and much needed A/C! JP started with Roulette and was getting lucky on every number, Jamie started with Black Jack and Brittney and I headed to the penny slots! We played this game, that game, moved around for a little while and then met back up with the boys for lunch.

We had a great lunch on the bottom floor, right at sea level...you can pretty much feel every movement down there (good thing none of us are the seasick type!) We watched a hot dog eating contest while waiting for lunch, not the greatest of ideas but that's what was on the tube. Lunch was pretty good, Jamie & I split quesadillas and a french dip type sammie, then headed back out to game it up!

After lunch Brittney & I decided to head back to the 1 cent slots and moved around machines until the Betty Boop game, Brittney wanted to play all day, finally opened up. We popped over there and played for quite a while...Betty Boop was good to Miss B, but we moved on to an even better set of machines! We sat down at these two machines that were just regular old timey slot machines, they were 2 cents a play and within 10 pulls I went from $20 to $108! I'm NOT a gambler so I played a couple more pulls then cashed out at $84.36! I was a happy camper due to getting back the money that I played, some of what Brittney played and walking out in the black! Needless to say, I didn't play anymore for the day!

We headed upstairs to the "night club" where there were games, air conditioning and less smoke. Since I wasn't playing, I was people watching and saw there was one solo lady dancing on the dance floor, she seemed to be having a grand ole time and I told Brittney, "I'm going to have to get in on that! Watch my purse...." The lady, Yvette, and I danced and had the whole place clapping along, as well as a whole bunch of hootin' & hollerin'! It was great fun, we even exchanged information...what a great gal!

The day was coming down to a dwindle on the gaming for us gals, so we just kept going up floors until we hit The Dolphin Bar. We enjoyed a nice drink together making sure everyone on deck was okay & having fun, especially this guy....

I walked over with a glass of ice water and woke him up, asked him if he was okay...he slurred, "I'm good, just getting some sun." haha Okay dude, have fun with that! Can't say I didn't try.

We sat up there for about 45 minutes before the boys joined us for the trip back to shore and what a trip back to shore it was!!

I can honestly say that I think we were the ships' best entertainment of the year, shit probably the entire existence of the cruise line! You get me, a day of beers, my family & live music together and well, everyone is in for a treat! Brittney & I started dancing around our table for a few songs, with even a gal giving me a dollar bill! (Holla)

[caption id="attachment_5565" align="aligncenter" width="363"] ...[/caption]

 Then, as if I didn't feel American enough on this 4th of July/Birthday/Anniversary/Family time trip, they started playing the Electric Slide......ohhhh yeah baby! I got up there, started dancing and no one wanted to do it with me...Brittney didn't even know how to do it! I said, "I'll teach you, I'll teach everyone! C'mon everybody!" So we start dancing and I grab a couple of people, some people get up on their own and before you knew it, we had a deck full of dancers doing the Electric Slide! Yesssssssss!!!!

[caption id="attachment_5572" align="aligncenter" width="371"] now back...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5573" align="aligncenter" width="324"] now turn...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5571" align="aligncenter" width="311"] Thank you for dancing![/caption]

Everyone had a great time on the ship, us and the people watching us! (You're welcome people for giving you a story worth telling about your trip! haha)

I think we were all pooped on the way home, but we made it in the pouring rain back to the house and 4 very excited dogs. Just glad it didn't rain on the ship and cancel our roof-top dance party!

Hope your weekend is as much fun as this and if not....make it that fun!

PEACE

 

A Surprisingly Fun Afternoon

We have been at the Casino del Sol for a few days and it's been great but we decided to switch it up a bit and go to a different casino, ya know...for options. Options are always great to have and to know about. We drove to what we thought would be a closer casino to my sister, when we decide to visit her, but it was totally not our cup of tea, there was an aviation training field right across the street meaning very very loud planes at all hours of the day and night,

the parking lot was not full of any RV's not really making us settle in very well, the neighborhood didn't make up for any of these other things either, so we moved on down the road to a casino in Sahuarita called Desert Diamond Casino.

What a huge difference! This casino had quite a few RV's of all sizes and was the biggest parking lot we've seen so far. We found our parking spot and thought we'd go inside and see what the casino was like. The building was really pretty, it had a really pretty fountain in a covered walking area into the entrance of the casino.

The casino itself was smaller than most we've been inside but it was nice. J' turned to me when we walked inside and said, "Let's play a game!" Now, he never plays the slot machines so it was a little out of the ordinary but...okay! We put a dollar into a penny slot machine and pulled a couple of times, the dollar ran out, put another one in, made a little bit of money then it ran out again. We put one more dollar in and we hit a few good rolls and ended up winning $9.30! haha How awesome is that!? We got up and walked around for a little bit, passing by the buffet restaurant, saw the prices: $9.99 for lunch buffet from 11-2...it was 1:51! The ladies at the buffet counter even gave us 10% off, usually if you have a player's card you get 10% off, since we wouldn't be able to go, stand in line, get one and get back to the buffet by 2 p.m., she gave it to us! Funny how things work sometimes huh!? The buffet was great, the most amazing thing too was they had all you can eat ribs! Cha-ching...Jackpot!!

The buffet was great and the best part was with our winnings, it was buy one get one free! Woo hoo! It was a fun unexpected afternoon...those are always a ton of fun! Now we're just waiting for the weather to change, it's supposed to get pretty cold again tomorrow and stick around for a couple of days...we might just have to get the heater down again!

Wish us warm!

PEACE

Once you go Black, you walk out!

This morning, I felt like a real girl! I woke up, took a shower...yes again! I washed dishes and made breakfast and even put on a dress, all while J' worked and tinkered around with our new TV (in the voice of the announcer from The Price is Right...say it again). I, probably unlike most women, LOVE to do dishes, well now that I don't HAVE dishes to clean anymore. It's very soothing and almost zen-like, ahhh. I wanted to make sure that every single plate, spoon, knife and fork were clean as well as our cookware and anything else that needed soap and hot water!

After everything was spic and span, I made us another pancake breakfast, we used the rest of the box and each got three nice sized cakes. I uploaded more pictures to my picture sites (still didn't get all the pics uploaded, think I need a couple of days but I was able to get about 9 albums loaded). J' got our TV working and figured out and we were able to leave the box behind as garbage. Lil' Phil (our portable TV) was NOT working out for us, let me name off a few reasons why; the screen was too little only 9 inches, the volume control was on the TV only, could not access it with remote, when you plug it in...which you had to do if you wanted to watch TV for more than 15 minutes, it would pixelate so bad it was almost unbearable to watch TV, it would only charge when the TV was off, not while it was plugged in and on...I will keep it at that. We talked about getting another TV, just a regular TV and we've been looking at Wal-mart. We saw a TV that would fit perfectly in our space (we know because we went and got a tape measure from hardware...) so, we bought it. It's a Sansui 19 inch and it totally fits in the space we have for it....so perfect!

Check-out was at 11:00 a.m. (I think it's wrong that we have to wait until 3pm to get into the room but we get kicked out at 11am. I know, I know, I've worked in the hotel industry, but I still think it's just wrong). It didn't really matter because we had somewhere to be, yep the Hullabaloo wasn't over yet, we were gonna go get our slots on baby!! Table Mountain Casino here we come!! This place was just a small place in the middle of the mountains and a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be. People did not give this place good reviews but we went anyway, the worst thing that could happen...we leave.

We spent a couple of hours here. Don't worry about the bug; covered parking and her A/C unit hooked up and working great and our check-ins on her, she was good to go. Now, you know that I am a picture girl (if you didn't know that, I am), I wanted to document our Anniversary/Birthday with a picture. I took a few pics of us, that didn't even come out good, in the elevator BEFORE getting to the casino.

 The doors of the elevator open, we walk out, walk past a 'security guard' and as we're walking past her she is hanging up a phone and says, "Excuse me miss, the men in the office just told me to tell you they saw you taking pictures in the elevator and you are not allowed to take pictures in the casino." I was like, Whoa!! They are fast. I said, "Oh okay thank you, it was just in the elevator though." Yeah, I got the evil eye! haha Geez take a chill pill. I get in trouble everywhere! We had a great time, though. J' played his games, I played mine and we got a free buffet because it was our first time there, oooo I even got a shirt! The food was good, the desserts were really good, I would know I had 3 or 4. And yes, I'm a law breaker, I took pictures of the food...so there evil eye-maker!

[caption id="attachment_366" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...let me see that Turkey Roll![/caption]

Nutty Cheesecake & Brownie

[caption id="attachment_369" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Peach Cobbler & Ice Cream[/caption]

We even walked out 'up' from what we walked in with...woot woot! On our way home, we stopped at a little gas station. J' came out to the van and said, "Take your camera and go take a picture of the dog behind the counter." I didn't know why, but I trust he knows me all too well so off I go. I walked into the store and I saw no dog, no guy, no one. I waited and someone else walked in and I heard a dog bark...a big dog bark. I looked and looked but only saw a dogs' leg under the counter. Finally the owner came out and I told him, I was supposed to come in here to take a picture of his dog (and asked if he minded)...then his dog jumped up on the counter, well put his paws on the counter! It was the most beautiful Doberman I've ever seen, although he had just had his ears clipped (booo). He was gorgeous, 7 months old and his name was Homer! I'd have a Dobie in a minute if we had somewhere to put one.

[caption id="attachment_370" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sweet baby Homer[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_371" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Look at those paws...and that face...so sweet[/caption]

Since we didn't stop to get groceries, we stopped in Prather instead, just for bread, ice and drinks. Things are more expensive here too, not as bad as Shaver Lake, but still more than Fresno. I did get a free yo-yo out of the deal though, suckers!

[caption id="attachment_800" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yo-Yo-Yo[/caption]

From the store we just came home, set up camp and hung out for the night. We watched our new TV (I'll make-up a name soon enough, gimme a break!) and we still only get two channels (I know it's the antennae). We get FOX and This. This~ is a channel that plays the most awful movies ever, they're all from the 80's or earlier (and not the good ones, yes there were some) and I swear they play movies where the main character in the movie must have gotten their big break from that movie or something...they're really something else. The other night we watched a movie with Alec Baldwin in it, hold on let me see if I can find the name.... Wow, that took some time. It was called Miami Blues and it was a stinker, so I thought. Tonight we watched Stephen King's Silver Bullet with Corey Haim, they were having a 24/7 Stephen King Marathon for Friday the 13th. That was the best movie we've seen yet on that channel! J' was asleep before me and off I went right after him. Our celebrations may be over on 'paper' but the celebration for life will go on and on and on.

Happy life to us all!

PEACE