Yikes! That’s how long it’s been since my last blog post. Well, let me tell you it hasn’t been for a lack of things to blog about – we’ve been busy bees, so buckle up. I’m going to try and catch up (not TODAY but over the next couple of weeks).

The first post is actually from February… I can barely remember it (sorry, Bart).

I started it and never finished, and here WAS the title: PARENTS ARE PEOPLE, TOO.

I realized that if our children were to look back at these past 8 years of blog posts they might think kids were the ONLY thing we’ve done as parents. My incredible husband is actually great at making sure we have some balance, and most years we go on a sanity trip, just the 2 of us. This year (and actually several others), we went to Vegas.

Bart likes to play craps (which he gets to do for very small windows of time, since he has to trick me into going to Vegas each time by filling up my dance card). I do not like to gamble. Actually, I DO like taking risks but I HATE to lose. And (sorry again, Bart) but no matter how lucky or skilled you are, if you’re gambling in Vegas, you’re going to lose…

The flight to Vegas from LA is short (45 mins) and cheap, and there are ALWAYS off-season deals at the gazillion hotels there. Our favorite is the Vdara (no smoking, no casino in the hotel), but we’ve stayed at various ones. Our trips are usually a max of 48 hours in Vegas. We’ve seen almost every Cirque du Soleil show there (I’ve seen Mystere 3 times), eaten at lots of crazy places, even gone to a dance club once, Hakkasan. Usually we’re so exhausted from being parents the other 363 days of the year, we end up doing more sleeping than most people do in Vegas…

Anyway, parents ARE people, too ;)

My point of this lead-in is that THIS Vegas trip in February, Bart planned out a “not-so-Vegas” itinerary. Yes, we saw a show (Michael Jackson One – it’s good) and ate a fun meal. But this time, we literally were picked up from the airport by an Electric Bike tour guide for a trip out to the Red Rock Canyon area on electric bikes. It was awesome.

The scenery was incredible (duh) but the coolest part was the bike. Contrary to what I would have thought, you DO PEDAL the whole time. You just have a motor assisting your efforts, and it’s a freaky feeling as it accelerates more than you could with just pedaling effort. Unless you are in great shape and LOVE to cycle, an electric bike is a terrific way to be out in nature and not die from exhaustion. If you do it in Vegas, check out EZRideLV – I’m even one of their testimonials!

Anyway, among other fun events we went to a “Yoga Retreat“, which was a 1.5 hour restorative yoga class, and Bart booked a massage for me beforehand at the little yoga studio that hosted the class: Yoga Sanctuary. Super relaxing and local experience.

And on the morning of our final day, we did an escape room at Escapology, which I also highly recommend. I should say, if you have a solid relationship with your escape partner and are realistic about one another’s strengths and weaknesses, then I’d recommend it. This was NOT our first escape room.

My first escape room was with my sister (at her recommendation). I honestly think it was an experiment on her part, to see if we actually shared a brain. Which, as it turns out, we do. We are perfectly paired, should we ever be trapped in an alien spaceship or have to “steal” our way out of museum or wake as a captive aboard the huge 3-masted 800-ton Chinese ship. You never know.

While Bart and I DID get escape from our first escape room with our marriage intact, we did NOT escape (GASP) in February. In contrast, my sister ALWAYS gets out, even when I’m not in the room… Maybe it’s just her brain that works?

Regardless, Zoe and Ella’s parents ARE people, and thanks to their marvelous father, we enjoy experiences of all kinds. So, to our children, though you ARE the center of our world, we hope that you both are lucky enough to find a amazing partner in life and don’t lose yourselves in the high intensity whirlwind that is parenthood, should you choose that route.

Even if you do end up in Vegas a lot…