New on the Las Vegas Strip

I encountered a strange new phenomenon on my last visit to Las Vegas (in November). Truly, Vegas is home to many strange phenomena, but by my tenth visit I was accustomed to most. 

I found them amusingly charming when we first happened upon these Hello Kitty characters as we started our tour of The Strip. My daughter happens to love HK, so Tanya and I posed for this photo op outside Caesar's Palace.  I had mistakenly assumed these two mascots were somehow connected to the hotel as part of a promotion or something. 

I quickly realized my error when the knock-off costumed characters grew ubiquitous along the sidewalk. A few were mildly interesting, such as the man on stilts disguised as part of a tree playfully startling passersby. And at least Bumblebee's costume is impressive and fairly relevant. 

Others were hideous and/or inappropriate, such as Garfield the loveable cat passed out to the tune of one too many (and sadly he wasn't the only character posed precisely the same way)...

...or this woefully homemade Spongebob costume.

This infestation brought me to realize that The Strip has been noticeably devoid of street performers in years past. I suppose the schmucks in horrible costumes plus a number of truly awful musicians are slightly less irritating than the "slap slap" of calling cards up and down the sidewalk. I'm just curious how they started and multiplied.  And also, who throws money into the bucket of a person sleeping on the sidewalk with a bunch of empty beer bottles, just because he/she wriggled into a dirty costume? It must be fairly lucrative or there wouldn't be so many...right? 

Bun in the Oven

Gary and I found out the day after Thanksgiving that we are finally expecting our second child. Of course we are thrilled and had fun sharing the news with family and friends over the Holidays. 

We wanted Madelyn to be the first to know.  Assuming she wouldn't keep the secret, we told her the night before her 5th birthday, when we planned to share the news with the rest of the family. 

Gary read Madelyn a special book I made for her. It's a story about how much everybody loves her with a surprise ending which says, "because Madelyn is so very special...everyone knows...that the new baby will love her too." You can read the book here; it is pretty cute. 

It took Madelyn a minute and some additional explanation to understand. Her reaction is hilarious--make sure you hear her final comment at :35.

"I'm pretty nervous about a little leg poking out your...bagina." 

Madelyn asked each of her grandparents to read this book to her when they arrived before her birthday party. I wore this "bun in the oven" shirt I had made at the party to surprise the rest of our family and friends. 

And then our Christmas Card/Announcement spread the message far and wide. 

It's a happy 2012 so far in our new home with a baby on the way.