Viva Las Vegas

This past weekend our Management team went to Vegas for our yearly retreat. We always go before the summer because that is our busy season and they encourage us to not take any time off because we get so slammed. It's a great time for us to get on the same page and find things to improve and be prepared for the upcoming summer. We always read a book every year as management team and try to pull and grab things from it that will improve our department.

This is my 3rd year and we've read great books. The first year we read -How to become a 360 degree leader- 2nd year was -7 habits of highly effective people- and this year was the -Go Giver- of the 3 the Go giver has been my favorite. I related to it on so many levels not just professionally. (I'd definitely recommend it to anyone especially Jr. I'm trying to get him to read it.) We also had the privilege of bringing our spouses along for the trip. So it was a great Valentines weekend getaway. We got to stay in an awesome house about 8 miles away from the strip which I was so thankful for. Las Vegas is not usually my first choice to visit and also the smell of smoke for long periods of time makes me nauseous. I was so excited we were renting a house instead of staying in a hotel. We left on Friday the 13th and came back yesterday on Presidents day.

It was a fun and relaxing weekend for the most part. We have some crazies on our team that have to do crazy things or they just wouldn't feel like the trip was crazy enough. Which is usually the opposite of what I try to achieve on trips. For the 2nd time in my life I got talked into riding THE BIG SHOT on top of the Stratosphere. I really dont know how I get myself into these situations but I think it has something to do with peer pressure and not having a back bone to say "Nah, I'm good.....you crazy people go right on ahead and ride a ride that shoots you over 160 feet in the air on top of the already obnoxiously high enough 1000 story casino." The very top needle looking thing is where we blast off at but we did it at night.
It's the tallest building this side of the Mississippi or at least that's what the elevator operator said. I tried not to think about it as everyone talked about it all day on Saturday.
I even smiled for pictures and laughed at the jokes about "what if the ride broke down and we got stuck up there all night" or "what if we just shot up and the ride malfunctioned and we flew off like Charlie did in Charlie and the chocolate factory" but I was freaking out on the inside! When we got on the ride I tried to hold Jr.s hand for support but he said he wanted to try and hold his arms up the whole time. Needless to say he is one of the crazy people I've been talking about. I'm still alive and the ride was fun but I am soooooo getting older because all I could think of was -how I am doing something I'd never want my kids to do.
The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun too. We did a lot of shopping and eating. Here's a picture of our group at the Carnival buffet at the Rio hotel.

We played Rock band on the Wii and a game called signs. It's not easy getting 6 couples on the same page especially because other

then our one big meeting about the Go-Giver we didn't have an agenda. It was really about relaxing, bonding and enjoying each others company. Since becoming part of the Pinnacle team Jr. and I have literally become best friends with several of the people here. We hang out with them outside of work on a regular basis. It just happened that way, we all really get along so well it was not only a really awesome get away for work but also with our good friends. Our boys stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Maile. We're so thankful for all that they do for us. We never worry about them when Grandpa and Grandma Maile have them. Which made it so much easier to enjoy our weekend. They never stop giving. It was a fun filled weekend.