Miscellaneous:

*US Attorney General Holder was a 2013 victim of identity theft.  From the article: "Identity theft is becoming the third certainty in life...you can put off the day of reckoning but at some point you will become a victim" - I hope it's once in a lifetime because then we are done with that!!!!

*There was a significant earthquake near LA while we were there a couple weeks ago and it was felt in San Diego County - I think we did not notice because we had 3 grandkids either running in circles or jumping on the beds:)

*I brought home seashells that were very stinky when I opened the bag so googling tells me to boil them - a small sand crab floats to the surface - boohoo!

*One day in San Diego Ross the Man Dishwasher put dishwashing liquid instead of dishwasher liquid into the dishwasher - It was a Foam Tornado all over the place and the kids thought it was amazing - me not so much!

*On the flight out to Las Vegas the announcement comes on "It is a 2 hr 45 min flight to LA" - hmm - I thought I was going to Las Vegas; a minute later another announcement to correct the first....whew!!!  So far we have not gotten on the wrong flight in our travels.

OK - back to Las Vegas.   We visited an old Mormon fort that was the start of Las Vegas.  It's hard to admit I remember a wringer washer and washboard.

And I know how to use a treadle sewing machine:

I call these the Mob Shadow Guys - Jon and Ross in front of what else - the Arch de Triomphe - it is not Paris of course but Las Vegas which has fake everything and is over the top but beautiful in its own way.

It even has the Eiffel Tower!

This is the real Eiffel tower from our visit a couple years ago - what's real and what's not???

I missed the Macy's annual Flower show this year but I got to the Bellagio Las Vegas spring flower show and it was just as amazing.

The little sign tells you not to walk on the flowers - I couldn't see quite how one could do that without falling since they are in individual pots!!!

Who else but the crooner Wayne Newton - I saw his show once in the olden days when I lived in LA somewhere between 1968-1970.  This was from 1965.

There is an excellent fairly new Mob Museum and I highly recommend it if you visit Las Vegas.  We spent over 3 hours there and could have stayed longer.  I really did not like the feel of the electric chair but fortunately noone  could pull the handle - zip zap!!!

You could also shoot a mob machine gun and it was loud.  I have always had a fear of guns even though I grew up in a hunting family.  I think my Dad warned us so much about it and I never saw a gun loose anywhere in the house and  it left me fearful and that's OK.

I hope I am not related to the famous former but dead mob member Dutch Schultz - but I would guess he is probably German like me.

"Downtown" Las Vegas - seriously everything is way over the top.

Now - first comes Easter at our house; then comes Bucharest and Budapest and a year from now 4 of us ladies have a cooking vacation booked for Italy and we hope to see Pope Francis while spending a few nights in Rome.  The couple who run it sound fun and have great reviews and it is a bargain compared to most of them.  I am the "planner" and we are thinking of a name for our group - like maybe OLOT (Old Ladies on Tour) - however we don't seem to like being called OL!!