July 5, 2007,

My good friend, Rita Wilkerson, arrived in Las Vegas today and is going to stay for a short visit. After we unloaded all her "un" necessaries, we jumped in the pickup and headed for Laughlin, Nevada, where we connected with two more friends, Leonard Hill and Sharon Boles. Rita, Leonard, Sharon, and I taught together at West Middle School in Liberal, Kansas. Rita, Sharon, and I moved on to other places and Leonard retired so this was a great chance to 'catch up' with each other. We did just that over a great buffet evening meal at Harrah's in Laughlin, and then we all tried our luck at gambling. That was more or less a disaster.

July 3, 2007

The five of us left Laughlin this morning and drove to Lake Havasu, AZ to view the original 'London Bridge.' My friend, Barbara Little told me that her grandfather had a part in getting this bridge from London, England, to Arizona. (I think she said her grandfather) This bridge was dismantled in London and moved to Arizona where it was reassembled piece by piece. After visiting with my mother by phone and telling her about our trip she informed me that my uncle also had something to do with getting the bridge over here and assembled. She wasn't sure just exactly what he did, but his name (for history) was Jerry Maruska and he was from Kearney, Nebraska. It was very, very hot for the entire trip; 110 degrees plus. Bill and Rita were seeking shelter in the shade, under the bridge. We talked to a lady making candles in one of the shops and she gave us a little history lesson on the bridge. When England first decided to replace the bridge they put it up for bids. The highest bidder was actually Red Skelton, a comedian. A developer from Lake Havasu was the second highest bidder, but England decided to give him the bridge because he was going to develop the area into a tourist area and the bridge would be usable. Red Skelton was just going to place it on his property and it would not be used. This was not what England wanted. I took a picture of the message from England, but I think you will have to enlarge it to see it in its entirety. I also took a picture of a British telephone booth so the next generation will be able to see what it looks like. Kids, remember this little lesson the next time you sing, "London Bridges Falling Down." It was so hot on the return trip that the air conditioner couldn't keep up; to amuse ourselves we started playing a little handheld version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" that Rita had brought with her. The very first game we made it to $32,000 and we never made it that far again. We played at least 25 to 30 games and could not believe that we had 5 teachers in the car and couldn't get to that level again, let alone make it to the million!!!!

I don't even remember what we did for our evening meal, but after we ate Bill and Rita tried the slot machines while Leonard and Sharon played blackjack. I watched. Leonard finally decided he had lost enough and relinquished his chair, which I took. He was not too happy to watch me get no less than 8 blackjacks in the very chair he had just vacated. All in all, we had a good time and I broke even.

July 4, 2007

Bill, Rita, and myself took a "water taxi" ride to the Riverside Casino at the other end of the mini "Strip" in Laughlin. We thought a ride on the Colorado River might cool us down, but it didn't! Rita visited "The Watchman" (store) at the casino and purchased two watches. After that the three of us went to the movies and saw "Live Free or Die Hard" and "Ratatouille." That killed off a hot afternoon. We had a room on the 16th floor with a river view so we pulled up our lawn chairs, opened the window a crack so we could hear the 'booms' and watched the fireworks from our air conditioned room. The pictures don't look like much, but if you double click on them, you will see that they are quite pretty when enlarged. Leonard and Sharon had to fly back to Liberal the next morning so Bill, Rita, and I headed back to Las Vegas.

July 5, 2007

We introduced Rita to some of our teacher friends in LV and then headed for the "Texas Station" Casino. We took in another movie, "License to Wed" and spent the rest of the evening watching Rita gamble. I introduced her to Hot Hot Penny and she and I sat at the same machine for 3 hours. She would win some and then lose some and eventually came away a loser, but we had a good time. Just before we headed out the door to go home, she decided to try a Cleopatra penny machine and "hit it" so she went home with a smile.

July 6, 2007

Rita left this morning so Bill and I headed down to the Tropicana to meet my brother (Jim)and sister-in-law (Gay) who had come to LV a few days earlier to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. They toured the "Bodies" exhibit and then we all had a very nice evening meal. After the meal they took us to the Wynn so we could see their room. I figured that would be the only way I would see the inside of a room at the Wynn. I forgot my camera so I will have to snap their picture on the next trip.

July 7, 2007

We met Jim and Gay at the Rio after lunch. They were having the World Poker Tournament their. The final table was open to the public after 3:00, but they had to return their rental car and catch a plane so we didn't get to observe the players. Jim and I did browse through the poker convention and picked up a few free items. The next time I play "Texas Hold 'Em" with my grandchildren I will have very nice cards to help them gauge their hand.

July 8-10, 2007

Bill and I spent the rest of Saturday sleeping on the couch, exhausted. Sunday was a day at church and more time spent on the couch. Bill had to go back to teaching today; he is an elementary music teacher the rest of this week. I spent Monday and today washing sheets, etc. to get ready for more company. My old next door neighbor, Shirley Carlile, is arriving tomorrow and will be here for a week.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Well, here goes the first day of our new "blog." We have never done this before; taking a directive from a friend, I decided to leave a recollection of our life for our children and grandchildren. I wish someone had thought of this 30 years earlier. Oh, the stories I could tell! As time goes on I may add some previous memories if they pop up while I am writing, but for the most part the recollections will start today. I am going to try and add pictures when I am writing. My friend does that and it really makes the stories come to life. However, since I am not very computer literate, I don't know how successful I will be so bear with me. Ha ha You know the picture you see here, well, I spent 30 minutes figuring out how to insert it and this ISN'T the spot I chose, but I intend to leave it here so I don't spend another 30 minutes trying to figure out how to move it. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that our names are William (Bill) George Symons and Therese Marie (Sperry) Symons.

As you know, Grandpa and I are living in Las Vegas, Nevada, now and enjoying it immensely. I miss my children and grandchildren, but I was just "tired" and needed a change. During the school year we spend most of our weekends at the casinos trying to win a little money. Sometimes we don't have much to gamble so we go to a movie or two. Here in 'Vegas' there are lots of ways to entertain yourself without spending too much money. For those of you who read this many years down the road, Las Vegas has a saying that many others are trying to use; it is "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Lots of companies have tried using a spin of this on their commercials, but it was finally ruled in court that they CANNOT use this slogan.

We are living in a "senior" complex. At first I thought that sounded kind of funny because we had not thought of ourselves as "seniors," but now that we are here, we kind of like it. It is pretty quiet, but you have to get used to seeing the paramedics and the ambulance here on an 'almost daily' basis. Some of these people are really "OLD." Kim (oldest of our three children) sat at our kitchen table one day and told her grandmother she sat at the table for five minutes and saw people using walkers, canes, and wheelchairs so she decided Grandpa and I weren't so old compared to those people.

Because I am just now starting this blog, I would like to include pictures of my family as it stands today. That way there will be a pictorial history of my family. This is Kimberly Renee, her husband Gilbernardo (G.B.) Caedo, and their children, from the left: Emily Anne, Gilbernardo Alexander (Alex), and Cassandra (Cassie) Elyse. They are living in Olathe, Kansas.

Our second daughter is Jennifer Dyan Ruckman. She is living in Mulvane, Kansas. She has two stepsons, Mitchell and Camron, living in Missouri. She has three of her own children and they are Morgan Breanne, Jordan Tyler, and Zachary Chase.

Left to right: (back row) Mitchell, Jennifer, Morgan (front row) Camron, Zach, Jordan. I would like to move this picture down, but I can't get it to move. I WAS doing good; after spending 30 minutes on the first picture, I added the next two in five minutes each, but it would only let me move this one once. Aaaaggghh! (Oooh, I just figured it out!)

Our third and final child was another girl, Melissa Dawn Parker. Her husband's name is Jonathan Mathew and she has three girls: Ashleigh Danielle, Hannah Marie, and Elizabeth Rae. They had another daughter born between Ashleigh and Hannah, Madison Taylor, but she didn't survive. They are living in Liberal, Kansas. Here is a photo of her family. We didn't make it to the "Welcome" sign when they were in Vegas, so we will have to put that on our agenda for their next visit. This was taken at Ashleigh's first communion in May, 2007, and we had just worn her to death with picture taking so she isn't too happy in the photo. (understandably so) Well, so much for figuring out the photos -- this isn't where I wanted this photo placed, but it won't move where I want it.

Well, I have to get ready for church now so I am going to post one last picture and be done with it for now. This is a picture of my mother (Therese's mother). Her name is Elizabeth Mildred Sperry Fetsch. I will publish my dad and Bill's parents soon.