A child was born and it wasn't one of ours!
Can you hear the relief in my voice?
My wife is one of three girls but until today, she was the first to have a child. Cari's older sister went into labor yesterday afternoon and Cari was really disappointed she couldn't be in Green Bay to help her sister out. I must say it was rather amusing from my perspective, though. The phone rang with absolute regularity as her younger sister and mother kept calling my lovely wife (and mother of six) for advice and counsel on the birthing process.
Of course, my wife was concerned as the labor went through the night and well into today - and it was a problematic labor for a variety of gross woman-thing reasons. It should suffice to say that the doctors finally decided to do a cesarean section to remove the baby. Let me quickly say that mother and baby are fine, so don't worry about any of that.
Let me also say for you folks who love fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, that the term "cesarean" has nothing to do with Caesar's Palace. It comes from the Latin verb "caedere" which means "to cut."
Anyway, this post is not about the birth.
Rather, it highlight's my wife's efforts to keep her mind off things and to forever document for this little new baby girl what her Aunty Cari was doing at the moment of her birth.
Well, to keep herself occupied, my wife decided that we should have lunch at the Top of the World Restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere Hotel...
As you can see, the Stratosphere tower is an absolutely huge building. It is the tallest observation tower in the United States and is only dwarfed in our country by the Sears Tower in Chicago. We had lunch on the 106th floor, which is at the upper portion of the glassed in area at the top of the building.
Here is my wonderful wife next to the windows facing to the west...
The next picture is out our window looking down at the famous Las Vegas Strip to the South. As you can see, the Stratosphere looks down over every building in Las Vegas by a huge margin...
And in case you hadn't figured it out, at some point during your meal you will face in every direction because the Top of the World Restaurant revolves in a circle while you're eating. Seriously, it is a revolving restaurant.
It's pretty wild, and the view looking down is amazing.
Of course, this is Las Vegas, so building the second tallest building in the United States simply isn't enough.
Making the signature restaurant rotate 360 degrees during your meal isn't enough either.
This place needed something really dramatic.
So at the top of the Stratosphere, on the roof immediately above the restaurant in which we were eating, is the highest roller coaster in the world. It wraps around the top of the building!
But even that isn't wild enough. Thus the newest ride which opened earlier this year. Friends, welcome to "Insanity!"
This is a picture of some folks on the ride taken through the upper windows immediately above our heads...
If that doesn't freak you out enough, look at the ride from the side view...
Yes folks, this ride consists of four arms which hold two people on the end of each arm. Then the ride spins rapidly in a circle until the arms are almost vertical and the riders are looking straight down. They spin over the edge of the building some 108 stories above street level.
Cari's sister and brother-in-law were having trouble deciding on a name for their new child.
I'm sure that when naming this ride, "Insanity" was a really easy choice.
Well, to celebrate the birth of our first niece (on Cari's side of the family, that is), we thought that dessert was in order.
And it had to be something special, of course. So special that the waiter had to assemble it at our table...
As you can see, it is a model of the Stratosphere itself. The base of the tower is made of white chocolate. The glass top consists of tiramisu in a chocolate shell. The spire at the top is a chocolate dipped wafer. The whole thing is then covered with a vanilla sauce.
Healthy it ain't. But this new baby must be destined to be an angel because the dessert in her honor tasted like heaven.
Of course, Cari and I must be human earthquakes when we eat because the Stratosphere came quickly tumbling down...
And so goes our afternoon during the time Elliana Alyssa was born...
She was already learning to sleep late and drag her blanket around everywhere just like her namesake, our daughter Alyssa.
And as for having more children ourselves?
I can absolutely assure you that my lovely wife Cari and I will under no circumstances be having any more children anytime this year.
You have my word on it.
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