VEGAS 2005!

The Arc de Triomphe at the Paris casino.

Bryan poses in front of the Brooklyn Bridge (his favorite architectural landmark) at NY NY Casino

Mom & Dad with the Campanile at the Venetian.
The weather was starting to get really ugly!
(sorry the pic is so dark)

Samantha enjoyed the car ride to Vegas!

Walking through Bally's with Poppa and Grammy

Taking the monorail to dinner, Elissa, Samantha and
Aunt Gloria

Don't they look happy? You'd never know they were siblings...

During dinner at Quark's, a Klingon female came to visit our table and make the Birthday girl feel at home.

Uncle Bob and the Klingon - the tallest woman'
he's met in a while.

Aunt Robin tastes the "James Tea Kirk",
an amazing concoction of many kinds of alcohol and
some dry ice for effect.

We have been to Quark's before, and know how to enjoy these big drinks!

The girls party with Mr. Borg

The Klingon Princess is in the middle... I think!

Auntie M, Mom & me, on the tram back to the hotel. We were very loud at our end of the train... I think we scared some of the other riders.

Samantha is holding on like a good girl. She was a little bit overwhelmed by all the new people.

However, she was willing to walk back from the monorail
holding hands with Uncle "By-an", and we were
all impressed.

As long as everyone was there and there were many cameras, we took a picture of all of the cousins with our Auntie M.  Clearly, height is not something that runs in the family. :(

The four cousins. This is the first picture of us all together
in ... MANY years.

Saturday, Bryan went to play golf with Uncle Bob and Gus.
By the time they were half-way through the course,
it was HAILING! oops. But doesn't he look like a pro?

Poppa, Auntie Mel and Samantha before dinner
at Diego's at MGM Grand

Aunt Abbe and Sam after our Sunday brunch. The children's store Les Enfants is behind them.

Voila! Fifi the purple poodle is added to the Fratkin family.

Samantha with Fifi and Mama.

View of the Hoover Dam from the top of the parking structure. It just seemed so much larger than I had expected.

Side of the dam, as seen from the museum building.

The giant turbines at the base of the dam.
Very cool.

A Native-American inspired tile design on the floor, which also resembles a turbine spinning.

Are you getting dizzy? This is the view down from
the top of the Dam. There are actually some pickup
trucks down there, can you see them?

These are the amazing Art Deco "angels" near the Nevada end of the Dam. They're actually the Winged Figures of the Republic. Click here for more info.

The Great Seal which appears in the marble between the two angels (left) - across the base are the flags of each of the seven states involved in the Hoover Dam project.

A monument to the workers who built the dam.
(and Dad in the front there...)

Sam and I say "Cheese!" as we get ready to go to dinner at Roy's.