And.... She's 21!

She's been waiting a long time for this day to come! Didn't we all? It was especially hard once we moved to Las Vegas. If you're not 21 you can't go into a lot of places. Well, you can, but you're prohibited in doing things. No drinking, no gambling. You can't even stand in certain places! It was very aggravating for Mary when her Aunt and Uncle were here for a visit and we had to change tables in a restaurant because the one we had been seated at was in the bar.

So close, but so far away for a couple of months here.

When we first moved to Vegas, Dayna was SO excited to plan Mary's 21st birthday.

(in a sort of evil big sister kind of way)

We had a practice run, of sorts, with my niece, Katie, back in November. Dayna performed a 'controlled drunk' for Katie and it was hilarious. We walked around the Strip, in and out of some casinos, and watched Katie get drunk and funny. So cute. And we were safe, watching over her as she consumed.

I didn't take pictures of Katie while we were drinking. If I did, I wouldn't post those here. Not without written permission, anyway.

All Mary wanted for her 21st was to spend time with her sister and her cousin. We've lived so far away from them for too long. It was SO good to see everyone.

Dayna, Bryan, Katie & Paris drove up on Thursday and we were off to the Strip in the afternoon. Mary was pretty adamant that she wasn't going to get drunk, but, whether she really did it willingly or was just appeasing her sister, I don't know.

We started out at Fat Tuesday for some frozen drinks. We found one that Mary could tolerate. She doesn't like the strawberry margarita that I like, so she tasted a couple and landed on a coconut flavor one that I can't think of the name. As we walked around she was encouraged to 'drink up' by her drunk coordinator, Dayna.

My three favorite girls

We came upon some random guys on the corner who had snakes! I saw them and started talking to them while everyone was walking ahead of me. They had to come back to see what I was doing!

 Mary had some slot machine lessons. Dayna popped in twenty bucks and Mary cashed out with thirty something, which paid for the Long Island Iced Teas at the bar.

Bill was the cup holder for the many trips to the Ladies Room. He wasn't drinking all of those.

 This is where it started getting serious.

 I don't know what they were drinking, but I knew that when Mary stood up...

her world was going to change.

 No more walking on her own. And we didn't make it back to that bar. That may have been a good thing.

 We intended on feeding her and were seated in a restaurant nearby, but things turned hinky and we left. She was pretty happy while we sat there, though, especially when she recognized us!

We decided to head home. Bryan and Dayna were her crutches. She told Bryan, 'You know you're my brother, now, right?' and went on and on about cinnamon and ranch. (You had to be there.) Bill and I were the designated driver's for the night. We had shared one drink when we first got there, but by the time we headed home we were good to go. 

We had two cars, so Bill, Dayna and Mary got home first, while Bryan, Katie, Paris and I stopped to pick up some food before we got home. By the time we got there, Dayna had Mary changed and showered. We tried to get her to eat, but she was falling asleep with french fries in her hand. We tucked her in, hoping she wouldn't wake up and be sick, but put a trash can nearby...just in case.

She woke up fine in the morning! We were all pretty surprised. She has no memory of events following the multiple shots at the last bar. 

I don't think this will be repeated anytime soon, but it was fun.