Got Ribs?

What a weekend! (...but we're glad to be back breathing the "fresher" air in Sacramento. PFFT!) I wasn't all impressed with the ribs this year. But of course, we only purchased racks from Aussom Aussie's place, tried BBQ Pork sandwiches from somewhere else, and Rudy tried Carson City's Ribs. I was ribbed out after the first rack. There were plenty of other participants to sample from, but the lines were too long and our tummies were full. Perhaps Rudy was too lenient on the sauce selection or the fact that the meat didn't "slide" off the bone like I like 'em. Also, this tummy of mine was hungry, but the ACT of chewing the food doesn't sit well with me. Hook me up to some tube feeding???? Blech! Don't worry, I got plenty to eat. C'mon, we're in Reno and the buffets were everywhere! We chose the breakfast ones! Check out these cute little waffles they had...made with LOVE. This one was Bianca's (with a side of bacon). Donovan had two of them and I think Dominic had like 3 or 4...he was chowin' down! We enjoyed the buffet with our own private room. They must've figured with our party wanting 3 high chairs, they'd be best separating us from the public view. It was quite nice. At both of the buffets we went to, I made sure to get my helping of those starchy, yummy mashed potatoes with gravy - a MUST for this preggo bod! Infact, Sunday's buffet plate contained the mashed potatoes and gravy, homestyle potatoes and shredded hash browns...DARNED if I missed the scalloped potatoes on the other side of the buffet lines. Grrrr!

We stayed at the Atlantis this year, due to scheduling matters with our primary booker (Rudy) and did not get to stay at the Nugget as we have in years past. So we had to hop in our cars a few times more than we normally would to get us to the Rib Cook-Off. The Atlantis was okay though. Checking in was a bear, the kids were cranky from the drive and we were just anxious to get to our rooms. The Party of Six and our "party" had adjoining rooms, while Papa and Grandma chose wisely to take the room furthest away from our crazy crew. The kids LOVED the pass-through door to our rooms. Sydney and Peyton came over to our room to test drive the many shoes we had laying around, while Dominic and Bianca played in the armoire over on their side. Things they do to be amused!

We met up with the Amezcua's on Saturday and hung out with them for a little. The kids enjoyed playing at the arcade inside of John Ascuaga's Nugget for some time while we digested our ribs and the casino digested some of our money! Some highlights of our weekend are shown in the slide show below. Enjoy!