Always Bet on Jillian

Remember when I said that Aruba was all about "firsts, winning, and great memories"?  It certainly was!  One of the nights in Aruba, Auntie Andy and Jillian stayed at the hotel while we went out with Julian's parents.  We got all dressed up and hit the town.  

A little sunned, but having so much fun!

There is an area in Aruba that has a whole bunch of open air booths, restaurants, and bars.  Even though it was a Tuesday night, the place was still busy with people.  We decided to go to Senor Frogs...no classier place (read: sarcasm) in all of Aruba.  The place was crawling with 18-21 year olds who had clearly had too much to drink.  We spent much of our time there people watching as ridiculous contests happened, and shots were had (not by us...yet), and lots of grinding and making out was happening.  Needless to say, we also spent much of that time hoping, praying that our daughters* would NEVER find themselves in Senor Frogs doing these things.  Lucky for us, Jillian has at least 17 more years till she reaches this age...for Julian's parents...well, let's just say that Andrea Sofia is maybe 17 months away from being able to do these things...**

No Senor Frogs for these 2...not in Aruba...not ever!!!

*Sidenote 1 - I may or may not have been to a Senor Frogs when I was this age..."I got secrets can't leave Cancun"...but that's a post for another day me to never blog about

**Sidenote 2 - Andrea Sofia is the most well-behaved child you have ever known...I think her parents had a wild child first (ahem, as in Julian) and their good child second...sorry, babe!

After a few drinks, it was time to leave Senor Frogs.  After a quick stop in the worst piano bar ever (it was bad, don't ask), we went back to the hotel, grabbed some cash, checked on our girls, and headed back out to the Alhambra Casino.  It was literally 2 blocks from our hotel.  And Julian had been begging to go gamble since he noticed how close we were to the casino.  So we went.  

Julian and I love to gamble...it's one of our vices (and the free drinks they serve you while you are playing, well, those don't hurt either).  I'd like to think that I am pretty mild gambler (this somehow makes it ok), so I set parameters and dollar limits and time limits (and drink limits).  We started with $40, nothing too extreme.  We sat down at the roulette table and got to work.  This was the first time we had played roulette since Jillian was born, and so aside from playing our normal numbers, we also decided to bet on Jilly, too (please be sure to include this in our parents-of-the-year nomination).  Every time, we would put at least one chip on the 2-3 split (for her birthday, 2/3).  That means that every time 2 or 3 hit, we would win 16:1.   

Now I know that Jillian is the most lucky little charm in the world.  She has blessed our lives in so many ways and we are certainly "winning" in the game of life with that little girl.  But she LITERALLY was the most lucky thing that happened to us that night.  As in, the numbers 2 or 3 hit like 8 or 9 times.  Needless to say, Jillian won us money that night, and we walked away $150 richer.  Gosh, I love our little lucky charm!

Sorry, no pics from the casino.  I know you can't take pictures in the Vegas casinos (while playing) and I didn't want to take our chances in Aruba, a foreign country.  But trust me when I say that we were smiling from ear to ear after our fun night out in Aruba.

So that's it, folks!  That was the last post about the amazing time the Acostas had in Aruba.

Costa Linda, the place we stayed at

So long, Aruba!

Now where to next?! ;)