The first day we were here Darren and I went to explore the area around our hotel, we found a big shopping mall across the road so did some shopping. As I didn't have my clothes yet, Matt was bringing them on Monday, I had a good excuse to buy some stuff, not too sure if the excuse extended to 2 pairs of shoes but hey ho, they were very nice lol.
The girls all arrived safely after 2 hours sat on the runway at Gatwick due to a plane having to do an emergency landing in front of them. We went for some dinner then all got an early night. Saturday was a day off so we headed to the outlet mall close to the strip to pick up some bargains. Kirsten and I have been to Vegas a few times before to play the Mega Buck events but for the other 4 girls it is their first visit so we have lots of things to show them! Saturday night we went to the Blues Brothers restaurant in Mandalay Bay. We had a live blues show while we ate :) then wandered around the luxor before heading back.
Sunday we went down to the Cashman Centre for unofficial practise. The set up there is very impressive, I will take some pictures and load them up. It is great to be able to compete in this kind of arena, let's hope this raises the bar for the standard of centres we will compete in for championships going forward! Practise wasn't on the tournament oiling patterns so just a way of us getting used to the environment and loosening up. We bowled for a couple of hours then headed back to the hotel to change and go out for dinner. We went to Samba a brazilian steak house in the Mirage for dinner. This is one of my favourite restaurants in Vegas, they serve all the meat from swords. We then wandered along the strip outside taking in all the lights. Although it was very hot (its 100 at night and up to 120 during the day here) it got the girls some great pictures!!! We stopped to watch the Bellagio fountain display and then headed back.
Monday was official practise and we were in the first squad at midday. Practise went well for the whole team. We all matched our equipment up and selected the 6 balls to keep in and excluded the other equipment we had brought.
In the evening was the opening ceremony which proved to be very amusing!!! We all had to emerge in teams from the walkway in the middle of the centre and walk out with our flag. Once all the teams had taken their places on the approaches we were invited to take a seat in the settee area. There were a few short speeches then the entertainment started. In true Las Vegas style Elvis emerged down the walk way strutting and grinding in a white sparkly suit. We all took much amusement as he ran through a number of classic songs. He was making his way up the approaches serenading a few bowlers on the way. As there weren't enough seats the French coach had gone and brought some more seats and I had sat on the end closest to the approach(much to Jo's relief!). Elvis starts heading our way and all of a sudden he's sitting on my knee!!! Much to the amusement of all on lookers! I'm sure some people got some funny pictures. Next was the turn of Cher, she want through a few songs and danced up and down the approaches. It was a very amusing and cheesy performance perfect for Vegas!
After the opening ceremony we headed back to the hotel for a team meeting and were told our squad times and pairings for the singles. First up would be Fiona and Hayley at 9am, the Lisa and Jo at 13:30 then Kirsten and I at 18:00.
Zara
www.zaraglover.com
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