This year’s trip to Vegas was planned for a completely different reason than last year. I knew instantly that it would be better. Instead of tagging along with Paul while he went to a convention (and schlepping a 2 1/2 year old who didn’t wear diapers anymore and a 2 1/2 month old who didn’t like the smoke, noise, or lights) it was a family trip to meet the newest member of the family.
I was able to meet all my goals for the trip — minus the Bellagio. Oh well, another time. Turns out it’s pretty hard to work into the schedule something everyone has done but me.
We drove out early Saturday morning, with the car packed the night before. We were on the road shortly after 7 am, and thanks to GasBuddy.com gassed up a couple miles off the freeway in Irwindale for $4.07, a really good deal for out here. With our drive-thru breakfast and a full tank of gas we didn’t stop again until we got to Vegas. When we got to Primm we turned the ipod to Paul Anka; there is nothing better than rolling into Vegas listening to our favourite 90s songs covered like a lounge act. I highly recommend a listen.
We spent all day Saturday between the hotel and my brother-in-law’s house. My new little nephew is an angel, my brother-in-law looks very relieved to be done with his MBA, and his wonderful wife is … wonderful. When everyone settled in to nap in the late afternoon we loaded up the boys, and Granddaddy, and trekked off to the Mother Ship around the corner (a.k.a. the M&Ms store.) Neither Paul nor his dad had been there before, and they enjoyed it, but Little Red, of course, had the most fun. Nonna had charged him with choosing M&Ms that matched his striped shirt, which he did, amassing 1.87 pounds of candy! (I grabbed a couple extra bags to divvy up the plunder and share with the family.) I made the opposite of an impulse buy and bought the t-shirts I had wanted last year.
After a late super at El Jeffe’s in Henderson we dashed back up to the strip to the Palazzo for Andrew’s Ties. It’s a store headquartered in Milano, where Paul served his mission. They are marvelous ties and we just had to see the American store. The boys were patient, and my husband shopped quickly, and we were back at the hotel before anyone else.
On Saturday night we stayed at the JW Marriot Grand Chateau. It’s actually a Vacation Club (aka Time Share) but they rent out the rooms when not in use. My father-in-law, a fantastic deal-getter got us a three-bedroom suite. We were all together but all had our separate rooms and bathrooms. Little Red was able to sleep undistracted by his cousins, but we were all able to have yogurt and bananas together in the morning, and we plopped all four of the boys in the gigantic bathtub in my in-laws room.
We all went to Andrew and Nancee’s ward for the blessing of the new little guy, then over to their place for an amazing luncheon for our family and her family. By mid-afternoon I knew we were running out of goodwill from the boys and we took off to the South Point hotel to check in. (As we decided to stay an extra night we were on our own for paying for the hotel. We did not return to the Marriot, but Paul’s parents did join us at the South Point and it was a really nice hotel for a really good price.)
We had quiet time — what we needed most — and explored the hotel. Little Red thought the Bowling Alley was pretty cool, and he couldn’t wait until the next morning to hop into the pool. We went back to Andrew and Nancee’s to help them finish up the piles of leftovers, and went straight back to the hotel to crash.
Monday morning we had a leisurely breakfast with the inlaws, played in the pool, and went back to Andrew and Nancee’s to snack and say goodbye. Even with our stop at the Primm outlets on the way home the whole trip took under 5 hours. The stop was totally worth it, on a tip from his older brother, Paul found a great Ralph Lauren dress shirt for $15. Best of all, the only shirt left in his size was blue, and not some clown colour. 
We had a nice trip, but we are all so happy to be home. Boy Blue most especially — he did better than last year, but still would rather be home than in Vegas.
Posted by Zen Mama 
