August 4, 2004

Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas, part 2

Day Three -- Fab Four Day

We hit the buffet for breakfast. It was your typical Vegas buffet -- meaning the food was passable, the price was slightly high, but since JZ ate more than I did, and he was free, I think we got a pretty good deal. I ran the kids back upstairs for a bath before Robert came to take over, freeing me up to go get my hair cut at the salon. My appointment was with a darling hairburner who listened to what I wanted and then did it (I wanted to keep it cut the same as I already had it; just shortened up a bit).

I went over to the convention to get the kids from Robert. JZ had been hanging on as long as he could but he'd had about enough and this is what happened before we even got out of the convention hall. We got him up to the room and while he was sleeping Madalyn and I had a room service lunch, during which she clowned around with garnish. Robert came back to the room later and I headed downstairs to play a bit. I promptly lost $xxx and headed back to the room to get more -- not to gamble, as I had bitterly sworn it off as the last of my credits had disappeared from the machine I was playing. I restocked my wallet and went to have a piece of cake in the cafe.

Robert was to meet me at the entrance of the theater around 7 to turn Madalyn over to me. I got there first, natch, and, while I was waiting, noticed a bank of "Reel 'Em In" nickel machines. REI has been my and Robert's favorite game for years but they have all but disappeared, of late, and are now very hard to find. (My theory is they pay off too much and were therefore phased out by most casinos. I have taken in excess of $800 from a NICKEL Reel 'Em In machine in the past.) Anyway, I was so happy to see my old favorite that I couldn't resist sliding in a twenty. 20 minutes later I had most of my losings back. I only quit because the show was about to start.

The show that Madalyn and I went to see was "The Fab Four," a Beatles tribute band. This was the second Beatles tribute band we'd seen (the other being "1964: the Tribute"). The Fab Four was very good. They did songs from a large span of the Beatles' career and had era-appropriate costumes, as well -- for example, Sgt. Pepper costumes. I'm very glad we got to go and Madalyn loved it, as well.

We stopped by TCBY to grab ice creams on the way back to the room. When we got back, Robert left for his turn at gambling. Jive turkey had the nerve to stay out till 2 a.m. and THEN he didn't even win! For cripes' sake, if you are going to stay out all night while your wife dozes fitfully because she's too codependent to sleep without you in the room, the least you could do is come back ahead. Men!

Day Four -- Super Duper Day o' Pampering

Ahhh...my favorite day. It started with a pedicure at 9 a.m. Love the lovely pedicure. Not that it floats my boat having my heels pumiced...it's the accompanying foot and leg massage that does it for me.

After breakfast, once again, at the Paradise Cafe, I took Madalyn on the Klingon Encounter ride at Star Trek: the Experience. This was a Bad Idea. She was less-than-impressed. I had forgotten just how violently the ride jerked and bumped. And I was so busy making sure she was okay that I paid little attention to what was going on (well, other than my arm being bent in half the wrong way as I shielded her head from a concussing blow to the headrest). What We Have Learned: just because a child is tall enough to go on a ride doesn't mean she is old enough.

We spent a little more time in our room while JZ napped and I had another room service lunch (convenient, though I have to say I can't taste any difference between an eighteen-dollar turkey sandwich and a six-dollar one). And then it was time for me to escape for a while.

At the Spa I was the grateful recipient of a massage and a facial, each a heavenly 55 minutes long. I just can't say enough about spa treatments. The first thing I'm doing after I strike it rich is hiring a massage therapist to keep on call. *Sigh*

As if those weren't enough Robert once again volunteered to stay with the kids so I could go gamble a bit. I was itching to get back to the Reel 'Em In machines. It didn't start out too well. The first machine ate $40 and I almost gave up in disgust. But I decided to try once more and put a $20 in the end machine. That one behaved like a real REI machine should and I got up to $125 before I stopped to go meet the gang for dinner.

Dinner at Benihana. Madalyn doesn't like shrimp, ginger salad dressing or grilled squash. John Zachary will eat rice but only if it has soy sauce on it. I didn't like it as much as I did the first few times we ever ate there. Won't be rushing back next trip. The guys liked it, though.

Back in the room, the kids went to sleep and much packing ensued. Robert had done a lot of it while I was at the spa so I finished up. Everything fit into the luggage we'd brought and we only had to carry one extra plastic bag onto the plane (my breakable Anubis sarcophagus).

Robert stays out till 2 again. Comes back this time with money. Is forgiven (for now).

Day Five -- Going Home

We had some time to kill because our plane wasn't until 4:30. Robert had scheduled himself a spa treatment over at Caesar's. I elected not to go because it would be a major project to get over there and then we wouldn't even have a lot of time to do stuff. So the kids and I had one last breakfast at the cafe and looked around the Star Trek "Promenade." Madalyn wanted to have a picture with this Ferengi statue. (She was trying to do the same thing with her arms as the statue is doing.) When Robert got back I went downstairs to see Borg 4D, which we had pre-purchased tickets for. I was, sorry to say, totally underwhelmed by it. Based on my reaction, Robert wasn't too sorry when we ended up not having enough time for him to see it before we had to leave. He will try to catch it next time.

We took one of the Hilton's shiny red limos back to the airport, arriving in plenty of time and checking in with no problems. Our flight was a little late getting out but we had enough time between flights that it didn't cause us any problems in Denver. The Denver flight was also a bit late leaving. By the time we got our luggage in OKC and got to the car it was past midnight. We then had to 1) stop and put air in one of the tires, 2) stop at Wendy's and 3) stop at Walmart to get Pull-Ups because Madalyn was going to sleep all the way home and she still isn't quite nighttime trained yet, and the last thing I wanted to do was deal with a car seat full of wee-wee at 2 in the morning.

We were in our bed, at home, by 2:45. Which isn't really that much later than my normal bedtime, if you think about it.

So, a brief recap:

1) Had a good time
2) Glad we went
3) Didn't lose our asses
4) Were able to do most of the activities I'd hoped for
5) Didn't like staying off-Strip
6) My toenails are orange
7) Madalyn hates ginger dressing but likes helicopters

The end.



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