ring around the rosie: viva las vegas

so we didn't come home with any benjamins if you were wondering. i knew i should've cashed out when i was up 14 cents on the slots but you live and learn, right?!? jay and i didn't actually gamble much, not even in the way of slots. it was a long first day and we didn't get into sin city until the evening and it was still h-h-h-hot. lucky for us there were predictions for weather breaking records that week and sure enough the very next day was a scorcher, a record breaking 108 degrees. does anyone know what that is in celsius? no? well, you're in luck because i do. 108 fahrenheit = 42.22 celsius. i am not kidding. i must've been expecting the very worst because it it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be as did wendy. it was probably because of the humidity factor. gaad, humidity is just unbearable. we were worried little monster might kick up a fuss with the heat but he was a-okay with it, just a bit dopey but that might be because he poor little nose was stuffed up still.

who doesn't love a snot bubble?

and how awesome was it that the wong's were in the vegas the same time as us?!? we got to hang out with mrs. wong at their palacial digs at the palazzo until garret finished up at his conference. the room was crazy fancy and the view was incredible. we had all our swimming gear with us but the pool had to be closed that day due to high winds. unlucky for us. we went to the burger joint called stripburger across at the fashion mall. it was pretty good but not nearly as good as the burger brasserie at paris. if you want to taste the most AMAZING fries EVER, you need to go to the burger brasserie and try the petite frites. best. frites. EVER. but stripburger did have pickle fries. what are pickle fries, you ask. well, you're in luck again because i know. basically there just battered dill pickles. they were served with a ranch dipping sauce. seriously, anything is good deep fried.

nice view, huh?

i'm staying here tonight, uncle garret. i hope you don't mind sleeping in the other bed.

who is this strange woman feeding me?

wendy, amy and i spent a day shopping at the outlet malls. wendy's eyes glazed over when she saw the banana republic signage and power shopping mode kicked in. i was happy to get a pair of birks that i've had my eye on for some time now...for half the price! woo-hoo! but other than that there weren't too many good steals. amy stocked up on shirts for garret and baby stuff. (not trying to start any rumours, people! baby shower gifts! jeesh.) and wendy came away with a pair of kate spade sunnies that she had been coveting. and after the shopping fun was over we had to hop back on the bus to get home and boy it was an interesting journey. it all started when we missed the 108 so we waited and waited. a couple of buses had gone by, but no 108. then were was a lady with a gold capped tooth that came running up to the bus stop disappointed to that we let the bus go. "y'all do know that each and every bus that's passed get you back to the strip, right? i was runnin' cuz i thought y'alls gonna hold the bus!" and the adventure begins. we get on the next bus with this lady telling the entire bus that we've let multiple buses by without getting on thinking that only the 108 took us back to the strip. don't get me wrong she was funny and we probably owed it to her otherwise we'd probably still be waiting at that bus stop. and unlucky for us the driver of this particular bus was loud and quite unhelpful, yelling at the passengers whether we needed the next stop or not...hmmm...isn't that what the bell is for but anyway, no one was really answering her and so she got all pissy (probably because she had an undercut too, like how 80's) and started berating us tourists. then that got the gold capped tooth lady started again so we had it coming to us from both sides. i wish i had it on video because it was one of those things you try to tell people how funny it was but comes out sounding not so funny, so reading about it is perhaps worse than hearing it. sorry, y'alls, i tried.

my birks

jay and i got to go out and have dinner all by ourselves while my MIL watched over the monster. it felt really good to get out on our own. no serious conrad withdrawls. and we had some really good mexican grub that was really affordable seeing that it was situated in the venetian alongside the canal. so we wined (mmm, sangria) and dined as we watched the gondolas go by. how romantic.

actually, conrad was with us as we finished our dessert. tee-hee.

and after having paid her babysitting dues, my MIL had the lovely chance to see cher at ceasar's palace. so a good time was had by all in vegas until a baby gets locked in a hotel room and the front door has been deadbolted and the door from the adjoining room slams shut after the baby's aunt and mother return from a junk food run. yes. being the extra cautious dad, jay had locked our door from the inside while he watched the boob tube in wendy's side of the room as conrad slept in ours. upon our return, we triggered an air vacuum and the adjoining door slammed shut and our keys couldn't unlock the door so we had to call the front desk. pandemonium ensued (not really but i like to make things more dramatic for storytelling purposes.) the key guy came and unlocked the door but he also had to call security to verify that we were indeed the registered guests. poor little monster must've known something was up because he started crying but luckily drifted back to bed after a few minutes. phew. another lesson learned.

good times. good times.