2008 Las Vegas Day 1
Sunday 11/30/08
* Brandon woke up with a runny nose.
* Left home around 8am on a rental Dodge minivan.
* Alan drove the minivan all the way.
* He was in the driver seat, SIL in the passenger seat next to him, Brandon and I in the captain seats (2nd row) while FIL and MIL in the back row.
* First stop at a Walmart in Rancho Cucamonga for restroom.
* Brandon napped for 45 minutes before we arrived at Primm Factory Outlet at around 11:15am.
* I shopped at Coach and bought a handbag which later exchanged (on 12/2) for another style.
* Left the outlet at 12pm something. All were hungry.
* Arrived at Mandalay Bay ~12:30pm and had their champagne lunch buffet for $24.99 per person. I think the price is slightly too high for the selection we had. Brandon didn’t eat much and was giving us (me) a hard time to enjoy the buffet.
* Alan went check in after he was done with the buffet. We went up to our room 11212 after we finished our lunch. Only FIL and SIL stayed in the casino area for play. Brandon was happy when we were in the hotel room. He kept himself entertained by moving around the room and checking out the stuff including the bathroom too.
* SIL won some money (~$700) at the jackpot (but later lost all at another casino).
* We drove the ILs to their hotel (Mirage) to check in. The hotel room looks OK as they are just refurbished and it has the flat screen TV on the wall now. But the bathroom is small (compared to Mandalay Bay’s) as it only has a small tub, toilet and one sink.
* SIL’s room package came with 2 free tickets to The Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy. Since she was more keen to stay in the casino and the garden closed at 5pm, she gave us the tickets. We arrived at 4pm. The sky was already gray. They had a small dolphin show which Brandon really enjoyed. The garden is not big. It has two pools for dolphins and an enclosed area for cages with white tigers. We left around 4:45pm.
* I called my friend (Gregg) to meet up at our hotel. On the way back to our room, we bought a dinner meatballs spaghetti from Red White and Blue restaurant at Mandalay Bay. This spaghetti cost us $18! But it was good and the little boy ate quite a lot of it (he skipped lunch), so I was happy even if it was for $18, it was well spent as the three of us shared the meal and we were all satisfied.
* Gregg came and we chatted in our room. Brandon was playing with uncle Gregg and he left around 9pm, time for Brandon to go to bed. Alan wasn’t feeling 100% well as he was having a small cold and he was tired too.
* After I came out from my shower, Alan went down to the casino to try his luck. He returned in less than 30 minutes and Brandon was about to fall asleep but woke up when he saw his daddy. This time we actually booked the room with 2 queen size beds so I could share one with Brandon while Alan took the other one by himself. Brandon was having a hard time to fall asleep because his nose was stuff up. Alan went down to get some cold/cough strips from the nearby Pharmacy which took him about 30mins round trip. I carried Brandon until he fell asleep and then I placed him on to the pillows. Luckily we got the strips as Brandon woke up in the middle of the night coughing, so I gave him the medicine and he went back to sleep until the next morning.
Brandon didn’t enjoy the buffet? No spaghetti or kids’ food there? Maybe he didn’t love the dinner but he was too hungry. LOL. Yeah, sleeping with his head elevated should help. I totally know what you mean by carrying a stuffy-nose-toddler until he/she fall asleep. No wonder you are super tired, plus getting up at 6:30am 2-3 mornings in a row.
I woke up at 6am on that day we left here. Then 6:30am for the next two days. What a vacation! LOL! Not much kids food but I think Brandon was too excited to go outside to enjoy the fountain and ceiling fans around the hotel that was why he wasn’t interested in the food much when we just arrived there.
posted on December 12th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Wow… $700 all gone! Can buy about 2 Coach handbags!! Hmm… doesn’t fun to be sick while on vacation…
You know, we also always ask for 2 queen beds in hotels that we stay, so that I could sleep with Ian on one and Daddy on his own on the other. But we usually push the bed up against the wall, so that Ian won’t fall off the bed. Then we line the wall and headboard with pillows.
posted on December 14th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
when i was little (family of 4: mom, dad, sis, and me), we combine the 2 queen beds to make a humongous bed! i wonder if this works in hotels nowadays? can we actually move the night stand? i wonder…
posted on December 14th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Aiyah, I was hoping to read that you bunk with HB while Brandon was sleeping alone. Next time I buy you a bottle of vicks. hahaha!
Thanks, but luckily, I was smart enough to bring a bottle of vicks with me from home (I brought the thermometer too) which I applied to him before he slept. But the thin strips work best. It helps to clear the air passage of mucus.
posted on December 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pm