Wednesday, January 7, 2009

It's snowing in Las Vegas..





Once again I am reminded that buying my timeshare 11 years ago was such a gift! We booked a gorgeous condo in Las Vegas and invited my girlfriend Colleen and her brood to join us. I had checked the weather and knew that that December in the high desert was expected to be cold, but we were in for a surprise when it started snowing, apparently it has not snowed in Vegas for 2-3 years, it was quite a sight, palm trees covered with snow. they got 11 inches in Henderson which is just North of Vegas. Since my boys were still recovering from Chicken Pox we were still laying low, playing lots of games and making daily ventures to the jacuzzi. It is always awesome to hang out the the Krueger family, I pretend i am in a large family (since I grew up an only child) and I love it until it gets too loud and overwhelming and I run to my room and take a break.

After a few days of quiet, I piled 5 of the kids in the car and we headed out to the strip to explore the free kid shows and activities. We saw the tigers at the MGM hotel, visited the M&M store - 4 floors of M&M branded products and a 3D movie that we are enjoyed on their theater, We walked and walked, saw the Eifel Tower at Paris and a great show at Caesers Palace, played in the Apple store in the forum shops and the amazing FAO Schwartz store with a 2 story Trojan Horse that you can walk through! We wore ourselves out walking and the kids were tired and our car was some 2 miles down the road. When i tried to hire a taxi I was told one taxi could not fit all 6 of us, we'd have to get 2 taxies, I did not want to split up our group as I was the only parent. I remembered the train that runs down the strip and we walked a long was to access the train only to find out it would cost us $30 to take the train, more than the cost of 2 taxies. What to do??
I approached a big van and asked a guy to give us a ride, but he said no! Reese was really not feeling well and complaining, I was stressing.. I walked out a side entrance to the hotel we were in and a man approached me, can I help you? .. I desperately
tried to gather myself, i was panicking a bit.. we need a ride, just a mile down the road, to the MGM hotel..
I'll give you a ride he said.. he was standing nearby a massive Limo I realized.. it looked like a truck from the front, it was a Ford, i'd never seen anything like it. I'll take you .. for $20. ok, lets go.. the kids went crazy.. he opened the door and we piles in.. wow.. it could hold at least 15 -20 people, it had disco lazer lighting throughout, amazing music from every direction.. and get this.. a pole to dance around. The kids could stand up in it, they could not believe it.. none of the kids had ever been in a limo and for the next 20 minutes (there was a lot of traffic) we were pop stars! Janina Colleen's 9 yr old daughter kept saying "I'm a pop star!" All the kids took turns dancing on the pole, we sang to the music and I took lots of pictures. It was the highlight of our trip.
Yes I spent a week in Vegas, did not gamble or see a show, but lots of deep relaxation .. very nice after our 12 hour drive from Colorado.. after 6 days there, we headed to Pasadena to see my mom, sister, cousin & niece & nephew. It's been 6 mos since seeing our family, can't wait.

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