Waking up after a sluggish sleep, I realized with a start we'd be leaving for Vegas in a few hours. Funny how I've mellowed through the years... when the kids were younger, our vacations were always such grand productions, with me spending hours deciding what to bring and planning activities for each leg of our trips. Now that my kids could, and actually preferred to, pack for themselves, I found it didn't have to be an ordeal preparing for travel and recovering from it afterwards anymore.
We had reservations for a 5-night stay at the Wyndham Resort just off the Strip, right behind MGM Grand. I'd bought this hotel package from eBay on my cousin Doan-Trang's recommendations. Compared to my previous reservations at the Marriott TownePlace Suites in Henderson, which I'd canceled after I decided on Wyndham, this was a much better deal all around. One three-bedroom presidential suite could accommodate my family of five (minus Audrey), three of my siblings, my niece Natasha, plus my parents, together in a home-like setting, so we wouldn't waste time convening or looking for one another as we would if we were split into two 2-bedroom suites at the Marriott. The Wyndham package not only cost less, but its $849 price tag was all inclusive. There were no additional parking fees, taxes, tips, or resort fees. I never knew you could shop for hotel accommodations on eBay until my cousin assured me she's had good experiences with her previous purchases, which made me feel comfortable enough to give it a try, although I was a little wary initially.
Which was certainly ironic considering I'd been an eBay seller at one point! For a time I was dabbling in jewelry sales until I got overwhelmed with everything that was going on in my life and realized I certainly could prioritize my time better. During my short eBay stint, I would bribe the kids to model for me and photograph my merchandise... sometimes with hilarious results. More about that experience in another post.
Which was certainly ironic considering I'd been an eBay seller at one point! For a time I was dabbling in jewelry sales until I got overwhelmed with everything that was going on in my life and realized I certainly could prioritize my time better. During my short eBay stint, I would bribe the kids to model for me and photograph my merchandise... sometimes with hilarious results. More about that experience in another post.
I never sold the ring, but looking at this photo put a smile on my face every time. Our efforts were so amateurish... you could clearly see our dining room tablecloth in the background!
That was Andrea's hand in the picture. She was probably 14, but had long fingers like an adult's.
My eBay shopkeeper's image was a photo of Audrey taken on the staircase of our Columbus Square home
After talking to Audrey last night, I'd quickly notified my cousin of the pageant's cancellation by phone (as we had plans to meet in Vegas), emailed my brother Doca so he could decide whether he'd still want to join us in light of the bad news, and called my VISA's 24-hour customer service line to dispute my charges for the pageant tickets I'd bought in advance. I decided not to bother pursuing the pageant organizers directly, since they probably had a gazillion claims pending against them, and I figured I didn't want to be the smallest fish waiting in line for reimbursement. My requesting a refund through VISA was probably the more proactive choice.
It reminded me of a similar incident with Paul, the girls' ballroom dancing instructor. He'd asked to skip their lessons for one month in order to go on vacation. Paul and his mom went to Mexico in August without realizing Mexicana Airlines had just filed for bankruptcy. Since Paul bought his flight ticket through his family, who'd paid in cash, he had no recourse. Not only did he lose his vacation, but his income for the month as well, since many of the canceled lessons could not be rescheduled.
It reminded me of a similar incident with Paul, the girls' ballroom dancing instructor. He'd asked to skip their lessons for one month in order to go on vacation. Paul and his mom went to Mexico in August without realizing Mexicana Airlines had just filed for bankruptcy. Since Paul bought his flight ticket through his family, who'd paid in cash, he had no recourse. Not only did he lose his vacation, but his income for the month as well, since many of the canceled lessons could not be rescheduled.
We left Tustin in two cars shortly after enjoying an El Pollo Loco take-out lunch at my parents'. Our drive to L.V. was stress-free and uneventful, even though we didn't leave early as I'd hoped in order to avoid traffic. At a gas stop along the way, everyone experienced the desert's oppressive heat in full force when we left the comfort of our air-conditioned car interior for the minute it took to slip inside the station's convenience store. The weather forecast predicted temperatures topping 105 degrees for our days in Vegas. I expected the kids to spend a lot of time at the resort pools.
5:15 PM. Traffic slowed down to a crawl as we entered the Strip. Everyone was in a chirpy mood knowing we were minutes away from our destination. I realized Audrey hasn't called all day and wondered what she was up to.
We checked in in Tower I, but were told that our suite happened to be on the 12th floor of Tower II. Lauren perked up immediately when she noticed a Starbucks coffee cart in the hotel lobby with berry smoothies on its menu in addition to her favorite frozen barista drinks. She made me promise to stop by with her the next morning. I knew then I'd be crisscrossing between the two towers for the duration of our trip!
The kids were old enough to be mostly immune to Vegas' glitz and games, but not mature enough to reasonably sort out who got which room without bickering. To prevent trouble, I quickly assigned rooms and made sure everyone understood that my arrangements were non-negotiable.
I loved it that we had three bedrooms and four TV's! I'm not above letting the kids distract themselves with the tube in their couch-potato moments, although I'm a non-viewer who banned the TV from our bedrooms at home. Andrea and Kiet watched the same shows (mostly Law & Order SVU, chef competitions, and Discovery Channel), so they were suited as roommates in the most important way. The two happily plopped down on their king bed after seizing the remote.
In their own bedroom, Natasha and Lauren set out to claim cabinet and closet space for their clothes and knickknacks. Lauren immediately brought out markers to make signs declaring which toiletries belonged to her on their shared bathroom countertops. She reminded me (unfortunately) of a woman I knew who forbade her husband to set any of his personal items near their His & Her sinks because hers took up all the space. It never failed to amaze me that the shrews always got nice husbands... or could this be chalked up to a survival adjustment thing on the husbands' part?!
If I'd seen Wyndham ten years ago, I would've been impressed with its interior décor. My tastes have evolved over the years to favor simplicity. Although the presidential suite's furnishings were supposed to be the poshest in this hotel, in my eyes they didn't improve the look of the busy crown moldings and dated light fixtures by much. But I loved the spacious floor plan of our suite and how well it suited our family's needs. My mom happily unpacked groceries to prepare our first meal in the suite's fully-equipped kitchen. The kids found out from an elevator sign that room service was very affordable here ($12.99 for a two-topping medium pizza), so they sweetly suggested that Grandma take a day off anytime she felt like!
Audrey declined to join us for dinner, claiming she still had a lot of homework. As soon as she found out we would soon do laundry in our suite, which had its own washing machine & dryer, she said she needed to pass along her dirty clothes, which she had kept separate in a plastic bag so as not to soil her suitcase. I was pleased that Audrey had actually remembered my #1 travel tip, and agreed to visit her at Planet Hollywood tomorrow to pick up said laundry.
Audrey had promised her pageant friends to draw caricatures for them as souvenirs after she got done with her school projects. Some of the girls would be leaving soon when their families came to pick them up, but most decided to stay and enjoy Vegas until their hotel stay ran out. Audrey told us she'd recently gone out with a group for crawfish. Certain girls would take over as interpreters for their groups so everyone could communicate with each other no matter which country they came from, although their preferred language was still Vietnamese. My mom was flabbergasted to learn Audrey had also hung out with her roommate from Vietnam (chi Hang) and two of her male friends. Mom is very old-fashioned and thinks no one should go out with people they didn't know. "Grandma!" Audrey protested, "The guys were chi Hang's make-up artist and translator. One is gay and the other's bi!" I thought the whole thing was hysterical.
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