DAY BY DAY

IE's best family calendar

October 2008
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
2829301234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930311
2345678
Submit your event here
Hugs Foster Family Agency
Kid Quips

KID

QUIPS

“One night, my 3-year-old asked me if she could sleep in my bed. I told her no. She said, “That’s not fair! Why does Daddy get to sleep in your bed?” READ MORE

SUBMIT YOUR QUIP

Mom on the Edge

Untitled Page

Las Vegas or Bust

And you thought the heat wave stayed in SoCal.

By Sandra Tsing LohPublished: August, 2006

And you thought the heat wave stayed in SoCal

So  it came to pass that our family willingly went on a vacation to  Las Vegas. I’m still not sure how this happened.

I think it  sprang less from a single moment than from one of those vague decisional clouds whose murky origins neither parent can quite remember.

Perhaps the first seed was a clusterlet of Cirque du Soleil tickets. Yes. Off the Internet. Via my husband, for whom, on the Internet, everything looks irresistible, from log cabins that come in a kit to a $130 one-foot-long bass harmonica. Which, if you’re curious, does indeed make a very low note.

Onto that clusterlet  of tickets grew an experimental strand of two $69-a-room nights at the Excalibur  which, upon entering the kitchen, I soon nixed.  Drawn  into my husband’s flurry of keyboard clicking, I found myself on a page  full of customer reviews of the Excalibur, woeful Beowulfian tales of cigarette  smoke and stainage. I suggested to my daughters’ father that our family  was not so poor that we couldn’t afford $79.50 a night for four people,  perhaps even $89.99.

With that in mind, we sprang for the four-star Luxor, where we got a super-duper giant deluxe whirlpool suite  for $90. . . or $130. . . or  $180 if you threw in  the rollaway.  Never mind – it was fabulous, complete with a faux  Egyptian column into which the TV magically rose up and down. Cirque du Soleil  was also spectacular, fueled with enough taiko drummers to drown out our stunned  gasps of “Holy sh&*^#!”

The problem was, waking up the next morning,  we were still in Vegas. Or at least, in our sumptuous Luxor suite which, very  much like ancient Egypt, lacked a coffee maker, microwave, and anything to read other than ad-filled Vegas magazines. Bewildered  by a lack of caffeine, I found myself wandering the lobby in search of buffalo  wings, a two-foot-tall strawberry daiquiri in the shape of the Eiffel Tower or,  for amusement, a funny country music comedy show starring Harley-driving topless  women.

It was at this point that I was approached by  two men in suits, quietly offering  me some two-for-one jousting for that evening – family buffet jousting. Too  soon, the event was sold out. Perspiring slightly, the men returned, suggesting,  for my children, an afternoon magic show, a puppet show or, for $4.99 apiece,  possibly a spontaneous backstage visit with some tired clowns. By that point,  I would have been thrilled with Carrot Top, not even his regular show but his  shavings, his gratings, his leavings.

Fortunately, my husband dragged me off before I could make a deal. But I’d gamble again, on family fun in Vegas. If they waved another coupon. Have bass harmonica, will travel. m

SEARCH THE SITE

www.dhmcm.com Mom of 9 BlogMom of 9 BlogMom of 9 BlogMom of 9 Blog
The Little Gym Fairmont Private Schools