The Red Rock http://www.redrocklasvegas.com/ is where we stayed in August for our Anniversary and it is where we stayed again for the first two nights of this trip. If you remember we got a voucher for a free night since our stay there was cut short in August.
I had everything pictured in my mind so clearly as to how things would go once we got there. There is a bowling alley with 60 lanes at the resort that I planned on getting use out of. The pool is spectacular and I could picture the kids playing for hours in the water. Matt wanted to take us all to the buffet stating, “You’ve gotta eat at a buffet in Vegas.
Reality: It was very chilly when we arrived. In truth the air kept getting colder and colder the further south we went. In Beaver we ate our sandwiches in the car after attempting a picnic. In St. George we didn’t even get out of the car, and in Mesquite it was downright frigid! The wind was so strong that we burned through gas just trying to keep the car on the road. At least looking at Graham in the back seat wearing his sunglasses warmed my heart. Needless to say we didn’t swim that first day. In fact the pool guy looked at us like we were crazy for even wanting to walk the grounds. It was just as well that we couldn’t swim because Grayson had forgotten to pack his swim trunks and Katrina does not have a swimsuit to even pack. Not to mention that everyone’s sandals from last season were too small so we headed to Wal-Mart. How did we do it in the days without GPS? While shopping, Ava made it known that her head hurt and that she felt sick. So to speed up the shopping Matt walked with the girls to Ross while I paid at Wal-Mart. Once in the parking lot I realized Mat still had the keys and the van was locked. I managed to grunt and groan and got the bags in the shell on top of the van. I’ve learned that I can figure things out if I absolutely have to. (Otherwise it ‘s just easier to let Matt do it.)
Back at the Hotel with Ava’s fever burning Grayson showed us his toe. The nail has been ready to fall off his big left toe for a while and it was looking worse than ever. We’re talking full on pustules bursting out the sides. Katrina texted her friend about the gore and asked Gray if she could take a picture to send back to her friend. He quipped back “For a dollar!” He aint stupid that’s for sure. There was a black spot on his toe that I convinced myself was gangrene and I was practically scheduling a good time for the amputation in my mind. Luckily the black spot washed off in the tub. We did however have to find a CVS Pharmacy the next day to buy Epsom salt for him to soak the wound in and waterproof tape for him to swim in. Matt’s hair was in dire need of a haircut before his conference in two days and I spotted a Great Clips in the same shopping center. As I waited in the car with Mallerie while he got clipped, I thought to myself, “This vacation isn’t going anything like I imagined.” Oh, and I didn’t mention the CLOSED sign on the Bowling Alley? It was reserved for VIP’s. I had to admit I did NOT feel like a very important person anyway. Besides, even if the weather did improve the next day we had brought our own rain cloud with us in the form of a 13 year-old. The clear glass door on the shower and no lock on the bathroom door had left her crying foul.
As soon as we checked in we had the treats removed from the room. At least we knew what we were getting into from our August trip. The treats are on sensors that if lifted up for more than 45 seconds you are charged for. You can bet Callie went right to them. In the hotel room Callie also found the remote to the stereo and somehow with the wave of her wrist turned it on to the most soothing station of music that we kept on all night long. This buffered out some of the snoring. In the morning I awoke to a totally different station at a loud volume. Callie was still in the pack and play so I knew it wasn’t her this time. I asked, “Who changed the station and turned up the music?” Ava immediately accused, “Grayson did,” Again he was quick on the defense, “Don’t throw me under the bus Ava!” The guy definitely keeps it interesting. After walking through the casino he noted, “People sure do love those arcade games.” I almost added, “And they are very thirsty too.”
Day Two was warm enough to swim and swim we did. But poor Ava she lay in the shade and slept the day away. Mallerie especially missed her at the pool. 
We had to get up and at it on Wednesday to check out so we could drive to Green Valley Ranch where the Gatorade Conference was going to be held. Matt wanted to help us get settled before 11:30 when he had to leave. We wasted a lot of time trying to figure out the maze of the resort and he could only show us where our room was before having to jet. This left me to unload the car. Again, I can do it; it’s just easier if Matt’s around. Three trips later down the LONG hotel hall I had the closet stocked with the snacks and all the bags brought in. I called the front desk to see about getting a roller bed brought in since we were now minus the couch Ava had slept on at Red Rock. The guy said, “Let’s see, I show that you already have two queen beds, fire code won’t allow another bed to be brought in but we can send up some more blankets and pillows,” Could I argue? No way. Especially since I really needed THREE more roller beds brought in. We took the extra bedding and kept our mouths shut.
The pool at Green Valley was way cool. It had a sand beach! The sand simply stopped half way through the pool and didn’t mix in with the other side. It was weird, but cool. Each day had gotten warmer and warmer and the little ones especially loved the sand. Finally Ava’s fever had subsided and she was frolicking with Mallerie in the deep end. It felt great to relax.
After swimming for a couple of hours it was time to meet up with Grandma Donna and Grandpa Mike who had driven in that very day from California to spend time with us in Vegas. Again, thanks to the GPS I was able to navigate my way to M&M World where we were meeting. But parking on the strip is another story. We finally found the parking garage and started rounding up to level five where we were meeting. I heard a funny scraping sound. “What was that?” Katrina’s eyes were wide, “That thing on top of our car!” I had totally forgotten about it. The shell on the car isn’t parking garage friendly so we went back down to the first level and just took the elevator to meet up with grandma and grandpa. The 3-D movie was out of commission so after looking around a bit and marveling at all the different colors an M&M can be, we found refuge at IHOP once again. We had also eaten there the first day after arriving in Vegas. The advantage to this place is that kids eat FREEEEE. Yipeeee~ That first night Callie surprised us by eating an entire kids meal herself. I reached over for a bite of canalope to which she hollered, “Noooo!” I had to stop at the store on the way back to the hotel for some bread and bought some M&M’s as well since our palettes had been craving them. By holding out and waiting to buy them at the grocery store we only had to pay .79 a bag instead of $6.95. Yeah $6.95.
On Thursday we met up again with grandma and grandpa to go the Children’s Museum. This was especially fun for the kids and fun for the adult to watch them, as well as experiment some ourselves. Grayson and Graham changed tires on a car and now Grayon says he wants to be a mechanic. When I told Matt he said, “Good, we need a mechanic in the family.” We’ll see how it all plays out in the future. Maybe the monkey will become a grease monkey although he doesn’t care for that term. On the upper level there was a tube you could go in and experience hurricane force winds. I wasn’t around when Katrina got in the cylinder and might have objected to her taking Callie in with her. Then again she might have objected as well since she right away got very claustrophobic, which became worse when none of us could figure how to open the door. It shouldn’t have been but my first reaction was to pull out my camera and capture the fiasco on film. Katrina saw me doing this long enough to stop her screams and SMILE. Since this letter isn’t titled Left in Las Vegas, you can assume we did in fact figure out how to open that darn door.
From the children’s museum we all met back at Green Valley Ranch so grandma and grandpa could see the pool and beautiful grounds. It was such a perfect night to sit out on the comfy couches under the palm trees and blue skies in such a serene setting. The joke of the night became, “We don’t deserve such luxury!” Matt was able to finagle out if his dinner meeting to join us for dinner at Carrabbas Italiano. It was a lovely evening of visiting and just being together, which is the most fun. We visited a long time and it became too late to ride the go-cars as originally planned but we weren’t ready to call it a night just yet. Ever since seeing the roller coaster at New York New York across the street from M&M World Katrina and Mallerie had been itching to ride it. We consented and all drove over there. While the others stayed in the arcade (a REAL arcade this time) Matt and I rode the coaster with Katrina and Mallerie. As you can imagine it’s a wild one! I love the adrenaline rush. We all loved it.
We had so enjoyed our time with Mike and Donna but it was time to say goodbye since they were driving to Orem the next day and we had decide to stay one more night in Vegas so Matt could enjoy the resort with us. His conference would end the next day around 1 pm so he called the front desk to extend our stay. Unfortunately we would have to switch rooms. Some ya-who had specifically reserved our room because last time he had stayed there he had gotten lucky at the tables or something and was superstitious about it. If he could have only seen our set up in the room with ground gold fish crackers on the floor I think he might have changed his mind. Too bad he’s not psychic, only superstitious.
Matt said it was nice to not be scrambling to get to the airport the next day after his meetings like the other guys. He said that in years past this conference has been for 80-100 people. They are now down to 24 people because of all the layoffs this past year. Gulp. Thankfully Matt is one of the 24.
On Friday we did a lot of nuthin. It was nice to lie around the pool especially. I do have one gripe though. We had specifically not spent a lot of time on the strip because of the “entertainment” offered there and the coordinating advertisements that go with it, and then the swim suits at the pool made up for all of it! What do you do? Take blindfolds?
That night we enjoyed one more dinner in Vegas at Chevy’s, which was located in the mall. We only had 20 minutes or so to look around afterwards and I was devastated to see the gates closing at Payless. Through the bars I could see the sign: BOGO. Devastating.
We lollygagged our way home on Saturday and didn’t arrive home till 9:30 pm. Coming home is always a rude awakening with the laundry and all. Both Matt and I could have done without the 7 a.m. ward conference meeting the next morning. We really had to switch gears fast cause it was a far cry from Viva Las Vegas!
