My mom and I have kept our trip to Las Vegas a secret since July. Surprised my uncle and cousin kept their mouths shut as well and didn't spill the beans.
Wednesday, January 18th, 2017:
I arrived at the airport around 1:30pm, checked my bag, made it through security, and the flight ended up delayed for over almost two hours. Thankfully the flight was smooth and my bag was waiting in baggage claim for me as well as my mom and cousin.
My mom and cousin lied to my aunt saying that a lost bag of my mom's had been found so they came in to retrieve me. They had no idea my aunt didn't have her phone on her and she ended up driving around a couple of times until she found us. Her jaw dropped when she saw I was with them. "You guys got me again!"
We dropped my bags off at the house around 9:30pm and then my cousin suggested we go to the Rainbow Club and Casino for dinner. It was so nice sitting with them and getting caught up since we haven't seen each other in two years.
Thursday, January 19th, 2017:
Woke up and my cousin and uncle suggested going back to the Rainbow Club and Casino for breakfast since it's cheap. $1.99 for two eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns, and toast or biscuits and gravy. The portion was huge too. I could not eat it all.
Today's mission was keeping my aunt out of the house and busy until later in the evening for her surprise party to celebrate her 60th.
(My mom and aunt)
After breakfast my mom suggested we go to the Mandalay Bay so she can buy some new socks from the Sock Market. It was a fantastic suggestion since they have the Shark Reef Aquarium there and none of us have ever experienced it yet.
The Shark Reef Aquarium was about $50 for the three of us and that was after my aunt's discount using her ID to show she is an in-State resident. It was really well put together and the animals were very active. We saw a crocodile, kimono dragon, fish, snakes, and sharks! There was a glass bottom tunnel that you had to walk through to exit. Seeing my aunt's reaction was so funny when she realized what she was standing on. Haha! We browsed through the gift shop and my mom and aunt picked up a few items.
We made it over to the Sock Market and I picked up some badass Antonio Brown socks. This was the only thing I bought for myself the entire trip.
After we window shopped at a couple more stores we ended up deciding on catching a movie. My aunt suggested driving over to the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa since their theatre is really nice with comfortable seating. We picked the movie, Why Him?. About five minutes into the movie my aunt's best friend walked into the theatre. Got her again! My aunt was so surprised to see her. This movie was non-stop laughs.
Because we still needed to stall since my uncle wasn't done prepping food and my cousin hadn't finished setting up the party. My aunt's best friend played into this perfectly and suggested we stop and warm up from the cold theatre by grabbing some hot chocolate from Seattle's Best in the hotel.
We sat and chatted for about an hour and said some fake goodbyes to her best friend. My aunt has no idea that we coordinated for her best friend to come to the party bringing a car full of their friends.
We finally made it to the house and my aunt was shocked to find a houseful of people. Surprise! We had ground beef tacos, albondigas soup, and chips and guacamole. I passed on the cake since I was trying to be somewhat good.
The guests stayed super late and we had a blast making dirty drawings on the tablecloths, telling inappropriate stories, and just doing what family does... enjoying the hell out of each other's company.
Friday, January 20th, 2017:
We slept in before getting ready to take off for Pahrump to surprise my Grandpa Giordano for lunch. On the drive up we drove through snow on the mountains!! It's been forever since I've seen snow in person. It was so beautiful.
My grandfather was surprised to see us.
We grabbed lunch at the Lakeside Casino and then went back to his house. I felt like such an asshole but I was so damn tired and ended up passing out the two hours we were there. We said our goodbyes and my grandpa jokingly said that it was now time to update the will. At lunch he lowkey called me fat so when he made his joke about the will I told him to leave me money for food.
The drive back to Las Vegas went by quickly and the snow again made me so damn happy.
We ended up hanging out at the house until we all started getting antsy and my aunt suggested we go check out some of the shops on The Strip. I enjoy doing this so much because I love seeing all of the people.
It was somewhat unpleasant though because it was cold, rainy, and windy. Ick!
Could not wait to get back to the house to warm up.
Once there I was kinda feeling down about a misunderstanding with someone and my cousin picked up on my mood. He told me to get in the car. I asked if I needed to change out of my Steelers pajamas but he said "hell no." Surprised me with a trip to the grocery store to get some ice cream and we ended up sitting and talking about the happenings in our life. It was so nice spending quality time with my best buddy. We grew up so close and I just love the shit out of him.
Saturday, January 21st, 2017:
Woke up this morning and the sun was finally out. Chilly but the sun was out. Go figure... on our last day too.
My cousin's son got to come over to the house and spend the afternoon with us. Brock Jr, we call him Brockie, invited me into his room to watch Goonies with him. It's his favorite movie. This kid is my favorite already. After the movie we got him excited about going on a mission to find some Bighorn Sheep. We drove out to Boulder City took a hike and ended up coming up on four or five of them in a field. Really cool to see them up close.
All of that hiking worked up an appetite and Brockie really wanted pizza from Cici's. The kid ended up knocking over his entire soda all over me. I was soaked but didn't make a big deal out of it. I gave him lots of love and told him no worries but he had to help clean up the mess.
I could not wait to get back to the house to change out of these wet clothes.
(Vodka Cherry Coke, yummy!!)
I got warmed up and ended up taking a nap before we headed out to a nightclub where one of my aunt's best friend's boyfriend plays in a cover band and got us VIP seating. All I wanted to do was dance but really wanted the company of a man. I was a little bit envious watching all of the women with their men.
When we made it back to the house there was no point in us going to bed since we had to leave for the airport in an hour.
Sunday, January 22nd, 2016:
4am at the airport. Ugh! So exhausted but thankfully my flight was the first one out for the day from this gate and we loaded up quickly and were headed back to Houston. I slept for almost all of the flight. I love when I can do that. We hit so much turbulence when we were coming into Houston it made me nauseous. The landing was rough. I was so grateful touching down in Houston and getting off of the plan.
The trip was not my usual vacation back home since I normally stay at the Mandalay Bay and spend my nights gambling but the family time was long overdue and the days went by too fast. I cannot wait to make it back out there to see them again.
