Day 9- Our last day!

Day 9- Las Vegas

Well that's it, our holiday is coming to an end!

Today was the last full day we have in vegas. Tomorrow is spent flying back to Los Angeles, hanging out in the airport for 8 odd hours, then boarding our plane and flying 12 hours back to Auckland NZ! Then we wait around another 4 or 5 hours to take our 1 and a bit hour flight back to chch, arriving back at 10.30am on what will be Friday in NZ. It's gonna be a loooooong day or two!

So today was another midday wake up. Seriously it's the best thing to do while in vegas, for a few reasons.
1) It's so damn hot that it makes sense to try skip the day and be up later at night when the sun is gone and it's a bit cooler.
2) It's Sin City, so all the cool stuff happens at night
3) The alcohol is really, really cheap (or free if you're gambling) so time to nurse any hangovers in quite a necessity.

This is the life!

I must say though, Vegas is very intense. It's an assault on the senses. You forget to eat, drink and sleep as you go GO GO. I can see why the Lonely Planet said not to even think about doing more than 3 nights! As a weekend destination, it's a fantasy land. Longer than that and it takes it out of you.

Not just the partying, but the weather. Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful it being warm but living here in it, having to work in it (and not sleep til midday) would get hard.

Our tour guide today was not having a good day. It was particularly hot and humid, and she had to wear a longsleeve shirt. She was quite unenthusiastic about it all, good on her. I was melting too!

I also wonder what happens to you when you get older. There are so many young, pretty girls working in this town. All dolled up in their costumes with masks of make-up on, having a good time. But what happens as you get older? There are a few more senior waitresses that we have seen but mostly they are wrinkle free and under 30.

Anyway, enough thinking for now; here's what we did today!

We started off eating our one meal of the day at Dennys. Chad was very keen to head there. Not so keen to try the bacon and maple syrup milkshake though. (Seriously who has bacon in their milkshakes?!?!?!)

The food was YUM and the milkshakes (w/out bacon) were super cute. Love how they give you the little bit extra that never fits in the glass.

Speaking of food- we went past a restaurant today called The Heart Attack Cafe. It has a 4000 calories burger. Their fries are deep fried in pure lard, milkshakes made with full cream and butter and they even pop an extra stick of butter in them as a garnish.They weigh you when you come in the door and if you weigh more than 350pounds then you eat for free. Crazy!!!

Another wacky place we saw today was here:

It's a medical centre for Brain Health; dementia, parkansins, altzeimers. And the building looks like that. Ironic much?!

We also drove past the famous wedding chapel and saw some people going in!

Spent some time at the Premium Outlet Stores and got some gorgeous outfits for the girls.

They are gonna look adorable!

On the way home we said goodbye to our tour guides and went inside 'Slots a Fun' casino to escape the heat. OK maybe also because they have low limit, simulation games with super cheap drinks.

Our favourite game is BlackJack, which also happens to be the casino game where you have the most chance of winning. And win we did!!! Except we then put the money back in lol.

I brought a few drinks and was given a free one too. Seems we couldn't drink of the bus, clever little me thought I better drink them fast and it didn't end up so well for me.

(Me looking pretty pleased with myself before the alcohol hit!)

Our plans for the rest of the night were postponed as we took the nearest cab home. The cab driver was really lovely- the first friendly one we've had, which was so great cuz I've been hanging out to talk to a 'local'. However I was rather preoccupied with not throwing up in her cab ;-) She did say I sounded British which is kinda cool. Never stopped to think what our accent sounds like to Americans.

After a swim and some water, we skyped the girls again and told them we would see them very soon.
My little baby, who has only slept through the night once without needing re-settling, has been an angel for her Nana, sleeping 12 hours overnight.

Til last night that is.

Of course- Debbie you know our Little Princess wasn't gonna let you get off that easily!

Poor thing was up every hour in lots of pain and Debs is very tired today. She took Belle to the doctor and she's got an ear infection- argh bad timing eh? I think Debs will be VERY glad to see us on Friday to hand the ropes back over to us!

I'm quite nervous about going home.
I know it took a lot to come on this trip and there were times when everyone around us thought it wasn't the best thing to be doing.
But I held on to the 'bigger picture' and decided that long term, it was what was best for myself, my girls, my friends, my family...

There was a bit of pressure I put on myself for this trip to be the magic cure for what we are going through at home. I don't feel like I've changed at all and I was feeling quite guilty about it, but Chad says I might still be different, just not til I get home.

Even if that's not the case, we have still done it. We held on to our dream and DID IT in spite of everything! That means a lot. Not just to us. I can look my daughters in the eye and tell them they CAN do anything. I have showed that to them, walked the walk not just talked the talk.

I did get sent a very special message from my friend while I was away- Learne, I know you're reading this (got no money to txt back haha) and I just wanna say Baby girl, you are amazing and I hope this shows you that you can do anything! Becoming a mother when you're young doesn't mean your life is over. It changes, sometimes in ways we can't predict (like my PND), but you hold on to what you believe in and your dreams will come true xoxo

Well next time I update this I will probably be sitting at the airport back in Los Angeles, waiting for our flight!

Hmmm I hope we can fit all our stuff back in the suitcases. It seems to have grown...