Thanksgiving in Las Vegas

Dallas’s parents and a lot of his family go to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving every year. And they have for many years. Las Vegas is pretty central for people on the mainland and people in Hawaii to meet up. I’ve gone 2x before [2007, 2009]. It’s been 10 years since I’d been to Las Vegas. We miss seeing Dallas’s family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. But with Makai we weren’t sure. We decided to go and see how Vegas would be with a kid. I think it was harder for Dallas than for me.

We stayed at the Paris Hotel + Casino, which I really liked. It was fun, plus it was not HUGE, so it was easier to manage where things were. Makai really liked it too! Dallas’s parents stayed at Tuscany, where they get comped a lot. Caroline, Jose and Grace drove up from Arizona and stayed at the MGM Grand.

After we landed and settled in and had lunch with Dallas’s parents, we went to the Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N Exhibit. I don’t know if it was worth the price (what is in Las Vegas?) but it was fun and interesting and Makai LOVED it.

We had breakfast at Le Cafe Ile St. Louis at the Paris Hotel. I had this amazing crepe. I’d been promising Makai for weeks that the Paris Hotel would have a French cafe where he could get his favorite breakfast pastry: Chocolate croissant. Glad they delivered on that. Makai loved it so much that he yelped out, “This must be my lucky day!”

Makai and I didn’t have anywhere to be after breakfast. We were going for a walk through the Paris Hotel and since it’s connected to Bally’s, we walked a lot in there too. We happened upon the monorail and took it for a spin to the end and then back. Makai loved it!

Kathy and I took Makai to M&M’s World, which was huge! Makai had fun picking out a custom mix of M&Ms to take home.

We were then walking to Hershey’s Chocolate World and actually bumped into Jose, Caroline and Grace coming out of the Hershey’s Store! We were getting tired and it was starting to rain, so we only spent a short time in the Hershey Store.

That night we had Thanksgiving dinner at Triple George Grill with all the family that was in town. I wish we’d have mixed up a little more, because we ended up sitting and talking to Dallas’s immediate family and the relatives from the Chicago area, instead of the Hawaii relatives! It was great to see and talk to Aunty Mary, Dallas’s grandma’s sister. At our table were Dalals, George, Kathy, Grace, Caroline, Jose, Aunty Gail, Makai and me. At the other table were the Hawaiian relatives.

George and Kathy had a bigger room at the Tuscany, with a living area and a small kitchen. Makai and Grace had a sleepover there that night.


Dallas and I were in no rush in the morning, so we had breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris Hotel. It was delicious.

Then we headed over to pick up Makai. I had printed off all the photos from our trip to Hawaii earlier in the year and Makai and Kathy were looking at them.

Makai wanted to know why he couldn’t play any of the cool video games!

We took Makai to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. It was an aquarium somehow set up inside the hotel. It was very busy, but still pretty interesting. Makai really liked it.

Makai got a stuffed shark while we were waiting in line for the exhibit. He was afraid of this poster for some reason, so Dallas was teasing him.


Makai really enjoyed looking at and walking in the really themed hotels and casinos. Excalibur, Luxor and New York, New York were some favorites.

Uncle Bob and Aunty Helen came to Las Vegas and we met up with them for dinner at Rao’s in Caesar’s Palace. The last time we saw Uncle Bob, Makai told us he looked just like Grandpa C. So we played a trick on him. He wasn’t paying attention when Uncle Bob was at the host stand checking into the restaurant. I was like “Makai, go up by grandpa.” So Makai was standing right next to him. Then George walked up and Makai was freaked out because there were TWO GRANDPAS! The dinner was really great and it’s always fun to catch up with any Hawaii relatives, because we don’t get to see them very often!

Makai and I left Las Vegas on Saturday to go back to Chicago. Jill’s parents live in Las Vegas to Jill, Brian and Halle were there visiting them. Then Chad and his dad flew in for a few days after Thanksgiving, so Dallas stayed til Sunday to have some “adult Las Vegas” fun.

I think the trip, overall, was fine. But you had to be in the right mindset and not expect to stay out all night in Las Vegas or not expect to hang out in a casino all day when you have a kid to look after. We will see what happens in 2020 and if we go again!

Fish, Friends & Family

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Beijing Noodle No. 9, Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas

On Friday we only slept a few hours, which was not good, since we’d been out at the crazy dance party the night before. We got up and met everyone down at the buffet to eat breakfast. Dallas then went back to bed, but I got talked into walking around a few casinos. After an hour or two I couldn’t take it, and neither could Ross, so we went back to the hotel to rest. I walked into our hotel room and I thought Dallas said “Ross is on the way,” which I thought was weird since I’d just walked over with Ross, but he actually said “Guy Voss is on the way.” So much for that nap!

Guy is a good friend of Dallas’s from back in college. He and his wife Amber live in the Las Vegas area with their two kids, Liam and Ella. We saw Guy and Amber at Killian and Liz’s wedding last year, but we hadn’t seen Liam since he was 2 months old, and now he’s 5 years old! Compare a photo of Dallas and Liam in 2004 to the photo of Dallas and Liam last week:

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Dallas & Liam, Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas

Ella was a little shy, but as adorable as ever. I was glad we could see everyone, even if it was brief. Oh, and I was all smoky and felt like death warmed over, but Amber said that on the way home Liam said “Daddy’s friends are really fun,” so maybe it wasn’t so bad. Or maybe he was just on a sugar rush because we accidentally let him drink a whole soda!

I feel exhausted just typing this out, but next up we got ready and went to dinner at the Rio. That’s where Dallas’s parents and Caroline and Jordan were staying. The Carnival World Buffet there is the longest buffet I have ever seen. Crazy. They had everything.

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Jordan, George, Kathy, Dallas, Caroline :: Rio, Las Vegas

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Jordan, George, Kathy, Dallas, Caroline, Rachelle :: Rio, Las Vegas

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Ross, Rachelle, Dallas, Matt, Molly :: Rio, Las Vegas

Since sleeping is what you do when you leave Las Vegas, we then went over to the New York New York Hotel & Casino to see Zumanity. This is the Cirque show that you have to be 18 to see. Enough said.

After the show we hung out at New York New York. I tried really hard to rally by drinking more, drinking coffee, getting cold air in my face, etc. When we finally went back to our hotel, I had to go to bed early. I say early, but it was at least midnight, probably past. In Vegas, that is early. Anyway, I had a great time, but I think I’m still recovering. And trying to get used to not drinking beer at breakfast.