Vajentic Family Western Odyssey: Week 2, Day 8 (Saturday, July 20)

Saturday, July 20 would mark the first day since we began our trip that we would stay in the same hotel room for two nights in a row.  It was refreshing to not have to pack our bags up and load the car.  However, just because we weren't travelling anywhere didn't mean we wouldn't stay busy!  We managed to sleep in until around 10:00, but then it was up and at 'em.  Since I was having some strange dream about losing my job, I was thrilled to get up and moving.  For some strange reason, there was no coffee pot in our hotel room, so I went downstairs to get some Starbucks.  Dominic joined in the Uno fun this morning, and ended up beating Ben and I.  Sharon, great wife/mom that she is, walked out to get McDonald's for Ben, donuts for all of us and some odds and ends at Walgreens.  After lounging around the hotel room for a little bit, we all got dressed and headed down to the main floor of New York New York.  Ben got himself a souvenir blinking yellow hat that became quite the conversation piece for passersby.  The boys had foot long hot dogs, and Sharon and I had some pizza for lunch.  I followed the Pirates/Reds game on my phone.  The Bucs lost.  After lunch, it was time to swim!  The pool was very crowded, and it was hot and sunny.  If there would have been any available, I would have rented a cabana.  Instead, we were fortunate enough to find a table.  It was a nice pool, with a cool fountain in which the boys enjoyed playing.  We swam for a couple of hours.  I bought souvenir drinks for all four of us that cost about $100, but we got to keep the cups!  I had a gigantic pina colada, and Sharon had a strawberry margarita.  Dominic didn't feel good after we got done swimming, so we went back up to the room to chill out and watch some TV.  Despite a slow Internet connection, I was able to get a little bookkeeping done to make sure we weren't running out of money.  Towards evening, we decided that we wanted to go the pawn shop from Pawn Stars.  Sharon and I had been there in November, so we knew the location.  We got the car out of valet, and headed up The Strip.  Incidentally, I never knew how much to tip the respective service people, like the valet guys, so my standard tip was $5.  We stayed up at the pawn shop for about an hour, took some photos and bought a few souvenirs.
Where's Chumlee?

Dominic was a big fan of the swords and guns

Ben's blinking hat was quite popular at the pawn shop.  He probably could have sold it for a profit.  Since it was getting dark, we decided to head back to the hotel via The Strip.  The boys got a nice taste of the lights and crazy people along Las Vegas Blvd.  Back at the hotel, we parked on the roof of the parking garage, and nearly got blown away by the desert wind.  Ben and I wanted to ride the roller coaster, but it was closed due to lightning.  We ate some dinner at the Coney Island resturaunt.  There was a gigantic arcade at Coney Island, so we played around $30-$40 worth of games.  We collected tickets from our games, and then a bunch of people gave us their tickets.  Dominic gave most of his tickets to Ben, and some to another little girl.  Ben got himself a Sponge Bob coloring kit with his prize tickets.  After settling back into our hotel room, Eric went down to the casino to place one $5 bet on roulette for a number that each of us picked.  Our numbers were 5 (Dominic), 14 (Ben), 21 (Eric) and 24 (Sharon).  We decided ahead of time to split any prize money.  Well, in a strange twist of fate, I accidentally placed my bet on the number 5 on the line between the 5 and the 2.  The 2 hit, and we won $90 on a number that none of us actually picked.  After roulette, I stopped by the sports book to make some crazy, long odds bet, but it was closed, more than likely saving me some money.  Earlier in the day, Sharon had bought me an ACE bandage and some Icy cream for my ankle.  I got into bed and wrapped that puppy up, but it didn't seem to help too much.  Before bed, Ben enjoyed coloring in his new Sponge Bob book, and Dominic drew some pictures.  Dominic drew an awesome sword, and then surprised Ben by giving it to him.  I gave each of the boys an extra $20 at the end of the day for good behavior.  


Nighty night

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