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I gazed out the window since I was now awake and wet.  I saw the lights of Vegas below, I felt like I was in a scene from Vegas.  This was what Dennis Quaid was trying to prevent, but sadly he was going to lose the battle.  (If you don’t get what I’m talking about by the end of Sept/early Oct you will.  Only CBS.)  I woke the kids up, put their shoes and jackets on, as we prepared to land.  It was 1:35AM when we got off the plane, I was a fan of staying at the hotel even when the Southwest employee handed me the hotel voucher coupon.  My mom suggested we just stay at the airport since our flight left at 6:20AM.  I love it when great minds think alike.

If I was any doubts I was in Vegas, the slot machines being the first thing I saw as I entered the terminal cleared me of that notion.  The airport was deserted.  The stores and restaurants were closed.  It was us and the cleaning crew and the slot machine watchers.  Jory  saw the Wheel of Fortune slot machine.  He saw the money amount you could win and said, “Oma that would be enough money for you to buy a new car?”  She assured him the few hundred thousand that she could possibly win was enough for a new car.  So he asked if she could play it and win.  She agreed and after finding our gate, she walked over to the slot machines with the girls closely in tow to watch her pull the lever, then they were all walking back.

“You’re finished already?”

“The kids can’t come over there with me.  They have to be a minimum of twenty feet away from the machines.”

Are you kidding me?!  If they were really concerned about the children, they wouldn’t have slot machines five steps away from the seats in the gate’s waiting area.  If they were really concerned about children, they would hide away the machines in a private room like video stores used to do with pornos they rented.  Whatever.  Before the employee saw them, Jory did get to see his Oma go for the big bucks, but she lost.

We hunkered down at the gate.  My mom and I took a row of seats and let the kids lay on us so they could go back to sleep.  I tried to sleep but it was uncomfortable so I would doze off a little, but never truly asleep.  It had been a long day.

Around 5AM, the airport started coming to life.  The cleaning crew had gone away and places were starting to open up, people were sitting in our vicinity waiting for their flight.  I got up and stood in line, waiting for the ticket counter to open up.  It would be nice if we could get on the 5:40AM flight out of Vegas.  And we did.

Just as quickly as we got into the air, we landed.  We reclaimed our luggage from the Southwest luggage storage area.  I went to make sure our reservations were still good with the Shuttle company.  Yes, it was.  Though strangely enough the shuttle employee was surprised I was from LA, he said I seemed like a Southern girl.  Uh, okay.

We got on the shuttle, we were thankfully the first ones dropped off.  All I wanted to do was crawl into bed.  But these tiny people kept whining about how they were hungry and I was too tired and possibly they were too young for me to explain, if you go to sleep you won’t even notice you’re hungry until you wake up.

We got the luggage inside, then Jory and I hopped in the car and off we went.  I was getting breakfast from McD’s, which would be eaten, followed by everyone sleeping.  And praise God that all came together perfectly. We ate, slept, then we were ready to unpack and do laundry, then since we were still on vacation I went out and bought dinner.  No way I was cooking today.   

Thus ended the first ever family vacation on land.