Reunited

Monday, December 31, my brother texted me to let me know “my” room number (19-309) while Jonathan and I were at Walmart picking up supplies to carry us between the sporadic meals with my family. While we were heading over to the Monte Carlo, my grandma texted me to let me know as well and said she was going to get breakfast at McDonald’s. When we arrived, Jonathan carried the box of water bottles my sister had requested. We got into the elevator and I pushed floor 13 without consulting my phone, and then headed to room 309. We knocked on door, but no one answered. Figuring they weren’t back from breakfast yet, I wanted to try the second room. I didn’t know what the other room number was, though. I texted my brother, but that reply was slow in coming and we really needed to go to the restroom, so I decided to leave the water outside the door to 309 and go find a restroom. Since the cleaning staff was working on 307, I thought I would mention to them to not throw out the water. When I did, they wanted to know why I didn’t put it in the room, and I explained I didn’t have a key, so they kindly opened the door and put the water inside for me.

While we went to the bathroom, Chester (my brother) sent me the response to which room he was in. When I asked where everyone was since they weren’t in their rooms, he called me to find out where I was. He started giving me instructions back up to the room, and I realized my error of going to floor 13 instead of 19. Whew! Now to figure out how to get the water back. So, we returned to floor 13 and asked housekeeping to retrieve the water for us. It was a different person this time, though, and she wasn’t a native English speaker, so explaining the situation to her was interesting. At first, she refused saying she couldn’t let us inside, but then Jonathan explained we didn’t need inside, we just needed the water that was slid in before, then she agreed. Woo, saved!

From there, we proceeded to the proper floor and met my Grandma and brother in the hall. Yay! Then there were hugs and greetings all around. In addition to my siblings, parents, and maternal grandparents, my sister’s boyfriend, Mitchell arrived from California. So we got to meet him for the first time. And, shortly after, since everyone except Jonathan and I had not yet had breakfast, we went out to eat. We ended up going to a sports bar at New York New York. And, I guess I am someone that everyone wants to share with, as everyone was offering me a taste of their drink, although every one of them contained things I don’t like in a drink (caffeine, alcohol, carbonated water, etc.). My sister finally broke the cycle by ironically offering me a taste of her water.



Afterwards, everyone wanted to gamble and peruse New York New York’s casino area, but as Jonathan and I don’t like to gamble and the smoke-filled air is too much for me, we parted ways for the afternoon. We did meet up with everyone for dinner. We walked down to Excalibur, but found nothing enticing there. Then proceeded back down the road and found Hard Rock Cafe. I started off badly with the dinner. They had a blondie that sounded heavenly that I wanted. But they were out. So, we substituted the crème brûlée, but they 86ed that as well. Unhappy jen. My brother and father had good fajitas, though, that they shared with me.


Afterward, Jonathan and I went to bed. But, at about 11:30, he woke up and went to the van to grab our pillows. The ones at the hotel were really thick and uncomfortable. So, we were awake for the fireworks show at midnight for the New Year’s celebration.  They were shot off the tops of the hotels and went on for about 15 minutes. They were loud enough that I don’t think I would have slept through it anyway. They were gorgeous, though.