Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Weekend in Las Vegas and The Lost of A-Tom :(

Last Saturday, we went to the City of Lights - Las Vegas. Dear hubby has promised to take us there since we arrived here, but only managed to make it this weekend. Co-incidentally, I met a fellow Malaysian in CARI forum who lives in Las Vegas. She invited us to stay at her house. So, apa lagi kan..bagaikan orang mengantuk disorong bantal..kecik tapak tangan, kawah besar kami tadahkan, haha..

We left Torrance around 9a.m. The journey took around 4 hours plus. Made a quick stop at Primm because the kids were hungry. Arrived at Nita's house at around 1.45 p.m. Although it was the first time we met, we immediately warmed up and clicked. She's one gracious hostess. Nasi ayam dah sedia menunggu. Dear hubby and I were famished, so tanpa segan silu, kami pun mentekedarah, heeee.....

With our hostess, Sharifah Nita and her kids, Aizad and Alesha.

Later in the evening, we went out to experience Las Vegas's night life. True to its name, Las Vegas IS the City of Lights, which never sleeps! Throngs of people hopping from one casino to the other, I'm sure most of them came with a big hope that they will hit big time. Parked our car at MGM Grand Casino..took a look around, and hopped in to take the monorail. The monorail tracks cover almost every big casino in Vegas, with 5 stops in between. Some of the famous casinos are The Venetian, Caesar's Palace, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Harrah's, Bally's, New York New York, Circus Circus and the list goes on and on and on. We walked around in some of the casinos. At first, it was a bit akward since I was wearing Hijab, but nobody cared. Everybody was busy paying attention to their own games. So I just buat bodoh aje la kan. We didn't gamble of course..but there's nothing wrong with looking on, so we did just that. But not for long anyway, because Under 18 are not allowed to stand beside a table. (ni utk Hannah dan Harith laa). Here's a few pix.

A replica of Status of Liberty in front of New York New York

Harith's posing inside Harrah's. Actually we are not allowed to take a pix inside casino but we managed to snap one pix. Hehe..

Replica of Venice river at The Venetian

Sir Elton John, Bette Midler and Cher are performing at Caesar's Palace.

Yours truly in the lobby at Caesar's Palace.

There's a big musical fountain in front of The Bellagio. I took a video of it, but it's taking too long to upload here. Here's the static pix instead.

One of the many places in the world that I wanted to go was here. It's Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. There are only a few of Madame Tussaud's in the world, i.e: London, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Berlin...I've always wanted to go to the one in London, but since we were there in Las Vegas, then a trip inside the museum was a MUST. It's located just next to The Venetian. The ticket price was reasonable..19USD per person for couples, and free for children ages 6 and below. Perfect! So, got our tickets and excitedly wandered inside. All of us (sebenarnya makpak yang lelebih) had fun posing with the celebrities, hehe.. You can see from the pix belows. Anyway, I found that the art was truly amazing. They really do look like real people that sometimes I got confused whether it's the real thing or the dummies. The eyes look real, and they shine! One particular dummy of Matthew Macoughney, his eyes actually twinkles when you look long and hard into them. I'm not sure how the interactive technique works, but it was sure damn impressive!

With my High School Sweetheart, Jon Bon Jovi.

Who's stronger? Abah was challenging the Governor of California

With Mr. Lincoln
"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves;
and, under a just God, can not long retain it."
Abraham Lincoln
Source: April 6, 1859 - Letter to Henry Pierce
Harith taking tips from Mr. Wood.

Dear hubby getting cozy with Miss J-Lo. ;)

Getting interviewed by Al Roker was a big privilege. Haha..

Despite the great time and fun that we had there, one awful incident happened. Hannah lost her A-Tom..her security pillow, her best friend, her pet, her bantal busuk.. I'm not sure when it occurred, I only realized that A-Tom was missing when we reached Nita's house at around 12.30 a.m. As Hannah was too tired, she fell asleep immediately. But me..I was so sad that I cried my heart out. Huwaaaaaaaaaa..... don't laugh at me. Part of Hannah's growing up memories is A-Tom. Missing A-Tom is like missing a part of Hannah's life. A-Tom was her first pillow in the hospital when I gave birth to her. A-Tom was always there wherever Hannah was. Losing A-Tom made me feel like I have failed my duty as a mother because I didn't take good care of my baby's precious thing. If only I have insisted on leaving A-Tom in the car. If only I have checked that she had it with her when we left the parking lot. If only...if only...

I woke up in the morning with puffy eyes because I really did cried myself out hard. I even called my mom to confide in her. That night, I tried to ask hubby to go back and find A-Tom but he was too tired after the long drive and the jalan-jalan. Nevertheless, dear hubby woke up early in the next morning and went back to MGM. He traced back our trail, but as expected, A-Tom was nowhere to be found. :___( Until now, Hannah is still calling for her A-Tom and every time she does that, my tears will flow down hard. Huhuhu... I even recited a prayer for A-Tom, "Ya Allah Ya Tuhanku, peliharalah keselamatan A-Tom walau di mana juga dia berada". Hehe..go on..laugh at me..I am so pathetic, kan? I even imagined that if only I can call CSI Las Vegas to find A-Tom..surely they would jump in from one dumpster to the other. Heee...

Hannah's last memory with A-Tom. :___(

The next day, we left Nita's house after lunch. "Nita, thank you for your great hospitality. Panjang umur, ada rezeki, Insya-Allah kita jumpa lagi."

Again, we made a stop at Primm. This time was to drop by at the factory outlet. There were a few big name stores there i.e: Coach, BCBGMaxAzaria, Banana Republic, Nike, Michael Kors, Polo Ralph Lauren. The stuffs were authentic, but the price was a big bargain! So apa lagi...makciks pun bershopping sakan laaa...heh..heh..

We reached home around 10 p.m. , feeling very tired. I felt so sad because A-Tom didn't come home with us. Even in the car, Hannah was calling out for her A-Tom. Abah said A-Tom dah kena makan buaya, hehe..and Hannah responded, "Mommy pegi savekan A-Tom...adik nak A-Tom...uwaaaa"...and my tears started falling down again...huwaaa... I am such a sentimental freak!

For more pix of our adventure, please visit our online photo album.

5 comments:

aramis2177 said...

Kak Iza....
syoknyaaa jalan2 kat Vegas tuh kan.....eeeiiii tingin nak pi sana tgk gak..duk tgk kat CSZI jer...huhuhuhu.....and part sopping kat factory outlet tuh lagi best tuh.....iskkk..iskk...jelesnyaaa!!!!dengar kata mmg murah kan harga kat sana....borong kak jgn xborong...bila lg kan!hehhehee
Anyway....all my sympathy to u & hannah for losing that A-tom tuh....sian dia!sure xlena malam tingat kat A-tom tuh...huhuhuuhuhh

Cik Kham & Co said...

siannnyer kat hannah...sob2...cikkham pun sedey gaklah....
neway syok nyer pi shoppin..mesti best kan...

Rahiza Haszian Abdul Rahim said...

thx girls. hannah dah ok sket, maknya yang tak recover lagi..kalu tengok gambo jalan2 nih, nampak atom sure rasa sayu aje hati. ish ish..teruk sungguh! shopping oklaa..best gak...tapi nanti balik tengok bil kredit kad tu yg tak bestnya, hehe...

shasha said...

best best best...tapi..yg tak best..A-tom dah takde yerk..sian hannah..takpe la..lagipun sooner or later..she still needs to get rid of it..dah beso mana leh ada bantal busuk kan..not a good habit though...so, lepas ni cari little princess utk hannah pulak..:)

Rahiza Haszian Abdul Rahim said...

sha...hannah dah ok sket, dia ah ada pengganti teddy bear sekor...maknya yg masih bersedih hati lagi :D