Happy Family

We were supposed to have a family reunion in July 2020, but that didn't happen for obvious reasons. It's been 4 years since the last big gathering, although our family has had several opportunities to see cousins in between. Needless to say, we definitely have been looking forward to a fun weekend in Vegas with our ʻohana!

Since we weren't really comfortable with the idea of R's dad flying alone, we were grateful that R's cousin B could accompany him from Chicago. We hit the road early this morning so that we could pick the two of them up directly from the airport. But we left ourselves enough time for a quick pit stop in Victorville for Steak 'n Shake, of course.

Compared with the traffic nightmare of LAX, navigating thru McCarran Harry Reid International (LAS) was a breeze. M wanted to have lunch at the all-you-can-eat sushi place that he and his friends went to during their spring break trip to Zion. Even though it was not the peak time for lunch, the wait was still almost an hour. Boo!

So, we decided to try Shang Artisan Noodle, a place that we saw featured on Mike Chen's Strictly Dumpling. There was a wait here, too, but the hand-pulled and knife-cut noodles were definitely worth it! A new favorite!

Top: Knife-cut dan-dan noodle (I can do spicy, but this was slightly painful)
Middle: Spicy wonton, chicken sesame cold noodle, beef noodle soup
Bottom: potstickers, beef pancake

How to pull noodles...

After lunch, we checked in at the Cal. The boys and I had one room, while R and his dad were in a another down the hall on the same floor. The front desk even offered to send up a chair for the walk-in shower in their room - nice! I'm also really glad that we decided to rent an electric wheelchair for Dad and bring it with us from home. It's a long walk to get just about anywhere, so hopefully he'll be able to manage more easily with it.

As part of our room package, we received coupons which could be used for certain menu items at designated restaurants in the casino. So, the five of us had dinner downstairs at the Market Street Cafe. And we rounded out the evening by hanging out with more cousins at the tables, both the gaming and eating kind.

Always room for dessert!