Vegas Vacation, Part II

Dear Journal,

After we got our tats (and Scotty and that dude ended their dust-up with a handshake), we decided to hit the casinos and see if Lady Luck was on our side.

See, the thing that most people don't know about me is that I'm really a card shark. I may be only twelve months old, but I have watched a fair amount of the World Series of Poker on TV, and know how to count cards. I may not be able to vocalize it, but my little brain is constantly working. I even had a poker face. And my lucky poker visor.

I like to put the cards in my mouth to get a sense of what is to come. This time around...I could taste victory.

Scotty had never gambled before (he's just a minor) so I tried to teach him some tricks. I'm not sure he really got it though.

The ace of...what?

Aw man!

Is a 'two' good?

Scotty folds...

But I don't!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

After I won big, we were feeling a little saucy and thought it would be fun to sneak into one of the animal habitats at the casino. So when security wasn't looking, we made a run for it - straight to the tiger's cage.

I kept a look-out while Scotty wrestled the tiger. He's quite the adrenaline junkie.

Then, I'm not proud to say it, but the night took a very interesting turn. See, I really wanted to buy my mom a nice piece of jewelry with all of my gambling winnings, so we went to what I thought was a nice jewelry store. It was called Sapphires - I mean, that is pretty descriptive, right? They probably sell a lot of really lovely sapphire jewelry.

I was wrong. So very, very, wrong.

And then we went to a place called Treasures. Again, this is a jewelry store, right?

Again, wrong. Very, very wrong. I haven't see this many boobies since I was nursing.

But, we weren't exactly complaining.

It was almost sunrise by the time we finally left that strange, wonderful jewelry store, so we did what any self-respecting baby would do in our situation - we headed to the Las Vegas visitors sign and took some mad pictures.

I tried to head back to the casino but Scotty stopped me. I guess I had a crazed look in my eyes. But just one more hand! One more hand of poker!

The next day, we slept in and just lounged around the pool. Man, is it hot in the desert.

There's really nothing like a good friend, a great city, and some leisurely R&R. And best of all, I got a chance to see what everyone had told me about -- the Bellagio Fountains. Pretty amazing.

Thanks for reading! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Love, Rowan D.