65. VIVA LAS VEGAS

Being early risers it was no trouble to reach the airport on time for the flight. We met up with everyone in front of the arrival gate and I saw many heads turn as we assembled. Duckie and Byong were wearing identical backpacks in pink and blue color and standing holding hands to keep the other one from straying, as we had taught them. Minx and Sehun had opted for same backpacks as them in bigger size and they too stood holding hands.

Kibum directed Amber and Kai to stand behind the other four kids so they’d keep an eye on each other. Amber balked at the idea and made a face but a look from Heechul silenced her tantrum in making. Kai was one happy fella. He smirked as he stood holding Amber’s hands. She pinched him to wipe off his smirk. He kicked her shin. She punched his tummy. He pulled her braid hard. She twisted his ear. I stood watching them. Amazing what they could do while still holding hands. I just hoped they wouldn’t give each other a black eye before we even boarded the plane.

I also saw Soo follow my suggestion and stand near Leeteuk. I noticed his eyes open a little bit wider as her new perfume hit his senses. Hmmm, so he was not so gone for DongHae that Soo’s charms would fail to work on him. That was a good sign. He offered to carry her in-flight bag for her. She sweetly smiled to thank him, making sure to look straight in his eyes and then brushing her hand nonchalantly over her dress to shake off non-existent dust. As I’d known, it drew Doc’s attention immediately from her lips to her eyes and then her figure. She was wearing a new dress clinched in at the waist with a narrow belt. His stared for a few seconds at her figure before remembering himself. Oh yes, the plan was going to be a roaring success.

Kai and Amber were still having their silent one-handed and one-legged battle with each other. I separated the two and sent Kai to take care of his grandmother. He rubbed all the places Amber had managed to pinch, punch and kick and walked away after first poking his tongue out at her like a little kid.

Puppy, Siwon and DongHae were busy with the tickets and documentation as we entered the airport. All the luggages pieces were counted, in-flight bags counted, finally all heads were counted and our party moved inside. We found seats for the kids to sit and left umma and imo to supervise them. Soo and Jiyeon insisted on going to the check-in counter with us. As Soo began to load her bag onto the weighing machine, Doc offered his help again and loaded the bags for her. Oh yes, I mentally patted my back. Puppy noticed it too and smiled at me.

We got our boarding passes and sailed through check-in. Kai and Amber jostled each other for a spot in the queue. Doc held Soo’s in-flight bag. The other four kids behaved like little angels. I took out money and gave some to each child above 10 years to go and purchase their food and have it. For Byong and Duckie I handed money to Jiyeon. Soo and Doc were given charge of the whole group. They trouped off together. Umma and imo went off with Kibum and Heechul to take a tour of the place.

The rest of us sat down to wait for flight announcements and to move our watches back by 16 hours. I gave out printed papers to each one based on my research and itinerary detailing each day’s activities and the local times that we needed to follow.

Taemin looked at his and began jumping. I wondered why. He visited our first stop before. It appeared all he did was to stay in the hotel and did hotel and room-based activities only. Moron. We had booked helicopter rides, buggy rides, sleepover under the stars, and even horse rides.

As the flight was announced, everyone returned to the pack. I handed over my mother’s boarding pass to Doc requesting him to help her till they reached the hotel room. I knew that would keep him separated him from DongHae. Kai and Amber would have to sort out their dispute on their own or DongHae and Hyukkie could sit with them. They needed to be separated too, they were getting too chummy for me.

The group departed in a flurry of goodbyes and see you soons. Byong and Duckie began running all around, trying to burn of the energy eating gave them. I took out my two 6-meter strings and tied them to the jeans’ back loops of Byong and Duckie. The other ends I tied to my jean’s belt loop. Now whatever these two did, they wouldn’t go beyond 6-meter range from me. Heechul clapped at my idea. Others just stared. I stared back at them. I had no desire to keep running after those two during the entire trip. This worked for me.

In the flight, Sehun and Minx sat together, while puppy, Byong and I took the center seats for three. Puppy doubled the string to shorten it to 3 meters and retied Byong to himself. Heechul did the same for Duckie. This gave the children mobility but not too long to trouble other flyers. Minx and Sehun were in their own world, busy with their own talks and games.

We had a 16 hours flight before us. At sharp 10 am local time our flight took off. We’d land in Las Vegas at 10 am local time. We’d advised everyone to sleep a lot during the flight as we had a full day scheduled for Las Vegas. Puppy moved to sit next to me and held my hand. We moved up the arm rest so we could be more comfortable. We talked, we slept, we looked after our family of three, or four when Duckie joined us, and we kissed when the lights were dimmed for the night and people all around us nodded off to sleep.

Our flight touched Las Vegas on time. Minx and Sehun were staring out of the window the whole time. I think Minx even left her nose print on the pane. All kids were chewing on the sweets I had given them. Thankfully, no ear pain.

As we assembled near the baggage arrival bay, children practiced their English by reading all the signs and billboards. Tae was right, ribbons made it easy to identify our bags. Puppy, Siwon and uncle lifted off bag after bag. They would let the rest of us lift only lighter smaller bags. We counted bags and heads again and walked out.

The warmer daytime Las Vegas air hit us and we smiled at the sunshine. Our special shuttle coach took us to the hotel and we gave our passports. We were already checked in by DongHae and Doc who were waiting in the lobby for us. It was a good middle-range hotel and we had rooms on the same floor. After each room’s luggage was sorted out and everyone occupied their right rooms, we all freshened up. Doc and DongHae had already showered. Sehun was getting along well with Doc. Puppy and I took care of Byong in our room. Minx declared she could bathe and dress on her own. Amber was already dressed for the day.

We met in the hotel restaurant half hour later for lunch. DongHae and Doc had arranged for a long table for us to share together. Yes, our group worked well together, sharing responsibilities.

After a relaxed lunch with a mishmash of different flavors ranging from all American steak to Italian pasta and a few rice dishes as well to satisfy Taemin we set off for our sightseeing. Tae kept praising the lunch, patting his own back to let us decide what to order for him also. We had the top open seating on the guided tour bus.

The next four hours were spent soaking in the sites of Las Vegas. Visiting its various hotels that were each different in architecture and beauty. Minx and Sehun posed in front of every hotel with hands held together and the other hands making a heart. We just hoped they wouldn’t regret these photos on growing up. Duckie and Byong wanted to emulate them and posed in the same way. Heechul did a high five with Siwon.

We even had few photographs of Kai and Amber hitting each other, especially in the group photographs. Finally, Hyukkie, DongHae, Kai and Amber began posing together for photographs with kids on either sides of the adults.

Tae wanted to pose for every photograph by kissing Kibum on the cheek. Finally, uncle whacked him and told him to behave.

We almost missed the bus at one hotel because umma and imo wouldn’t stop taking photographs of each other. As suggested by me, Soo had gotten Leeteuk to sit with her on the bus and they even posed for some of the photographs together. Uncle noticed it but didn’t say anything.

After an early dinner, we left to see the musical fountains at Bellagio at night fall. The dancing fountains held each one of us enthralled. Puppy and I held hands. Byong was tied to puppy’s waist. After the beautiful water show we were guided to another show at the same hotel.

It was the performance of O by Cirque du Soleil. Puppy had booked three different shows by them in different hotels. He wanted it to be a lifetime experience for us. And what a show it was. We were spellbound for 90 minutes. As our mini-coach took back all of us to our hotel, the discussions centered on the fountains and O. Byong and Duckie fell asleep on the short ride back. Older children were yawning.

We’d thought of hitting the casinos for a short period that night, but decided to tuck in bed instead. Soo offered to take in Byong for the night. It gave puppy and I our first night alone since his birth. After checking to see that all the children were sleeping tight, with Duckie tucked in between Amber and Minx, puppy and I relaxed.

It was a long time before we slept. We celebrated the first of the next many nights of our anniversary. Puppy had arranged for a bottle of champagne. We not only drank it from flute glasses, we even put it to innovative uses.

It was a worthy memory we created that night. We even clicked a photograph of ourselves with satisfied smiles on our faces.