For his recent birthday, Wally and some friends went to Las Vegas to celebrate by seeing Tom Jones in concert! Here are some shots from the trip, and their stay at the MGM Grand Hotel...

The reason we went. The legendary Tom Jones at the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre!


Andrea in front of the big gold lion outside the MGM Grand


Andrea poses in front of the Statue of Liberty at New York New York


One of my favorite things is an ice cold Coke in a glass bottle. And at the Coke store you can order one up fresh. MMMMMM!!


I met my cousins the Langstons for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I hadn't seen them in about 33 years!


In the MGM Lion habitat a real lion will come right up and lick you! Witness this happy couple who are about to be licked by a giant kitty!


Here, the lion thinks this camera might be tasty, so he gives it a lick!


The lion loves to play with its trainer, biting a huge rawhide chew bone!


An amazing beast to be sure!


A lion and his mate just "lion" around!


Ok, when the camera is pulled back you see that a real lion really DOESN'T come out into the audience and lick them. Instead, the trainer throws wads of meat on the glass so the lion can walk around and lick the meat off the glass for a quick snack. The Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand is surrounded by sound-proof glass so observers can watch a lion in action and get really close! The lion not only can't hear the people, but he can't smell them either. So as a result, the lion tunes out the visitors and just goes about his business. Amazing!


The lion in the MGM's lion habitat was an amazing creature to watch! (click to watch movie clip)


Unlike the lion, this cheetah was an animatronic display in the Rainforest Cafe.


By one of the many pools, the scenery was very pleasant.


At the end of the day, Andrea sneaks a quick nap after all the activity!

Here's our group at the Tom Jones show! Not sure why the photo is so blurry. Perhaps the photographer had been drinking. From left to right front: Jason Marsden, Sira Christner, Andrea Christianson, and Zandra Pendleton. Back row from left to right: Gil Christner, me & Joe Pendleton. What fun!