Vegas, Baby!

The weekend of July 16-19 Brad, Connor, and I were able to escape for a weekend to Las Vegas. Brad's brother Brandon got a cheap hotel rate through his work ($200 total for 2 couples to stay in a 2 room suite for 1 whole week). Brandon/Bird and Jenn are from Orem, UT so it was a great place to meet in the middle. We only had enough vacation time to stay Friday thru Monday night (still a good deal for us - $100 for 4 nights of hotel), but they stayed a few extra days after we left. We had a great time gallivanting along the strip (even though it was a blazing 118 degrees some days - ick!) and, of course, eating ourselves nearly to death at several of the Vegas buffets. Las Vegas really is the city of gluttony - I think I gained 5 pounds in those 4 days...

We left Friday morning around 10:30 a.m. and arrived in Vegas around 3:30 p.m. We checked in at the Royal Resort hotel just off the strip where we met up with Bird and Jenn and relaxed for a little bit. We then headed straight for Paris and the Eifel tower. We were able to see the Bellagio fountains from the top of the Eifel tower (accompanied by Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"), which was spectacular, and the lights and activity all along the strip is also fun to see from so high.







Saturday morning we slept in (this is vacation, after all), ate breakfast in our hotel room, and then Jenn, Connor and I went to see the Bodies Exhibit at the Luxor while the boys visited the Maserati Showroom at the Imperial Palace. They didn't allow pictures to be taken inside either exhibit, so these are the best we got. The Bodies exhibit was fascinating!! I've never learned so much about the human body in such a short time! After, we made our way to the large aquarium tank in the Silverton hotel where we watched a mermaid pet and hug the sting reys - crazy! Then we walked around the Bass Pro Shop, looked at all the hunting gear, and played with the duck calls to kill a little time until the Silverton dinner buffet at 4 p.m. This buffet was delicious (and we had 2 for 1 coupons)! Steak, prime rib, BBQ ribs, crab legs, shrimp, sushi, fried rice, salad, desserts, etc. etc. etc. We practically had to grease our sides to fit through the door and then roll ourselves back to our hotel room for the night. I don't think I've ever eaten so much, and I never plan to again - it was painful. We sat in our hotel room the rest of the night to undertake the near impossible task of digesting all that food, played with Connor, and watched a movie (Disturbia) before going to bed.




I know this picture is really blurry (all of them were because the flash didn't work with the glass), but you get an idea of how the sting reys were like her pets - they were swimming all over her! She literally bear hugged them 3 or 4 times while we were there, but I couldn't get a good picture of it.


Sunday morning we woke up a little earlier and headed to the Venetian hotel around 9:30 a.m. for a gondola ride. It was extremely romantic, and our gondolier sang beautiful songs of love in Itallian, including "Balla Notte" (This is the Night) from Lady and the Tramp during our ride along the quarter mile indoor Grand Canal. Connor was captivated at his singing, and the gondola ride, I thought, was the highlight of our trip. Our gondolier called Connor Piccolo Bambino (Little Baby) and Capitano the whole time. It was cute. We then walked around the shops at the Palazzo (connected to the Venetian) before visiting Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in the Venetian where we had fun interacting with many stars. It's crazy how they can make wax people look so real! Then we ate at the brunch buffet around 1 p.m. in Terrible's hotel and proceeded to stuff ourselves again (another 2 for 1 deal), although this buffet wasn't nearly as good as the Silverton's.





Connor was mesmerized by our gondolier's singing. This video doesn't do our gondolier's voice justice. It was beautiful, and very romantic.


You can also take a gondola ride outside along this beautiful canal.

The ceiling in the Venetian. Gorgeous.


In the elevator going down to see Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.


Bird and Jenn walked the red carpet with Brad and Angie.


Brad took on Shaq.

I was a Bond Girl.

Brad rode Evel's bike.

Bird gave Tiger some golfing pointers.

Connor hangin' with Snoop.

Simon and I critiqued some American Idol singers.

And Connor joined the wild wild west. (This one is for my dad - the biggest John Wayne fan of them all.)


Sunday afternoon Brad and I wanted to go to the Stratosphere to ride the rides on top, but the one we wanted to ride was closed for maintenance so we ended up walking around the gift shop instead. Bird and Jenn offered to watch Connor for us that night so Brad and I could have a date night. We all went to pick up our show tickets and eat dinner, which consisted of jalepeno cheese pretzels from New York Pretzel and Haagen Dazs Bailey's ice cream shakes - so good (we were still a little full from the buffet earlier in the day) and then Brad and I saw the Blue Man Group perform at the Venetian that night. This show definitely wasn't what we expected, but it was fun and interesting. And the music was incredible.



(This picture is from the wax museum, but this is really what they look like during the show.)


Monday morning, we went out for breakfast at Denny's on the strip (we just couldn't do another buffet) and finished off our Vegas weekend. Then we walked along the strip to M&M World (I had no idea there were so many M&M themed objects - we're talking 4 stories of M&Ms and M&M merchandise!) and then headed over to the New York, NY hotel where we walked around, shopped, and cooled off for a bit. Later, we headed to the MGM Grand to see their lions and then visited the famous Gold and Silver Pawn shop (from the Discovery channel TV show Pawn Stars). I totally didn't expect it to be so packed!! On the show it's always so empty! The last thing we did was visit the World's Largest Gift Shop across the street from our hotel - it really is the world's largest!! It's HUGE! They have everything you could ever possibly want as far as Las Vegas souvenirs go! Brad, Connor and I stopped by Panda Express for dinner before hitting the road for home.

Connor grabbed the butter on the plate right when we weren't playing close enough attention. He had fun, but the cleanup was a little messy.





Walking to NY, NY (you can see the Statue of Liberty in the background). It's not everyday you see Freddy Krueger and Buzz Lightyear chatting it up. They must have been dying in these costumes. It was a very warm 119 degrees that day!


Don't know what this guy is doing... or thinking.

We saw Rick from Pawn Stars working at the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop! It was very exciting.


I should have taken a picture of the entire gift shop from the outside. I swear it was 3 blocks long and the inside is FILLED with Las Vegas souvenirs - everything you could never want.

Connor did not want to take this picture, if you couldn't tell. He didn't want to be picked up because he just wanted to walk. This is the best we got.

Happy again.

It was a great weekend, a nice break from work, and a fun place to meet Bird and Jenn in the middle. Can't wait for next time!