Viva Las Vegas Pt.3

After nursing a sick baby & not leaving our hotel grounds for almost 24 hours, I was encouraged/ forced to go out for the night with my sisters & their significant others. We ate a late dinner at the Sugar Factory, where the food was as delicious as the decor.

Ruby was back to normal the next day, so baby girl & I wandered through some more hotels along the Strip.

The luxurious Wynn Hotel. Can I stay here next time

Ruby was pretty excited to stumble upon this "bow wow" in one of the shops at Wynn.

The Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage. The mini-zoo was a combined dolphin observatory and white tiger habitat. The kids had SO MUCH FUN (and so did the adults).

We especially loved the dolphins. I could've watched these guys play all day. The one laying it's head on the cement was the sweetest little thing ever. I'm pretty sure he (or she) wanted to come home with us.

The box office at Cirque du Soleil's Beatles show, "Love". Watching the kiddos play & dance in the lighted tunnel might have been the highlight of my whole trip. Ruby showed off dance moves I had never seen:)

Don't ask me how, but we ended up at a Senor Frog's for dinner. I wasn't expecting much for the littles, but was pleasantly surprised by how accommodating they were to us. We all ended up leaving the restaurant with happy tummies and some rather ornate balloon hats.

As if our day couldn't get any more exciting, we got to watch the entirely cheesy (and free) pirate show outside of the Treasure Island Hotel. The music and storyline were almost unbearable, but to my 4 year old nephew, it might have been the coolest thing he had ever witnessed.

OH, YEAH! He also met CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW after the show!! It's hard to express the magnitude of this encounter, but believe me when I say it was EPIC. (And does this dude seriously not look exactly like Johnny Depp? Um, hello!).

Ruby also made a few new friends, but she does pretty much wherever she goes:)

I've got a couple more Vegas posts, but they're good ones - trust me!! Thanks for reading, y'all...xx

Viva Las Vegas Pt.2

This post could also be subtitled, "Things to Do in Vegas with a Toddler". As I am sure you can imagine this adult playground of a city is not quite marketed to wee ones. The difference between Vegas at night and Vegas at day is literally that - night & day. But there's plenty to do & see with the littles until the sun goes down.

 Starting the day off with some PBS Kids. Something about this logo I find so ironic...

Any opportunity to splash around in some water is a WIN. Ruby & her cousin Brody dipping their toes in the fountains at Aria. It also made for some pretty great pictures.

We walked around A LOT. One thing about Vegas is that everything is closer than it looks. My back is still recovering. We made sure to stay hydrated and had plenty of Ibuprofen on hand.

The 80 degree temps made it easy to forget that it was still Autumn. A handful of hotels had Fall-themed installations on display. We especially liked the solarium at the Bellagio.

 This tree in the Bellagio solarium talked and looked around with his gigantic eyes. Not creepy at all.

The babes were such troopers as we dragged them all over the Strip. They were rewarded with hugs, kisses, and pistachio gelato.

Our whole family went to the Tournament of Kings on Monday night. I would argue to say this is one of the best deals in Vegas. You get a full-on live medieval show with jousting/ pyrotechnics/ etc and dinner included for about $60. This is cheap in Vegas dollars.

The meal is pretty basic fare, but it is appropriate to the time period. There also aren't any utensils to eat with, so dress accordingly. Especially if you have a toddler in tow (one of the only shows were children can be included free of charge if sitting on their parent's laps).

This was one of my favorite things we did together and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. SO FUN!!

We also made sure to squeeze in some pool time. Our hotel had a pretty large section of their pool that was only 10 inches deep (also heated). We didn't spend a whole lot of time there in an effort to protect our babes from the blazing desert sun, but every minute was certainly enjoyed.

After our short time at the pool, Ruby was acting a little out of sorts. It ended up that my poor babe somehow obtained a flu bug.

Ruby had never really been sick before, so it was so sad to see her crying and throwing up. We ended up spending the rest of that day in our hotel room. These kind of things really stink on a vacation, it's just par for the course as a parent. Really, I was just grateful that she was back to normal by the next day.

To be continued...xx

Viva Las Vegas Pt.1

If you know me or my family, it might come as a surprise that we spent our family vacation in Las Vegas. Or it might not. When you hear how great of a deal we got through Allegiant Airlines, you will understand. Round trip airfare including a 5 night stay at our hotel for $300 per person. BAM.

I do want to add here that you get what you pay for. Our clan shacked up at the infamous Excalibur Hotel, which upon initial inspection, seemed slightly spectacular. Heck, it looks like a castle even.

There are elements to it that are dated, and the rooms are nothing to write home (or blog) about. It wasn't really until we toured the more well-known hotels on the Strip that exposed how underwhelming our sleeping quarters really were. I don't have any major complaints, but if I do ever go back, I may be more enticed to penny-up and stay at a nicer place.

We arrived in Vegas close to dinnertime, so we randomly wandered into a burger establishment called FATBURGER. Little did we know about the the excitement that would ensue once a very famous customer arrived.

Our party was sitting on the patio when a limo pull up in front of the building. A woman stepped out of it wearing sunglasses and a hood. Then suddenly, the woman whipped off the hood, tousled her hair, and started posing in front of the sign. It was none other than...

PARIS HILTON. We later saw via her Twitter page the photo posted of her outside of the restaurant in which my nephew & sister can be seen upon closer viewing. For all 9 million of her followers to see.

You can imagine how exciting this spotting was for a group of relatively simple folks from Iowa. Especially so early into our trip. It set our expectations pretty high for any other possible sightings of famous persons. [My parents later saw Vince Neil leaving Barney's New York. And some dude from "Counting Cars". That was about it].

The Chandelier Bar at the Cosmopolitan. Can you believe that every one of those strands is compiled of individual beads? It also spanned several floors of the hotel. Pretty much amazing.

Vintage sewing machine installation at All Saints. Right next to the Chandelier Bar. So much awesomenimity within such close proximity [head explodes]. This is the stuff that my dreams are made of.

We walked a little further down the Strip and saw a large scale camera operation outside of Caesar's Palace. Multiple sources confirmed it was filming for The Hangover 3. No Zach Galifinakis sightings, but still fun to watch.

We also spotted TURF (the contortionist from last season's America's Got Talent) performing on a street corner. WHAT'S UP. You know how much I love AGT, you guys.

And this was only the first night, y'all!! More to come...xx