Vegas Baby

This year, like all years, the boys and I wanted to do something fun for Spring Break. With two failed attempts to visit my Grandma in Lake Havasu, we opted for a trip to Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas....where we could venture to the sun and surf (albeit manufactured) with warm weather, comfy beds and Haagen Dazs. And at nearly the last moment, my friend Melissa E decided to grace us with her wonderful presence!

Day 1 Wednesday:

We got to Vegas and before we could even begin to unpack, Brenden and Ethan already had their swim trunks on and flippers in hand. It was the cutest thing, so I couldn't say no. We went down to the pool and they claimed to be closed! It was merely 5:38 and they didn't close till 6 officially, but they wouldn't let us in. So, we spent the next half hour walking around looking for the "ghost spa"...that's the spa (jacuzzi) that people were trying to help us find that never actually showed itself to us. So, we unpacked and went down to see the Shark Reef Exhibit! That was very cool and I got the boys shark tooth necklaces afterward. After that, we went out via a kinda scary rail tram to Excalibur, and walked through New York New York (the kids called out "THE STATUE OF LIBERTY!!" hehe - I explained that it isn't the statue) to the MGM Grand where we looked at REAL LIVE sleeping lions and ate Nathan's hot dogs and Haagen Dazs ice cream. Yum! Finally, we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Day 2 Thursday:

We woke up early, put on our swim gear and headed down to the pools where we remained the rest of the day. To our dismay, they don't rent inner tubes there anymore, so I had to buy one for $23.71. YES, $23.71! The Mandalay Bay boasts 3 regular pools and jacuzzis, a lazy river and a huge wave pool with lots and lots of sand. The weather was 82 degrees and beautiful and the time spent there was absolutely fantastic. We all had a blast!!

That night, after a little R and R in the room, we went over to the Rio to try their buffet. We almost did the seafood buffet but opted instead for the "World Famous Carnival International Buffet." It was good, but a bit overwhelming if I do say so myself. The buffet itself is probably a mile long if you string it all together. They have so many food choices that my brain and my stomach didn't know what the heck to do. Brenden stuck with pizza mostly, and Ethan mostly crab, shrimp and sushi (that's my boy!). I can't remember what I had. It's all a blur! After Rio, we went back to our little home away from home and got ready for bed and watched Ethan make shadow puppets on the wall (very fun). Melissa went down and did some gambling, but my little ones didn't want me to go! I told them that I would just wait for them to fall asleep then (hehe), but I decided to stay and watch some MTV...that was actually fun since I almost never watch TV at home, especially dumb TV like that! hehe.

Day 3 Friday:

We woke up early again and headed for the pool. We only planned on being there an hour because we needed to check out of the hotel and do some other stuff in Vegas. We were out there for about 45 minutes when the weather turned FREEZING. There was a sudden mass exodus! So, we got ready, packed our bags and got outta there! We headed to Blueberry Hill for breakfast. Ethan and I each had the special: a Tiger omelet and pancakes. It was SOOO good. Best thing we ate in Vegas. Brennie had the kids Pancake special. Yum Yum!!
From there, we headed to Circus Circus for some game time. We ended up staying there for FOUR hours!! Melissa and I watched the kids enjoy all kinds of rides in the Adventuredome from Sponge Bob 4D to Laser Tag (their favorite). From there, we headed out of town, stopping only at Stateline to get gas at Terrible's in exchange for $20 in free slot play at Buffalo Bills. I did that while Mel took the boys to the arcade. Boy that was five minutes of FUN! I love Jacks or Better! Finally, after battling STRONG WIND GUSTS alllllllll they way home, we arrived in our home town at about 11pm!

All in all, an awesome family trip!!