Thursday, May 7, 2009

Las Vegas

When Patrick turned 29, I promised him a trip to Las Vegas for his 30th birthday. Well, considering Drew was born exactly one week before Patrick turned 30...that plan went by the wayside. So I promised him we would try again when Drew got older...maybe for his 32nd? Of course, Allen came along a month before that and the plan disappeared again. So...since we now live so close to Vegas, I planned a surprise trip for our anniversary. Since I am pretty bad at keeping secrets, I ended up spilling the surprise a few weeks prior, but that was ok. He was excited. Then the great cactus incident happened and almost ruined our plans. But we decided to go anyway and make the best of it. It was mainly a time to get away from reality, sleep in (without little people tapping on your shoulder asking you if they can watch the Disney Channel since they already woke up...at 5:45 am...), enjoy a new place, and just be together. We had a great time and will probably go back...sometime...
(And no, the boys did not suffer while we were gone. My parents came in town and they had a big time together. Drew helped them get around town (he's almost as good as the Garmin!) and they got lots of playtime. It worked out well for all involved!)


We stayed at the Signature which is part of the MGM Grand but separate towers behind it...you can see a white tower to the left of the green hotel...we were in tower 3. It was very nice (huge rooms, very private, nicer pools, non-smoking) but not super convenient. We had to walk over a 1/2 mile to get back into the MGM to then go anywhere else. Either that or walk out the back way and down a back street which was fine during the day but I didn't love it at night. We enjoyed the peacefulness of it but probably won't stay there again...

I thought this lion was awesome! He laid on top of the viewing tunnel in the MGM Lion Habitat and slept all day. He was huge! His paws were bigger than my face! It was hard to get a good picture of him, but I had to try. He kept opening his eyes and watching everyone below him but never lifted his head. Patrick saw him the next day, sleeping again, but this time there was a female trying to wake him up and get him to play. Hah!

The New York, New York was right across the street. I thought it was so cool! Very cool design and nice and open inside. We went to ride the roller coaster but the $14 per person price tag coupled with the very windy day kept us away. Maybe another time...

Probably as close as I'll ever get to Paris...

Hopefully not as close as I'll ever get to Venice! Pretty cool hotel...I had no idea the canal inside was on the second floor. It took my mind a few minutes to process that idea...

Attempting to take a picture of ourselves...if it tells you anything, this was the best one...Patrick was not cooperating at all! And no, he had not been drinking...I think he was just tired of me dragging him up and down the Strip.

My camera battery died while we were out one day so I didn't get any photos of the Bellagio or Caesar's Palace, although I really liked both of those hotels! And Patrick did give in and let me watch the Bellagio fountains one afternoon. His exact words: "You do realize we are standing here waiting to watch water go up in the air, right?" The beauty of it was lost on him...

Our favorite casino was the Wynn and we hope to make it back there one day...maybe when we win the lottery!

There was a big boxing match at the MGM on Saturday night and the hotel was packed with people from England there to watch their guy fight. It was supposed to be a pretty good match...apparently no one told him that as he was knocked out early in the second round! But it was cool to see all the crazy stuff that went on around the fight. And since Saturday was the Kentucky Derby, we took the opportunity to place our first horse bets. We didn't win, but we had picked the horses that came in second and third to win so we were close. Unfortunately they don't give you anything for close. It was fun to experience it, but not something either of us are interested in doing again. Patrick did go sit in the Sports Book to watch the race and he said the atmosphere was really neat.

1 comment:

Fields said...

I am so glad you all had a good time. Your mom was thrilled to go babysit!