Viva Las Vegas, Baby!

Last weekend, R's firm treated us to a trip to Vegas!

If you've not been before, Las Vegas is difficult to describe...

it is over the top!

There's lots of glitz & glam & yet lots of disgusting parts.

The hotels are incredible - massive! Our room, at the Palazzio, had a huge bathroom & bedroom & a living room bigger than ours in our home. The hotels are mostly windowless (windows in the rooms, not in the casinos, restaurants, etc) so you often feel a bit disoriented as far as time. They are also like huge mazes- you could probably walk for miles through casinos, shops, restaurants, theaters, etc without stepping outside. I suppose that's the whole idea- to keep people spending money inside their many walls!

For some reason, I thought I would get lots of relaxing time - long bubble baths (I took one- at about 1:30am one night/morning), hours by the pool reading my library books (I only finished one book!), & long naps (not to be- I only got a couple of hours of sleep each night!)

Vegas is its own world- so much to do & so much of it occurs at night. Lots of fun but EXHAUSTING!

ps- Will did not go with us - not an appropriate or kid friendly kind of city... he did, however, have a blast swimming & staying with his Honey & G-Dad

Here's some photos to highlight our trip:

After landing at the airport, some of our husbands had a huge stretch limo escalade waiting for us to drive us to our hotel & to our dinner the first night.
It was lots of fun. Kind of like when my homecoming date one year in high school & some friends rented a u-haul van for the evening's transportation. Except a bit swankier. And no one in high school ever ran up to take their picture by our u-haul while we all laughed hysterically inside. That definitely happened to us in Vegas. Clearly, I'm moving up in "classy!"

Lest you think we were too glamarous...

the provided champagne was screwtop & there were "solo" cups among the champagne glasses.
Cheers to a couples trip!


On Friday, we rented a cabana next to the pool with some other couples. The cabana is behind us in the picture- it came complete with a server, stocked mini fridge, couches, tv, & air conditioning.
Of course, "sun lover" vitamin D health nut that I am, I remained outside the cabana...
with my library book.
Until the sun was replaced by clouds & I nearly cried but held it together because I was with a group of partner's & their wives from R's firm & I didn't want them to think I was addicted to Vitamin D or anything.
Thank goodness for photoshop cropping - clearly I underestimated the size of my legs in thinking they would be covered by my library book. It was a thick book, in my defense. Do still cameras add 10 pounds? Yes, I believe they do. Also, I lost 2 lbs in Vegas- no idea how but I'll go with it. Perhaps even the scales in Vegas are rigged to make you feel better about yourself & therefore spend more money. I hope not.
So, yes... I'm posting a swimsuit picture... Yikes! No Comment, Please.
Here we are at appetizers at St. Mark's Square in the Venetian. If you've ever been to St. Mark's in Venice, this looks exactly like it - even with mimes & outdoor restaurants & a "Grand Canal" - with real singing gondoliers. Except that you're not outdoors- it's painted & lit to make it feel like outdoors. And, there's no pigeons (probably because it is such a maze to get there that they can't find it) & it's clean.
On Friday night, we grabbed appetizers & the most amazing olives- bright green imported from Sicily. I looked at the store today, apparently we can't get Sicilian bright green olives out here in the Frontier of Texas.

Then, we headed to Phantom of the Opera. It was my second time to see it & I recall loving it the first time in San Francisco on a date with my daddy when I was 15.
However, in Vegas, it was AWESOME!!! They "Vegased" it up a lot- fire, crashing chandeliers over the audience, fireworks inside the theater, amazing special effects! And, the music was incredible! The theater was built specifically for Phantom & WOW! We all want to return just to see it again & see if we can figure out how the phantom could go so quickly from the stage to hanging over the audience. Just amazing!

Then, we went out for sushi.

I am not a sushi kind of gal. I tried it 10 years ago, at a food court in a mall in Guatemala. What was I thinking? It's been ruined for me forever. Kind of like the orange Vitamin Water I drank the morning I was in labor with Will. I'll spare you the details.

Anyway, I stuck with endamame hummus & California rolls.

R, however, introduced his palette to:

raw sea urchin (above, bottom left corner I believe- looks like a tongue):

Which he was so proud of himself for trying!

And, raw eel:

Which he said would have been better without the skin. GROSS!

On Saturday, R's meeting lasted all of 15 minutes. I had just hit the pool with my library book & oil in hand when I got the text message to get showered & meet him & some other couples for an early lunch.

We went to the Hoffbrau House for authentic German food.

Even my pretzel dessert was imported from Munich.

We had lots of fun, especially when one of R's office's partners, who shall remain nameless, began dancing on a table to the weird mouth harp music coming from behind R:

Sadly, I apparently forgot to take any more pictures. Saturday night, we had a cocktail party & dinner with R's firm at Aquanox which was lots of fun. Then, he went to see Jersey Boys. It was ok - but hard to follow Phantom! It was the story & music of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. I was unaware how many songs of theirs I actually knew. The story, however, was a bit boring - or maybe it was just that it didn't even start until 9:30 pm (11:30 TX time!) I would recommend it (except for the horrid language) if you grew up with the Four Seasons. Otherwise- skip it for Phantom.

We did very little gambling - I only bet $10 on a horse ("Mr. Hot Stuff") for the Kentucky Derby & I lost. Reagan played a few games of roulette & I think came out ahead by about $40. He also bet against his friends on the trip about some basketball game- & he won that. Our hotel gave us a $25 slot machine credit - which I lost in about 30 seconds flat at 2am on Saturday. I was not in the mood to play slots at 2am.

As a side note & completely unrelated- I want you to know that I only wore my hair in a ponytail while at the pool. I wore makeup & stiletto heels (with my flip flops in my purse for the long walks) & my hair down for the entire trip! It was so fun to dress up for my husband again & go out to places that didn't serve kids meals. I loved not taking Brown Bear, Brown Bear with me or a sippy cup everywhere I went. Not seeing kids & knowing it was not a kid friendly place definitely helped with the missing Will part. Also, I knew he was having a blast with his Honey & G-dad, which made it much easier. I did miss him lots but it was nice to have some time with R & couples from his office.