Last month I told Ryan that this year I would like to take a vacation as a family. A "trip" by Andrea's defination is going to Cedar City, which we all love, but she doesn't really know what it is to take a vacation. I suggested Las Vegas or Jackson Hole/Yellowstone. We figured if we were going to do Las Vegas we better do it soon before the weather got too hot down there. I had already asked for some time off from work around my birthday so we figured we would do it then.
Since Vegas is a long drive we thought maybe we could break it up and still stop in Cedar on the way there and back, then Andrea still got the best of both worlds. We left Wednesday night so we would have most of the day Thursday in Vegas. I had prepared Andrea by showing her pictures online and reminder her how Gru in the movie "Despicable Me" stole the Statue of Liberty..."The small one from Las Vegas". After that our whole trip had a Descpicable Me theme to it because everytime she saw the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower we had to quote the movie.
We actually got to Vegas before check-in time and since we were staying at Circus Circus anyway we headed to the Midway to play some carnival games.
She thinks it's funny to cross her eyes when someone takes a picture.
She loved every minute of that, and was very particular about what games she wanted to play and which ones she wasn't interested in. It wasn't very crowded, so most of the time all three of us would play the same game so that we were sure to win. Then she got to enjoy a couple of circus acts there, a clown, and some tumblers.
After we checked in and put our stuff in the room we went to the Adventure Dome, also in Circus Circus. And since they were only open for another hour and a half, dumb, yeah. We bought Andrea a ride pass and then just a couple of tickets for Ryan and I. She rode on the airplanes by herself and then that's all she was interested in, so after begging her to ride some rides with Ryan and I so we could use our tickets, we finally let her go back to the airplanes.
We ate a local barbeque place in the hotel that had okay food and slow service, but that's another story. The experience was slightly improved when a lady making balloon animals made Andrea a lady bug while we waited for our meal. Again, crossed eyes, what a stink butt!
After dinner we drove over to the Belagio to watch the fountains. On our way to the fountains we explored the gardens inside the Belagio, it smelled so beautiful! They had huge mushrooms, swans, and even a windmill, it was a fun place to walk through.
We arrived outside just in time to see one of the fountain sho
ws and Andrea was amazed. It's fun to see things the first time through a child's eyes.
That night she had to sleep with all her prizes from the midway.
The next morning we couldn't go back to play games or ride rides because nothing opened until 10:00. So we decided to explore more of Vegas. You never realize how many fountains and pools there are in Vegas until you have a four-year-old who needs to throw coins in every one of them.
We thought she would like the forum shops and the moving statues so we headed there. Unfortunately they didn't start until 11:00, so we had about a half hour to kill, luckily there was a very cool aquarium right there so we watched fish and had some snacks.
After watching Atlantis get banned to the ocean we headed down the strip, we realized some of the attractions were further away than we thought. So after watching the rainstorm in Planet Hollywood and grabbing a few souveniers, we headed back to our hotel.
Ryan had his heart set on winning a minion from the claw machine the night before so he wanted to go give it another shot. Andrea was not about to argue with going back to play the games, I think she could have stayed at Circus Circus the whole trip and been quite happy. Ryan did end up winning his minion although I don't know how many quarters it took.
And Andrea got her heart set on winning a giant basketball, also from a huge claw machine, and after watching a few people be successful at it we got it in three tries.
Since the next circus show coming up was the trapese we thought we would get some gelato from the rotating eatery that had a great view of the nets. Andrea loved the gelato, except the capucino flavor which "tasted like gas station".
Before dinner time we thought we would try to hit the M&M and Coke Stores, everywhere in Vegas is a hike, but luckily we found parking spot that wasn't far. Andrea wasn't as thrilled with the stores as we thought she'd be, but I had to find me some Christmas Ornaments as souveniers and luckily the M&M store had a great selection.
On our way back to the car we were trying to decide where to eat and we had walked past the Rain Forest Cafe in MGM. I thought that would be a fun place for Andrea, but the moving animals actually scared her. It took a lot of convincing from me and Ryan that the Elephant was just a big toy that moved and that he wasn't going to get her. Every once in a while the lights would flash and the sound of thunder would come, and she thought that was exciting. It's too bad you can't see the rainforest background but this is Andrea and Daddy at dinner.
The next day we thought we would go visit the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay before we left town. Since we got there shortly after it opened there wasn't much of a line and not very crowded. It was fun to see sea creatures I've never seen before like an Octopus, and jelly fish, and of course sharks swimming right over your head. They had a touch pool where you could touch sting rays but Andrea didn't want to and, honestly, neither did I.
This was a huge Komono Dragon behind us.
At the Shark Reef we had the chance to buy a souvenier photo, I liked Vegas as the backdrop rather than the sharks.
Saturday we headed back to Cedar and enjoyed the evening with Matt, Sara, and the kids then headed home Sunday. I loved every minute of this trip, I can't believe what a good traveler Andrea is and she loves talking about Circus Circus and all the things she got to see in Vegas.
