Vegas

Lonnie had some time off at the beginning of December and we wanted to plan a little getaway for just the three of us.  I really just let him plan the thing because I didn't care where we went.  I preferred a direct flight or a short drive somewhere but that was about it.  

He decided on Vegas.  Ha!  

If I am being totally honest I wasn't that thrilled with the idea of taking a 3 year old to Vegas.  But once I started doing some searching around I realized there were quite a few things we could do with Blakely and quite a few Christmas-y things we could do as well.  So I didn't complain as we were only going to be there for 3 full days ;)  

Blakely was great on the flight out there.  She slept most of the way.  We stayed at the Palaz.zo for the first time and really liked it.  We had a suite and it was FANTASTIC.  I wish I would have taken pictures of it.  It was split level with the king bed and a large sitting area up top and then down three steps was the "living" area with a huge sectional and the fold out that B slept on.  Blakely would have been happy just to play with her babies in our room the entire time.  I worried about her sleeping in the same "room" with us but she did fine.  Went to sleep great each night and even took great naps with me everyday.  She was really a dream on this trip and I was so relieved because she had been quite naughty the weeks leading up to the trip.  

The first full day was spent walking around and letting Blakely take in the lights of Vegas.  We bought a new umbrella stroller (J.eep brand and hello love it) because our other one pretty much died on our last trip.  When we went to Denver in March I swore I wasn't taking B to walk around a city without a stroller again anytime soon.  I could just picture her getting lost in Vegas and I knew a stroller would save my sanity.  It did.  She still walked quite a bit but the stroller was so very helpful because even when she was walking she wanted to be pushing her baby in the stroller.  

We took a gondola ride at The Ven.etian and she thought that was fun.  Our driver sang songs to her and I think she wanted to go again.  

I had read that the Cosmopolitan turned their swimming area into an ice skating rink and I knew B would love trying that so the next day we took her there.  Obviously I couldn't ice skate (darn) so Lonnie had to be the one to skate with her.   He hasn't skated in a million years so I let him get his bearings before sending her out there.  

Basically she looks adorable...

She thought it was fun and the girls there tried to teach her the best way to stay on her feet. She did okay but Lonnie had to keep her upright.  She didn't want to stop but after about 20-30 minutes I could tell this was not going well for Lonnie.  The position he was in, slightly bent over at the waist and holding all of her weight most of the time, was not looking good for his already injured back (see this post).  I tried to get him to stop and let the girls who worked there take B out but they were just holding her hand and not really giving a shit if she cracked her head or her arm so we weren't okay with that.  He pushed on.

When we were done we went and had dinner and then came back out there to the fire pits they had set up.  They had Christmas music playing and you could get hot chocolate at the bar and stuff for s'mores.  We roasted about 20 (Mommy LOVES them) and sipped hot chocolate by the fire.  

The best part was that it wasn't actually cold...ha!  Then they made it snow and B was fired up about that.  She ran around and jumped up and down trying to catch it yelling, "Snow!  Mommy, it's SNOW!"  

The next day we took her to the indoor theme park at Ci.rcus Circ.us.  She has never ridden any rides before.  I know!  I can't believe it either.  We have meant to take her to the fair each year but something has always come up.  I was so looking forward to Disney in March because I knew she would love to ride rides (and, well, princesses).  Since that is cancelled  I was excited to see how she liked this little theme park.  For an indoor theme park it was pretty great.  They even have some big rides.  They had about 8 rides that she could ride and that was really plenty.  Lonnie or I rode many of them with her first and then tested out one by herself.  

She was so excited and picked out her airplane with care.  About halfway through the ride I could tell the change on her face.  She was getting a little scared and made eye contact with me.  I told her she was doing great! and wasn't it fun! and it was almost over!  I think she got a little freaked out because she wasn't sure when it would stop.  I was so proud of her because she didn't cry and I could tell she was trying so hard to be brave.  It was just one of those mommy moments for me and I could have cried I was so proud of her.  Or maybe I am just pregnant and overly emotional.  

We stayed for a few hours and then went back to the hotel to crash.  And I am talking a 3 hour nap.  Glory.  

On our last day we went to old downtown Vegas.  It was fun and Lonnie and I had never checked that out before.  It is more of the old timey major lights and flashiness that you think of when you think of Vegas.  We had fun walking around and and then had dinner.  Blakely did so well at our dinners in Vegas.  I was worried about it because she is in a stage where she doesn't want to listen to anything we say.  But really she did well and I was impressed.  We even did a couple of fancier places and didn't have to leave early.  By the end of dinner I was ready to go lay down.  I was hurting and worn out and knew I was going to have to travel the next day with Blakely by myself.  So we went to bed at like 730.  Wild Vegas nights I tell ya.  

Blakely and I came home together and Lonnie stayed for a few extra days.  She did well traveling with me although she didn't sleep on the way home.  3+ hour flight with a sleepy toddler who wants to get up and pee every 15 minutes.  Exhausting.  She didn't whine though so I can't complain much.  

On the way home I asked her her favorite part of the trip.  She said the taxi rides.  LOL!  We didn't take a car seat this time since we didn't rent a car.  Also I knew we wouldn't use taxis much...mainly to and from the airport which was quite close to our hotel.  She thought she was so big to not have a car seat.  Lonnie and I stressed the entire ride.  What do y'all do? I didn't want to take a car seat because then what would we do with it once we got to our destination?  The only place we went was the Cosmo and we couldn't lug it around the entire time.  But I really wanted to take it.  It was just weird.  She only had about 4 rides without a seat but still.  Stressful.  Interested to see what everyone else does in this situation.  

She looks scared to death here but she really was thrilled.  

All in all I am glad we made the trip.  We were able to have some fun family time together and since we can't go to Disney this was our last big trip as a family of three!  Eeeeek!