Vegas, Baby!

Last week, I "had" to go to Las Vegas for a one day conference. I took Tyler with me so we could have a cool mother/son trip. And... we had a blast! We actually flew up a day early so we had almost 3 days totally to ourselves. Believe me, we made the most of it and must have walked close to 15 miles in those 3 days. There are TONS of fun things to do there, and we didn't even have to gamble or partake in the smut...

First, we stayed in a very NICE hotel... the J.W. Marriott (Click the link to see pictures). The room was HUGE and the bathroom was even HUGER. (Okay, I know "huger" is not a word, but it really sounds good in the context.) The bathroom had a separate shower (complete with two showerheads, a regular and a rainfall one). Then, there was a massive jacuzzi tub that 3 people could fit in. Plus, there was a separate potty room complete with a phone. And... the pool was absolutely spectacular! Woo hoo!!!

We spent the majority of our time on the Strip. In fact, there happened to be a red carpet event at the MGM Grand Hotel and we passed right by it. We saw several stars and they were so nice! We got a picture taken with quite a few of them... Johnny Depp(!), Tim McGraw(!), Bono(!), Sylvester Stallone(!), Bette Midler(!), Elton John(!)!!!! Can you believe it??

Okay... I have to confess something. We really didn't see these stars in person... (Did I have you going??) They're actually wax figures from Madame Tussaud's. But let me tell you, they are AMAZING. They actually look less real in the pictures because the wax reflects the flash. When you're standing right up next to them, they look REAL. And the cool thing about this wax museum... it is like a party setting and you can go right up to them and pose any way you want. Here are some more that I couldn't show you before, because you would know I wasn't telling the truth about meeting them.... a basketball player (I don't remember his name, but he's very tall), Elvis Presley and someone I always admired... Princess Diana.

One of the experiences we had on the strip was getting kicked out of a casino. Yes, Ms. Goody Two Shoes and her wonderful son. You see... Tyler is only 17 and was not allowed to "loiter" in the casinos. He could walk through them, but he couldn't stop. And a lot of times, you have to walk through the casinos to get to a lot of places. We were in one and Tyler wanted me to put a dollar in one of the slot machines and then he actually gave me a dollar. I noticed a casino employee watching us and told him I couldn't do it. However, we kept walking out and there were slot machines right by the door. I thought we were safe at that point. I sat down and Tyler just paced back and forth behind me, and did not "loiter." Low and behold, the lady was following us and came up and asked Tyler how old he was. Tyler was honest, and she told us to leave. That was a fun Vegas experience!

You've heard of Caesar's Palace, right? In case you didn't know, that is where "Friends" filmed their fantastic Vegas episode that ended up with Ross and Rachel getting married. Of course, we had to go there! Since we were scared of "loitering" in the casino, we didn't get pictures there. However, we did get pictures of the Forum Shops (the mall). Keep in mind these are all INSIDE. It is so beautiful...

Look who's coming to the Flamingo in September!! None other than... DONNY and MARIE!! Would you believe all their shows are almost sold out?? I would... they are HOT! And, in case you didn't know, my birthday is in September... (hint, hint). Another trip to Vegas to see D&M would be totally cool and best birthday present... EVER! Just kidding... (I think).

Tyler's favorite part of the trip was walking through a Lamborghini showroom. He was in heaven... the look on his face was priceless!

We did a few other things that we didn't get pictures of. For one, we saw the fountain show at the Bellagio. It was BEAUTIFUL! The water shot up from the ground to at least 15 stories in the air.. totally amazing. We also went up in the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. It was a beautiful view, but the pictures didn't really turn out. And... we actually saw the Bellagio fountain show again from the top of the tower. It was awesome from there as well.

We finished off our trip doing something in honor of Adam and David. They absolutely LOVE SpongeBob ("BumBa") SquarePants right now. So... when I saw that the Excalibur hotel had a 4D SpongeBob ride, we had to go. Not only was it in 3D, but we got splashed with water and bubbles, smelled pickles and got stung by jellyfish. Totally awesome!

Tyler and I had a GREAT time in Vegas and I'm so glad we had the experience. He's going to be a senior this year and will be going off to college very soon. My baby is growing up... (sniff, sniff). I'm sure it is something we will both remember for the rest of our lives!