Better late than never...right?

In January, Keith and I went to Vegas for 5 days. It was a business trip for Keith, but I got to tag along this time and have some fun and relaxation without the kiddos. It was a really good break from everyday life, a chance to catch up on my sleep, be spoiled by going out to eat for every meal and having our room cleaned every day, see my sister-in-law and some friends, and enjoy some quality time with my hubby:) For some reason, Blogger puts the pics in reverse order so the trip is backwards but it will do...

Our last night I was treated to the Beatles Love show by Cirque d'Solei (however you spell that I don't really know). It was a REALLY good show with lots of great Beatles songs telling their story from beginning to end of their career together. It always amazes me the tricks and stunts these talented people do...truly amazing!!!Before the show we went for dinner at Eva Longoria's new restaurant, Beso. It was in the City Center mall, part of our humongous hotel. We didn't see anyone famous, but the food was so delicious:)

Saturday afternoon Keith's friend Mike (college friend and groomsmen in our wedding) took us to race at Pole Position. We definitely have to get one of these in our town! SO much fun and trust me, the cars go FAST!!!

Mike and Jen's little boy, Trent, having a snack while watching the big boys race.

This night we hit the local bar for their well-known half off margaritas. I could not believe the pages and pages of margarita concoctions...too many to choose from! Well, not really:)

Here's Krish and Amber (they came with us to Vegas)

Mike and Jen (live in Vegas and love it)

The boys

The ladies (most of us)

Beth Ann, my favorite sister-in-law:) She lives in Vegas, too.

Our hotel had a pretty fountain that lit up at night. I caught a few good pics

We walked from City Center to MGM Grand, then back the other way all the way down to Fashion Show Mall. Now, if you're not familiar with Las Vegas I'll be the first to tell you...DO NOT walk that far!!! It's a lot further than you realize! I'm so glad we met Beth Ann there and she was able to drive us back down the strip to our hotel...thanks Beth Ann:) We took lots of pics of the different hotels, but just posted a few of the newer ones since our last visit.

When we walked into MGM Grand they were just starting to feed the lions. Talk about perfect timing! It was incredible seeing the lion and lioness so close-up. They're much bigger in person. The trainers threw food up onto the glass so we could see them real close-up and you could hear their teeth hitting the glass. Pretty cool!

This is Aria, the hotel we stayed in which just opened in mid-Dec. It's part of City Center which is absolutely huge! I think there's about 5 different hotels and a mall. It's big enough that it has it's own monorail between hotels!

City Center (some of it anyway)
View from our room...very pretty when all lit up at night:)
Entrance to casino in Aria

A really cool waterfall along the front entrance

The mall in City Center was still being worked on but these stairs were gorgeous! SO fancy!!! I don't think I recognized more than 3 stores in this mall...Tiffany's, Kate Spade, and Luis Vuiton. But I don't even shop in those. It was fun to browse though:)

Look closely at this next pic...glass containers filled with little twisters!

These next pics are actually from our first night in town. Keith and Krish were actually there for CES (the biggest consumer electronics show of the year). At night, companies host their customers to big parties with food, drinks, and desserts, in cool suites or clubs to show their appreciation. There's a real funny story behind this first pic. See the lights on the floor behind me? They're actually under about 4 in of water along the wall. This is supposed to be a hallway of some sort but no one realized there was a little "pool" there and kept tripping and falling into it! So, they put these chairs up to stop the falls. The first few were guys and they just got their shoes wet. Then a girl tripped and fell flat on her face. She was just soaked! Poor thing had to leave to get dry and changed.

This was probably the coolest thing we saw...a pool on the balcony of this huge suite that overlooked the strip. How neat would that be to actually swim there when it's warm outside???

Huge chair beside the pool also with a great view. Our first dinner out. We thought the service was slow because they just opened up, but it was slow everywhere in our hotel! Great food, tho! So glad the kids weren't there. There's no way we could've waited that long.

Well, like I said it was a GREAT break but glad to be home and back in our normal routine:) The kids were so good for the sitters while we were gone. No crying on the phone to us or anything! I'm definitely looking forward to this treat every year!!!