Las Vegas {2014}

Being a stay at home mom I don’t get a lot of time to myself. So for the past few years, I’ve gone away for a day or two during the summer.

The first year my sister and I went on a sisters only trip to Palm Springs.

The following year a few of my mama friends and I went on a girls trip to Manhattan Beach.

This year I met up with my mom and aunt for a girls trip to Vegas!!
Even though it was a different Vegas experience for me, I had lots of fun! I had all these fantasizes before we left that I would lay poolside with a drink, wake up late and even go to sleep late. None of that happened, but that’s ok. Instead I got to spend time with two amazing women who I love and adore.

I also took a 45 minute flight to Vegas. In the past we’ve driven to Vegas or flown to Vegas from Florida. That was quick and easy!

I was kid free for 3 days! It was nice to be responsible for only me. I ate when I was hungry, went to the bathroom uninterrupted and focused when speaking to adults. It was great! Although I missed my Sarah and hubby when I got back. However I didn’t miss all the home responsibilities!! PS Thanks to my hubby and MIL for watching Sarah while I was gone.

I also got to sit in the airport while we waited to board (something I don’t do when flying with Sarah).

Although it was sweltering hot most of the time we still did everything we had planned to do.

The first day was spent traveling to Vegas and walking around our hotel, Luxor. I checked out the Bodies exhibit while my aunt went to the Titanic exhibit.

Since I probably wont be able to visit the birth place of all FOUR of my grandparents any time in the near future I was really excited to check out this Egyptian themed hotel.

The second day started out really early. Our alarm was set for 5:30 am so we could take the 6am shuttle for our day of adventures. Both my mom and aunt organized a trip for us to visit the Hoover Dam and The Grand Canyon. I’ve always wanted to see both, but I had no idea how far each destination would be. It took us an hour to get to the Hoover Dam and then another 4 hours to reach the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

The Hoover Dam was really cool! We drove over the bridge where we went from Nevada to Arizona.

It wasn’t like you see in the movies, but it was cool to be in two states at the same time.

After a few pictures, our shuttle parked on the Arizona side so that we could see this beautiful structure.

We stopped many times through out the trip to eat, use the bathroom and to get fuel. One of our rest stops was Route 66. Some of you might know it as the most famous road in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California. As a mom of a 3 year old toddler, all I could think about was the scene in one of Sarah’s favorite movies, Cars! I imagined her jumping up and down with excitement as she saw where Mater and Lighting were from. After visiting the gift shop I bought her a few souvenirs.

The final stop for the day was the Grand Canyon. I’ve seen the pictures and I’ve watched the educational movies in school, but walking towards the rail to view the enormous mountain was absolutely breathtaking! The colors, the size and the stillness was all so beautiful. To think g-d and water created this was super crazy! After we took a few pictures we walked around some more.

I kept finding myself just starring. I silently stood there and took it all in. I was so happy to be there. Just standing there, taking it all in.

A few minutes later it started to rain. We headed for shelter and put on our ponchos (given by the tour guide) and continued to walk around some more.

It rained on and off for a few more minutes. After it stopped raining the canyon looked even more picturesque! We enjoyed our view for a little longer and then headed back to our shuttle.

The drive back was long. Less stops, more rain and a super crazy wind storm.

We finally got dropped off at our hotel around 9pm. We headed to our room changed and made our way to view the strip at night.

After a few minutes on the strip and some cranky moments we headed back to our room for some much needed sleep.

The third and final day started with a delicious breakfast at our hotel cafe. I had this delicious Strawberry Shortcake French Toast with strawberry purée. Yum!!

After breakfast we headed to the strip again. We walked through the hotels, saw some interesting characters including Sarah’s favorite Minions, met Johnny Depp, bought some loose tea and ate lunch.

To give my aunt the full strip experience, we walked from the Luxor hotel ALL THE WAY to the Wynn hotel. If you know anything about Vegas you know how far that is.  Not only did we walk 4 miles in 109 degree heat, we walked back another 4 miles to get back to our hotel!! Needless to say our legs and backs were in a lot of pain when we arrived at the hotel. Therefore we just sat for a full hour and enjoyed our last drink together.

Thank you Aline and mama for such a great trip! I might have been cranky at times, but know that I really enjoyed spending 3 uninterrupted days with you. Thank you for the adventures! Love you!!