Vegas Baby!

Ok, now that the trip is over, I promise to stop saying that.

Saturday 4.24.10

We left the house at 8:07 a.m., and Ella was asleep in 7 minutes.  Unfortunately, she only slept for 40 minutes and wouldn't sleep again until we left the Primm Outlets at 1:00 p.m.!  She only slept for 40 minutes again, which brings us to Lesson No. 1...napping in the car is totally unpredictable, and even if you have a regularly awesome napper, the car is a whole different ballgame.  We checked into our Piazza Suite at the Venetian.  It was huge!  The Piazza Suites have not yet been renovated like the regular suites, but the decor is still acceptable...more 'old school' as I like to say...similar to how most Ritz Carlton hotel rooms are decorated...not bad, just not modern.

Big marble foyer & half bathroom on left of foyer

After the foyer you enter the dining room with one of three flat screens

You then step down into the large living room/family room

Entrance of the bedroom off the dining room

Master bathroom sinks and jetted tub

We had dinner at Dos Caminos in the Palazzo- it was SO good!  Their salsas and guacamole are absolutely delicious.  Julie and I both got the Mahi Mahi tacos, which were really good.  Our waiter was awesome- such great service and so genuinely nice.  We had the girls with us of course, and he was telling us how his wife is due with a baby boy in a few weeks so he was observing us to see how it would be- so cute!  He even brought us a dessert on him- platter of desserts with white and dark chocolate dipping sauces...strawberries, pineapple, bananas, marshmallows, coconut macaroons, brownies, banana churros and peanut butter bars...I know, decadent.  Needless to say, he received a very generous tip!

Little Miss E wanting a taste of my margarita!

The group

Sunday 4.25.10

We went to breakfast at Grand Luxe Cafe and had their breakfast buffet, which consists of tons of pastries, bread, cereal, lots of fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and an omelet station...my favorite part was the to die for fresh squeezed orange juice!


After Ella's nap, we headed down to the pool- it was Ella's first time ever going to a pool, and she LOVED it!  The girl would not stop smiling and laughing, and instead of trying to get her feet to touch the bottom of the baby pool while she was in her ladybug floatie, she would just lie back and bask in the sun...very mommy like!

We were also apparently entertainment for the entire group of 50 people on the lawn area where we were sitting as everyone was oohing and aahing over Ella.  Lesson No. 2...babies in Vegas are like cute girls at an all boys school...there aren't very many of them so they get A TON of attention!

Unfortunately, Julie, Ryan and Olivia weren't at the pool with us, which would turn out to be the theme of our trip...we basically didn't see them because the girls were on opposite schedules.  Lesson No. 3...don't bother to go on trips with friends when you have babies because you will never see each other unless your babies are exactly the same age and on exactly the same schedule...and even then you likely won't see each other because Ella and Olivia are on similar schedules regularly, but being on vacation messed up the regular nap schedules.   Lesson No. 4...if possible, always bring your Pack n Play or buy one when you get to your location because the cribs provided by hotels are not great.  Luckily, after a fight to take her first nap in the hotel-issued crib, Ella slept like a CHAMP every other nap...Vegas wears a girl out!

After Ella's nap, we walked around the Canal Shops and had to get a picture with Ella's doppelganger:

There were opera singers in the the main piazza, and Ella was loving it!  So when we got back to the room, we cranked up the ipod speakers and had a little dance party. :)


That night, Julie and I had our "girls night out" at Tao Asian Bistro.  The food was AMAZING.  We both had miso glazed sea bass and pork fried rice, and both were absolutely divine.  My favorite meal in Vegas.  Julie had a lychee martini, and I had a French martini, but they call it something else.  The downside was the service.  The waiter hardly paid attention to us, the food was brought out literally about 3 minutes after we ordered (how is that even possible?) so we didn't have any time to chat or enjoy our drinks before the food came, they asked to take our plates while we both still had fish and rice left and they brought our check before we even finished...trying to turn tables much?  Despite the awful service, I would still go back just for the food!

Monday 4.26.10

We met J, R & O for breakfast at Grand Luxe Cafe and then headed back to the pool after Ella's nap.  She wasn't nearly as enamored with the pool as she was the day before so I'm glad we weren't in Hawaii for 6 days where all there is to do is pool/beach!  Luckily, J, R & O came down to the pool before we left so we at least took a bunch of pictures in the 5 minutes our time overlapped!  

On a side note, the whole process of diapering while at the pool is not easy!  You have to go down to the pool with a regular diaper on and no swimsuit, then change her into a swim diaper and bathing suit right before you get into the pool, then when you take her out again, you have to peel off the wet and sticky bathing suit (which btw, are not easy to get on and off) to put a regular diaper back on since swim diapers don't hold pee...and the process repeats over and over as many times as you get in and out of the pool.  Ella pooped and peed on my towel at one point!  Lesson No. 5...only buy 2 piece bathing suits from now on.

We all met up for dinner at Delmonico, and we were not impressed.  I got the vine-ripened tomato salad, which was just ok.  Gary and Julie got the gumbo, which to me, tasted sort of like black bean soup.  The steaks were good and seasoned well, but both Ryan's and mine were overcooked, which is unacceptable for a nice steak restaurant.  The mashed potatoes were not good at all (no flavor), and I did not care for the creamed corn.  To top it all off, the service was not great.  Our waiter, while attentive, was not not friendly or personable and bordered on snotty.  I highly doubt this would have happened at Delmonico in New Orleans because we ate at much fancier restaurants in NOLA, and the service was never anything less than impeccable.  I would not eat there again.  However, they do make a nice looking martini ;)

I think this is the only family picture we got the entire trip, and I did it in our room with the auto timer!

Overall, it was a very fun trip, but Vegas is VERY different with babies!  Lesson No. 6...if at all possible, always travel with a nanny and/or grandparents!