Vegas Recap!

The end of March we headed out for a Vegas vacation with my parents, sister and her husband, Jarret.  We initially planned our trip to celebrate my mom's birthday but due to scheduling we actually ended up traveling on my birthday.  So needless to say, I embraced the chance to celebrate!  I'm going to apologize in advance that  all our pictures were taken with iPhones and aren't that great but we were more focused on having fun!

 We flew out on Thursday.  We all met at my parents house, went and had a nice breakfast and then headed to the airport.  Here's us girls at the airport.  We posted this picture on Facebook and a few people assumed we were taking a girl's only trip but we had our men in tow... Here's proof:

Now you see why their picture wasn't on Facebook.  They look like they're going to a funeral, not Vegas!

Once we arrived, we headed straight our hotel, the Aria. 

 

 My sister and mom did all the leg work on the travel arrangements, which we truly appreciate.  The hotel was fab!  Completely over the top for us but it was nice to indulge for a few days.    

 Once we checked in we made our way to our room.  Tyler was scoping out the mini-bar.

 I had to test the bed.  We both have our priorities ;) 

 Once we settled in we headed down to the casino to meet the others.  Samantha and I grabbed some gelato.

 We found my mom on the slots.  This picture pretty much tells the story of how we "slot."  If anyone wins anything, even a penny, we all cheer and holler.  We've always done this... It's funny how people turn to see what you're winning - see the guys behind us looking.  I'm sure they think we're crazy but we have fun.  "She only won a dollar."

 After dinner and a roller-coaster ride the first night we headed to the Minus 5 bar.  It was fun but not as cold as you would think.  I thought the "coolest" part was that our drink glasses were actually made of ice.  We took some goofy pictures, that we obviously didn't buy, and then called it a night.

 The next morning we ate the Mirage buffet and then checked out their casino.  I drank Starbucks and cheered my mama on.  

 After no luck in the casino we took the tram to Planet Hollywood.  We dropped my mom off at the casino and my sister and I went shopping.  This was totally more my style and we managed to find some cute pieces.  

 After shopping we called the guys to meet us to line up at the Nathan Burton Comedy Show.  By this time, our feet were killing us from so much walking and shopping.  

My dad sat down with me in line and took "selfies."  My SIL pointed out that he looks like Curious George in the bottom right pic, ha!  I think he was a little dehydrated... 

 We really enjoyed the comedy show.  After the show we headed to the MGM Grand for dinner and to see Cirque du Soleil KÀ.  We were beat after the show and headed back to the hotel.

The last full day in Vegas was my actual birthday.  We all met at the Bellagio where Samantha and Jarret were gambling.  They said they have the best drinks in the morning ;)

I had so much fun with my favorite ladies.  
We ate breakfast and then headed down to explore the strip.  

Samantha and I decided we preferred shopping with our money and headed to The Fashion Show mall.  We left the others to gamble.   

Tyler really wanted to find cheaper table games, particularly $5 blackjack.  

Amidst all the fun, I was trying to get pictures with the Amarillo Armadillo (see Flat Stanley project) for my nephew's kindergarten project.  Armadillo goes to Vegas!

 

I think we managed to appear to have some exciting and kid-friendly adventures.

After shopping we met back up with our people... in our new clothes for dinner!

I got to pick where we had my birthday dinner.  I had searched back home and read great reviews on a timeless must-visit stop, the Peppermill Restaurant. 

  I was certain we must go when I read they had the best Bloody Mary's on the strip and was described as "a taste of old Las Vegas where people like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. regulared."    But... the place was kind of a let down.  I think Jarret called it a Denny's, which was about right.  The Bloody Mary was good but didn't compare to the best in NOLA that I got to enjoy on my 30th birthday trip.

After our less than par dinner, we headed down to Fremont Street.  We've all been to Vegas before but Samantha and Jarret had never seen the light show so we wanted them to take that in.

I think we would all agree that that night was our favorite.  There is just so much to take in.  They have tons of street acts, the casinos are rowdy (more our style), my Mom was able to play slots that gave out real quarters and not vouchers and I got arrested by a hot lady cop since it was my birthday ;) 

We ended the evening with a group selfie to commemorate the trip.  

I had to laugh because it reminded me of Ellen's Oscar selfie. 

See the resemblance between Tyler and Brad?