Monday, November 19, 2012

My Experience in Las Vegas


I was almost embarrassed to tell anyone that I was going to Las Vegas.  Anything I've heard about the city wasn't anything I ever thought I'd be interested in experiencing.  Yet when I first found out my sister's and my roommate from college was getting married there, I was excited to go.  I left Halloween night to stay at my sister's and be closer to the airport for our morning flight and this is what followed:
 
We stayed at the Vdara at the City Center.  It's a hotel & spa without a casino, so it was nice not having all the people that the casino draws and just a fairly calm place to stay.  This picture is from in front of the Vdara.
 
My sister and I were both quite impressed with out room.  This is our kitchenette.  It even had a sink and a stove top, besides the fridge and microwave :-)
 
This is the bedroom/living room area.  There was a TV on either side of the wall. (We only have 1 TV in our house, so to have 2 in the hotel was kinda neat-lol!)  We also had a queen size sofa bed.





The bathroom had a shower and a tub...also more than what I have in my own house!  LOL!



 

This was the view from our room on the 23rd floor.
 
I had to take this picture for Rich.  The fire station was kinda under and to the side of our hotel.
 
My sister, Katie, and I spent most of the first day exploring the strip before heading to the Las Vegas Hotel, via the monorail.  We had never seen what we were calling a 'wine vending machine' before.  We made sure to enjoy a few drinks from it though! :-)

 
The whole reason for going to the Las Vegas Hotel was for the show we got tickets for "Nunsense".  Very funny and very cute show.  I loved the atmosphere of the place, being that it was kinda small and the actors interacted with the audience.  There was actually only 17 people in the audience and we all sat in chairs with a little table and our drinks that we got at the bar in the back :-)

 
In all our sightseeing, I was able to see a couple things that I may never see the real ones of, so I was sure to get pictures!
 
The Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel and casino.


The Statue of Liberty at New York New York.

 
This is the one place I planned to see while we were out there and the place we got most of our souvenirs! :-)
 
Katie and I stopped for a drink in the Monte Carlo at The Pub.  I never drink beer and have never had more than a sip before that day.  With 122 beers on tap there, they had one I liked!
 
This has to be the most delicious beer in the world!  It's a Belgian beer called Framboise Lambic Ale, which is a Raspberry Beer...and tastes like drinking raspberry juice!!  YUM!  It was so 'heavy' that I wasn't able to finish it there, so Katie and I got our beers in plastic cups to go.  We're not used to being able to do that, but there must be no such thing as 'open intoxicants' in Vegas.
 
 
Of all the hotels and casinos that we saw, the Bellagio had to be my favorite!  The fountain out front is beyond awesome!  We happened to drive by after the wedding while the fountains were going off to the song "God Bless America" and it actually brought tears to my eyes.  AMAZING!
 
Another reason that the Bellagio is so cool!  The talking tree! :-)
 
And the Bellagio's BEAUTIFUL lobby!!
 
My second favorite of the casinos we saw was the Cosmopolitan.  Katie and I walked through it quite a bit since it was one of the ways to the strip from our hotel.
 
I took this picture for Blake, since he likes Ghostbusters, before realizing that you're not suppose to take pictures in the casinos...oops!  This was in the Cosmopolitan.
 
I took this for Morgan.  It was the 2 story Chandelier Lounge in the Cosmopolitan.
 
A place where Katie and I ate, also in the Cosmopolitan...we of course had to eat where the pink cow was! :-)
 
Another neat place was the pool at Caesar's Palace.
 
The waterfalls in front of The Mirage were pretty awesome too! :-)
 
Treasure Island had a couple neat things.  One was this sculpted tusk!  AMAZING!
 
Another was the pirate ships.  I actually had the chance to see the show with the pirate ships, since we ate at Gilly's after the wedding, a restaurant in Treasure Island.  The effects of the show were the neatest part...the show itself was kinda goofy ;-)




 My sister and I before the wedding.

The bride and groom waiting for the sign to be fixed with Kelley's correct spelling of her name, so the photographer could get their picture. :-)

 
Las Vegas was quite an experience!  I'm going to make it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  I'm not sure I'd go back and if I did, I definitely want to go with Rich!  I didn't care for the creepy guys making comments to my sister and I...or the foreign guy who stroked the back of my arm and then laughed...not cool!  All in all we did enjoy ourselves, though.  We loved seeing all the themed casinos, Nunsense, and enjoyed the night out before the wedding just having a couple drinks, dancing and seeing the strip lit up at night.  I'm definitely glad to be home with my husband and kids though too! ;-)

Friday, November 16, 2012

Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List Reminder and a Fashion Design Activity Kit GIVEAWAY! *CLOSED*

Congrats to the winner, Erika!
 
Melissa & Doug are half way through their Terrific Twenty giveaway on facebook.  If you haven't had the chance to enter, be sure to head over there and try to win an awesome toy for a little one in your life!  You only need to enter once and you're entered for every day of the giveaway!! :-)
 
 
After you've gone and entered Melissa & Doug's giveaway, come back here and try your luck again by entering to win the Melissa & Doug Fashion Design Activity Kit from the Terrific Twenty Holiday Gift list!
From me: The Fashion Design Activity kit reminds me of something I played with when I was young, and I can imagine Morgan loving it as well!  I can't wait to share it with her this Christmas to spark a little creativity ;-)

Buy it: The Melissa & Doug Fashion Design Activity kit can be purchased from the Melissa & Doug website for $16.99.  And until November 11th Melissa & Doug is offering FREE SHIPPING on every order over $30!  (Believe me, $30 would be easy to do and cover a couple children's gifts!)  The code for the free shipping is: FREESHIPTHIRTY.

GIVEAWAY! To enter to win the Fashion Design Activity kit, please stop by Melissa & Doug's Terrific Twenty Holiday Gift List, then come back here and tell me what toy is your favorite.  Be sure to leave an e-mail address for me to contact you if you're the winner.

Giveaway will end Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 at 10:00pm EST. Winner will be chosen that night and contacted via e-mail. The winner will have 48 hours to respond otherwise I will have to choose a new winner.
Thank you to Melissa & Doug for sponsoring this giveaway!  :-)

*Disclosure:  I was provided a product, as well as one to giveaway, in exchange for a previous post.  All opinions are my own.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Halloween Fun 2012

My head was NOT into Halloween this year. Between mentally preparing for a trip, being distracted by the hurricane and it's effect on our area and our yard being dug up for a water line to go to the barn, I didn't do as much as usual. We still got a couple little things in though :-)

The kids' footprint ghosts.

These are some pudding mosters we made
 
A game we played called "Don't Eat Frank!"  We had a TON of fun with this one.  So simple too!
A wine bottle ghost I made with glow-in-the-dark Mod-Podge.  I made 2 more for my sister and my mom :-)
 
Rich took Halloween off to help get a last minute car issue fixed before I had to drive it for my trip.  It was nice since we were both able to go to the kids' Halloween parties at school and I didn't have to feel guilty about missing one to be at the other.  We also got to bring the kids home early and they carved their pumpkin that we got from the garden a month ago! :-)
 
Love Blake's face as he cleans the pumpkin.  Too funny!
Rich enjoyed doing the carving.
The picture I took the kids right before they left for trick-or-treating and I left for my trip.  They still had fun without me :-)

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween festivities.  I'm hoping next year is a little more relaxed! :-)

Please ignore the messes in the background!  A tiny house, with small kids somehow equates to HUGE messes!  It's never as bad as it looks though ;-)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Crazy Weather!

Two weeks ago, Wednesday.  Sunny and mid-70's.
Last Tuesday.  High winds and rain.  This is Lake Huron, a few miles from my home where the winds reached 72+ mph.  People were actually surfing on the lake!
This past Monday.  Snowed all morning.
 
It's mostly sunny and 45 today...a little more normal for this time of year! ;-)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List and Giveaway

We absolutely LOVE Melissa & Doug toys in our house!  The kids have several that they play with on a regular basis and are among their favorites.  I always enjoy shopping on their website and dreaming about what other toys the kids would enjoy. So I'm super excited to see that they will be giving away some wonderful toys!


Starting today, November 6th, and running for the next twenty days, Melissa & Doug will be giving away the toys from their Terrific Twenty Holiday gift list!  What an awesome way to win one of their amazing toys for a little one in your life.  Be sure to stop by their facebook page and enter for your chance to win a toy from the list! :-)

*Disclosure: I will be receiving a free product, as well as one to give away, in exchange for this post.  All opinions are my own.
 
Blogging tips