Vegas...another one bites the dust!!

Well, we are finally back from Vegas and I think D had a great time!! A few months back I told him I was planning a birthday trip for him and that he needed to make for sure he had the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off for his birthday. Of course, people at work knew where we were really going, but D had no clue!

About a month ago I told him we were going skiing....I am terrible at keeping secrets and he knows it. So he bought that whole thing, hook, line, and sinker! I told him I had a cabin for us, a fancy dinner planned for his birthday on Friday, skiing lessons, planned...the whole shebang! When he got home from work on Wednesday, I gave him his birthday card. I found this really awesome card from Target that had a felt green cover on it (like a poker table) with a Royal flush 3D cards as well as 3D poker chips. He was amazed by the card and thought it was so cool! **Sidenote- D is a huge poker nut! Like we watch every dang poker show that is on TV, and I mean all of them. We play fairly regularly, but he loves it way more than I do...** Score 1 point for me!

So he opens the card, but doesn't really read it...he is just so amazed with the card, I guess he temporarily forgot how to read! LOL Then he finally reads what I wrote and figured out we were going to Vegas. The look on his face was priceless! His reaction was even better! He started pacing back and forth saying, "No, you didn't! No, you didn't!!!" I had him so good, a guy he works with was even going to let him borrow his snowboard and some other gear to take!!

Score double points for me! Wifey 3, D 0...

He had to go check in at work the next morning then when he got home we were hitting the road. While he was gone, I packed our bags and left a few things for him to grab that I knew he would want to pack and we were out of there! We hit the road about 12 or so in the afternoon....we should have got there about 4:45 at the latest, but with our luck, we got stuck in some AMAZING traffic and didn't get there until 6. But we were both so excited it didn't matter.

It was a little bittersweet for D to go and I could tell he was having a little trouble with it. The last time he was there was 10 years ago and he was with his dad. His dad passed about 5 1/2 years ago unexpectedly from a massive heart attack in his sleep. It still hits him hard every once in a while and this was one of those moments.

We stayed at the Luxor, which was connected to the Excalibur, which he stayed at when he came with his dad. As soon as we got there and got settled in we were out the door to explore it all! We made a pit stop at the Excalibur's video arcade so D could find a machine he played with his dad...well we found it and was ecstatic! He even wanted a picture with it. He told me that they would play this game together for hours (since D was not near old enough to gamble) and win as many tickets as they could...he even went into great detail to tell me about the toy they bought with the tickets. He was really precious....

Then we made our way over LV BLVD to the Tropicana...which I heard is being torn down this summer....and then to the MGM for dinner at The Rain Forest Cafe. The food was decent...nothing fabulous. I tried to stay good with WW and got a plain cheese pizza and only ate 3 of the small slices. I boxed up the rest and gave it to a homeless person on one of the bridges over LV BLVD. I figured he needed it more than I did.



Then we went to New York, New York...I loved it! It was crazy inside though! Really busy and what not, but it was fun. We threw a couple of bucks into some machines to see what we could get. Nothing that night but it was fun!

Then next morning we woke up early to go to some damn time share BS thing...we figured why not since the were giving us 2 tickets to a show, $125 in casino money, and $50 in food. It was a total waste of time which we knew it would be but hey, we got everything we promised and came back to the hotel unharmed! We walked around the Excailur for a little while again, and stumbled across this fun little place where you can crack open and oyster and get a pearl...yes I am a sucker for that type of stuff and D doesn't know how to tell me no. :D Score one point for D!

We fished out a slimey little critter, whacked it one, two, three!!! And the guy helping us popped it open and pulled out a huge pinkish golden pearl... :D He starts telling us all about it ya-da ya-da-ya...and asks me what I want to make with it...I said a pendant because I already have a ring from D with a pearl in it and there was only 1 so earrings were out of the question. D picked out the prettiest little pendant to stick it to....

Diamonds and sapphires. The guy said something about being encircled by stars of the sky and the deep blue seas is what it meant. I didn't care I just thought it was beautiful. Wifey 3 points, D 2 points! Since we bought a piece of jewelry from him he let us pick out another little critter to whack...this time D picked out a greenish golden pearl...very interesting. I picked out another pretty little bobble to stick it in.

And yet again, we were able to pick out another pearl. I know it sounds like a vicious cycle and it is, but I love me some pearls...maybe I will have 3 daughters and they can each have one someday. ;) This time we didn't buy any jewelry with it, but it was another huge bright pink pearl.

After pearl shopping, we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. I had planned a dinner at Top of the World, on top of the Stratosphere. Dinner was pretty good. We each had a steak (and this is where I fell off the WW bandwagon) and I had some cheesy augratin potatoes...oops! Then we each had some cheesecake lollipops...2 a piece and they were amazing! I totally recommend the strawberry something or other ones...yumm-o! We got there just in time for sunset and then to see the Strip light up all sparkly...

After that we cashed in out free show tickets and went and saw a show at the Luxor (we could only pick shows there or at Excalibur), and nothing sounded too exciting, but we were told by the people selling tickets that this show was really great and super erotic and what not...totally perfect for baby making right?

Wrong! The show was called Fantasy...dull!!! If they call that erotic, then they REALLY missed the point. At no point were either one of us hot and bothered...at all. The host is Angelica Bridges (a former Baywatch girl) and she looked old...and she sang....a lot. And she wasn't that great. She was super skinny with huge fake boobs and that was it. D and I both agreed we could have gone without her singing. Then her *co-star* as she called him was this funny guy, who I don't remember his name, but he was totally out of place in an "erotic" show. He was funny, just weird to have him there, KWIM?

Then next morning we went and ran all over the Strip! NY NY was first, then all the way down....I made my first gambling experience in Vegas a good one....at Caesar's Palace I won $373 off a $3 spin. I cashed out pretty quickly after that! Then we jumped across the street and made out way back. I made another gambling attempt at Bill's Gambling Hall, and won $176 off a $0.30 spin. Yet again, I cashed out quickly. I was really super excited that I won. I never win at gambling, but to win in Vegas felt amazing!

While walking down the strip, we stopped in the Monte Carlo and found the most AMAZING little cupcake bakery. It was called the Cupcakery and I definitely recommend the strawberry shortcake cupcake! We split it and loved it!



When D visited 10 years ago, they didn't venture farther than the corner where the Tropicana, MGM, Excalibur/Luxor and NY NY were because his dad was unable to walk very far. Mandalay Bay was just being built, so they didn't go there either. They did take a cab to the Stratosphere, but that was it. So it was as new to him as it was to me.

After walking a very, very long 9 hours, we got some dinner and heading back to the room to rest for a bit. They were observing some energy conservation day there in LV that night, so we took that time to re-coop until the lights went back on an hour later.

We went do to Freemont Street to watch the light show. We both had a great time. He went with his dad and kept telling me how much fun it was, and honestly it was really pretty great. Just to see the old, original LV was a lot of fun. We aren't into the whole "club" scene, and it was just really cool to see all the old stuff in LV.

I was done after that and we took a cab to the hotel. D walked me to our room and then he went back downstairs to gamble and play some poker. We overall had a really great time and cannot wait to go again when we won't be as rushed to see it all again and we can just take our time. D was so sweet the entire time! He opened every door for me and held my hand (he isn't a big PD person and doesn't hold open a lot of doors)...he kept telling me how sweet I was for doing all this for him over and over.... Wifey 3 points, D a million points over!

*Now...to update my 101 in 1001....#5 done...obviously with the whole post dedicated to it. #11...added another book to my library. The first was Sandra Brown's Envy, which was pretty good. I love mystery-esk books. The other one I just finished was Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song, and I loved it. Yes I wanted to see it because it is being made into a movie and yes I will probably see the movie too, but I prefer to read the book first. And it was really worth it. I loved it!! #47...visiting another state...1 down a few more to go! Obviously we live in Cali and drove into Nevada to go to Vegas. And #96....I am not quite ready to cross this one off my list yet because I said I would buy a piece of nice diamond jewelry and while the 2nd pearl pendant was bought by me, and it is nice, it isn't diamond...so close but no dice. Hope everyone enjoys!!