VEGAS TRIP SEPTEMBER 18-21, 2010
Our final trip of the summer has ended, hard to believe it’s going to be October next week. Joe and I have fond memories of Vegas so we have been looking forward to this trip for 9 months since we planned it.
We left for sunny Las Vegas on Saturday morning. Airfare was taken care of thanks to the countless work trips and Joe took care of the resort for my 31st birthday. Saturday morning we were up at 4:30am so we could get ready for our flight. I am used to traveling on my own and am very used to air travel but with two kids and Joe this would be a little different. I try to be at the airport one hour before the flight on my own because you never know if it’s going to take 15 min or 45 min through security and being a Saturday morning I didn’t know what to expect. With kids and more stuff I wanted to be there 1.5 hours before. Joe has been on two flights, Selena has been on one and this would be Natalia’s first. I thought it would take us at least an hour after getting up to be ready but 30min later we were all up, dressed and ready to go. I figured there was no need to just sit around for 30 more min so we left. First stop was to drop the car off at Master Park and take a shuttle to the airport. We had three carryon bags, a diaper bag and umbrella stroller. By the time Joe got out of the car the shuttle driver had all the bags on the shuttle and we were ready to go. I’m used to this routine but Joe was a little shocked how fast it all went.
We were at the airport in no time, I printed out the boarding passes the day before so we went right to security where the line was very short.
Getting me though security is a no brainer but add three more people and it went surprisingly well. All four of us took our shoes off, Joe and I took our belts off, bags on the scanner, three bags of toiletries out of our bags and in bin, sippy cup with milk in separate bin, boarding passes in hand… You get the picture. Selena went though the “doorway” first and did fine. I went though with Tally and Joe went last. Once we were through and got re-dressed and re-packed we took the tram to the gate where we had time to get breakfast. I should mention that Selena rolled her suitcase the whole trip, Joe and I never had to help her which made it very nice and easy.
We boarded no problem and were off to sin city. Natalia fussed for a little since she was ready for a nap but she really did great. Joe will tell a different story about how she threw a fit and would not shut up but since I travel a lot and hear kids on planes she was a 2 on 10 being the worst acting kid. She also has 4 top teeth coming in which added to her irritability. She was out the moment we took off and slept for the first hour. Selena was busy looking out the window at the clouds below and before we knew it the clouds cleared and we were in sunny Vegas.
We caught a taxi “Britney Spears style,” Natalia on my lap and Selena with no booster seat. The ride was all of 7 min and $15.
We stayed at Tahiti Village, a condo community on Las Vegas Blvd south of Mandalay Bay. We checked in by 10:30, changed and hit the pool for the next few hours. The pool was incredible, sandy beach, wading areas for the kids and there was a lazy river.
The temp was in the 90’s and the water temp was bathwater warm. To warm for Joe but perfect to me. We spent the rest of the day by the pool, eating and more time by the pool followed by beer drinking and eating. At lunch we went out for pizza and after Natalia ate a piece she fell asleep sitting at the table!
Sunday we woke up early and hit the strip.
We made pancakes in the microwave since there was not a stove and they turned out great!
The resort has a shuttle service every 30min to the strip so we boarding the first one at 9am.
It was already 85 degrees + and we knew it would be a hot day. We were dropped off at New York, New York and worked our way down to Luxor and Mandalay Bay for lunch before heading back north. We ate at a nice burger place where Natalia fell asleep (again) at the table. People were pointing and laughing, the waitresses’ were all coming over to take pictures and take a look.
We hit every casino all the way to Treasure Island (mid strip). We went to the M&M Factory and a few more candy stores, rides, arcade game and gift shops were we found out Selena has a thing for key chains. Each gift shop we came to she went right to the key chain section. In the M&M Factory it was 4 floors and I told her to pick out anything she wanted. What did she pick? A $4 key chain.
It was about 100 degrees and we caught the shuttle at The Mirage back to the resort for an evening of swimming while a wedding went on behind me!
Monday was pool day and Vegas nightlife.
We were at the pool by 9am where Natalia could not get enough of the water and Selena was learning how to swim. Natalia was not so sure of the sandy beach at first but after 20 min of nervous wining she decided that sand was not that bad and tasted it. After the taste test, Natalia and I spent the next hour in the sand while Joe was teaching Selena how to swim. I picked her up some swim goggles and she loved putting her head under water.
We were at the pool until 3pm and Joe started to realize we all probably needed to drink more water than we actually did. Leave it to the responsible adult to think of that! So it was back to the room to hydrate and shower before checking out some Vegas nightlife. Both girls had 60spf on that I reapplied all day but one look at Natalia’s legs told me she has the Alonzo gene. Little Natalia had such a beautiful brown tan everywhere the sun hit her. I was envious that she was so tan and I was well, maroon ish. The places that don’t usually see sun were a little redder than I would have liked. Even Selena, who takes after me a bit more, was showing a slight tan and a few more freckles. But Natalia, with the brown hair, blue eyes and tan skin looked just too cute I wanted to eat her up.
We were out of the room and on the shuttle by 4:30. We had been telling Selena all day that we would see the Pirate show at Treasure Island, the volcano at The Mirage and the water show at The Bellagio. We took the tram to Treasure Island where we decided to live it up and have an expensive last night in Vegas dinner to celebrate my birthday. Natalia was a little fussy but with those teeth coming in we figured we knew why she was a grump. We sat down and ordered, drinks came, bread came and Natalia started fussing a bit more. Get got her some water and tried to get to her eat bread but she wouldn’t. She started to cough and made a chocking sound and then projectile vomiting all over the table and the floor. I think the first words out of my mouth were “does she have the flu?” Joe of course knew that the most likely cause was heat stroke. I was covered in puke and so was she. I took her to the bathroom where I calmed her down and changed her clothing. I tried to clean us up as best I could with wipes but I knew I needed to find a bag incase she threw up again. The cleaning cart was outside the stall I was in and I swiped a small bag. Once she was calm she was passing out on my shoulder. She was tired also by this point. I took her back to the table where Joe and Selena were and they had switched tables and our food had started to arrive. Yeah! Food was not sounding too good by this point. There was a lot of discussing between Joe and I about what to do while Natalia slept for all of 5 min before it started again. She didn’t have much to throw up and I caught it in the bag this time but now there were people in the restaurant looking at us so we had them pack up all the fancy food to go. The watress felt bad, she said to get some Gatorade and give it to her every 3 min until she held it down. With our two huge bags of food we decided that we would get Gatorade and head back to the tram and take the tram to the shuttle and the shuttle to the resort. Well Selena burst out in tears because she wanted to see the pirates.
By this time I had Natalia in the snuggly face in on my chest like a newborn and she was falling asleep and waking up screaming. We knew there was not much we could do for her except try and get her to drink. We picked up the Gatorade and decided to see the pirate show for Selena.
I would give Natalia a sip and she would throw it up into a plastic cup I swiped. So there we stood waiting for the pirate show. Two bags of food, Selena whipping tears from her eyes, a screaming baby on my chest and a throw up cup in my hand and Joe and I looked at each other and smiled. The whole thing was quite funny, if not at the moment at the restaurant, an hour later. The show started and Selena was mesmerized. I was trying to calm Natalia and get her to drink and for the next 10 min it was drink, throw up, drink, throw up, drink, throw up… Until the cup was ½ full of regurgitated purple Gatorade. The show was great, what I saw. Fireworks went off and I looked up, at that moment I felt me chest get warm and looked down in time to see Natalia throw up all down my front. The joys of parenthood…
We made it back to the tram, to the shuttle and to the resort with very little throw up. I showered, Joe warmed up dinner and we finally ate. Joe spent time with Selena and I nursed Natalia back to health. Joe and Selena took the bedroom to sleep and I stayed up waking Natalia up every 10 min to get her to drink until she finally kept it down. By 6am yesterday she was up and ready to rally. So the only person who was hung-over on the Vegas trip was Natalia.
Our plan for yesterday was to hang out by the pool until we had to be at the airport at 4pm but since Natalia had too much sun the day before we didn’t want to over do it. We went to the outlet mall and then just decided to spend the day in the cool airport until our flight.
The girls took at nap before the flight.
Flight went well until we were about to land and Selena burst out crying because “I miss Begas! I want to go back to Begas for my birthday!” There were lots of tear from her and laughter from people around us.
So we got home about 9:30pm, were all in bed by 10pm and I was up at 4:30am for work. Joe let the girls sleep a little longer this morning but Selena was excited to wear her new “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!” shirt to today.
Right after I wrote this post Joe came down with the flu and then I did so now we think Natalia had the flu and not heat stroke.
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