Las Vegas

So, we stayed in Las Vegas the first night of our trip to California and our last night before we came home. There is probably a shorter way to get to Anaheim, but Chris and his dad really like Las Vegas and thought that we all needed to experience it with them. The best part about the hotel was the pool. I don't care what kind of ventilation systems that they put in these hotel/casinos, they will never, ever be able to make them not smell like smoke. And every time you want to get from one place to another in the hotel, you have to walk right through the middle of the casino with your kids.

We also walked down the strip with our kids to check out the water show at the Bellagio. You know at the end of Ocean's 11, when they are all standing in front of the fountain, that's the Bellagio. It was an interesting walk down there. Lots of bright lights and cool stuff to look out. But, my favorite, favorite part ... get ready for it, were the men and women hanging out on the corners trying to give you little cards with almost naked women on them, wearing shirts that say HOT, HOT GIRLS with a number on them. I had Kennedy trying to hide her face and Ryan walking with his face in my back because neither of them wanted to look at the cards on the ground.

The fountain show was pretty cool though. Worth the walk, but we took a taxi back to the hotel we were staying at, which was worth the $10 is cost.

I have to share this, the only thing Ryan wanted to do in Las Vegas was call his old Young Men's advisor and say, "Guess where I am?? I'm in Vegas, baby." I had to laugh. Todd was a great advisor and still talks to the boys even though he's moved downtown.

Here's a bunch of pictures of when we were in Vegas.

Part of the pyramid that is the Luxor Hotel/Casino.

Kennedy petting a manta ray at the Shark Reef exhibit in Mandalay Bay Hotel/Casino. There was a huge tank at the end of the exhibit that had huge sharks and swordfish and sea turtles swimming around. It was pretty cool.

 

Carter at the edge of the Bellagio fountain pool. It's pretty cool, they do a water show set to music. Definitely one of the cooler things I've seen. 

 A replica of the Eiffel Tower, by the Paris Hotel/Casino I think. 

The New York New York Casino next to our hotel. There is a roller coaster on it that you can see in the picture. The kids were dying to go on it when we got back from California, but it was like $12 a ride or something. Maybe next time.

This is the hotel we stayed at. It's the Excalibur. The kids thought it was cool because it looked like a castle.

The kids at one of the pools at the hotel. They spent the most time in this one because there was a slide to go down. Kennedy and Carter liked that. The pools were all only three feet deep, so Ryan was a little bummed about that.

More fun in the pool with Kennedy and Carter. 

Kennedy on the slide.

This is how Carter goes down. He tried to skateboard down it once and got whistled at by the lifeguard.

The lion in front of the MGM Grand Casino.

Ryan touching a manta ray at the Shark Reef. There actually little sharks in the petting tank as well. But, they hid under the rocks at the top of the picture. You can see the tail of one of them sticking out.

This is me making Carter pet the manta ray. It was really soft and a little slimy. He really wanted to do it, but was a bit scared, so I just grabbed his hand and then he was okay with it.

We have lots of other pictures of the hotels and stuff, but before I can show them to anyone I'll have to edit out some of the signs that were advertising shows that I didn't think were appropriate for the blog.