That's right - we kicked off our new year in Vegas, baby! We used to go once a year & the last time we went was for our babymoon before Sadie was born in October 2011 - 4 years ago! I cannot believe it has been that long! We try to do 1 or 2 quick weekend get aways without the girls so this was the perfect opportunity.
First off, let me tell you how easy it is traveling without children:
Obviously we travel often & we have gotten the routine down with kids, but it is so much faster without them. We only had 1 carryon suitcase so that saves time just by not checking baggage. And since we are TSA Pre-Check, we skip the security lines. It was literally the easiest trip we have ever had.
We got in Friday morning & after we checked in we met some friends at The Cosmopolitan Hotel for lunch:
They had been there all week & were flying out that afternoon.
This was our first trip to Vegas in the winter & we didn't care for it. We usually golf & go to the pool during the day & then gamble at night. This time was quite different. It was freezing there - literally colder there than it was at home, so there was no golfing or going to the pool. Bryan spent his days at the sportsbook & the tables:
Saturday he literally set up his computer & worked all day while betting on games & watching sports. Apparently it was a perfect day & he wishes he could work like that at home! I spent the day on the strip. Since we hadn't been there in 4 years, I walked the entire strip & checked out all of the new hotels, restaurants & entertainment. There was definitely some good people watching! I might have done a little shopping. I love looking at all of the high end designer stores but of course I didn't buy anything there. I found a couple of kid stores that were having major winter sales so I stocked up clothes for Sadie:
I picked up a few things for this summer but I mostly stocked up on her winter wardrobe for next year. I also had fun hitting up all of the candy stores:
I found all of the fun places for kids that I would like to take the girls to.
Of course I would take a break to meet Bryan for lunch. One day we tried out Bobby Flay's hamburger joint:
The next day we ate at the super secret pizza place inside the Cosmo that our friends told us about:
Delicious! But our favorite food find of the week was the cronut:
Oh my! We ate brunch at our hotel the last morning & they had these on the buffet. They were so unbelievably good!! The waiter was even nice to pack us a few extra to take home with us :)
Speaking of hotel, we loved where we stayed. We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental which is fairly central but it is a smaller, boutique hotel that isn't overly crowded. There isn't a casino so it was pretty peaceful (which is what we were looking for when you don't have kids!) but all of the casinos are right outside the doors of our hotel so we could step outside as soon as we were ready for the crazy! The room was completely automated & we could control everything from the remote control in our bed:
Seriously, I could set the alarm clock, lock the door, turn on the privacy button, shut the curtains, set the heater - all from the comfort of our bed. Amazing. You know what else was my favorite? The bathroom:
It had a separate walk in shower & huge bath tub with a tv in the mirror! Let's just say I haven't been that relaxed in the bath tub in a while. I am usually interrupted by 2 little girls.
At night, we had dinner reservations followed by a show. We ate 3 restaurants, 1 of them was amazing Italian food that we would totally recommend or go back again. Ask me if you go, because I take pictures of all of them so I can remember.
My favorite hotel of the trip was the Wynn. We usually don't spend a lot of time down there since it's at the end of the strip, but we had dinner & a show there one evening & we loved it. Their decorations incorporating real flowers were beautiful. The girls would have loved it:
After dinner, we went to the Wynn Theater & saw one of Cirque Du Soleil's shows:
It was a beautiful theater set in the round & the performance was fantastic. This was not your typical Cirque show - it incorporated acrobatics with water but it was more about the story being told:
But the main reason we went to Vegas was to see this guy:
You know I am obsessed with this guy! This was my 4th time to see him & I just love his music. Luckily my husband likes big bands & jazz music, so he likes him as well. He told us at the concert that he has never performed on New Year's before & when he started planning it, he realized it was New Year's Day in Vegas, so he called it the Hangover Party since everyone partied the night before on the strip for New Year's Eve. He even passed out water bottles to all of the guests:
If any of you have seen the "Hangover" movies, than you will probably get the tattoo he is rocking :) I'm telling you, this guy is funny! Not only do I love his music, but he is always entertaining:
We lucked out because he told us that night that this was would be his only performance of 2016. His wife is pregnant with their 2nd child & he is working on a new music, so hopefully a new cd will be out soon. Thanks Eva for letting us know he would be performing!
So Vegas in January was fun. I hadn't really thought about Christmas decorations, but there were still a few places decorated:
We had to dress warm because I was not used to the cold weather:
I wore my Ugg boots & walked everywhere during the day while the sun was out, but at night we took an Uber everywhere because it was too cold to be outside. One night I got a tie dyed Audi which was all tricked out - by far the coolest Uber I have ever taken:
We definitely missed the warmer outdoor activities but it was still a fun weekend away just the 2 of us. I am truly thankful that we were able to spend time together. It was the perfect way to start the new year - taking a little mommy time for myself & spending some extra quality time with my husband. Love you Bryan!
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