More Las Vegas Pictures

The gondola rides at The Venetian.










Outside New York New York.












Venetian performers.













The famous chocolate fountain at Jean Phillipe.

















Jon with the Blue Man Group.

Las Vegas and the Big 4-0!

Me infront of a water fall inside The Venetian Shops at the Palazzo.

Jon infront of a big fountain inside The Forum Shops.
This statue was real!

The fountains at the Bellagio.

Ok, so I'm way behind on blogging. First I have to say I'm still in denial about turning 40. What? When did that happen? Jon was first to turn 40 on Father's Day. To celebrate this milestone we threw ourselves a party at Blue Mesa Grill in Southlake, Texas. We had chicken quesadillas, goat cheese empanadas and beef tenderloin skewers. We received a few gifts from our friends and family and lots of funny cards. My parents were able to come and so were my brother and his family. Some interesting gifts included a huge bottle of whiskey, two big bottles of beer, a bottle of sangria, coffee mugs and some gift cards. Plus someone gave us two huge containers of mixed nuts and cashews! Even though Jon and I were still a little under the weather, we had a great time.

The next day Jon and I left for Las Vegas while my parents stayed at home with Emily. It was the first time we ever left her overnight so I was a little nervous. But once I checked in with my mom and heard that Emily was having fun, I felt better. We arrived in Las Vegas around noon and took a taxi to Caesar's Palace.

Caesar's Palace is huge! We stayed in the Centurion Tower and our room had a huge bathroom. I can't believe I'm blogging about a hotel bathroom but oh well! It had a big shower and a small TV plus a big tub. Once we checked in we made our way through the casino to The Forum Shops, an indoor mall inside Caesar's Palace. Every shop was a big name like Fendi, Burberry, Ferragamo, Valentino, etc. The restaurants were kind of upscale and the Roman decor was really cool. The fountains were almost like the ones in Rome. The shops went on forever. Finally we made it back to the casino and had a snack at Cypress Street food court. After that we headed outside to walk to the Venetian. It was so hot and there were so many people walking around the strip. The Venetian has a really nice casino and it has its own mall called The Shops at the Palazzo.

This is where the indoor gondola rides were. There were also "street performers" dressed up in bright costumes that sang and played music. After walking all around the mall we went back to our room and rested.

For dinner we went to Serendipity 3. There was a short wait but we didn't mind. We sat outside overlooking Las Vegas Blvd and we did some people watching. Jon and I split a cheeseburger and a crab cake salad and had two very good mojitos. It was about 9:30pm so we decided to walk to the Bellagio and catch the water fountain show. Again, there were crowds of people everywhere. We were lucky and got up against the rails so we could see the fountains really good. The water's really loud when it shoots up, it almost sounds like fireworks. After the show we went inside the Bellagio to Jean Philippe Patisserie to see the chocolate fountain and to have some gelato.

Monday morning we woke up and had breakfast at Espresso inside the The Forum Shops. Then we walked to M&M World. I loved that place!! It's four levels of M&M candy, clothes, gifts and more. After that we walked to New York New York. The inside is designed to look like you're walking in New York. Pretty cool! After walking through the casino we went to the MGM Grand. They have a lion exhibit but we were too early to see it. So we caught the monorail to Mandalay Bay. We passed the Luxor sphinx and pyramid along the way. Mandalay Bay is really nice and it has a huge outdoor beach and lots of pools. On our way back to Caesar's we stopped in New York New York again because we were so hungry. We didn't want to eat a huge meal since we were planning to eat an early dinner at the Bellagio buffet later, so we had a slice of pizza. Back at the hotel we rested. Oh, from our window we could see The Flamingo casino and the huge Donny and Marie sign. Wish we would've seen their show but they were off Sunday and Monday.

Finally we made it to the buffet line at the Bellagio and waited almost an hour to get in. The food was excellent and the desserts were very yummy. I have to say the Italian pasta dishes were the best. The buffet had lots of international food including a sushi bar. The desserts were served on little plates and were bite sized. Jon and I really enjoyed the buffet. Later that evening we walked to the Paris casino and took the Eiffel Tower Ride to the observation deck. The view really was breathtaking and we could see everything including the fountains at the Bellagio. Once we came back down we started playing the slots. It was lots of fun but we lost what we won.

Tuesday morning we decided to walk back to the Paris casino and have breakfast at Monami Gabi. We sat outside but we could feel the air conditioner so it wasn't bad at all. It was really nice to be able to sit and talk just the two of us. We've already planned our next vacations with and without Emily. After breakfast we checked out of Caesar's Palace and went to the airport where the lines to get through security were awful. But once we made it through we walked around the terminals and got some last minute gifts and some lunch before boarding the plane.

This was a great trip and we really want to go again when it's not so hot. I'll post more pictures in the next blog.