Due to half of temple square being under construction, there were only a few trees with lights.
We stopped off at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The gal said it was a 2 1/2-hour wait. So, we grabbed takeout and went into the mall, where we ate dinner: avocado eggrolls and macaroni cheese fried balls.
One of the days we were out, walking through the hotels and shops, we ended at the shops in Caesar’s Palace. We were supposed to meet Paul for dinner at a restaurant a few streets up, but after walking several miles we didn’t want to walk anymore 🙂
With the buffets dying out we decided to show Eli what a buffet was and took him to the Bacchanal Buffet.
I should have taken a picture of Paul’s plate, instead he took this attractive picture of me 🙂 He had two plates FULL of lobster, shrimp, and crab legs. He said he had to eat $250 worth of food. He is right. Buffets make money when I eat there. When Paul went back for something I would ask him to bring me just a little mac n cheese and he would come back with a full plate of pasta 🙂
I taught Eli the importance of a good dessert, ha! Everytime he went back for a plate of dinner, we would swing around the dessert island and pick up something fun to try.
My mom and I would take a few desserts, share them, then go back for the ones we liked.
When it was time to leave, Eli went over to take a few pictures of the desserts. This is what he took. I though it was funny so I posted EVERY picture he took 🙂
As I was posting the pictures, he took so many I didn’t post all the pictures of the flavors of gelato and toppings. He took a picture of EVERYTHING. 🙂
Today we walked quite a bit. We went to the outlets all morning and did some shopping. Instead of taking the shuttle, we walked a mile to the strip from the hotel.
We went to the Excalibur Hotel and saw the King of Kings dinner/ show.
This was Eli at 10:00 PM. He had enough and he was tired. After dinner, we tried to find the hotel shuttle pick-up area, but couldn’t find it. We called the hotel and they directed us to the Paris Hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, the cab director said he hadn’t seen the Wyndham Hotel shuttle in years. I walked my mother 6 miles today and decided I didn’t want to walk her anymore. Even though we were only a mile away from our hotel, we decided to get a cab. The cab director said the ride would cost $15 for a two-mile ride due to a street closure. No worries, we all got in, and off we went. 45 minutes, 6 miles of street closures, one-way streets, and $35 later we arrived at our hotel. Ha!
Eli was so hungry he ate his second dinner at the hotel. Not sure how he stayed awake while eating 🙂
We drove to a fun restaurant one night for dinner. You can’t go wrong with four cheese mac n’ cheese. Can you tell he was excited? 🙂
We went to the Paris hotel and walked around a bit. Eli really likes that hat. He puts it on every time we leave the hotel.
Went to Bobby Burgers for dinner. Eli tried his first burger this past summer and now is obsessed with them.
Went to Panino for lunch. I wanted to remember this place to never go back. The sandwiches were really good, but the bread was really hard. We all took the bread off the top. I’m not thrilled that I paid $35 for the most expensive hard sandwiches.
Every morning, after Paul got up and left for his conference, Eli came with me to the gym.
It was fun having a workout partner.
After working out, we would stop by the ping pong tables on our way back and play several rounds. By the end of the week, he was getting pretty good at it. We need to add a ping pong table to our list of must-haves for our new house. 🙂
After breakfast, we got dressed in our swimsuits and went to the pool. I was a little disappointed with the heated pool because it wasn’t heated. It was solar-heated by the sun! I thought it was freezing and had to keep moving to stay warm. Eli thought it was great!
We went to the gaming center every day. Every Day. Eli loved the gaming chairs.
Going to the movies was also part of our daily routine. We stopped at the store to get movie essentials: drinks, popcorn, and treats. Jungle Cruise and Indiana Jones were our favorite movies. We didn’t finish Jungle Cruise so a few days later one of the employees was so nice, she started the movie just for us, and fast-forwarded to where we ended so we could finish the movie.
Back to the gaming center.
We found the best bakery in Las Vegas. Freed’s Bakery. They have the BEST cannoli. We may have frequented this shop every day. They had so many treat to try, and we were so short on time 🙂
We went to the Oasis Cafe a few times and took it back to our room. They had battered fries and freshly made potato chips. I ate those chips along with a glass of chocolate milk. Oh, so good!
Eli told me he loved our daily routine. Oh, that makes my mama heart smile. When we are home we need to start a routine just for us. And it doesn’t need to be this elaborate. Something with the two of us.
Eli was excited to go on this trip. We took a week off work and school, so I was excited as well 😀 We didn’t want to do homework in Vegas, so he completed a week’s worth of homework over the weekend. I’m so pleased with his hard work and dedication.
What a different view than the flight to Colorado. Instead of ever-green trees and snow, we flew over dry and brown.
He didn’t know what we were flying over, nor did he care. He didn’t waste a second to start playing a movie. He enjoyed his flight.
As we walked off the airplane and into the airport, they had casino gambling machines front and center. Eli asked if we had entered a gaming portal, ha!
We picked up the rental car and drove to Red Rock Canyon. I have been to Las Vegas many times, but have never been here, so I was looking forward to this drive.
When we arrived at the front gate, I showed the park ranger my mother’s military ID, but she wouldn’t accept it. Eli stepped it up and used his 4th grader ID to get us into the park for free! He was taking this seriously filling out all the information. We have the cutest boy.
There isn’t much to Red Rock Canyon. There is a giant rock sitting in a gray desert, but, it was what we needed after flight.
The rock was beautiful though. You can see where the flash flooding erodes the rock.
Eli needed to get out and RUN!
There were some fun plants that we need in our yard.
Found a holly bush.
We explored the area.
See him? Pretty cool. Paul spotted this guy.
A cool looking cactus.
We stayed at the Wyndham Hotel. With two bedrooms and two baths condo, it was nice for each of us to have our own space.
Eli found his bed right away. He stayed up watching a movie and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I got in my bed and fell asleep. We have a fun week planned with a lot on our itinerary.
