Recovering from the Weekend

When picturing the aftermath of our Vegas trip, I imagined Ryan and I would need a few days to recover from all of the fun.  Vegas, after all, is a city where sleeping is an afterthought, maybe done in brief naps in the afternoon or snoozes by the pool.

Plus, let's be honest, Ryan and I haven't exactly been breaking any curfews lately, unless you count late night studying and blogging.

I guess my late nights sleeping on the couch with the worst teether in the entire world Dylan prepared my body for a lack of sleep, and our daily dance parties prepared me to sing out of tune and make a fool of myself on the dance floor, because days after our return, I'm feeling fine.

Other people in the family weren't so well-prepared for a weekend away.

Grandma and Grandpa have some explaining to do.  They obviously run a party establishment that rivals anything found on the Vegas strip.

after lunch the other day, I ran upstairs to pick up a few things

less than five minutes later, I returned to find this 

we went to Costco the other morning

he fell asleep in the car, so I put him on the couch

he always wakes up within minutes of a car nap

this time it took about 120 minutes

Jackpot

We're back from Vegas, and I wanted to let everyone know that we hit the jackpot. 

If you define jackpot as countless uninterrupted showers, complete with putting on my make-up without sharing it with either of my kids, then I won.

If you define jackpot as hours and hours of time with Ryan, laughing about nothing and talking about everything, then I won.

If you define jackpot as drinking a banana colada on a beach (a man-made one, but there was sand!) while devouring Water for Elephants and In Style magazine, then I won.

If you define jackpot as taking a long, leisurely nap while Ryan played blackjack for a couple hours, then I won.

If you define jackpot as having an impromptu dance party while getting ready, with the music loud enough that Ryan called from outside of the room to see what exactly was happening inside, then I won.

My favorite winnings, though, came back in Michigan when I got to hug and kiss Abbey and Dylan millions of times while hearing about all the fun they had with Grandma and Grandpa.

As for the money kind of jackpot?  I guess that'll have to wait until our next visit, because my paltry $30 in gambling money stayed in Nevada.

probably the best of the five pictures I took

it's like I forget what to do with a camera when the kids aren't around!

And my not-at-all professional travel opinions are:

Mandalay Bay - two enthusiastic thumbs up (I told Ryan I never want to stay anywhere else, but who knows when it's time to plan again)

Viva Elvis by Cirque de Soleil - two thumbs up with reservations (I get that the slow songs are some of his biggest hits, but they didn't hold my attention)

Burger Bar (Hubert Keller) - casual but delicious and maybe my favorite meal, even though I got a Cobb salad (I don't do burgers)

Feel free to share your Vegas favorites!  I love hearing about other people's vacations.