Home from Las Vegas!

E travels to Vegas a lot for work. So when he mentioned a couple of months ago that he'd have a trip at the end of April, and would I like to extend it to include a weekend, to make it a mini vacation, I said yes. Yes yes yes!

As our weekend approached we got more and more excited. We were leaving cold rain/snow at home and heading to sunny Las Vegas. I was most excited about the food, E was most excited about taking James on a jet, and I think the kiddos were most excited about the pool.

So excited that nobody napped the first day (much to our dismay). We just had to check out the pool!

Playing in the sun, outside, in the pool after such a long cold winter felt a bit like a dream.

We stayed for well over three hours. Juliet was loving it and James was beside himself with excitement.

The next day we did a pool trip in the morning and it was so much nicer. Way less crowded and there were even seats to be found! Then after naps (where everyone slept!) we headed to Bellagio for their fountain show. We knew James would LOVE it.

I'm actually not a huge fan of Vegas (the crowds, the lack of natural places, the smoke... I could go on and on), but Bellagio is beautiful. So much nicer than all the other themed hotels. Waiting for the fountain show actually reminded me quite a bit of visiting the lake district in Italy on our honeymoon.

(side note: check out those long curls!)

The fountain show started and it was everything that our fountain obsessed boy could hope for. Plus, when the really big jets of water shot up, there was a cannon-like boom which scared Juliet quite a bit but excited James to no end.

Inside the Bellagio I was obsessing over the floors. How could I not?

AMAZING.

Then we spotted the themed garden at the Bellagio. I remember I literally gasped. Oh my goodness! The theme was a Holland Spring, and it was breathtaking.

I could not spot photographing the perfect flowers.

This photo is not staged. He leaned over to smell the "beautiful orange flowers" and I was lucky enough to snap this.

Every color of the rainbow.

Really, I couldn't get enough of the floors. Spy the humming bird?

And the chocolate fountain mesmerized James.

Pretty soon we got tired of the crowds and escaped outside to enjoy the beautiful lawns. We were the only ones there, which was a plus!

Hottie.

My darling boy.

On our last afternoon (after another trip to the Bellagio, because I just had to see the gardens again), we stopped at the aquarium at Madalay Bay. I wasn't expecting much but was happily surprised. The entire aquarium was amazing. Juliet did some walking practice.

But we all know she's faster with her speedy crawl.

There were two separate shark tunnels. The light was so dim the photos don't do it justice. It was so neat!

Image below from Mandalay Bay's website.

So unreal.

Our hotel lobby was so fancy.

Possibly my favorite photo from the trip, and it was taken with my iPhone! I love red poppies.

Hurray for successful family trips!