vegas, baby???

derek had to go to las vegas yesterday for the day, and kinda last-minute, he asked me if we wanted to go with him. the convention he was going to was at the Mandalay Bay convention center & he told me how it was so family friendly and there was a shark reef aquarium i could take the girls to while he was doing "work stuff". sounded good to me. now, i'm not a big "las vegas fan"...i've only been there a couple of times, and NEVER with kids.
so, when we get there, it's like 1:30 and we're starving so derek said, "when i was here last year, i saw a Chipotle on the strip." great...anything sounds good. so, to make a long story short...after about a 45 minute walk down the Las Vegas strip (with kids and with me wearing very uncomfotrable shoes that had a little heel...NOT made for walking), we find the darn Chipotle with like 4 blisters on my feet. i wanted to cuss (j/k...kinda). so, we ate...and got back in the car to head for Mandalay Bay. once my shoes were off, i was starting to see the humor in the last couple of painful hours walking down the ENTIRE strip (not kidding). oh yeah...i forgot to mention that a lady on a corner yelled to derek and i "are you guys staying tonight? you're a beautiful couple, even in the car, i'll be all up on dat!" WHAT...what's that mean? (not to mention, we had 2 kids in the back seat). and, as we walked that as we walked that long walk i don't know how many people we saw passing out flyers that said, "pretty girls at your service with in 20 minutes". gross, NOT a place for kids! i don't know how many times i covered kaia's eyes (leia was kinda oblivious).
anyways...when we got to the Mandalay Bay, we walked derek over to the convention and we were gonna head over to the aquarium "as planned" when derek tells me that the resort has it's own beach...like a wave pool/beach/sandy/kid friendly (shallow) area. so, i thought that the girls would be entertained much longer there than at the aquarium. so, i walk over to the lobby (another long walk...by this time i had taken my shoes off). and explain that my husband's part of the convention and wanted to know if they do "day passes" for the pool (expecting to have to pay for it). the next thing i know, she's handing me a pool key for free. i coulda' kissed her. ;) then, i realize...we don't have bathing suits. what do you know...they have a surf shop right by the pool with kids bathing suits...$80 (YES, $80!!!) later, kaia and leia have a new bathing suit. i've never spent $40 each on a bathing suit for a kid...but what choice did i have? anyways...it was SOOO worth it, they had a blast at that amazing pool. check out some of our pics from the day...



i guess, las vegas isn't so bad after all...at least the non-las vegas-y part of it. :)