Our 5 year anniversary was August 12th, but August was too busy of a month so we celebrated in September by going to Las Vegas! I have wanted to see the Lion King play at Mandalay Bay for a Longgg time and this was the perfect trip! We dropped off the kids at Mary's house, Joel's mom in Victorville. The week before was crazy, getting everything ready. Joel got off early from work and we loaded up the car we dropped off Laura and Ryan and all their stuff and then got on the freeway! We made it there in about 2 ½ hours. We had booked a 2 ½ star hotel because we figured we would rather spend our money on the tickets for the Lion King play. The room had a little kitchen which was nice so I could store the milk I pumped in the fridge and wash out the pump in the sink. We got there about 10:30 pm and went right to bed because we were tired! We woke up at 5 am (yes, we were on vacation but remember I am traveling with Joel) and I pumped then we drove to the Las Vegas temple. It was about 20 min away from the strip. I expected it to be more glitzy but Joel said not every temple can look like San Diego. True. Then we had a buffet breakfast at Terrible’s casino which lived up to the name. (They were close to the temple) We changed into our swimsuits and walked across the street of our hotel to the Hard Rock to swim in their pool. The waitress said the pool chair rentals were $50. What? If we drank a bottle of water at $7 each, that goes a long way to $100… So we walked back to our hotel and swam in our very boring pool that didn’t have a lazy river, or lagoon area, or hot tub with swim up bar that I wanted to order a pina colada at, just a plain circle. We were in our hot tub when it started to drizzle but luckily it only lasted for a few moments. Then we changed and went to Paris and got our Buffet of Buffet passes. They were $49 for a 24 hour pass good for 7 casino’s buffets. We enjoyed that buffet at Paris. Inside the hotel they painted the roof light blue with clouds and had street lamps on so you felt like you were walking around outside in a Parisian atmosphere. Very fun and their buffet was very good. They had a good selection of food and delicious desserts. I had a mixed fruit tart, éclair, and 2 mini lemon meringue pie (because they were so good!) Then we drove to Mandalay Bay for Lion King. Joel booked the tickets online and I glanced at the receipt when he did and read to pick up tickets 1 hour prior to show time. Hmm… doesn’t leave much time for everyone to get them, but whatever. He handed the receipt to me while he was driving and I really read it then and it said tickets must be picked up 1 hour
prior to show time!! Aagh, the show starts at 4pm and it is now 3:15! I said we must valet park, your name is on the ticket stub so you must show photo id and I will drop off the car. We pulled up and he jumped out and I pulled into the Valet line. The guy asked if I was staying with them and I said no and he said then I’m sorry but we have 3 events going on today and if you’re not a guest you can’t valet park. Aagh! I pulled into their self parking structure but there was NO parking anywhere! Now it is 3:30, Joel called and said he got the tickets and where are you? I said I am trying to find parking! I finally found a spot at Luxor and started running. Literally running in my flowy skirt and nice shirt. Taxis were honking at me because I crossed a green light but I was in a hurry. I finally got back to Mandalay Bay and it is 3:52. Joel calls, where are you? “I am (gasp) running there (gasp) as fast as (gasp) I can!” I saw two workers taking a snack break and I yelled to them, I’m going to the Lion King, am I going the right way? “No, turn around and turn left! The theatre is at the back!” they yelled back. So I turned and kept running and finally ran into the hotel and I’m running into people, “Sorry, excuse me, sorry” and it is 3:57 and I finally see Joel. He gives me my ticket and we run into the theatre. I sit down and immediately stand back up. I have to go to the bathroom Right Now. The usher was closing the door but I slipped out. When I came back in the usher had me go in and then he closed the door and the lights dimmed. Wow, just barely made it! We were in row 5 from the stage and not quite center of the row but fairly close. Amazing seats! Well worth the extra money we saved from booking a lesser hotel. The show was great, the costumes were amazing! We had a great time! They added a few songs and it was very enjoyable! Then we went back to the hotel so I could pump and we took a nap as it was then 7 pm and we had had an early start! Joel set his alarm for for 9 pm but we slept through it and woke up at 10pm. We got dressed and went to Planet Hollywood for dinner but all the buffets close at 10 pm. While we were walking around some guy came up to us and asked if we wanted to go to a club. We said sure and he told us to tell the people at the line that he sent us. They moved the cord at the line for us and we went right up the escelator. Everyone in line was looking at us wondering who we were. Joel said it hypes it up and makes people in line think the club is really cool when they do that. We danced for a while and then they said on a microphone "The pussy cat dolls will be on stage in the other room in 1/2 hour!" I thought cool, I like some of their songs. So when it was time we went into the other room and then 8 girls came out. I thought, I don't remember there were that many.. amd then they started dancing and I realized that it was not the music group that I was thinkig of! We went back into the other room and danced for a while more and then went back to the hotel. When we woke up we went to Ceasar's Paace for breakfast. It was delicious! Very nice and they had an omlet guy who cooked your custom order. Joel ate 2 omlets and 3 pecan rolls! Then we walked around the hotel for a bit as it is fancy smancy and then went back to our hotel. We packed up and checked out and then walked around the stip for a bit and saw the water show at the Venetian that they show on Ocean's 11 the movie. We went to Planet Hollywood for lunch and wow. They had a diferent section for each place, Asian, Meditranian, etc. I had a little bit of everything, nan bread with hummus, crab salad, I can't even remember what else. I did have 4 peices of backlava which was so sweet! They had cotton candy which I though was display for the dessert section but then I saw a kid eating some so Joel grabbed one on our way out and ate a bit as we walked out the door so they would think we were really eating it. I do not like it and Joel only ate the one bite so we could save it for Laura as her 'we missed you' present. We drove back to Victorville, had dinner with his mom and then came back home. A very nice vacation and it made me miss and appreciate Ryan and Laura which I could not have done if I'd never left them!
