Las Vegas Trip

We went on a family trip to Las Vegas this past weekend! Now why would we go on a family trip there, because there is a lot to do for free really. I have never been to Las Vegas and we wanted to go on a short inexpensive trip and we were able to do just that. The first day we just drove and got into our hotel and drove down the strip and it was so awesome to see all the creative hotels and different buildings, quite a characteristic town. We stayed in the renaissance marriot hotel and got a great deal through priceline!! The next day was Friday so we went to the secret gardens and dolphin habitat and it was mine and Audrey's first time seeing some dolphins, so it was really neat for us. The trainers had the dolphins do a short show for us and it was so awesome to see these amazing creatures in action. We also got to go see some white tigers and lions that were there, along with some Llamas. The tigers were very intriguing and active for the day time, especially two white tiger cubs which were play fighting. I will post a video of that. After this we decided to go for a drive through the city, because both of our kids fell asleep. We ended up going to the Las Vegas Temple and walking around and taking pictures it is nice to know there is a place to go to feel more peace away from the mayhem of that city. The next day was Saturday and we decided to go to the outlets and go shopping which was a lot of fun!! That following night we went to walk around the strip at night and go see a few free things. We went to the M&M factory and that was a blast! It was so fun to see all the different things the M&M factory had to offer and we even saw the Red and Yellow M&M guys that you see in commercials. Audrey thought they were a hoot! Right next to that was the Coca-Cola factory and they had some really neat stuff there as well. Sean bought himself a shirt with a coca-cola bottle and in the middle of it said: Its all about the package. Yeah he thinks he is pretty humourous!! After that we walked over to the Fountains at the Bellagio and let me tell you how gorgeous it was to see those, I must say it is a must see when you go to Vegas!!
The next day was Sunday, so we decided to get away from the city and go to Hoover Dam. We thought since our GPS said it would only take about 45 minutes to get there that we would be there and back in about two to three hours. Well when we got there we sat in traffic for about an hour in a half just to go six miles to see Hoover Dam. Sean told me that Hoover Dam is considered one of the ten biggest engineering projects in the world and is really popular because of how big it is and how much electricity it generates out to the surrrounding areas. It was really neat to see and to think that before it was built all that was there was just a river.... We stayed and walked around for about an hour and then it took us about another hour to drive home, so it literally took us all day to do that and we were spent by the end of the night and ready to sleep. We went home the next day, but had planned on doing so much more. We wanted to go and see the pirate ship show and circus circus which is a free circus and go to museums and the light show that they have in the old downtown street of Las Vegas, but maybe another time. We enjoyed our trip and were happy to spend some time together as a family. I will say that it was amazing the difference between night and day in Las Vegas, literally night and day. During the day it is much more family friendly and a different atmosphere. At night there is a lot more commotion, crowds, ignorant people, but for the most part people were really good watching out for us with our kids strolling around with us. I saw one guy there that was dressed up as Jack Sparrow off of Pirates of the Carribean and that was pretty funny. The one thing I hated about Vegas is that at night there are guys that make a clapping noise and hand out prostitution cards to people with woman on them. Fortunately for us the men did not try to pass out the cards to us and at least had enough common sense that we were there on a family trip. I later learned though that it is illegal for them to pass it out to people that could be minors, so they have to be very careful and seeing that we have young children probably scared them away. I really really wanted to go see the Phantom of the Opera and a Magic Show that they had there, but it would have been to difficult to do those things with our kids. We hope to go back to see the Phantom of the Opera, I have been dying to see it for years. Anyways, thats how our trip went and we enjoyed it. Now to burn off all those calories I got from the road trip down and back. =) Hope you enjoy the pics!!! My computer will not be download anymore pics for some reason to this blog. Maybe it is to long. More pics to come. =)