This weekend, 11 years ago, Matt and I took a long weekend trip to Vegas. We were 24, married 18 months, and could get a pretty decent direct flight. It just seemed like a fun place to go when we were in our 20s and didn't have kids. It was a good trip and we liked Vegas but it wasn't somewhere we ever expected to go again.
Then over the summer Matt was asked to go to some work training at a company that is based in Las Vegas. We thought this seemed promising because he had just been at this job a few months and they already wanted him to get this training and then come back to teach it to everyone else. We talked about options for a weeks. Should just Matt go? But we have a pretty strict "we see each other every day" rule, having only spent about 15 nights apart in our 12 years of marriage, and never two full nights in a row. Should Sam and I go along with Matt, getting someone to watch Luke, who would be in school during the day? Or should we pull Luke out of school and all go together?
Even though it still pains me to admit to it, we pulled Luke out of school for 3 days and made it a family trip. It was fairly cheap with all of Matt flight and food paid for, the hotel paid for, and it would be in the 70°s-80°s there while it was about 40° at home.
However, I was insistent on Luke missing as little school as possible so we flew out after school on a Tuesday and back home on Saturday which wouldn't have been our preferred if we weren't working around a school schedule but I really really felt (still do) feel bad about pulling him out of school for Las Vegas. VEGAS. It seems like the most ridiculous place to take kids, much less have a kid miss school for (even though his teacher was fine with it and was very supportive of us taking him!).
(I already wrote about our flying with a baby experience here!)
Where We Stayed
Last trip we stayed at Planet Hollywood, about 2 weeks after it officially opened, right on the Strip, with a view of the Bellagio fountains from our room. This time Matt's work wasn't offering to pay for us to stay on the Strip and we stayed where they were willing to pay for: Staybridge Suites and it was a GREAT hotel. We were about a mile off the Strip but they had a free shuttle that took us back and forth from the Strip and the hotel. The continental breakfast was among the best we've had, the people were all really nice, we had the same two shuttle drivers most of the trip and they were so nice and helpful. PLUS, we had a full kitchen (that we mostly just used for the fridge and microwave) and washer/dryer in our suite. And a separate bedroom for Matt & I while Luke slept on the pull-out couch in the living room. We got a rolling crib for Sam so we could pull him into our room to nap or out in the living room to play with Luke. It was fantastic. I certainly see the appeal of staying on the Strip BUT this did work out very very well.
What We Did - The Boys & I
A big question in us deciding to take both boys is what the heck I would do with them while Matt was in off-site training for 2½ days? Everyone kept asking if the hotel had a pool. Yes, they did. But taking a 7 month old to the pool, in sunny Las Vegas, while trying to keep a 5 year old safe isn't a super fun relaxing pool experience for Mom (although I have a sister who says taking her 7 kids, ages 8 - younger than Sam, to the pool solo is pretty easy. I might just be wimpy.)
So we did what you do in Vegas - we walked the Strip. A few months earlier in New York City, in pretty safe midtown Manhattan, Matt didn't want me (and the baby strapped to me) walking to The Milk Bar for cookies alone (my Mom ended up going with me). Then we get to Vegas and I was taking two kids on the Strip alone. It felt like the craziest thing I had ever done in my life, but it was fun!
The hotel shuttle dropped us at New York, New York and then we'd walk down to around Planet Hollywood and The Bellagio, just under a mile. We'd spend some time there, walk back to the New York, New York, and get the shuttle back to the hotel. There are a lot of raised cross-walks in Vegas and we got good at finding the elevators to take us up to them, cross the street, and then find an elevator to take us back down. By the end of our couple days we knew which elevator was out of service, which casino we could go in that had a elevator nearby to get us up to cross-walk level.
Number of Vegas casinos our 5 year old and 7 month old have been in: 4.
There is a lot of good people watching in Las Vegas and all the hotel/casinos are pretty cool to look at. Planet Hollywood has the Miracle Mile shops attached to it. Matt & I spent some decent time there 11 years ago, waiting for our hotel check-in time while it was raining outside, and the boys and I spent a couple hours there this time too. It kept Luke more contained and there weren't streets to cross so it just felt a little easier. Plus, there was Jamba Juice and ABC Stores, both with happy memories from prior vacations (New York and Oahu, respectively). And I am NEVER going to pass up daily Jamba Juice when given the chance.
The only bummer was that the Bellagio fountains didn't start until 3 and that's when Matt's training was done so we were always back at the hotel by that point. So we never got to see those during the day. But otherwise, it was walking around, not seeing many other kids, getting Jamba Juice, and finding where the Backstreet Boys perform BUT weren't there at the time (am I still bitter about that? Yes.)
We also found a shuttle between the Park MGM and the Bellagio which didn't really save time but did save walking and got us in less crowded areas. We went to the Conservatory in the Bellagio and saw their really cool exhibits.
What We Did - The Whole Family
A lot of the same things I did with the boys. We took the shuttle to New York, New York, walked the Strip. Actually saw the Bellagio fountains going (my FAVORITE), got Jamba Juice.
One day we walked just over a mile, along a 8 lane busy road, to see the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. We hadn't seen it on our first trip. We had to wait in line about 30 minutes to get our picture under it. The whole time this felt crazy, the roads were so busy but we kept saying "It's for the Christmas card, it's for the Christmas card" (and one of them is on our Christmas card).
Matt barely had anything the last day so we spent most of the day, a hot 80° day, on the Strip. We did the High Roller, a huge Ferris Wheel just off the Strip with great views. Both boys were free and we could just roll the stroller right into our cabin so that was easy. We also ran into the only people we knew in Las Vegas, Matt's co-worker and her Mom. Which is so weird in a city filled with so many people.
Where We Ate
A lot of our New York favorites are also in Las Vegas: Shake Shack, Jamba Juice, Earl of Sandwich (Vegas is where we first found them!), Milk Bar. We got food at all of those. Breakfast was always at the hotel. Two suppers we picked up and took on the go. Once eating pizza back at the hotel and once having a 7pm picnic in The Park, next to New York, New York. It took two days but our second solo day I got a sandwich and chips at ABC for $7 which felt so affordable for Las Vegas, then Luke and I could share with Jamba Juice and it made for a cheap lunch (two Jamba Juices were more than the sandwich + chips!).
We did ZERO gambling and whole total drinking was sharing one beer on our last night. We were really living the wild life in Vegas.
The trip felt crazy but really was a lot of fun. I never thought I'd take two young kids there but we did and everyone survived! Luke is young enough and some of the...Vegas-y things he may have noticed in a few years went right over his head. Sam was able to crawl at the time but barely and so wasn't in that "I constantly want down to explore and put everything in my mouth" stage yet so he was fairly content in the stroller or carrier for large parts of the trip.
Doing New York earlier in the year really was good prep for a big city, maneuvering through crowds. And having already been there once really helped just in terms of orienting ourselves and kinda knowing what to expect. The weather was near perfect and it was a wonderful getaway for our family!
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