Hey all! I have been a little scattered between grad school, sick kids, and keeping up with other things in life, but I wanted to pop on and share some photos from our trip to Las Vegas! We headed out the evening of my birthday (Thursday, February 27) and came home Sunday afternoon. It was a fun long weekend and I didn't even get pictures of everything we did!

This is Russ and me waiting at the airport to fly out. We'd never done just a quick weekend trip flying somewhere, so we were feeling pretty excited!

The hotel we stayed at was called the Downtown Grand. It is right off Fremont Street in the older part of Las Vegas. We enjoy that it was small but nice and affordable. It was also a little bit away from the noise of Fremont, so it made sleeping easy.

That night we went out to Fremont and walked around. It is quite the place with lots happening from music to street performers to shops. I had some friends ask about taking kids to Vegas, and Fremont is not a place I would take my children just because of some of the more adult level entertainment. We stayed out that first night until midnight Vegas time which was two hours past midnight Iowa time. I got an extra two hours of my birthday!

We hit up the penny slots. I am not a huge gambler, but it was fun to play! Also, drinks are very expensive in Las Vegas, but if you are gambling, they will serve you free drinks. 

The second day we got up and walked around a little on Fremont again, then hit up the hotel pool. It was a little chilly, but I sat by the pool and read. Russ and a guy friend that came with us went to the Las Vegas Machine Gun Experience and they had a blast!

Late that afternoon, another couple got into town and the girls went to Dry Bar to get our hair done I figured if I'm in Vegas, I'm going to do it up a little bit. I'd never been to a Dry Bar, but it was so fun to be pampered. They wash, dry, and style your hair!

After we were all prettied up, we hit up a bite to eat at The Cosmopolitan (where the Dry Bar is). 

Then we walked to the Bellagio to see Cirque Du Soleil "O". It was such a great show, and we walked around the Bellagio and watched the fountain show too. 

After the show, we went to the High Roller Ferris Wheel. It was so fun to see everything in Vegas high up!

The next day we went to the Venetian and went on a Gondola ride. It was so cute!

We also went to the Fashion Show Mall and shopped around. 

Saturday night we went back to Fremont and hung out. Some of the people (not me) went on the Fremont Zip Line!

The next day we ate breakfast, walked a little bit, then headed to the airport to head home.

It was a whirlwind of a trip. We were so busy and had so much fun. I felt like I didn't even see everything we could have. Vegas isn't some place I'd want to spend a ton of time at, but I think it would be fun to do a long weekend there again!

Have you been to Las Vegas? What was your favorite part?