The Ballantyne's: Las Vegas Baby!

Back in November, we took a trip down to Las Vegas for our Birthdays. We had a great time together. It was kind of a "last" trip alone before the babies arrive next year. We got a great discount from a friend at the Springhill Marriott just off of the strip. (You know who you are friend -- again, thank you!)

We left home Wednesday November 10th and drove down. We arrived in Vegas about 3:30pm. We got ready, and then went and found parking at the Bellagio, took a look at the botanical gardens and then we headed down the strip to the Mirage where they have Siegfried and Roy's secret garden and dolphin habitat. Now... for those of you who know me, I LOVE DOLPHINS! I could have sat and watched them all night long! We were kind of rushed to see everything in there cause they were closing, but we got to see some great tricks from the dolphins!

Back Flip!

Wave!

So Pretty, I just love them!

I still think it would be fun to be a dolphin trainer!

After the Mirage we walked around a bit through Caesar's Palace and a few other places, just site seeing. Then we went back to our hotel room to relax. Our hotel room had a balcony at the very top of the building which had great views!

The next day we did LOTS of walking and site seeing! We went to Excalibur, It's been a while since we've been there! We also went and saw several other hotels along the way and the exhibits and sites they have to offer.

We stopped at the MGM, and watched the lions. They were sleeping and the trainers, were just sitting there. I thought it was really cool!

They had baby cubs too! So cute!

We also went to M&M World

We went to the Coke Factory too which is hooked to M&M World. We did the coke tastes from around the world. Now, at this time I was 8 weeks pregnant. Luckily the nausea didn't hit me until the next week when we got home, but some of those coke flavors made me want to THROW UP! Some were ok, but I couldn't handle some of them. One of them even almost made Justin want to throw up. Luckily I made him try that one first, so I didn't even have to try it.

Later Thursday night we went and saw Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. HOLY COW! That show was fantastic. I recommend it to anyone going to Vegas. We got a great deal on the seats so we couldn't pass it up (Again, thank you to our friend for those too!) Even Justin liked the show! He hates musicals. But the special effects were the best! We loved the show!

Friday we went swimming at the hotel, and then we got ready for the day and went out for some more sight seeing. One of the places we went was Madame Tussades Wax Museum. That place was really cool! We had a great time taking pictures there! Here are some of them:

Brad Pitt

Matthew Mcconoghey... mmm, mmm Good!

Justin met Brittany Spears

And Arnold Shwartzenager

And Snoop Dog!

The wax museum was really cool! After the wax museum we went to Justin's aunts who lives just 15 minutes away from the strip. It was his cousins birthday so we had a BBQ and then had some cake and icecream. It was really good to visit with them!

On Saturday, we were running out of things to do. I think we finished some last minute things we wanted to do on the strip like watching the pirate show at Treasure Island, and little things like that. We also got tickets from Justin's aunt to go see a comedian at the Fitz. It was a funny show! After the show we went to Freemont street. It was SO cool! I've never seen it! They do some awesome things, and the light show they do in the dome is really cool!

This spray paint artist was AWESOME!