More To Do In Las Vegas, Than Just Casinos

Author: Tammy

Well, we just got back from Las Vegas, and contrary to what most people believe, there is more to do there, than just spend all your time at casinos.

We had our kids with us for this trip, because we were meeting up with Scott’s sister, Wendy, and our nieces and nephew. We left for Las Vegas early Monday, and when we arrived, the first thing we did was hit up the Las Vegas Premium Outlets off I-15 and Grand Central. This place has 120 stores, all on the outside, and it was great shopping. We got lots of school shopping done by stopping at the Vans store for shoes, and clothing shopping done at The Children’s Place Outlet, Carters, and OshKosh B’Gosh. Cole even got a kick out of seeing his name on the sign and windows at the Kenneth Cole store. Scott’s hands were red and lined up pretty bad by carrying all these clothes in this big shopping bag that had a rope handle, but he made it through the Outlet center and back to the car.

We still had some more time before family was to be there, so we headed to the Meadows Mall. The Meadows mall was an awesome mall with over 140 stores, on 2 floors. I think the kids loved the Healthy Living Kids Soft Play Area the best. Kids can play on the soft equipment while learning about healthy living. There is soft seating lining the inside of the Play Area for parents to take a break. Inside the play area, there were lots of toys and structures to play and climb on. There was a play bed that kids could jump on, a slide, and a soccer ball tunnel. I know the kids didn’t learn a darn thing about healthy living, but they sure had fun playing!! A perfect way for the kids to get out some energy.

Of course, spending all that energy makes kids hungry, so thankfully, there was a nice food court right on the top level of the mall. The kids ate at McDonald’s and Scott and I ate at Extreme Pita. It’s been so long since I had a pita, the last time I remember, I was living in New Hampshire! The food there was really good! While we were eating, our niece called and said she had arrived in Vegas, so off to the Tropicana we went!

We got our room at the Tropicana, and of course, the kids wanted to swim, so they changed right away and spent hours at the pool, just having fun playing in the water with their cousins. Wendy, Scott and I went off to play some games, and none of us won anything. We really wanted to play some $5 Blackjack, but they only had 2 tables open, and they were both filled. We walked around some more, lost some more money, went back to the blackjack tables, and the same people were there…it seemed like we were never going to get to play. After walking around for a while, Wendy found a really cool shirt that she just had to have, so Scott bought it for her.  It said, “I’m not 40, I’m 18 with 22 years experience!”  I told Wendy to save it for me, as a birthday present in a few years.   After checking on the kids at the pool, I took Cole back to the room so he could change, and we just hung out at the room, and played games together on my PSP (PlayStation Portable). Wendy and Scott continued to try to get on a table, with no luck, after they lost more money, they came to join Cole and I in the room.

We went to go see everyone at Scott’s mom’s room, and peer out their balcony room to the New York, New York hotel. After visiting for a bit, we said good bye to everyone, since they had to go to bed early to catch an early airline flight to their final destination of New York for 16 days. We wished them all a good trip, and Wendy a safe trip back home, and then Scott, I, Brittany and Cole went to eat at the Garden Cafe. No sooner did we order food, and Cole got a few bites of food into his belly, then he totally crashed out there on the restaurant booth while the rest of us finished our meal. We had a nice meal, and towards the end, even Brittany was showing signs of tiredness. We carried Cole, and made it back to our hotel room, where the kids were out in just minutes.

This morning (Tuesday), we all got up and got ready to go for breakfast. Instead of eating at the casino, we decided to go find an IHOP. We found one on Rainbow Blvd, thanks to the phone book that was in our room. After IHOP, we surprised the kids, and took them to Chuck E. Cheese on Lake Mead Blvd. We bought them 100 tokens, and off they went playing in their own mini-vegas, dropping coin after coin, and getting tickets after tickets. Scott and I were really impressed with this Chuck E Cheese, after having a bad experience at the one in Sandy, Utah where half the games were broken. That one really put a sour taste in our mouth. At this Chuck E Cheese on Lake Mead, we only found 2 games that couldn’t be played, so the kids had a really great time here.

After Chuck E. Cheese, we took them to another of their favorite places that they loved in California. Toys R Us! We don’t have one close to us here in Cedar, so we took them there with at $10 spending limit each, and they just had fun playing with all the toys, and cars, and train sets all over the store. This was our last stop before heading to Costco in Saint George.

We’ve taken the kids to all the standard kid activities in Vegas, like the lions at MGM, dolphins at Mirage, the water show at Bellagio, volcano show at Mirage, Pirates show at Treasure Island, etc, so we had to find other activities in Vegas. The kids had a great time in Vegas, and the best part for Scott and I was that we could take them to places where there wasn’t a smoking atmosphere like in the casinos.

Called Mom, and found out that everyone landed in New York, no problem, and that they were already with family there, so I know they’ll have a great 16 day trip there. There’s no place like home, so we are all glad to be back home, and get back to work. After listening to phone messages, we found out that Brittany’s soccer practice will be starting Friday for the fall season of AYSO! And Cole will be getting his schedule soon, too! Oh well, I guess there’s no rest for the Mom Taxi!!