The greatest show on earth..... Fully Charged!

Camille had her first circus experience this weekend. The Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Circus stopped in Raleigh recently with their Fully Charged 2012 Tour. I was a little hesitant to take her, thinking that she was a little too young, but I think she enjoyed it. Ever since we bought the tickets, Camille would randomly ask me, "Millie go to circus today?" Needless to say, she was super excited to learn that Saturday was the day. Our seats were fairly close, which helped us all get excited. Camille was glued to the stage for most of the time, especially when the animals came out. Her favorite part was anytime the elephants came out. She squealed and laughed every time they made a move. The circus lasted almost 2 hours, so Camille did start to zone at the end since she was overdue for a nap. All in all, we each had a great time and were glad we went. Upon leaving, they gave us an elephant poster to which Camille was sooo happy about. It is now up on our fridge for her to look at each day. If you ask her what she liked most at the circus, she will definitely tell you "elephants." Occasionally she will mention the clowns or her friend Mary that she spotted during intermission :)

Viva Las Vegas

Well, Nick and I survived our trip to Las Vegas. It was so hard to leave Camille behind for 4 days, but she was in good hands with her grandparents (and John & Aya). This was a first time trip for both of us, so it was fun flying into Nevada and getting to overlook the huge mountains and canyons! Very impressive and beautiful (and very different from NC)! We experienced as much as we could in 4 days- shopping, eating, gambling, drinking, and site seeing. Needless to say, we were exhausted trying to keep up the pace. I think we were the only visitors that only gambled at night (and we are talking quarter slots :)) and didn't drink ourselves sick. I am proud of both :) I was warned before leaving that Vegas is one of a kind, but I had no concept of how true that really is! I was glad to "experience" it but VERY glad to come home. It is hard to document everything, but here are some captioned pictures to give you a sense.

These two pictures are of our hotel, Aria. It is one of the newest hotels on the strip and very modern in decor. Upon entering our room for the first time, the curtains opened and music turned on! At night, you would hit the "goodnight" button and all lights, tv, music, and curtains would turn off/close. Very cool. Also, our hotel was one of the biggest in my mind- it had a few nightclubs, at least 10 restaurants, a casino, a spa, 3-4 pools, shops, etc... you get the point..... Most of the hotels offer all of that but in a smaller space.

The closest hotel to ours was The Cosmopolitan.... I liked this hotel b/c of this crystal sitting area! Very chic. We ate dinner there at China Poblano one night- you could get upscale mexican and chinese dishes together!  

This is The Bellagio. What I liked most about this hotel was the outdoor water show. It happened every 15 minutes. The water movements coordinated with the music. They also had beautiful floral decorations. I would like to know how often those are watered/replaced....We did eat one meal here, Yellowfins, or something like that... we got sushi- it was good, but not as good as our Raleigh favorite- Mura!

This is Caesar's Palace, probably the fanciest one of them all. The murals on the ceiling were so impressive and the statues were very ornate. Caesar's had the best shopping by far, everything from Gap to Prada!

Mandalay Bay is one that I didn't get pictures of. We ate lunch at The Border Grill there. Some of you might be familiar with the one in LA or have seen them on the Food Network. Delicious!!

The Miracle Mile/ Planet Hollywood had a few good shops too, nothing like Caesar's but still fun. Just to give you a sense of how crazy this place is, this was taken inside....

We did adventure out of the strip one day to see The Hoover Dam... sooo impressive. I took a bunch of pictures!

If some of you have been before, you still may notice a new addition. The bridge we are standing on in the above picture and that is in the background of the others took 5 years to complete, but was finished about a year ago. There are certain areas around the dam that are in Arizona, so we were in two states at once!

This one statue is said to bring good luck to those that touch the feet...... Excuse my outfit in these pics, it got pretty windy, so I had to borrow Nick's over sized jacket :)

It was funny traveling outside of the Vegas strip, b/c there wasn't much outside that small radius.

The Venetian hotel was very impressive too.... Nick, who has been to Venice, commented on the many similarities. Our favorite restaurant of the trip was here, Postria, a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. Our meals were exceptional!!!

We did venture to The Mirage too... I just wanted to see King Ink, a famous tattoo parlor... not trashy at all, though I still would never get a tattoo. There was a neat volcano show outside The Mirage that was HUGE! We could feel the shaking and heat on our faces!

We did manage to get in a show at Luxor, Criss Angel. The hotel had given us free tickets, but they were upper level and almost to the back of the small theatre. When we arrived, the hostess bumped us up to 2nd row!!!! We felt very VIP. I did take my mom's advise and refused to go on stage for any of the acts/performances. I did get thrown a piece of paper for audience participation, but I smoothly threw it to the girl behind me :) I still can't comprehend all that magic stuff, but it was still neat to try and figure out.

Most of the craziness I saw was on the streets of the strip. There were all these bums dressed up as Disney characters and the like trying to make a few bucks by offering to have their picture taken. Not cool seeing Winnie the Pooh passed out drunk on the sidewalk one morning. Kids beware! The scariest was the guy with the snakes. Most of you know that I DON'T like snakes AT ALL. It took everything in me to get close enough for a picture. Don't worry, I kept my guard up the entire time and then quickly ran!

I'm sure there are lots more stories to share, but it has been a crazy week so far... I've already been to Mississippi and back!