Vegas trip, part 2

Welcome to Part 2!

We were in Vegas for 6 days. I am showing you a little of it. We had so much fun, just the 3 of us.
Every morning Spencer and I would take turns exercising and we'd eat breakfast in the hotel room- we brought cereal, oatmeal, juice, and fruit.

However, we went to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast one day. Father and daughter loved it.

We made our way to the infamous Fremont Street after breakfast, since it's been several years since I've been, and Spencer never has. Abby's bedtime prevented us from going at night to watch the light show so we thought we'd at least go in the morning and cross it off our list of things to see.
That was interesting. The types that frequent Fremont Street at 10:30 in the morning... wow. Mostly people were looking to gamble, or walk off the previous night's activities, but we did see a live broadcast for Telemundo.

We were also lucky to catch a glimpse of the Heart Attack Grill, which boasts not only the world's highest calorie burger awarded by the Guinness World Records (9,983 calories), but also a free meal to anyone weighing over 350 pounds. So, yeah.

On our way back, we stopped by Gold and Silver Pawn, of the show Pawn Stars on the History channel. Spencer started watching it a few months ago, and we happened to pass right by it, so we stopped in. Seconds after we went inside, an announcement was made to ask everyone to clear out the store for a taping of an episode. We had a quick lap around and left.
I felt so cool, even for a moment.

We hit up the outlets again, and put Abby down for a nap once we got back to the hotel. This was the only day that we actually had her sleep in the hotel for her naps! Every other day she would fall asleep in her car seat- several times on the way to the hotel so we could put her down- or in her stroller during an activity. I really didn't want her nap schedule to be too far out of whack, but she did great and has had no trouble going to sleep either during the day or at night since.
Poor girl looked like this a lot:

 

After a few naps, and Chipotle for lunch, we relaxed in the room and got ready for our last fancy dinner- Strip Steak at the Mandalay Bay!
Apparently it is a "celebrity chef" restaurant, although I've never heard of him before. Michael Mina, who has a few other restaurants in Vegas. It was sooo good. We had a $50 certificate, but you needed to spend at least $100 first.
It wasn't hard at all.
Abby wore a pair of socks on her hands the entire way over, and it wasn't until we had our complimentary appetizer that she finally took them off.

They start you with Duck Fat Fries: from the left to the right, truffle with truffle sauce (so very good, I was surprised how you can really taste the truffles in both the fry flavor and in the sauce,) garlic parmesan with ketchup, and I think the last were Old Bay.

Ab loved them. Of course. She's only been allowed to eat fries for a few months, and she knew she wanted to take off her socks for these!

Spencer's entree was a 10 ounce Angus Filet Mignon, and cost $58. I kid you not, it was worth it. I think they prepared it before grilling it with butter somehow, because it was the absolute most flavorful steak I've ever tried.

We shared a trio of potato purees: sour cream and onion, lobster, and horseradish.

I had the Organic Grilled Half Chicken, which came with truffled macaroni and cheese, a few carrots, and caramelized onion jus. Topped with onion rings. This chicken, which only cost $30, was also so flavorful and I loved every bite.

Spencer is mmmm'ing here.

At all of our dinners we tried to keep Abby entertained, and for the most part she was so good at every restaurant we went to. (She had a rough night at Joe's, the stone crab place, when Spencer accidentally spilled ice water all over her!)
Anyway, here she is playing the piano while one of us was singing the "I've Got a Dream" song from Tangled (during the Hook Hand Thug's part. He's a piano player, after all.)

We celebrated our anniversary with Strip Steak as well, and ordered the creme brulee and beignets.

Strip Steak also gives you a bag of caramel corn to take home with you. 

Our waitress took a picture of our stuffed selves. While I wouldn't want to pay that much for dinner often, it really was so good, and I was pleased that we could taste the difference in our expensive entrees compared to what we would get somewhere else. Delicious!

After our fabulous dinner we went to the Bellagio to watch a water show.

On our drive over, I noticed a Buzz and Woody on the street, so we had to go and see them. We also saw some show girls and a beautiful bride, so we snuck in a picture. Her bridesmaid had a gorgeous dress, and I kind of wish I snuck a picture of her too!

Abby was so nervous once we got to the Buzz and Woody, but I knew she'd be excited about it later, so I wanted to get a picture with them.
They guys worked on tips, so we gave them $2 to let us take one picture. Abby was very shy and she is actually reaching for Spencer here, saying "No, Daddy hold you!"

After we went back inside, she told us "Be shy, Buzz Woody." Yes, Abby, you were shy with Buzz and Woody.
We looked around at the gardens

and headed back to the hotel to call it a night.

The next morning, we fed Abby breakfast and decided to do a late breakfast/brunch at Hash House a go go after some shopping at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.
Shopping took longer than we thought it would, as did the travel to Hash House, which has many Las Vegas locations. We went to the Imperial Palace, which is under construction outside, and it was a pretty crazy maze to get there. I'd recommend one of the other locations. When we were seated, we weren't helped at all; Spencer had to get someone to wait on us. The whole thing took so long, that Ab was done by the time we got our food, and needed a nap.
The food was pretty crazy, though, and worth the creepy trek through the casino!
I got a pancake- Brown Sugar Banana, which was so good (am I a broken record yet? All the food pretty  much everywhere was so good!) and 12 inches! Ab and Spencer had to help me eat it.

Spencer got one of their signature Farm Benedicts: Andy's sage fried chicken with fresh spinach, bacon, tomato, griddled mozzarella, chiptotle cream, and scrambled eggs on a biscuit, all atop griddled mashed potatoes!

No, he didn't finish it.

The next stop was the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.

 

Ab and I got friendly with the Patriots guy at the Nike store.

You must always go watch the fish at the aquarium at Caesars, located by The Cheesecake Factory. Abby was very excited about it for a minute (see last year's picture:)

This year I couldn't take a picture. Abby pressed her little hands against the glass, and a large fish swam into her field of vision and surprised her, and totally scared her. At first she was holding me and I thought she was laughing, but that steadily grew more and more hysterical so we had to finally walk away.
She still talks about the scary fish in Las Vegas!

We went to the pool again that afternoon- we went almost every day- and enjoyed some yummy drinks. (Our reservation included a $50 credit towards drinks at the pool! Sadly, we only used about $15 of it, because I was too nervous about getting too full on pina coladas so I wouldn't enjoy my dinners. Stupid. Always get a pina colada! Especially if it's free!)

I need you to know how much I enjoyed my drinks.

Bathed, and ready to go to our last dinner out!

Every time we went in the elevator, she had to stand on this square. I'm not sure why.

We went to The Wicked Spoon Buffet at the Cosmopolitan. It had a lot of mixed reviews, but overall was very good. They have mini pots and sauce pans that hold single-servings of hot foods that you can take to your table.

Ab isn't sure if she likes her crazy lemon goat cheese leek pizza...

I am not sure if these pictures look good to anyone, or gross. Probably gross. But most of what I had was really good.

Mini veal burger.

Truffle potatoes, lobster mac and cheese, and a few bites left of a really tasty filet mignon panini that I wish I had gotten 20 of.

This place had truffle fries, too!

What the Wicked Spoon is probably most noted for, other than their mini fry baskets, is their dessert.

Some of my pictures got blurry, and I didn't take a picture of the HUGE assortment of fudge and chocolate bark, but you get the idea.

They have their own gelato statio... again, my picture is blurry, but yum!

The red thing has an edible gold flake on top. Supposed to make you think it's fancy!

Super Abby (notice the flung-aside bib? No?) reading a book with Dad.

As far as Vegas buffets go, this was very good. I'm not sure if we'd do it again, nor can I recall if this was better than the Bellagio buffet. We may have to try the Wynn next time

I'd love to hear where YOU like to go!! Buffet, restaurant, entertainment, what is always on your Vegas list?

Blurry, blurry.

 

 This is Abby's sad face during check out. She had a great time!