Today we took our flamingo stuffies, Franny and Danny, on a trip home.
From Calico, we drove through landscapes that looked like we were driving on Mars and past high tech solar farms that looked like we were living in the future.
With MUCH excitement (the boys were vibrating in their seats), we finally arrived at our destination - Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Virtual check in was a breeze and we were in our swim suits and ready to dive in (figuratively since the pools are shallow) at the Mandolay Bay beach. We blew up our inflatable tubes and floated around the lazy river many, many times. Next, we swam in the wave and salt water pools and soaked (briefly as it was incredibly hot out) in the hot tub. It was 42 degrees Celsius again today and the pool deck burned our bare feet after seven steps. It was SO hot.
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| Our hotel room is three times the size of our trailer. What luxury! |
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| Seamus blowing up his tube. |
After a couple hours of swimming, we were starving. We headed over to New York New York for hot and gooey New York-style pepperoni pizza from Sirrico’s. It was fantastic.
We also found delicious and economical (for Vegas) treats at the Reese’s Store - huge cookie sandwiches with icing in between (think Oreo-style but with two soft and chewy jumbo cookies) for 3 for $20. The boys decided to go in together using some of their trip spending money from the Grandmas. They were generous and shared several bites of their cookies with both each other and mom and dad.
After such a delicious dinner, it was time for an evening stroll. We continued down the strip for some sightseeing. In all we visited Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, the M&Ms and Coca Cola stores, Paris, the Flamingo, the Venetian, and finally ended up with a view of Sphere. During our stop at the Flamingo we saw the real flamingoes; there were only three but their pink feathers were brilliant. The koi in the pond there were absolutely enormous. We also stopped at the Flamingo Gift Shop to adopt a cousin for Franny and Danny. He has been named Manny and now belongs to Alistair, so every boy has their own bird. Franny and Danny came to live with us when Liam and Seamus were just babies, Ali is thrilled to be a flamingo papa now as well.
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| We watched a robot bartender mix drinks. |
We uber-ed back up the strip since Alistair was done in and all the boys were fast asleep less than an hour later. After so many cold and/or timed coin operated showers lately, Ian and I made good use of the huge bathtub and shower to scrub off all the dirt that has accumulated on us over the last 77 days. Unlimited hot water for the win. Vegas, Baby, Vegas!
