A few months ago I started planning a surprise birthday getaway for Ian and I. I booked our hotel at the end of April. I thought it would be super fun to send Ian to work on his birthday and then show up and whisk him away to Vegas for the weekend. Surprise! It went off (almost) without a hitch.
It was stressful planning a surprise. I had to make fake birthday plans, get a fake babysitter, and pack in secret. Luckily Ian had no idea and I was better at lying about it all than I thought I would be. It worked out nicely that my mom was staying with us on Friday, so she watched the kids Friday to Saturday morning. My neighbor, Kami, babysat them for a few hours on Saturday morning because Mom had to head up to Brad and Mel's since they were coming home from the hospital. Then Natalie Miller came and picked them up after lunch and kept them Saturday and Sunday. I SO appreciate everyone who helped make the weekend getaway possible!
I showed up to Verite around 10am with balloons and surprised Ian with his birthday present. I told him I wanted to give it to him in person. He opened it up and inside was the hotel reservation printout. I told him we were going to Vegas for the weekend. He was really excited and happy (although a little reserved because he was at his place of business). He had to wrap up a few loose ends at work, and since we had to drive separate cars back to the house before we could leave, I headed home to gather the last few things we needed to pack. Ian made it home just after me and packed up what he needed then we made it out. It wasn't exactly the riding off into the day that I had imagined, but that's real life for you.
As we started driving I told him we could stop wherever we wanted for lunch (not McDonald's yay!). We were already kind of hungry so we ended up stopping in Provo and eating at Station 22. It was fun and very yummy. I had the turkey which was a piece of Texas toast with fresh roasted turkey on it and then a mountain of mashed potatoes on top of that covered in gravy and garnished with battered and fried baby onions. Oh my gosh. So good. Ian had the pig and cheese sandwich. It was pulled pork with cheddar and grilled green apples. Also delish. We picked out fun sodas too.
While we were eating we realized that Ian had forgotten his CPAP machine and we decided to go home to get it. Needless to say we were a little behind schedule, but luckily we didn't really have a schedule! The drive was fun. We talked, listened to music and podcasts. We also debated about where to eat dinner that night in Vegas. After lots of recommendations and checking menus and locations we decided on a place and made a reservation. The planner in me relaxed a little once that was done. :)
We made it into town a little before 6pm. We checked into Mandalay Bay and headed up to our room to relax for an hour before getting dressed up for dinner. It felt good to just rest and reconnect. We decided to go fancy for dinner so I wore a little black dress and heels. We drove up to the 4 Queens hotel at the north end of the strip off Fremont Street. We were meeting up with our friends, Alexis and Gabe, but got there a few minutes early so we had time to check out Fremont Street. It was total overload and a lot of crazy. I think I saw three man thongs within 10 minutes.
We met up with Lex and Gabe at Hugo's Cellar for dinner. It's an old school Vegas restaurant with exposed brick walls and dark wood everywhere. The waiters were in suits and the food was fantastic. Lex and I got a long stemmed rose when we arrived. Our salads were made tableside, which was kind of fun. Ian got steak and shrimp. I got Hugo's chicken. Yum. They brought Ian out a fun dessert and we sang Happy Birthday. I was glad he got a candle and everything. It was so fun to hang out with Lex and Gabe and catch up with them. Wish we got to see them more often! After our meal we had a platter of chocolate covered strawberries, apricots and figs.
When dinner was over we decided to wander. Gabe had looked up the performers on Fremont Street that night and it was Eve 6 and Everclear. Sweet! We walked down to the stage and caught the last of Eve 6, but luckily it was our favorite song, Inside Out.
We decided to head over to the Container Park next. It's this cool park made out of shipping containers, so all the restaurants and shops are inside containers. In the middle is a playground with cool games and a big treehouse thing with a super tall slide. After 9pm the park is only open to 21 and over. We went down the super high slide and listened to the live music they had playing there. It was a blast.
After the Container Park, Lex and Gabe headed home. Ian and I decided to walk back over to the Fremont Street stage and see if Everclear was on yet. They were just getting started. We stayed for a few songs, but their mic was having technical difficulties and I was pretty exhausted from trekking around Vegas in heels. It was such a fun night!
Saturday morning we slept in, of course. When we got up we decided to walk over to the Half Price Tix booth on the strip and get tickets to a show for that night. We ended up getting the cheapest Blue Man Group tickets. We had to walk across the street to the actual Blue Man Group Theater box office to get our seats. When we got there we had the option to upgrade our seats to the "splash zone" for free. We decided to go for it!
Once we had our tickets we walked back to our hotel. By this time it was noon and we were starving, so we stopped at the House of Blues restaurant inside Mandalay Bay for a late breakfast. It was tasty and totally hit my happy breakfast food spot.
We went back to our room and got ready to go to the pool for the afternoon. The pool was more like a collection of pools. It was awesome. There was a sandy beach area, a wave pool, a little lazy river, and two other regular pools. It was pretty crowded poolside by the time we got there, but we managed to find two lounge chairs together in a little corner by the West Lagoon pool. It was perfect. Not too loud but still in the complex and in the sun and right by the pool. The weather was really great. It was overcast but still really warm. It was nice to not be scorching in the sun. We swam in the pool and did a few laps in the lazy river and jumped some waves in the wave pool. We also dozed on our chairs, read, listened to music, and sat with our feet in the pool and talked. Such a fun afternoon!
Towards the end of the afternoon we got up and headed over to the cafe to get a drink and an ice cream sandwich. Then we grabbed seats in the sandy beach area. It was loud and there were lots of noisy drunk people. I was glad we spent most of our time in our quiet little corner. When we were done we headed back to the room to clean up and get ready for our night out!
Our room had a garden tub with a separate shower, so I took a long bath. Ahh. Finally we got dressed up for the night and headed to RX Boiler Room for dinner. It was super convenient that it was in Mandalay Bay. It had a cool a steampunk vibe. I wanted to get all of the appetizers, but we decided to just share all of our food. We got two appetizers, the Bacon Wrapped Bacon and Egg and the Chicken Pot Pie Nuggets. Both were so good. The Bacon one was beautiful too. It was a crust with spiraled bacon topped with a quail egg with avocado and tomato puree on the side. Like a tiny omelet in your mouth. Mmm.
We ordered the 18 Hour Citrus Braised Veal Cheeks (I hesitated just because of the word "cheeks." Sounds gross). It was delicious. Like a super tender pot roast flavor with spring mashed potatoes, veggies, and a drop biscuit. We had it with the Mac and Cheese X 5. This was not your average mac and cheese. It had blue, parmesan, brie, cheddar and blanc cheeses. It was so rich and cheesy. Oh my goodness yum. Love me some good food!
After dinner we headed up the strip to the Monte Carlo for the Blue Man Group show. We were a little early so we hung out in the hotel and waited. We sat in the third row. I was on the aisle. We had to wear ponchos in case of splash from the show. I only got one little splash on me though. The show was awesome. So entertaining and funny and interesting. I think the kids would have loved it too. I enjoyed the audience participation and at the end it was basically a big dance party while these giant balloon balls bounced around the audience. There were streamers everywhere. I'm so glad we picked the front and center seats too. Definitely the way to see a show.
When the show was over it was relatively early, so we stopped into this fun creamery and got s'more ice cream. Since it was the end of the night all of their pastries were a dollar so we got a few cookies and brownies to take back to the hotel for later. I was very impressed with the pastries too. I don't usually like pastries that much from places like that, but the cookies were soft and flavorful and Ian said the brownie was amazing.
Sunday morning we slept in a little bit, got ready, packed up, and checked out. I would have been sad, but luckily we had the whole drive to get used to the idea of being home. :) The drive back was uneventful. We stopped at 5 Guys in St. George for lunch then went to Mel's house to pick up the van before going to pick up the kids from the Miller's. I am SO glad that we went away. It was a much needed getaway. As Ian put it, "I didn't even know how much we needed this until we left." I hope Ian had a fun birthday and I was glad I was able to pull off the surprise. Such a fun little mini vacation! I sure love this man of mine!
