Vegas, baby!

I can’t believe it’s been a month since we last posted! We’ve been off the road visiting family and catching up on schoolwork while Brian’s been doing a little work in Portland so we haven’t had much to post. We did something fun last week though! Carson turned 15 on November 29th and we surprised him with a trip to Vegas for his birthday! He didn’t suspect a thing – he got a birthday card in the mail at my sister’s house on the 28th with a mocked up “prize notification” for an all expense paid trip to fabulous Las Vegas. We threw toothbrushes in a bag and were on the road within an hour. My sister Ammie came along with her invaluable Vegas experience and her camera! The boys watched Ocean’s Eleven on the way just to set the mood.

We arrived in the evening and the Strip was ablaze with neon awesomeness! We checked into Treasure Island, admired the view from our room, then hit the streets. Carson’s still too young to gamble but we found lots to see and do. We saw the volcano erupt at the Mirage, we wandered through the Forum in Caesar’s Palace, we saw the fountain show at the Bellagio and did a lot of people watching in between. At New York-New York Casino we found a great arcade and a late night dinner; then it was a quick taxi ride to the Stratosphere Tower. At midnight we were looking over Vegas from 1000 feet above the city. Carson and Ammie rode the Insanity which actually was a little bit insane — the riders hang out over the strip about 900 feet up and then spin at 40 mph! It was a great night. We wound things up around 2 a.m. when we made it back to Treasure Island and beds. The next morning we had a birthday breakfast at Denny’s, then a little souvenir shopping, and a couple of great photo opportunities with Las Vegas street signs. We had so much fun!