bits of las vegas. march edition.

i arrived in vegas after my delayed flight just in time to get a crepe before the patisserie closed. my sweet tooth was definitely happy about that. i'm pretty sure i had a crepe every night i was there... i had to make up for only having one crepe during the last trip. :]

on friday, my mom and i picked victoria up from school and went to my brother's house where we had all kinds of fun, like dumping out the blocks and putting them away, reading books, and we even had a tea party. :]
victoria is getting super cute and way more talkative than last month. she's putting together little sentences, which can take a moment to interpret, but it's exciting to see her little mind at work. at dinner one night, there was a baby crying and she looked at amanda and said "mommy, that baby's sad." hehe. she was also very into discussing that great grandma and grandpa went away on the airplane. [my mom's parents were there for several days before i arrived to surprise my mom for her birthday.] she was also willing to let me hold her and interact with her a lot more than the last trip, so that was awesome.
here are a few photos of her from saturday, when i finally got out my camera. :]
this one was in the lounge where she was enjoying a roll. she has crossed her legs like that while eating basically since she was born, and i think it's adorable. i'll have to look for an older photo of her having a bottle like that when she was tiny.
after dinner, she was happy to check out the conservatory and run around a little bit. it was so hard to get a good photo of her as a result of her constant movement. :] but this one really shows her curls. i hope she loves them more than i love mine when she grows up.
she found a nickel on the floor during dinner and immediately knew that she wanted to throw it in the fountain after dinner. it's so cute to see her memory in action like that. on the way to my brother's house one time, she let us know that there were no balloons, which are usually out at the entrance to their neighborhood. i know i'm totally biased, but i just love those little comments.
she's also really into sun glasses right now and picking out her own clothes. this is her pirate princess shirt from disneyland, which is her current favorite. it's nearly too small for her, but amanda said she picks it every time it's in the drawer. :]

one night my mom and i ventured over the the city center to see the aria hotel. my dad's host at the bellagio moved to colorado, so i guess we're considering branching out to other hotels. i can't even find the words to describe the city center. there's so much to take in, and it's really unlike anything i've seen before. everything seems to have been done on a bigger scale there. aria is pretty cool too. definitely very modern compared to the classic style of bellagio. not sure which one i like better. here's a look when you step out of the city center and look up at aria.
there's an identical patisserie at aria, and there were so many cute decorations there. my mom and i were actually wondering why the patisserie at the bellagio wasn't decorated as much as it usually is... and i guess it's because they took all the cool decorations to aria. :]

we also got to watch the progression of switching the conservatory from chinese new year decor to spring decor.
this was saturday night... it was the first day it was open and the whole conservatory was packed. but i had to get a photo of the cool lighting.
when victoria saw this on our way to dinner at the cafe, she said "it's a butt!" hahaha. :]
this frog was attracting tons of ladies. we saw a bride posing for photos pretending to kiss him on saturday night. then when i attempted to take this photo, i had to wait a while for people to clear out who were taking similar photos.

my cousin dustin also happened to be in vegas for the weekend to celebrate his friend's 21st birthday. we were able to meet up for dinner on friday night, which was nice. i hadn't seen him for quite a while. i was hoping that we would be able to meet up again during the weekend, but it didn't pan out. it was his first trip to vegas and as far as i know, luck was on his side. way more than it was on my side, but that's why i don't gamble more than once per year. :] anyway. i can't believe how grown up we're all getting. my little cousin is 21 now. yikes. time just goes so quickly.

one other highlight of the trip was that my dad went to the pawn shop featured in the show "pawn stars", which i've mentioned before. my dad and i love this show on the history channel. i wasn't with him when he visited, but he met chumlee and sold them an old coin he had, just for the purpose of being able to tell the story. haha. i'm a little upset that i wasn't with him, but maybe i'll be able to convince him to go back with me. he said the shop is much smaller and less impressive than it appears on the show. so maybe i shouldn't visit it in person after all. haha.

that's about it for the trip. one of these days i will take more photos and maybe remember to get a photo of myself at some point.

i hope everyone has a happy st. patrick's day!

i watched a new show called "who do you think you are" the other night because i noticed that sarah jessica parker was on it, and it really made me more interested in my family history than i've ever been. i know i have irish roots as my dad's dad has made several trips to ireland in hopes of tracking down some genealogy information. i know it might seem silly, but i feel inclined to celebrate st. patrick's day in some way this year as a result. i don't drink beer, but maybe i'll have some potatoes or something. :]