Vegas!

We had a fantastic family vacation in Las Vegas. Initially, the kids were skeptical becasue they had heard from their friends how kids under 21 years old had nothing to do. We put that myth to rest! Writing down our adventures is a challenge: lots of bells and whistles to capture. But between Marisa, Tony, and I we took almost 300 pictures. Tony used the Nikon D70S with the Tamron tele-macro lens. Marisa and I used her Coolpix. I have to say that Marisa has a 'photographer's eye' though.

We stayed at Bally's, officially, but we walked and walked through hotel, casino, and restaurant after hotel, casino, and restaurant. Each one with a unique memory.

Once we unloaded our bags at the hotel, we had to eat. Here is my girl at Nathan's. She looks so mature, which was a bit of an at issue pool-side! While Danny went to the SOE Fan Faire, the kids and I hung out at the pool. Man, did they get a glimpse of young adult singles in action? No worries...mostly PG-13. A couple of young men would flirt with my daughter. She didn't falter once. She would give it right back and looked quite amused with the 'Vincent Chase' look-a-like as he danced up to her. She can be so cool, yet coy. Marisa knows a BS-er from a mile away!

On our walk through Paris, we encountered the new 3D-TVs. Really cool...reminds me of Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' in action.

The Paris Eiffel at night, the Vegas version. Which camera? Which kid took it? Their photog mentor loved it! This was taken at midnight on the first night.

This is the famous ceiling in the Bellagio. It was really gorgeous! On our way to breakfast, we cut through the hotels to avoid the triple-digit heat. We had buffet passes for the entire time for a total of $180, for all 4 of us, TOTAL! The quality of the buffet was measured by Tony's plates. As long as we ate at one of the 8 participating hotels, our meals were paid for! We ate at Harrahs, Paris, Flamingo, Caesar's Palace, the Rio, Planet Hollywood, and Bally's. We missed the Imperial this trip.

After brunch one morning, we walked through Caesar's Palace. The kids ended up coming back here on their unsupervised night. That story to be continued...

Each night the Bellagio had a water show. We happened to find a place on the walkway to enjoy the show. Again, which camera, which kid? Great shot, eh?

This was taken the night we went to Monte Carlo and saw Frank Caliendo. He is one funny guy! Notice my big earrings? I usually don't jazz up like this, but, hey, when in Vegas... I couldn't keep them straight. I was messing with these things all night. Like I said, not really my thing, but I tried and it was fun!

Here's my girl again! This was at the Secret Garden at The Mirage. We were at the Dolphin Refuge.

I'll tell you this time...this was taken with Tony's camera. I love dolphins!

Here is one of Siegfried & Roy's tigers. Lazy, but deadly!

When Danny was at the Fan Faire, the kids and I went to Miracle Mile to shop.

We also went to the Coca-Cola store where we sampled 16 different Cokes from around the world. They liked South Africa's products best. I thought they were too sweet.

And, we paid $$ to ride this monster at New York, New York. Nothing like HOT air rushing over you on a roller coaster that made you lose your perifial vision. The kids liked it and that's what counts!

Beginning and ending with a plane ride, the kids hadn't flown since 9/11 (as far as we can remember). We returned this morning, having to be at the airport at 4am! The kids want to go back. We still need to hit the Northend casinos and downtown as well as sight-see the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.