Photo Diary: Las Vegas Pt 1 *PIC HEAVY*

So Summer comes around and it was time for a family vacation. In fact, some family fun away from the humdrum of our regular routine was desperately needed! So where does one go when in need of some family R&R?......

Las Vegas!

I know what you're thinking... Vegas? For a family vacation? Are you crazy? No, but really, I don't gamble, my drinking days are well behind me and all I'm really interested in is sightseeing and eating. So sightsee and eat were what we did....

We drove there, since it's only 4 hours. I've never seen the American 'desert' before, so this was a new experience... definitely a far cry from our red desert in the Australian Outback!

Check out that scenery!

This is going to be a long one, with LOTS of photos, so click through to read more :)

Welcome to Vegas!

We stayed at the Circus Circus hotel (excuse this crappy picture below......) which is an older hotel on the quiet end of the Strip. While it doesn't have the glitz and glam of the bigger/newer hotels, what it does have is a LOT of activities, shows and games for kids and less of the seedy/adult stuff, so it was the best choice for us.

We watched some of their circus acts, one of which was a trapeze show. The boys were SO amazed since it was the first time they have ever seen trapeze artists.

Circus Circus Midway Acts

The Flying Trapeze!

Even I was excited, it's been a long time since I watched circus acts. I think it brings the kid out in all of us ^_^ Circus Circus is kinda old, kinda run down and not for the partygoer looking for the typical 'Vegas' experience, but it was perfect for a family with kids.

We spent a couple of days just going around to all the casinos and sightseeing, all the effort and details put into each casino's theme is soooo insane. I especially loved Caesar's Palace and The Venetian, since I adore ancient European history.

First up is The Venetian. RI.DI.CU.LOUS. I was MOST looking forward to seeing this one, ever since I first heard about it as a kid. The Venetian canals have been an obsession of mine forever and when I heard there was a replica, I developed a mini obsession with that too. I would love to go to Venice, but since I'm monetarily challenged at the moment, this is as close as I can get.

A Fake Gondolier on the Fake Canal

Oh hai.

The square in the middle of the fake canals.

Beautiful paintings adorned the cieling

Venetian style outfits and masks.

Next up is Caesar's Palace. The amount of statues, fountains, paintings, frescoes etc is just INSANE.

Statues at Caesar's Palace

Seen from the other side...

Looks like Neptune and cohorts... a fountain inside The Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.

Neptune again? The fountain outside The Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.

Freakin' beautiful. All the fountains and statues outside Caesar's Palace are just mind blowingly  lovely, it makes you wonder how beautiful it must be in those parts of Europe that still have the ancient artwork and architecture.

We walked down the Strip at night and saw everything lit up.The kids were champs, they walked all day long without any complaints :)

The fountains at the Bellagio went off every 15 minutes with a music themed show. Very relaxing to watch.

Fountains at the Bellagio

Eiffel Tower , Vegas Edition.

We had parked near the Hawaiian Marketplace and as we were heading back to the car, we saw a show going on with fire juggling and dancers. They were pulling people up from the audience and my husband of course ended up being one of them. Here are some gifs for you to rofl at.

So talented, my hubby. I wonder if he'll kill me for posting these ehehehe.

The highlight of the trip for my kiddos, the Volcano outside the Mirage hotel. We watched this twice, the heat from that fire was REAL.

Walking around and sightseeing was super tiring, but SO much fun. It's probably better to do it in the evening/night since it gets so damn hot during the day. Every 10 paces there was someone selling water, the cries of "Ice cold water! Water! Ice cold water one dollar!" echo throughout my head even now..... my son even started chanting "Ice cold water, one dollar!" like it was a travelling song or something.

That's part 1 of our Vegas trip, keep an eye out for Part 2, which includes the FOOOOOD! The glorious buffet food, mmmmmm I am salivating thinking about it again.