We left Saturday night and drove to Primm, the hidden jewel in the middle of the desert, for our shopping extravaganza part 1. All four of us were piled into Rich's car, with limited luggage because room would be needed for all of our purchases. There was an ice chest in between Lynn and I in the backseat and approximately two inches between our knees and the front seats. It was...cozy, to use a nice term. Now, what was so drastically different with this trip compared to the other dozen or so that Rich and I have taken this way, is that he had people to talk to. So he talked, and talked, and talked. And talked. At one point I turned to Lynn and said, "Is this the most you have ever heard from Rich...ever?" He's not used to people responding back. When it's the two of us in the car, I am either asleep or have my nose in a book for hours at a time and I usually say "yes", "no", or just grunt as a response to whatever he is saying. I have no problem with just sitting and not speaking for long periods of time. Rich took full advantage of the opportunity to have non-stop conversation for seven straight hours!
Sunday morning was Lynn's birthday!!! We started the morning with Starbucks and the outlets!!!!
After a few blissful hours of shopping, we headed into Vegas and stopped at Town Square for lunch at Tommy Bahama's. I think I can commit to saying this is turning into one of my favorite restaurants EVER!
A few pictures of the happy couples who are at a restaurant, relaxing, and not cutting up children's food.
The last time we were here, we had ordered an appetizer sampler and it was fabulous. This time we changed some of the selections. Here are the the Little Chicken Lollipops.
Crab Cakes...
Jumbo Coconut Prawns
The birthday girls meal...BBQ Cheeseburger.
My fish sandwich. As you can see, I had to cut off fish because it was like they fried an entire fish and put it on the bun! I really think you can put grilled caramelized onions on anything and I would eat it. So good!
This was Rich's Lobster Tacos.
Jason's Fish Taco's....which were fabulous!!!
Last month when Lynn and I were already planning our meal and what to have from the online menu, we came across this dessert. The description is...Baked upside down with caramelized pineapple, infused vanilla, cane sugar, topped with “from scratch” caramel sauce. Need I say more? We both decided that we had to have it. Well, after lunch the waiter came over with a tray and asked Lynn what dessert she would like for her birthday and he went through everything on the tray and then said the only one not here is the upside down cheesecake and Lynn said, "We'll take that!" I had completely forgotten about it and screamed a little when I realized we totally almost forgot about the only reason we went there!! Here is the dessert!
After lunch, a few pictures of the travelers. We had to shoot them quickly...it was 107 outside!
After lunch, we headed in to Vegas to check into our rooms. This was the only down side to the trip, separate hotels, but they were free. Free always works! Especially when the saved money went toward other "stuff". :)
Here was our room at Mandalay.
Lynn and Jason's at Rio. Funny thing/creepy thing....see the "mirror/window" on the wall to the right of the bed? It's a window. So the person who is in the shower can see into the bedroom and the person in the bedroom can see into the shower...I have no comment.
Drinks in had...it looks like we are heading out to a nice birthday dinner, right???? Wrong, we are about to leave for the second outlet mall of the day! Who needs dinner when there are multiple outlet malls in Vegas!
A quick picture before the night out!
After shopping, on our way to the buffet for Lynn's not-my-idea-of-a-birthday-dinner, we went through the Bellagio. I would love to bring Boy 1 and Boy 2 here...when they are of age...and let them look around and at the cool stuff.
Ryan asked if we went on this...
And this... :)
Now...the deal with dinner. I had this whole plan to take tons of pictures of our dinner! We were going to try this new place called the Wicked Spoon Buffet at the Cosmopolitan. We have all been reading about the crazy ridiculous cool things they had and I was excited to see what it all looked like. We got to the casino around 8:15ish. We were looking around and signing up for players cards and playing our allotted free ten bucks. At about 8:48pm we decided to head to dinner. The buffet closed at 10:00, so we thought we had plenty of time to eat. After we finally found it, I noticed a bathroom outside and I said I have to go clean up since we just played slots. The four of us, clean hands and empty stomachs head to the counter to start dinner...it is 9:03pm. The "wet behind the ears" young boy tells us that the buffet is closed...it closed at 9:00pm (which is NOT the time on the website). We say, "Oh, your kidding!!! Please, can we just come in...it's her birthday!!!" The smirking, pompous nineteenish year old simply says, "Sorry, we start pulling food at 9:00, you wouldn't be able to eat." Now, at this point Rich and Jason start losing it. Like, want to jump out of their skin lose it! Because here's the deal...he wouldn't let us speak to a manager AND, if we had showed up at 8:59pm, we would have all paid for a $47 per person dinner that they would have stopped serving???? Bullsh%#!!!! So we go with plan B...the buffet across the street. It was not great and by then it was 9:45pm and THEY were closing at 10:00, so we felt we had to eat fast. It was just not good all around! We owed her a good meal!
The next morning was the only designated relaxing time of the trip. Lynn and I had talked Rich into setting aside a few hours of pool time to grab some sun and R-E-L-A-X!! The four of us headed down to the Mandalay pool...what a mistake...it was like CRAZY busy!!! There must have been over a thousand lounge chairs and every single one of them was taken. And there were kids EVERYWHERE!!! And, we love kids...we have kids for crying out loud...but I don't love kids in Las Vegas. I don't want to hear screaming, crying, yelling, or playing. I wanted quiet and this place was a zoo!!! So, we decide to head to the Four Seasons pool, which is located on the other side of the wall from the Mandalay pool. Rich and I know this because when we are there for the sports show in November, we sneak out to the pool to just look around. So, we thought...let's go there, I bet it is not as crowded!! And we were right. The slight...major...problem was that we are not guests at the Four Seasons. Apparently you have to be and they take that seriously. So, as we walk out to the pool area, we see an abundance of lounge chairs available and....wait for it....NOT A KID TO BE FOUND!!!!!! Bulls-eye!!! So, we go grab lounge chairs, soak up some sun, Jason gets in the water to start doing laps, all while enjoying the peace and quiet...until the pool boy comes up and asked for our room number. Here's where I lost it...
Pool Boy: Hi, can I get you room number?
(Lynn and I---speechless)
Rich: (thinking, stumbling with putting a sentence together) Yeah, it's 38011, or 38101.
(the pool boy staring at Rich)
Rich: I'm not sure, I'll ask him when he gets out of the pool. He's swimming right now.
(the pool boy still staring at Rich)
Pool Boy: Um, okay, let me know when he gets out.
As the pool boy is saying this, this is my cue to bolt! I hate lying...I hate being put in uncomfortable situations (Remember when Rich lied about us staying at the MGM to get me on the bus out to Primm for free and I thought the entire time that at some point some man was going to come and get me for not paying the LOUSY $12 that I would have happily paid!!! I hate uncomfortable situations!!!) I get up and say I have to go to the bathroom to make my escape and I have no plans for returning. I left Lynn (who soon joined me in the bathroom) with Rich dealing with the pool guy and I also left poor Jason who has NO IDEA that Rich just threw him under the bus and that he is going to have to come up with an excuse as to why he doesn't know the room number that Rich just told the pool boy he knows!!! I HATE UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS!!!!!
So, after I make it very clear to Lynn that I will not be going anywhere near the pool, Rich, or the pool boy, we decide to head up to the room and get ready for....the mall.
Rich, wanting to know why we are resting...
Because when we relax, we look this happy!
Don't rush us...shopping is not a fast sport.
Heading in to the Wynn....
Lynn and Jason's son Camden's middle name is Okada...which is the name of a restaurant in the Wynn. How cute is he!! My Asian husband! :)
Representing!
Here is my very first dirty martini and Lynn's amaretto sour.
Here is me drinking my last dirty martini....
We HAD to makeup for the ridiculous dinner fiasco from the night before!! Rich and Jason had a dinner date by themselves at the Texas de Brazil Restaurant. For those of you that have seen Bridesmaids...yes, it's the Brazilian place that has cuts of meat on sticks that men deliver to your plate. As this is a much nicer place than the one in the movie, Lynn and I decided to skip it and just have dinner at a safer restaurant...The Grand Lux Cafe. Rich and I have eaten here many a time, so I knew no bathroom scenes would follow!
Here's her crunchy caramel chicken.
Here was my chicken and scampi. Both dinners were delicious!
Here is me making fun of Ja Locke's hat that is built for all weather types and is mission impossible indestructible.
We had such a great time on our trip!!! It was not quite as relaxing as some vacations should be, however we laughed so hard we cried at times and that makes for good times!! After Jason scored a major deal with two pairs of shoes he said..."This alone is worth coming back here!" I'm totally going to hold him to that!!!
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