I guess we're grown ups now? Nah, maybe next week! Oct 2016 Part 1 - Day 5 A Magic Carpet Ride

[PrincessCastle]

Index

I’m sorry I’ve been so AWOL! I haven’t had a working computer for ages meaning I had none of my pics, plus I can’t type on the iPad. Also I’ve been a tad busy with our new addition! Jack was born on 13th December and he’s just such a ray of sunshine in our lives after Oliver’s diagnosis of DMD. You may laugh but he is named after Jack Skellington! We looooooove Nightmare Before Christmas, it’s Ross’ favourite film and Jack is his idol! While we were in the queue to meet Jack and Sally at MNSSHP (featured later on in the report) we decided that if we had anymore children and we had a boy we’d call him Jack.
Photo overload of Jack and I’m not even sorry!

We also have a new countdown! Thanks to the wonderful Starlight Children’s Foundation we are off to Florida again in October. We are staying at the Give Kids The World complex which is a non profit holiday complex for children which life threatening and life limiting illnesses and their families. We only get a week so it’s going to be busy busy but I cannot wait!

Annnnyyway, back to the report!

Day 5 - 08.10.16
This morning we were up and about by 8. We tidied the room and then skyped Oliver for a quick chat, he wasn’t really interested in talking to us because we weren’t in Disney and hadn’t met Kylo Ren yet so we were useless to him!

After he had rudely dismissed us I had a look on My Vegas to see if we could use any reward points for breakfast. The breakfast at the Bellagio had sold out but there was some left at the Mirage so I got a BOGOF on that for 7000 points. I also got a companion ticket for the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat for 2500 which we would use tomorrow.

We set off out to Cravings buffet at the Mirage at about 9:30. It was another blazing hot day! There are never any blummin clouds in this place! Or a breeze! A light breeze would have been nice. It was so dry here though, like my hair was so dry and my skin was ridiculously dry I had to double up on the moisturiser on my face and my legs! Anyway I digress...we went in and headed to the M Life desk to claim a voucher for our buy one get one free breakfast then went to Cravings which was right by the desk.

We were expecting it to be super busy since we were out so late but it wasn’t that bad, there was one till open and two families in front of us but there seemed to be an issue with the family that were at the till, apparently they were French and spoke no English and the cashier spoke no French so they were in a bit of a pickle! After a little while they opened another till so we went to that and quite a queue had built behind us. At one point the cashier shouted up asking if anybody in the queue spoke French, luckily somebody did so they were able to translate.

Anyways, we paid $31 in total and went in to find a seat then tackle the buffet.
My plate was French toast, sausage, scrambled egg, hash brown, beans and a glass of OJ.
Ross had bacon, scrambled egg, eggs Benedict, French toast, sausages, chicken fried steak, a cup of coffee and a glass of OJ. Of course one sitting it not enough for Mr Fatty so he went up again and got a huge prime rib steak, bacon, sausage, scrambled egg and an omelette. He also discovered that the bar was included in the price so got a bud lite. Really wish I had gotten a mimosa or something but never mind!

The food was good, not as good as Wicked Spoons and I certainly wouldn’t have liked to pay $31 each for it but on the BOGOF deal it was a steal!

We were all done by 11 so we headed back to the hotel for showers etc then went back out at 12:30 to have a proper look in the Miracle Mile shops. Whilst walking through the Bellagio we saw that the piano playing imposter had been replaced by a woman. Would we ever see our silver fox again? I was beginning to fear the worst. Drama Queen.

We went over the road to Planet Hollywood, Ross scouted for the $10 blackjack tables but they were all full so we left it and went to the shopping centre. We didn’t really look in many places. I really wasn’t a huge fan of shopping on the strip. It was either crazy expensive shops or cheap tacky shops. I wish we’d have had time to go to the outlets but never mind, we knew we’d be getting to the outlets on I-Drive so we put the Vegas ones on the bottom of the to-do list. Anyways, I looked in Journeyz but nothing caught my eye. I did buy a load of new undies in Victoria Secrets and spent $104 (I did buy quite a bit!).

We stopped at a bar on the way out and I got a frozen strawberry daiquiri and Ross got 2 beers which cost us $20 then we headed back into Planet Hollywood casino. The blackjack tables were still full but we played on the Britney Spears big wheel for a bit but came away losers.
Back to the hotel to dump bags and freshen up then it was time to head out for out Grand Canyon helicopter tour.

We went to the Aria to the downstairs pick up area for 3pm and hopped on the bus. Once we arrived we checked in and I paid the extra to try and bag front seats. I honestly cant remember how much it was, maybe $50 each, and I know it depends on weight distribution etc but I was so desperate for front seats to get that great view! We had to watch a safety video then I was called back to the desk to be told I’d got the front seats. Winner!

We got introduced to our pilot, Rob, who was the nicest guy ever! We also met our copter pals, an Australian couple called Troy and Troy and an older couple from Mexico City. We all got pictures taken with Rob, then he got us settled in the helicopter and obviously we needed a copter selfie.

Rob was a great pilot, very informative and told us lots about the areas we were flying over. He also had a top notch playlist. Words cannot describe to view we had and photos just don’t do it justice! It was just incredible! My word it was loud in there though! Our headphones were meant to be noise cancelling but it was just noise dulling. My mic wasn’t working so I couldn’t join in with the conversation on board but I was quite happy listening to Rob and snapping away with my camera.

Continued...

[PrincessCastle]

We landed in the canyon and had a wander and took a million more photos. I even saw a lizard! My first wildlife spot of the holiday, except the drunkards on the strip. It really is a wonder. I’m not going to bang on about it because I cant actually put it into words but it really was unbelievable. It’s got to be seen in person to really appreciate it!

We went over to the tent and had our picnic with everyone else. We got a mini hamper that was just the cutest thing ever! We had a sandwich, some crisps, fruit and mini cookies. We also had a bottle of water and a glass of bubbly.

Rob was chatting with us as we ate and he told us that Papillon pay the native Americans that own the patch of land we were sat on half a million dollars per year plus $80 per person that steps foot on their land! Wow. No wonder the tours are so expensive! He also gave us his opinion on the political situation at the time, apparently if Trump was voted in he was moving to Germany. Wonder if he’s moved yet!
We had time for a few more pics then it was time to head back.

We rose into the air to Danger Zone from Top Gear. Seriously Rob, I love you!
The sunset was so picturesque! At one point during the journey I realised my phone wasn’t in my camera bag, or in my pocket! So I spent the entire return journey shizzing myself that I’d left my phone in the frickin Grand Canyon! Luckily it was in Ross’ pocket, thank gaaaaaaawd!

Rob pointed out a load of lone streets down below and told us that Trump had started building a town there called ‘Pleasantville’ *spew* but it was a complete failure and abandoned. Ha!

The abandoned Pleasantville

Once we returned we tipped Rob for being such a super pilot. I could have told you more of the info he gave us but I didn’t write any of it down and because its so long since, I cant ruddy remember. I wish I had the motivation to get these trips written up straight away, they’d be so much better!

In the gift shop we bought our photo that was taken of us with Rob, a magnet, golf balls and a poster (which is still in it’s tube, never to grace our walls. Standard!) which totalled $53.
On the bus home there was a couple behind us that had just gotten engaged in the Grand Canyon and were calling family to let them know it was so adorable!

Back at the hotel we had a brief sit down which lead to me almost falling asleep and Ross giving me a good talking to about being boring and not getting back to Vegas for many years so we’d better make the most of it! He’s very right (first time for everything!) but I’m very lazy! So I dragged my butt off the bed and we were to Serendipity 3 for dinner. This is one of the places we’d seen on Tanked and we wanted to see the giant gumball machine tank but it had gone!

Our experience here a bit rubbish unfortunately! I might get a bit of stick for this but I’d noticed that SOME (only a couple) of our servers this trip seemed not to bother with us but were all over other tables and we thought maybe its because we are English and they don’t think we understand the tipping system so wont tip properly and therefore they don’t need to bother with us. So we tipped at the lower end of the scale which confirms to them that we don’t know how to tip and they carry on as they were! I mean it’s just a theory but it’s the vibe I got.

Back to the evening! Ross ordered chicken wings to start (obviously!) and a cheeseburger and I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. The chicken wings never came, the food we did get was just ok and the server ignored us all night!

He brought us the bill without offering dessert so we told him a) please take the chicken wings off the bill as you didn’t bring them and b) we’d like a dessert please rude man! We decided against the $100 dessert and got the cookie dough ice cream one instead! We ordered it to go and paid the crazy $85 bill. It’s not somewhere I’d run back to put it that was!

We munched our pudding on the way back to the hotel and were all tucked up in bed by 12:30.

[summersun]

huge congrats on the birth of your cute baby boy and sorry to hear about Olivers diagnosis of DMD, your photos are amazing, a great day x