Vegas, Baby!

For years now, people have been plugging to us the importance of couple's trips/getaways, and although it was definitely on the radar, the logistics of it are tricky when you don't have family in town to take your kiddos.  SO, we finally worked it out, and made one happen.  The LRP family reunion was planned, and Corey and I started dreaming of a trip of our own.  I joked with my mom about coming out to help us(okay, I was probably only half joking), and she said, 'let's do it.' She is the real hero in all of this (you'll see why even more in a minute), and was willing and ready to take on a couple of rowdy boys.  So, we bought tickets to Vegas and called it good.  We figured our first time away from the boys for more than 18 or so hours needed to be close-ish to home and only for a few days, so Vegas seemed perfect...full of entertainment without much effort.

We brought my mom home with us after the reunion, and woke up the next morning ready to go.  The first thing Corey said to me was, "I think your mom has a bad cough."  I bolted up in bed, remembering that she'd talked to my sister the night before whose family was being ravaged by a nasty flu bug as they were driving home.  Yep.  You guessed it, she too had the flu.  I was horrified by the idea of leaving the boys with someone who felt awful, and at the thought of my mom having to worry about caring for them when what she really needed was to sleep and get better.  I made a quick trip to the store, and Corey called to see if we could change our travel plans in any way (of course we didn't buy insurance for such a small trip).  No dice, and my mom was insistant that we go.  Of all the luck...our first trip together without kids in 7 years, and my stress about leaving them is compounding by the minute...who leaves their kids with someone who is sick?  Oh, boy. But we finally left and hoped for the best.

One of our sad attempts at a picture of us having lots of fun...we'll have to master these better for our future trips! Or just ask someone else to snap em;)

In the end, my poor, heroic mom was a real champ, and the boys were good while she was down for the count...with a little bit of help from the Wii.  She was feeling much better by the next morning and they had lots of fun while we were gone. 

View of pools from our room.

Corey after our 'Buffet run' at Paris.  We figured we had to hit one buffet just for the experience.  I was happy as a clam with the dessert situation...you know how sometimes you just wish you could have one bite of everything you see? Okay, I might have actually had two, but YUM!

Corey and I loved every second.  It was really nice to just be together and not worry about anything else.  We saw two amazing shows while we were there.  The first was Celine Dion.  The singing and orchestra were fantastic. We also saw a Cirque show...KA.  Amazing.  We seriously loved it.  Those shows never dissapoint...I'd only been to one other one, and that was our first date!  We ate good food, shopped a bunch, hit a museum, swam and laid by the poolside at our hotel (Mandalay Bay), and hit the Shark Reef aquarium there too.  Of course we also shopped for goodies for the boys, and loved talking to them on the phone every day (LOVE facetime for these trips!).  It was good for us, and we are already talking about the next one.  Definitely worth doing, and we'll do it again.  Sad that it took us so long, but better late than never. Love you, Cor!  And thanks again to my amazing mom who made it all possible!