Thursday, April 27, 2017

Easter 2017

Our Easter weekend started the first day we arrived home from Vegas... on maybe 3 hours of sleep on the airport and adjusting to the time change. Thankfully, after picking Logan up from his Nana and Dziadek's that morning, he napped like a champ for 2 hours in the afternoon allowing me to have an hour or so nap and Aleksy to have his second nap (he napped in the morning when we got home around 10 too!). This made it a lot easier Friday evening at my Moms!

Our Easter get together on Good Friday was complete with family time, lasagna and Logan's favourites - some Easter goodies! Because he had such a good nap, he was so happy the whole time and we stayed out until 9pm - late night for us.
My sister and Jon even joined us after their other family dinner and they got Logan his turtle bucket complete with bubbles. It was a nice day out, so he tested them out immediately. Bubbles are a sure hit. He can even say it perfectly.
The next day we headed to the Ilderton Easter egg hunt for 10am. It was in the park, which we learned has a splash pad too so we will definitely be back this summer!
They were doing the count down for the kids to run and find their eggs just as we were approaching (because we were so timely). But with limiting the kids to 10 each, there was more than enough to go around. Logan grasped the concept immediately. Grab eggs and put in bucket.

After Logan opened all the eggs to get the chocolates inside, he did not want to let go of his bucket. See the clutch he's got here|? He was like this all the way to the car then didn't want us to take it from him!

Lucky for us, the crowds went home really quickly because it started to rain while we were picking out our eggs. So the line for this creepy Easter bunny was non existent and Logan will have creepy bunny memories to live on.

And Sunday morning the Easter bunny made an appearance at our house! Logan loved it... way more than we thought he would. He saw his new goodies in his basket like books and bubbles but was really focused on the eggs that the Easter bunny had "hidden".
He started his hunt pronto and found most of the eggs all on his own. He loved every bit of it - finding, opening to see what was inside and putting it in the basket.
Logan loves these plastic eggs... especially opening them up and dumping whatevers inside.
And later on Easter Sunday, we headed to Aleksy's parents for Easter dinner. We usually eat a little earlier: around 2pm.

Dinner was complete with the blessed eggs, keilbasa, bread, salt and butter and for dinner, ham, sweet potatoes, broccoli. Always a ton of food. And after supper, they have a family tradition where they have egg cracking fights. Everyone grabs an egg and each person knocks theirs to the others and the person with the standing uncracked egg wins that egg.

Logan participated in some tradition.
He didn't always follow the rules though and he wanted all the eggs... even though his broke pretty much every time he hit someones elses!
Those coloured eggs are a bit of a messy ordeal for the hands.

After our supper and chocolate cake and pie for dessert, we were all in need of a walk so Logan took his new bubble blowing lawn mower and we all headed out for a neighbourhood Easter walk to burn off some of that supper!

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Vegasing Day 4: Last day!

Our last day in Vegas we still had most of the day and our plan for the day was to hang around the resort and pool and finally get to the Welcome to Vegas sign that we are right beside that we kept putting off, then head to the airport at 4:30pm for our 6:30pm flight.

Before going to the hotel, I read reviews and recommendations from other people who has stayed at Mandalay and this was a common heads up - that the room coffee is $4.50. That's over $5 Canadian for a keurig kind of coffee! So I came prepared with instant coffee so we had something to get us through getting ready (until we could make it to the Starbucks downstairs!).

Instant coffee is foul. I don't get how people drink it for enjoyment (maybe its purely for caffeine like in this case...). We had some the first morning (no kettle - just hot water from the tap) and found it was awful so took some sugar from dunkin donuts on the way to the Grand Canyon. And the sugar in the raw from Starbucks. We both hate sugar in coffee... that's how good this coffee was.
We fixed up some drinks in our room before heading out to the Welcome to Vegas sign. We dropped our bags off at the reception in the morning because we had to check out at 11am but needed these floaties for our pool day. Solution: they came with us for our adventure to the sign! This was our first stop of the day.

All the randomness in one picture. Since we had the floaties with us, might as well get a picture with them too.

It actually took longer to get to the sign than we thought. Probably a 15 minute walk from our hotel. There were people waiting in a huge long line to get a picture with the photographer that is apparently paid to do this but we didn't want to wait so we took a few quick shots and left before the line barely moved.


After getting back to the hotel, we headed straight to the pool area. We decided we would either try the Moorea - the adult pool, or the beach club. We decided on the beach club because we got in for free and I could drink for free until 2pm and Alesy got his first drink free. We realized that "free" is used lightly because Aleksy's drinks after that were $36 american (seriously).

Funny thing... after carrying our floaties all the way to the sign, they made us get rid of them to get into the club!!
Having a free drink in our spot by the pool by the dj stage! Apparently some big names play at the day club too!
When we first got there, it was so dead we didn't even know what to do because all the booths were reserved, we didn't know where to sit. We asked the bartender. Newbies clearly. But we got a spot and slowly it filled up and people started dancing - pool party!

The drinks may have been $36, but after all those free ones, you just had to keep the party going and we ended up buying 3 total (sharing the other 2). That's around $150 Canadian.. for 3 drinks!! But we made new friends and had such an awesome afternoon. My friend Helen in the middle was with us for most of the afternoon and the guy on the right was from Canada!

 Everyone told us we were crazy when they asked when we were leaving Vegas and we told them in an hour. But we manged to leave the pool on time and headed to get our luggage and catch a cab to the airport.

We grabbed a taxi and told him about the previous tax who ripped us off and this guy didn't go the long way!

We got to the airport and checked our bags in, I dressed into warmer clothes then Aleksy got stopped at customs for his sunscreen. After an afternoon of drinking, this was all a very smooth process.
When Aleksy was stopped, I made a mission to get a coffee and didn't notice he was stopped. But when we reunited, we grabbed some food at Carls Jr - I didn't even realize that we skipped lunch (and pretty much skipped breakfast except a banana, some rice cakes and chocolate covered almonds that were in the room). They had lettuce warpped burgers too! This is our new love.. we had these for supper 2 days ago too (homemade).
We boarded our plane (and apparently missed the first call for boarding but still made it in plenty of time) and switched our seats to the very last 2 with a family that wanted to be together. Worked out great because we were by ourselves and no one behind us. It was a quick 2 hour max flight to Calgary with a transfer in Calgary at 12:30am and another 3 hours afters that - the transfer was so quick I didn't even have time to grab a vending machine water.

We slept the whole time from Calgary to Toronto (as best you can on an airplane) and then after hitting a Timmies for breakfast and a large coffee and the 2 hour drive back to London we exhaustedly picked Logan up at 9am from Nana and Dziadek's. I was sooo excited but would have been even more excited if I had slept more! Goober was walking down the street with his Nana and I attacked him as soon as I saw him. He was so cute and excited to see me!

Naps were had by both me and Aleksy on Friday - Aleksy had 2 actually but still we participated in all Easter activities planed for the weekend!
Vegas was the fastest vacation ever! Flew by and the 2 things that we wanted to do but literally could not fit in were a show - we stopped on the Wednesday to check at the kiosks for discount tickets but there were no shows available (it was already about 8pm when we checked which meant some already started) and also a Vegas night club. So happy with all that we did manage to fit in though!

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Vegasing Day 3

Day 3 was our explore day! We started our day around 8-9am (another 4 hours of sleep day!!) at the pool - after hitting up the starbucks in our hotel.

The view from our room was pretty sweet! Pretty much every hotel could be seen! We were on the 60th floor.

We were prepped for breakfast on this day with normal priced bananas from Wal Mart and apples!
On our way between starbucks and the pool, we stopped to take a picture of this restaurant in our hotel where the waiters will harness themselves to get a bottle from whatever level the one you ordered is from.
 Headed to the pool area!
We got to the pool around lunch and ordered some drinks - a mojito an a rum runner. $22 each with a souvenir cup. This is how Vegas gets pricey... these darn drinks! We scored some lawn chairs (it got pretty packed after lunch) and stayed in the pool area for a few hours.
You can't bring food into the pool area, so the food options include $15 turkey sandwiches (this was mine... despite its priceyness, it was pretty darn delicious) and $15 chicken caesar salad for Aleksy.
Wave pool!
Based on tips from others who stayed at the resort, they recommended that we bring our floaties fro home. So we did. So we could float in the lazy river with our drinks like lazy people. It was pretty great except that there were a million kids in the pool and most people didn't have floaties at all!

After some frozen drinks - margarita and pina coloda and a few times around the the lazy river, we decided to head back to our room to get ready to head to Freemont St - old Vegas!
Out of the hotel in the later afternoon - 4pm. We got some tips on taking the bus to Freemont and it was pretty simple. All buses just take you from Mandalay (the southernmost point) to Freemont (the northernmost point). Easy peasy.
We grabbed our beers to go and got our $8 tickets and caught the bus! The bus ride is way longer than we thought. It takes so long to drive down the strip and it was about 45 minuets to Freemont. On 8 hours of sleep in 2 days, we were dying of tiredness on the bus!
Luckily Freemont woke us right up. It was so much better than expected! There were buskers everywhere, the buildings and signs alone were entertaining and there was affordable food and souvenirs everywhere! We walked around in amazement and found this spot - the freemont casino with a restaurant inside - the paradise cafe - with a 3 course steak dinner for 12.99 - unheard of in Vegas! Old Vegas is definitely the place to eat! There was a buffet for 16.99 and we got one trip to the salad bar part, one trip to the dessert part then our main course was steak, shrimp, potatoes and corn. Win!

The best decor ever! So fancy... like in the 80s.

There were stages positioned all around Freemont and when we got out of the restaurant there was a performer hula hooping! Love the availability of free entertainment in Freemont.
This is the canopy that the zipliners were lined up like crazy for. Pretty cool but no time or money for that (save it for the drinks!).

We headed back to the strip shortly after supper because we still wanted to explore some of the other resorts and make the Bellagio fountain show at night! We wished we had more time in Freemont to enjoy the entertainment and buskering (and drinks which were probably cheaper but we only bought beers from the convenience store there).
The bus ride back from Freemont was again tiring and torturous on no sleep! It just stops soo much and Vegas traffic is pretty tough. But we got off at the Venetian to check out the amazing gondolas and casino. Such a beauty resort!
After grabbing some frozen cocktails from the good ol' Fat Tuesdays (mango and hurricane), we found this little street off the strip that takes you to the high roller - this was a cute street. I really wanted to eat at the fish and chip place (Gordon Ramseys) but we were dying of full from supper!
We planned it that we were definitely going to gamble at Caesars. I actually forgot about hitting a casino when in Vegas somehow because gambling isn't really fun for me but we had to play at a casino at least once.

Aleksy lost $20 at the roulette table instantly and we couldn't even stay long enough for his drink to make it back to us from the waitress.

So we did what high rollers do and foudn the 1 cent machines. They still got us free drinks!! beer for me (because wine/champagne was out for the remainder of the trip because of the previous night) and a double of jack for Aleksy.
With $1, I managed to stay on this machine for like 45 minutes! At one point, I made $20 with the $1. If this was home, I would have cashed out and called it a win, but I wanted to stay longer at the casino to experience gambling in Vegas so I played until my $20 was gone. Still felt like I won!

I see how people can get intense on this though - if I played bigger bills, my winnings would have been pretty big!
From Caesars, we went to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show - it is actually really cool. The water danced to "This Kiss" by Faith Hill. Definitely a need to do when in Vegas.
The frozen cocktail from Fat Tuesdays and beer at Caesars really did me in for tired and on the way back to the resort, I was not feeling the drinking (in Vegas... who am I). Couldn't even drink the giant beers we bought from the convenience store in Freemont. Aleksy politely helped drink those.

Aleksy had been talking about tacos since day 1 in Vegas (and had an elaborate conversation with our new friends from Mexico the previous night) and we stopped for some awesome tacos on our way back to the resort. Beef was better than the chicken! The Dos Equis would have been so perfect with it if I could have!

We got back to the hotel around midnight and I was done and ready for a 7 hour of sleep night!! We were leaving the next day (Thursday) at 6:30pm our plane departed.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Vegasing Day 1 &2

We had the longest days in Vegas (April 10-14). Everyone was so certain that 4 days was enough. The commonly heard message was that a week was too long. 3 nights, 4 days flew like crazy and we filled so much into our days!

Monday, after a morning and afternoon with Logan, we dropped him off at his Nana and Dziadek's around 4 so we could make our 8:30 flight from Toronto. It was delayed so we got into Vegas about 30 minutes later than expected.

11pm instead of 10:30pm actually makes such a huge difference! After we were scammed by the cab driver who did a few loops around the airport to jack up the cost, we didnt get to the hotel until midnightish. Never use ACE cabs. Jerk. We learned this the next day when we were driving the same way in our rental! This is our hotel room! After not eating anything since the muffin on the way to the airport at 6, I was starving and hangry. Really should have bought food on the plane! We headed to hit up the subway across the street and found the convenience store beside and bought some beers and mini wines (my fav!). We decided not to go out and instead get some sleep since we were picking up the rental at 6:30am the next morning for the Grand Canyon and it was already so late. We had our subs and giant Coronas in our room and rushing everything still didn't get to sleep until 2am!

We followed through and woke up as planned at 6am on Tuesday and went down to the lobby to pick up our car. On the way to the parking garage, I saw bananas for sale and was pretty excited. I like some healthy food options. Went to the cashier and she told us $3 per banana!! Heathy eating made impossible. Thwe hotel stores are ridiculously priced. We still got our gold bananas to hold us over until the first stop about a hour and a half later.
Our convertible mustang! Although this was a cold day driving through the motnains and I couldnt stand the top down. Aleksy was really happy about that.

We made a couple stops along the way - the first at the dunkin donuts down the street for coffees and in a town about an hour and a half from Vegas at the Wal Mart for lunch, drinks for the next few days and snacks.
Got there around noon (ish - there was another time change when in Arizona and I lost all track of time), drove around looking for parking for a while then our first stop was lunch overlooking the canyon. How fortunate are we!? This is my kind of lunch.

After lunch we headed to the shuttle that takes us to the beginning of our trail down the canyon.
Starting our trail off, finding some cactuses. On the drive up, I realized that I hadn't seen a cactus growing in a field naturally before (I don't remember this in Mexico but maybe..). The park ranger walked by when we were taking this and said that this is pear cactus - the ones we see at the store!

You can see the trails under me with all the people - I'm above them all! It was all down hill on the way out, and all up hill on the way back.
Our final point of the trail was Cedar Rudge (in my sign below!) This was 2 miles down. Because we didnt start our hike until later afternoon, we wanted to make sure we had enough time to get back up and head back for our 4 1/2 hour drive back. They estimated to double the time it took to get down to get back up. We took 50 minutes down (with lots of stops for pictures).


Nothing like fresh spring water to refresh you after running up the grand canyon.

The best views!! This was from Cedar ridge too. This point was a 2 miles hike (4 miles to and from the start).
I couldn't keep my fitness intensity under wraps when we started back up to the start point. I was determined to get a workout and do it in good time. We pretty much ran back up... it took us only 35 minutes and we passed a million people!
These guys were hanging out by the side of the road on the way out of the park!
On our way back, we stopped in the same town as the Wal Mart we hit for gas and some supper. Gave the In N Out burger a shot sicne people seem to love it. It was pretty good - we loved the lettuce wrapped option! Other than the lettuce wrapped, it was a pretty standard burger joint.. but great prices! $10 for supper.. ok.
Back from the Grand Canyon, showered the red dirt off and ready for a night adventure! This is the bottle I drank to start the night (why share when you can have one to yourself?). A fine $5 Wal Mart bottle of sparking. Only the best,
The key mirror by the elevators are such a great photo opp on the way out!!
Our plan was to explore some of the strip by foot on this night - it was late when we left. Like midnight. Just a late night adventure. We had nothing planned but pool, general exploring of the strip and old vegas the next day, so why not.

This is our pretty Mandalay Bay hotel!
We learned later that there was a free tram that ran from Mandalay Bay to Excalibur. But on this night we walked..a lot. The Luxor is right beside our hotel (ours is the last on the strip!).

We made it to the Bellagio (for the first time!!). This was after a pit stop at WalGreens for beer, a bar by the bellagio for wine, and some random conversation with some awesome guys who worked at the Bubba Gump who were from Mexico.
Such a fun random night exploring. But the plan was not to go so far! I was not equipped with comfy footwear, so I needed to get band aids and as they proved to be ineffective to stop the discomfort, I walked barefoot from the MGM back to our hotel (and Aleksy.. in solidarity). We got back at the timely 4:15am hour.