Arizona day 4

DAY 4

After some fond farewells we left Mesa, drove for 25 feet on this famous road, and eventually made it back to Las Vegas.

Just before reaching Las Vegas we decided to be real tourists and stop at the Hoover Dam. Despite our many trips as a family to Arizona we hadn't ever taken the time to get out and look around. Lucky for us, there is now a spectacular bridge to see there, too.

 Wanna know how I got this picture?
 I closed my eyes and held out my arm
as far as my fear of heights would let me.

And since this trip was all about visiting fantastic people that we love, we begged my friend the Nabster if we could stay the night with her and her hubby, Cameron. 

Nabby made us an incredible Egyptian meal and with happy tummies we put Lily down for bed. 

Then it was playtime. 

Nabby knows where the good stuff is in Vegas. The good parking, the good food, etc. So we were off to The Strip. 

It wasn't my first time in Vegas, but it was my first time on the strip. It was my mom's first time out of the car in Vegas at all. Nabby had us park at the Cosmopolitan (free! and close to the Bellagio) and we went in to see their ginormous bathrooms and World's Largest chandelier. We didn't hit the bar in the chandelier, we just took pictures. 

Yeah, notice my baby in the sling? It was as if no one had ever seen a baby before! Almost every woman commented on her, how adorable she was, how perfect. Yep, I thought. I'm sure I am the only mother who has ever been brainless/careless/thoughtless enough to take their 2 month old for an evening on the strip, but I knew she would need to nurse before long. And hey, it's not like I'd be the only woman bearing my chest. :) I didn't see any others, by the way. 

Our main destination was the Bellagio, and the chocolatey goodness that awaited us on the inside.

Blown glass ceiling in the entrance...holy cow.

Another glass flower, and yes,
those ginormous bees are made of flowers.

Flower toad in the atrium. This place blew my mind!
The whole room (and it wasn't a small room) was
chuck-full of things made of flowers. 

World's Largest Chocolate Fountain. You can
even see the certificate off to the right of the
picture.

The chocolate lady. Something about over
150 lbs. of chocolate fondant. And that doesn't
even start to touch the sugar flowers! Life-sized, my friends.

Nutella crepe!!!!

Soufflee crepe? Yes, please.
Nabby, thank you for introducing this into my life!

It's no wonder these desserts were so expensive. I think I'd
cry before I ate one and destroyed the beauty.

Now this was the powerhouse-moment of the night. The fountains. I had never seen them before! 

They aren't just beautiful. They're breathtaking. And frighteningly powerful. I was lucky enough to see the fountains dancing to "God Bless the USA" and may I say, WOW.

When they shot up like this I got a little misty-eyed.
It was amazing, and I was proud to be an American. 

The fabulous Nabby! It was such a breath of fresh
air to hang out with her again...like the other half
 of my soul was back. :) 

See this street performer? His costume was legit.
On stilts and everything!
He scared the living daylights out of my mom.
We all got a pretty good laugh out of that.

Nabby, the Mother Duck, with her ducklings.

Naturally, walking down the strip at night (albeit a Monday night) was eye-opening for my mom. Nabby turned around and warned us about the taxis--they would sooner kill you than wait to turn right--and told us not to make eye contact with the men who were hitting stacks of little papers into their hands. Or look at the ground while we walked. 

My mom didn't understand those last warnings and asked me why. I tried to explain it delicately...but in the end I just had to be blunt. She was so naive about it all I wanted to give her a big hug and say, while smiling and shaking my head, "Ah, Mommy." 

(I hope you laugh that I wrote about that, Mom. If you end up reading this someday. :D)