Success!

So the trip to Vegas was a total success!  Carson survived (as I knew she would), the grandparents survived (although I think they might have been a bit tired), and I survived (with only minimal guilt).

Really though, Brandon and I had a blast in Las Vegas, and the grandparents had a great time here with Carson.  They took really good care of her and returned her to us in exactly the condition in which she was left--which I will enjoy while I can.  I know the day is coming when she is returned to us in a much more spoiled condition than when we left!

As for my trip, I arrived Friday around lunchtime in Vegas, made it to the hotel, and had some lunch.  Then I went back to the room for some rest before the evening.  Let me stop there and talk about this hotel room for a minute.  It was gorgeous.  Great view of the strip. Nice bathroom, an office area, a sitting area with a sectional couch, small table where we had breakfast each morning, three flat screen TVs (although I'm not sure why you'd need that many in one hotel suite!)...I'm talking nice.

Here's some fun stuff we did over the weekend:

• went to see the Cirque du Soleil show O--the one on water.  It was amazing, perplexing, overwhelming.  And our seats were possibly the best seats I've had to any event ever.
• went shopping--now, I am generally not a shopper.  Thirty minutes of shopping usually tires me out--like EXHAUSTS me.  And it's not very fun in most cases.  But this weekend, it was just Brandon and I and we were able to wander around together with no deadline, no place to be, and I really enjoyed it.  They have some crazy shops there too--at our hotel I mean.  They had an "old book" store, which I'm sure had a much more official name.  But that's what it was.  You could get a first edition copy of Green Eggs and Ham or a book autographed by Abraham Lincoln.  There were also the traditional Vegas knick knack shops where you could get just about anything shaped like a playing card or a poker chip (soap, salt & pepper shakers, etc).  Then there were the super-fancy stores.  And let me tell you, watching a die-hard NASCAR fan (as evidenced by their head-to-toe get-up with almost as many NASCAR endorsements as the drivers themselves have) meander through a Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin store was an interesting juxtaposition.  I guess that sounds judgmental of me. Sorry.  (by the way, when Brandon previewed this entry for me, he thought I made up the word juxtaposition. I didn't.)
• saw Kim Kardashian--she was just walking through the shopping area about 5 feet in front of us with a couple of her friends.  My friend Jana spotted her first and actually recognized Kim's friend from the TV show before she realized it was Kim.  Yeah that's right, we're on a first-name basis now.
• went for a gondola ride--again, I am not usually one for this straight-up touristy kind of stuff where I pay for a fake gondola to ride me through water that goes exactly where I just walked and some fake Italian sings and makes irrelevant chit-chat.  But I was doing my best to be in the moment, take advantage of chances I might not have again for awhile, and just indulge in whatever came along.  So a gondola ride it was!  And it was fun.  I'm really glad we did it.
• gambled--this is definitely  more Brandon's forte than my own, BUT I did end up winning more money than I lost and had a great time.  I played craps and a table poker game.  Oh, and war.  That's right.  You can play war at the casino.  The game where all you have to do is have the higher card.  I didn't win much there.
• napped--I like sleep.  Always have.  It's not that I require SO much of it or enjoy just laying around in bed all day.  I just don't function very well when I'm tired.  I never learned to "fight through" the fatigue.  Most young children beg their parents to stay up later than their set bedtime.  Most young kids try to pull a fast one on the babysitter and convince them bedtime is later than it really is.  Not me.  When I was younger, I would put myself to bed, even if it wasn't bedtime yet.  If I was tired, it wasn't fun anymore.  So motherhood has been a bit of a shock to me sleep-wise.  This weekend, I was able to nap and not feel guilty about it.  It was beautiful.
• went to an ice bar--this was one of my favorite things we did.  This bar was completely made of ice--completely.  You might think, "Wait, was the floor ice?"  Yes.  "But the tables and chairs?"  Yes.  Glasses, chandeliers, walls, ceiling, the actual bar where you go order...EVERYTHING was ice.  They even give you big coats and gloves to wear.  We weren't allowed to take cameras inside, but you can click here for their website.
• Skyped with Carson--not sure if Skype can be made into a verb, but I just did.  So there.  It was great to be able to see and talk to Carson even though we were far far away.
• felt like "me" again--it's hard to explain, but I felt more like my old self over the weekend.  I guess it's not that hard.  I used to not have a baby, and this weekend I kind of didn't again.  There, that was easy to explain.  Obviously, I love being a mom and adore Carson more than words can express.  But it was fun to get a little reminder of what life used to be like too.
• bonded with Brandon--along the same lines as the previous thing on the list.  Decisions were easy to make because there were no time limits or feedings to factor in.  And he and the other husbands put so much thought and effort into planning the weekend, it was fun to be able to enjoy it together.  I believe I have truly one of the all-time best husbands in the world (which I'm not saying just because I have to), and having fun with him reminded me again of all the reasons I love him.
• came home--possibly the best part was returning home to Carson.  It felt so fulfilling and comforting to have her back in our arms when we returned. 

And lastly, here are a few pictures I took the other day.  I really took about 50 of them, and I swear she had a different facial expression in every single one.  She's growing up so fast!