Vegas!

Frozen peanut butter hot chocolate - oh. so. good.

 We are back from our lightning fast trip to Las Vegas. Although I had a super hard time leaving the kids (mainly Carolina), and I tearfully tried to talk Todd out of going, the night before - we made it back alive and well, and we are glad we went. I didn't want to take my nice camera - so here's a mash up of what Todd and I had on our phones and Instagram.
 We drove up Tuesday and were there about 4pm, had two full days (which just flew by) and then left early as we could manage on Friday. After we checked into our rooms at the Luxor on Tuesday, and prettied ourselves up we set out to find some dinner. This was practically the only meal we didn't have planned, well it was planned - we were going to hit up In-N-Out on our way into town, but as it was earlier than we'd expected we weren't really hungry for dinner yet. We ended up walking down to Caesar's Palace, and Serendipity, mainly for the frozen hot chocolate - but got really delicious dinner as well (caution: there will be many pictures of food here).
 Since the walk back was a good piece (a mile and a half!), and we were exhausted from sitting in the car all day - we basically just headed back, not too much sight seeing the first night. We truly walked our feet off on this trip, the casinos are so huge that they sort of dwarf the strip. It certainly didn't feel like a 3 mile round trip walk... which was about as far as we ventured down Las Vegas Blvd.

New York New York - a very fun hotel.

 

mmm, the "hash", so flavorful!

Day two plans included a lunch reservation at Bobby Flay's restaurant Mesa Grill, and sight seeing/shopping along the strip. Even by the time we were ready and heading out the door, about 10 am I'd guess - it was already 95 degrees. It was a hot, hot visit. I was super pumped for this meal - and it did not disappoint. I got a blue corn pancake filled with duck confit, and Todd got sweet potato and chicken hash topped with poached eggs and a chile hollandaise. We also started the trend of trying everybody's dish - so we also got to taste Coe's salmon (perfection) and Stephanie's chile relleno (maybe my favorite thing). It was quite fun, because we got to try more of the amazing food we were fortunate enough to eat on this trip.

My favorite - the Bellagio... *someday

Todd and I were on a mission to get our favorite parisian macarons from Bouchon Bakery at the Venetian, so we headed across the street - and found some other fun things along the way... like The Rock (Madame Tussauds)...

...and my favorite coffee (dark chocolate blended mocha, the best!)...

... and finally the macarons! I was pretty much stuffed by then, but it didn't stop me from eating one! Seriously - these are the absolute most delicious - here we have lemon strawberry, pistachio, and raspberry (there was also vanilla bean, and coffee, oh goodness).

The boys and girls split up after this and Steph and I did some shopping at the Miracle Mile and along the strip before heading back to rest our feet and get ready for dinner. We basically ate our way through Las Vegas.

Planet Hollywood and the Paris

 At some point one (or both) of the guys decided we should try out a place called Julian Seranno Tapas, in the Aria. It was pretty fancy, and bit pricier than I was expecting - so I was dubious - but it ended up to be the favorite meal and experience of everyone! Tapas are small savory Spanish dishes - so we ordered 3 for Todd and I, and were also able to try Coe & Steph's paella (my first time for that). We ordered huevos estrellados (the chefs' favorite dish - who, by the way, I bumped into after dinner and told him how delicious our meal was), which wasn't really pretty enough to take a pictures of, but I cannot stay enough about how wonderful it was. Basically fancy french fries tossed with crispy chorizo and topped with two fried eggs over easy. Oh man. I could eat that every day... then have a heart attach - but still. We also ordered a special, tuna sliders - I can't remember everything that was on them, something with curry and cucumbers, which sounds kind of plain - but I think this was the favorite dish of all - it was SO flavorful and had all the textures you'd want and was moist and yummmmmmmy. The third dish was Goat-cheese stuffed dates wrapped in pancetta with tomato marmalade - HEAVENS! This was so decadent! It was almost like dessert - I think this was my favorite by a hair. It was almost like dessert - but it wasn't, so we had to order one :) Dessert was a molten chocolate cake with merinque and blood orange sorbet. It was beautiful and perfect.

stuffed dates

dessert

We were so relaxed - it really hit us that there were no kids around that we had to hush, or keep entertained, or scarf our food for. We just sat and talked and ate slowly and really enjoyed the atmosphere and each bite of delicious food. 

The next day Steph and I had vowed to head out to the major outlet mall - we had been out super late the night befer (so easy to do there!), and so by the time we were up and read it was basically lunch time, so while the boys went to a buffet, the girls split a double-double animal style as well as animal style fries :) We were happy campers.

We had fun shopping to our hearts content (and our feet's soreness). Coach is a dangerous outlet, I tell you.

Bellagio in evening is even more stunning.

By the time we got back we had to rush to get ready for dinner and start walking again, so thankfully the guys rearranged our reservation so the girls could relax at the pool for a little while first. We ate at Mon Ami Gabi, which was highly recommended and directly across from the Bellagio - which would have made for great dinner entertainment, had we been able to get a seat outside on the patio - alas, the restaurant made a few mistakes and we would've had to wait until 9 for dinner... so inside we went. And while the meal was good - no complaints - it just didn't blow our minds like the others had. It really never had a chance.

Eiffel Tower at the Paris

The couples split up at this point and Todd and I wandered in and out of hotels along the way back - the sidewalks were starting the fill up - I guess since it was almost the weekend. I found myself some hazelnut gelato at a favored patisserie (guess what - it was amazing). And ate it slowly on the way back.

We really enjoyed our little getaway. It was such a huge change to not feel responsible for someone other than yourself. I mean - wow - I did not remember what it felt like, honestly. These young married couples better live it up! We wouldn't trade our kids for the world, and we were anxious and excited to get back to them, but I think it was good for us to have a true break from them for a little while.

Tired and hot, but happy.