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A runner with an appetite for adventure!

The Randoms from Vegas November 30, 2013

Filed under: Family,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 4:26 am
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Had a few more pictures from our trip to Las Vegas I wanted to round up and share. Such a photogenic city!
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The only hotel I took Adele into was the Bellagio, so we could see the flowers.
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Smiley selfless waiting to see Grandma!
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Hanging out with Nini (Adele’s Great Grandmother) in our room!
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The view from our room. Beep Beep, cars!
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Bananagrams with Janie while the boys were having a drink at the Excalibur. (They did come back with Pina Coladas in hand for us when they returned through. Mmmm).
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I took Adele downstairs to the Planet Hollywood shops to take some pictures one day. But she wouldn’t walk on the floor. It was super shiny and reflective and I think she thought it was water or something. It was really funny.
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But I do love this background so we did it stroller-style.
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Another car nap!
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And lastly, some poolside photos with family!
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Had a wonderful time with Irving’s family. Thanks for a fun week. We love you!
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A Pony Tail on the Trail November 27, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Family,Healthy Train,Hiking,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 4:24 am
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As mentioned in my ‘anti-vegas‘ post, we hiked in Red Rock Canyon one day while we were there. Jake and Janie had never been, and we had been twice before (here and here) and decided it would be a fun way to get in some exercise.
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First we checked out the visitor’s center and got another stamp in Adele’s National Park passport! This was her second time to Red Rock!
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Adele was fascinated by the lizard who was being served carrots and celery for lunch.
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Maybe it was a coincidence, but Adele walked over to the “E” below and shouted “EEEEEeee!!”20131119_110724
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Soon enough, we headed out on our hike!
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A Pony Tail on the Trail!
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Not a day passes that I don’t get knocked in the face by something Adele is holding.
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Not long into our hike, our happy traveler fell fast asleep!

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Climbing high above the desert floor!

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Oh yea… um. WE SAW A TARANTULA!!!!!!
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I debated not even posting those pictures because just looking at them I get the creeps. Luckily Adele was brave and didn’t get scared at all… because she was still sleeping 1.5 hours later.
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She only woke up when we got back to the car and tried to transfer her to her carseat. Lucky for me, I got to enjoy some post-nap snuggles. I take ’em when I can get ’em!

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Here’s our hike stats (courtesy of my fitbit!)
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The Anti-Vegas November 25, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Family,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 9:48 pm
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We recently got back from a week in Las Vegas! I know, I know… Las Vegas…with a baby… for a week. But before you give me that judgy side-eye (and believe me, we got lots of that while we were there)… let me show you scenes from the week.

Without further ado, here is how we did ‘Vegas’ as the  ‘Anti-Vegas‘:

WE WATCHED THE LAS VEGAS MARATHON
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WE WENT TO COSTCO AND THE GROCERY STORE
We had a full kitchen, so we took advantage and bought most of our meals for the week. That worked out well for us in Hawaii, so we tried it again this time. Works great to have food handy with a toddler in tow!
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Photo taken outside of Costco!

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WE WATCHED ‘AMAZING RACE’
Our hotel room had SEVEN TVs!! One of the TV’s is actually a full wall projector screen. (More on the hotel in a different post!)
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WE TOOK POOL NAPS
Ok, maybe pool naps aren’t the ‘anti-vegas’, but with a baby sleeping on your chest, it did feel a little different than usual =)
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WE WENT TO CHUCK-E-CHEESE
We met up with my college friend, Melissa, and her two kids!
(Fun Fact: I worked at Chuck-E-Cheese for two weeks in high school. I quit when I found out I had to DANCE in front of the kids. yea. no.)
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WE WENT OUTLET SHOPPING
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WE HAD TO DODGE RAIN!
Rain! In the desert! That’s SO ‘anti-vegas’!
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WE WENT TO A CHRISTMAS LIGHT SHOW
We all know Vegas is full of bright lights and glitter… but this took it to a whole new level! And tune your radio to a certain station and you’ll be singing Christmas Carols and sipping Hot Cocoa in NO time!

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IMG_2142Truthfully, Adele was more excited that she didn’t have to stay in her car seat than actually looking at the lights, but the adults had fun! It was the biggest display I’ve ever seen! It’s 2.5 miles long!
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WE HIKED IN A NATIONAL PARK
We all visited Red Rock Canyon for a great hike in the park! More pictures coming in a future post! It was a fun day!
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WE WENT TO A CHILDREN’S MUSEUM!
Las Vegas just opened a newly renovated Children’s Museum that we were dying to check out! Adele was a little too young to fully appreciate all the incredible things they offer there, but she did LOVE the water play area and the giant life-sized Lightbrite!
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So as you can see, Vegas CAN be done with a toddler in tow. During the entire week we were there, we didn’t even push one stroller wheel into a casino (ok, wait, that’s a lie, I did take Adele into the Bellagio once to see the flowers, but we went straight in bypassing the casino). The smoke is a big concern for us (yuck!) but we avoided it by mostly staying out of those hotels and off the busy sidewalks.

And let’s be honest, when you have a hotel room like this, who wants to leave?
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Irving and I LOVE vegas. We’ve been more times than I can count. We’ve been visiting 2-3 times a year since we moved to the west coast. But Vegas as we know it has definitely changed since having a baby. We were never drinkers or gamblers, but we love the scene. We love the restaurants, the sports book and the Cirque shows… and all of that is tough to do with a baby.

We were SO lucky to have built in baby sitters while we were there this time though. (Irving’s grandmother and Aunt and Uncle were with us too!) So we took advantage one night and headed out for dinner and a show. (No pictures since it was POURING out and we had to literally RUN down the street!)

We ate at the Sugar Factory at the Paris Casino. Two words: Reeces Martini. The glass was rimmed with gobs of peanut butter!!!
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We went to see Veronic Voices (pronounced “Vey-ron-eek”), also at the Paris Casino. It is a one-woman show where Veronic impersonates 50 different artists. Her range was unbelievable. The show was really good, and even better because we only paid $2.50 a ticket (Those prices are VERRRRY Anti-Vegas, right!) It was no ‘Cirque’ show, but it was a fun night out nonetheless. (Thank you Jake and Janie!!!!)

Lots more pictures to come! It was a great, relaxing week!

 

Viva Las Baby February 25, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Las Vegas,Theater,Travel — Kelocity @ 2:33 pm
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My sister, Laurie, was in Las Vegas with friends this week and she wanted to extend her trip to visit us in LA too! We looked into flights from Vegas to LA, but in the end, we decided it was a better idea to just go there, spend the weekend and drive her back with us.
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Best idea ever. I miss this girl.
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We had a blast hanging out. Since it was a last minute trip for us, we didn’t have a set agenda so it was nice to roll with the punches.
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On Saturday, we met up with Laurie at the Excalibur pool. What a lucky girl.
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We people watched and lounged poolside and then one of us took a nap.
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Irving, Adele and I spent the rest of the day doing some outlet shopping while the cool kids hit the clubs. After shopping, we grabbed dinner at Ping Pang Pong at the Gold Coast casino. And by “we” I mean Irving. I got TGIFridays to go. haha (Irving’s Side Note: Ping Pang Pong was recently rated one of the countries best Chinese food in the country by Travel + Leisure Magazine. Apparently I’m missing out.)

Sunday morning, we picked up Laurie and Jim and headed off the strip. Way off. All the way to the mountains to check out Red Rock Canyon. We loved it when we were there a couple of years ago and were excited to go back. Plus since Laurie and Jim live in Chicago, they don’t see mountains much.
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We didn’t get a chance to do much hiking, but the views were still stellar.
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Love this candid shot. haha
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We did the 13 mile drivable loop and saw the whole valley. They got out and took fun pictures on the cliffs, but it was wayyyy too windy for Adele. I tried once and poor girl nearly blew away.
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After that, we drove back to the strip for some more sight seeing. First stop was the Stratosphere. Come to think about it, that was my first time there! Then we jumped over to the Mirage.
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We were actually looking for the lions, didnt they used to have a free exhibit? Am I making this up? Was that years ago? I thought there were free lions or tigers or something somewhere in vegas. Oh well.
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After that, we were all tired and headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest.

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And then Irving and I were excited to take advantage of our free babysitters for the evening and we headed out to see Mystere!
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Bye Adele. Bye Laurie. Um, good luck with that. hahahaha
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Just kidding, I heard the night went well. Lots of playing, lots of cuddles and Adele was in bed by 8pm. Wheeee! What a good Aunty.
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We loved Mystere. Not the best Cirque show in Vegas, but I heard it was the first one which in itself makes it special. You can see how the troupes have evolved over the years. This one was a little circus-y but the stage and lighting were great. And the acts were excellent too. (My #1 Cirque show is KA. But then again, I have yet to see O.

We’re currently en route back to Los Angeles. Irving’s driving, Adele’s sleeping and Laurie and I are chatting (while blogging). Excited for a few days of adventures with her this week! I’ve got a lot of fun things with Adele planned too. Can’t wait!
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And PS… just for fun… this photo was from the last time we were in Vegas! A lot changes in 10 Months! I was bummed she was asleep in the car when we took our iconic vegas sign pictures this weekend. Next time!

 

Baby Does Las Vegas April 25, 2012

Filed under: Family,Las Vegas,Travel — Kelocity @ 7:09 am
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This past weekend was the baby’s SECOND trip to Las Vegas in utero! (The first was back in December!)
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We went to meet up with Irving’s Aunt, Uncle and Grandmother and do a bit of relaxing too! The temperatures peaked at 100*, so we stayed in as much as possible. My goals for the weekend were to avoid the sun & heat… and stay away from the casinos (didn’t want to be breathing in smoke at 8 months pregnant, ick). We didn’t have much on our agenda, and my only request was to take pictures in front of the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. I’ve been to Sin City probably 15 times or so and I’ve NEVER seen the sign!!
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I was so excited to see it in person and take a few pictures. It was SO worth it!
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Thanks to the nice Aussies who took this picture for us!
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We stayed one night in the Polo Towers, which was very comfortable and nice. But the highlight for SURE was our second night in the new Elara Hotel (owned by Hilton). Oh. My. Gosh. I thought the Encore by Wynn was the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in, but this one takes the cake.
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The décor was ‘Hollywood Chic’ and it was incredible.
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The views weren’t that bad either! We could see MGM, New York New York and the Mirage from our room!
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We were invited to share a 2-bedroom suite with Jake and Janie and the living area in between the two was HUGE! The pictures don’t do it justice.
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When we woke up on Sunday morning, we found that they had decorated the room for a Vegas-Style baby shower! How Cute!!!
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The theme went right along with our shower last week! Tiny Traveler!
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It was so cute, we were really touched by it. So many people already love our baby so much.
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See that huge window in the room?
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The views of the strip were incredible from there… but more impressive for Irving was the huge automatic screen that comes down to cover it. Each room had a projector, which made for optimal soccer game viewing.
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We had some nice meals out, played a few rounds of Bananagrams and enjoyed the time with family. It was such a nice weekend and were so thankful to be able to spend it with these special people. Thank you!
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Next time we’re back in Vegas, we’ll have a baby in tow! Can’t wait!
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