For 15 years, Rick and I have been talking about going to Las Vegas. Yet it just never seemed the right time or worth the money over other vacations. But when Rick got signed up for a conference there this week and it turned out that the kids were off Monday and Tuesday of this week, we decided this was the perfect occasion for a weekend to go and see what this much discussed city of glamour, glitter and gambling was all about.

We booked a flight for late afternoon on Friday, so the kids only missed an hour of school as with the current security procedures it's prudent to arrive at least 2 hours prior to departure, especially at Washington Dulles which becomes a zoo in the late afternoon, with all the international and domestic flights leaving around the same time.

We arrived in plenty of time and the lines for security weren't too bad. We also noticed that the "only US citizens can work in security" law must have gone in effect, as the majority of the screeners was white or black, when they used to be of different ethnic backgrounds. The process seemed much more friendly than before too, don't know what to credit for that.

That pleasant experience continued inflight. On previous long flights with United (the flight time to Las Vegas was 5.5 hours) I've found the service lacking, but this time nothing seemed too much for the flight attendants. One even came around with a bag of Halloween candy to treat the kids. The movie was fun (Men in Black II), drinks were constantly being offered and the kids' meals were there and tasty. I just had to compliment one of the flight attendants, as it's been a loooong time since I've found service on a plane exceptional.

With happy kids and happy adults we arrived in Las Vegas and were able to check into the MGM Grand hotel at the airport. After a little wait in the cab line, we got a mini van to take us to the hotel. The kids (big and small) were mesmerized by all the lights and neon and especially the pyramid of the Luxor hotel, from the top of which a large beam of light shone straight up in the sky.

The MGM Grand really lives up to its name! It's *huge*! I'm not even sure we saw all of the hotel's ground floor and I regularly got lost. The building is green and a huge golden lion stands proudly next to it. Our room was on the 17th floor and we were amazed at the attention to detail in the decor. Usually hotels are, well, hotels, but here interior decorators clearly did their job. Coming out of the elevator there was a large column with lit up black and white pictures of the big 20's and 30's moviestars, then the hallways had colorful carpeting and a lion head was a recurring theme.

We had a junior suite, as these days one can hardly get a regular room at a hotel anymore with a family of five and a small suite is usually less expensive than 2 rooms. The suite was what Samantha Brown from Travel Channel's "Great Hotels" would call "tastefully appointed with attention to detail". There were again pictures of moviestars (Marilyn Monroe), the decor was gold and cream and cathedral ceilings with gold mouldings. The bathroom had two sinks and a separate bath and shower stall. All in black, white and gold. Very nice!

Since the meal on the plane only consisted of a small sandwich, we were all quite hungry, so we ordered room service. Delicious! After the meal we were all so tired (after all, it was 3 hours later at home than in Vegas!) that we quickly went to sleep.

The next morning at 6am (yawn!), Saskia was totally and completely awake. We had a room facing the east (unfortunately the view was of the airport and not of the Strip) and the sun shone right in through the curtains, so she was fully convinced it was time to play. We managed to keep her and Kai quiet for just an hour longer by having them watch tv, but at 7 up we were.

Rick went to get breakfast at the Starbucks downstairs, wonderful a tall skim latte delivered in bed! Then I quickly dressed for my workout and left the family for 2 hours. The spa and fitness center cost $20 a day (multiple entries if desired) and included fitness equipment and a women's spa with whirlpool, steamroom, sauna, lounge and showers. Oh, I could have spent many more hours there! But first my workout. It was so cool! They had virtual reality stair steppers and a virtual reality bike. I loved it! I barely noticed how hard I was exercising (hard! as the level increased with the game). There were about 8 games to choose from and I preferred the one where I was a diver searching for treasures, having to dodge monsters and make sure my air stayed up (almost impossible to do!). I loved, loved, loved it! I wish I could have one here, it would make a workout like this mornings upstairs so much more fun!

After an hour of playing on those VR machines, I went to the spa, sat in the whirlpool and lied in the sauna. But because we were planning on doing so much that day, I didn't linger much. Took a quick shower and went back up to the room

There everyone was ready for adventure! So, out we went, first to the Luxor Hotel . The weather was wonderfully clear and sunny and the air superdry (maybe we should move to a climate like that, my pains were a whole lot less!). The Luxor with its huge sphinx and the shiny black pyramid looks like a lot of fun from the outside already and the lobby is downright stunning with huge statues of pharaohs and Egyptian paintings. Amazing what they went through to build a casino! One is more extravagant than the other! After seeing 9, we couldn't decide what our favorite was, but the Luxor is one of mine.

We had a very nice, early lunch at the Pyramid Cafe, I had a delicious pineapple and shrimp salad. Katja tried to play Keno, but was not even allowed to touch the playing card, so Rick played for her. Unfortunately for her, we didn't win anything. I think if the kids learned anything this weekend, it was that gambling is a risky business. They saw the temptation and, because I occasionally put a quarter in a slot machine (too tempting not to!) and rarely got anything for it, it brought home the message that it certainly is not something you want to risk too much money on. After lunch we walked through the Luxor to the Excalibur. This one seems a little less luxurious (judging by the restaurants especially, we also noticed that every hotel had a buffet, apparently quite popular too, as the lines were long for each of them). It really played on my love of fantasy though, especially the stores, We spent some time in the Merlin store, with beautiful fairy merchandise, I got some cards from my favorite artist, Josephine Wall.

Next on the schedule the New York, New York resort. The outside is just like the New York skyline, except the skyscrapers are a third of the actual ones. We were wondering what the scale for the Statue of Liberty was, but couldn't find that answer anywhere. Beneath the Statue of Liberty was a NY fire department boat with a "We will never forget" sign and on the fence were all kinds of fire department sweaters and shirts serving as a makeshift 9/11 memorial.

This resort was by far the most crowded, maybe because of the roller coaster, but I didn't like it because of that. Kai and Katja however had their sights set on the coaster, so we went in. We were side-tracked briefly by a magic shop with a "magician" doing simple tricks, which you could buy afterwards. Kai is really into that stuff, so Rick got him one of the tricks. This didn't sit well with Saskia, who was now starting to feel the effects of her very short night sleep. The result a major temper tantrum, which lasted through almost the entire roller coaster ride (which had a half hour wait). The funny part with Saskia is, that she'll have these tantrums, during which there is no reasoning with her and we stop trying after a while and just let her rage, and then suddenly the sky clears, the sun comes through the clouds again and she's back to her angelic self. It must be the age.

Usually, such a tantrum also results from a low blood sugar level/hungry feeling, so from the New York, New York resort we walked across the street, first to a huge M&M store with M&M merchandise and "M&M Colorworks" where you could get every color M&M's imaginable. The kids each got a bag with chosen colors, taking care of the sugar low that might have occurred otherwise. Then we were thirsty and went to the Coca Cola store next door for a drink. Both are huge stores, I never knew there was that much merchandise for either product!

After that little break we walked to the Aladdin resort. This was the hotel that Saskia had wanted to visit from the moment she saw its name and, despite our warnings that it would be just another casino, she was disappointed to not see Disney's Aladdin and Jasmine there. We walked through, but couldn't really find anything interesting. Later we learned that the desert passage shops are very nice, but we never found them. These resorts are so incredibly huge, I've been in some large hotels in my life, but nothing ever compared to these!

By this time our feet were hurting and we were getting tired, so we went next door to the Aladdin to our last resort of the day, the Paris-Las Vegas, with a true to life Eiffel Tower. We had decided we'd like to have dinner in that Eiffel Tower, as it would give us a good view of the Strip by night and the fountain show at the Bellagio across the street. So we made a reservation for opening time, without ever looking at a menu (not smart!).

Then we walked around on the very real looking Parisian "boulevard" and had some great fries with different dips at the little cafe. I have to say, having just been in Paris this past spring, we found the reproduction to be very true to life! Amazing the great length of detail they went into for all these resorts! Sculptures, paintings, everything gorgeous.

Finally 5:30 rolled around and we were allowed up on the Eiffel Tower. One glance at the menu made us swallow hard, as the prices were quite high. But we decided to go anyway, as Saskia was very tired and looking for another restaurant would require more walking and probably long waits. We had a delicious dinner, Saskia and Kai had had enough fries and didn't want anything but bread (yes, their diet goes out the window on trips!), but Katja, Rick and I loved our food. I had veal medallions and they were so delicate they literally melted on my tongue. And the view was great. We saw several of the Bellagio shows, I tried to take some pictures, but since we were not seated at the window, it was hard to keep my camera still.

Once back down on the main floor, we got in the taxi line and ended up taking a limo back to the hotel, more expensive than a taxi, but the wait for a cab was quite long.
Early in the day we had made a reservation for Kai and Saskia at the youth center at the MGM Grand. They had all kinds of fun stuff and would feed them a snack at 10pm. Katja didn't want to go and read in the room instead. Rick and I tried our luck in the casino. It was so much fun! We're not big gamblers (I can't imagine people who bet several hundred dollars at a time, there are always quite a few of them in each casino.), but do like to play a bit. We started out with video poker machines and some slots, but got bored with those quickly and we moved on to the $10 minimum blackjack table. Rick played for a while, unfortunately losing, so I tried my luck next at roulette. I did pretty well there, so we moved back to blackjack and played quite a bit more. For the money we lost (yes, no winners here) I thought we had a great time and free drinks. Around 11pm we all went back to the room in hopes that the kids would sleep a little longer the next morning.

On Sunday we woke up at 730am, so much more reasonable. Rick went down to get Krispy Kremes donuts and Starbucks coffee, Krispy Kremes are my all time favorite doughnuts, Dunkin can take a lesson from them!

After this delicious, all carbohydrate, breakfast, I of course had to go to the spa again. Usually doing my workouts at hotels is somewhat of a chore, as exercise rooms are often an afterthought and the equipment not exactly the latest model. So this VR equipment and the delicious pampering afterwards really was a treat!

Our first stop this time was the lion habitat at the MGM Grand itself. 3 lions live in a huge, glass enclosed cage. The keepers went in to play with them and give them huge rawhide bones, very cute. Clearly they were still very young, so I wonder if they only have cubs there, who later on go to a zoo. While the kids were enjoying the lions play, I looked around at the decor of the hotel. Amazing! Beautiful paintings and carvings, you only had to look up and see beautiful detail.

We decided to take the MGM Monorail to the Bally's resort. In the train we saw just how huge the MGM resort is, with an actual movie set in the back. There are also tv studios for which you can attend screenings.

Bally's is beautiful too, though not with a theme like many of the other resorts, but just an "old fashioned" name among casino's. After buying a quick snack to prevent temper tantrums and the likes, we went in search of a lunch restaurant. We quickly left Bally's, which didn't have much kid friendly stuff and crossed the street to the Bellagio.

The Bellagio's fountains are beautiful and entertaining for the kids, but kid friendly this resort is not! A large sign at the entrance tells the visitor that those under 18 are not welcome in the property, exceptions excluded (weddings, specific invitations and shows). So we left Bellagio to our left and turned right to enter the Caesar's Palace resort.

This, I think, is my favorite resort. It's a tough choice, but this resort has gorgeous sculptures and fountains and decor, plus a great selection of restaurants and shops that are unusual, but not so that it's beyond anyone's budget. Here we had lunch at Spago's, this was nostalgic for Rick and me, as we ate at the original Spago's about 6 years ago in L.A. and met Wolfgang Puck at the time, as well as Roger Moore. This restaurant wasn't as formal as the original, but the food was great and unusual.

After walking through the Forum Shops at the Caesars Palace, we crossed the street to the Venetian resort, where Rick is now staying until Thursday. There we bought tickets for a ride in an authentic Venetian gondola. We chose the indoors ride, as the outdoors seemed somewhat boring. Because we were a group of 5, we had to go into 2 gondola's. Saskia and I in one and Rick and the other 2 in another. I didn't get to talk to our gondolier much, as there was another couple in our boat, who were have a romantic time and I didn't want to disturb that with my gabbing. But he did have a good singing voice, unlike the one before us, who couldn't keep a tune.

Rick and the other kids had an authentic Italian, from Milan, for their gondolier. I have to say, I was impressed to see, that most of the gondoliers were Italian or at least had Italian names. And the waiter at the Eiffel Tower restaurant was from Paris.

By the time the gondola rides were over, it was time for us to go to the Mirage, to pick up our tickets for that night's Siegfried and Roy show. We were so excited to be able to get seats for this well known show!

We were at the Mirage (which has a beautiful lobby with much greenery) at 3pm and once we had the tickets, we were thirsty. After being shooed from a lounge that was for 21 and over only (no signs to indicate that, but the waitress claimed that we should have known because "This is Vegas", well, yeah, duh!), we found a nice cafe and had a drink.

Then we made our way to the dolphin habitat and Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden. Unfortunately, our drink had set us back just long enough to miss the Secret Garden, as those animals were being prepared for the show that night. The dolphins were around in full force though and we had a chance to talk to their trainers and see them quite up close and personal.

Since we'd had a big lunch, we felt a light dinner would be best, so we ate dinner at the Japanese restaurant at the Mirage, Mikado. Nice sushi and the kids could eat their favorite: chicken katsu. A photographer came by and took some awesome pictures, of all 5 of us and especially of the 3 kids. It's rare that all 3 are genuinely smiling (Saskia especially is in the forced smile mode).

We finished dinner just in time for the show. Seating was at tables and drinks (doubles) were being served before the show started. Actors in black robes and green masks came by to give the women a red heart sticker and the men a white tiger sticker. I guess the purpose was just entertainment, nothing was done with them later.

At 7:30, the 35 year old Siegfried and Roy show began. I have never seen Kai and Katja as mesmerized by anything. And, admittedly, the costumes, special effects and speed of the show were fabulous. The white felines are of course awesome and the thought that they were just lying there, no cage, no protection, just feet away from us was a little scary. The magic tricks were many repetitions of the same theme, though: sawing the person in half and making a person disappear/have a feline appear. I would never be able to do them, mind you, but they did appear a little dated.

Siegfried seemed quite old in his movements and Roy didn't feature much. Their interaction with the felines is amazing, though! "Sarmoti" was the word they used a lot (only now that I looked at the website do I realize it wasn't some ancient African name, but derived from "Siegfried And Roy, Master Of The Impossible". Rick was surprised at their heavy accents after this many years in the US, but maybe they're cultivating it. Overall though, it was well worth the money. Poor Saskia was frightened at times and hit her head in Rick's lap. She did, however, much enjoy all the parts with felines.

After the show we quickly got a cab back to the MGM, where we put all the kids to bed and packed our stuff, since the kids and I would leave on an 8:30am flight and had to be at the airport by 6:30am. After Saskia and Kai were asleep, we left Katja in charge and Rick and I went downstairs for an hour of casino play. I won back much of our losses from the previous night at Blackjack and we had a really fun time with a fun croupier. The Las Vegas casinos didn't seem as serious as the ones in the Caribbean and Atlantic City, the dealers were even giving tips on when to hit or stand! (oh, now we sound like casino dwellers, but that's not the case, still it is quite a thrill to gamble a little, I think).

6 am came bright and early and our fairy tale was over. The kids and I boarded our flight on time. I have to say, I have angels for children, I couldn't have had an easier flight with them! I took some pictures out the window as we saw the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and beautiful fall colors here in Virginia.

Whenever we make a cross country flight like this, I'm just awed by the sheer majesty of this country. The changing landscapes (in Kansas you can see huge circles in the landscape, for example, and we have no idea what they are), the long flight, it reminded me of the song "America, the Beautiful":
"O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain! "

We had a great weekend, though Saskia did exclaim the moment we were in the mobile lounge at Dulles "I'm so glad we're not in Las Vegas anymore, there are no casino's here!"!