LVD7 - Our last day/night in Las Vegas

Staying in a luxury hotel with a baby has been an interesting experience. We've been resourceful in creating a baby friendly environment and setting up different stations for various uses (i.e., changing area, feeding area, area for washing and drying bottles, play area). For example, here is a nice marble vanity area between the two sinks in our hotel bathroom, where you can sit and put on makeup. However, we used it as a temporary changing station instead by putting down a couple towels and a traveling changing pad, and stacked the diapers on the chair below it.Astrid loved the vanity mirror. She would see her reflection and mine in it, and thought it was just the funniest thing. Since today is our last day & night in Las Vegas, I decided to take Astrid to Circus Circus. Here is a photo of the infamous clown marquee and the two statues out in front. One statue has two circus performers with the person on the bottom holding up a platter with a girl balancing on a ball. The other statue is of a gorilla. The gorilla cracks me up. To me it represents cheesy, old Las Vegas.

I have a certain affinity for Circus Circus since I used to go there as a kid with my parents. It's a dark, dumpy, mind numbing, and surreal place. There's a scene in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" where Hunter S. Thompson and his attorney friend make a pit stop there just for its hallucinogenic entertainment value.

It does however cater to families. They have automatic doors (hallelujah!) which make entering and exiting with a baby in a stroller a breeze. They also have a ramp that goes up to the midway so you don't have to ride up in a cramped elevator. And the midway has all sorts of games, a fast food restaurant, an arcade, and free circus acts every hour or so throughout the day and night. We went up to the midway and it looks pretty much as I remember it. The two major differences being that the games were a bit different and it now has this new rotating bar with carousel horses on the outer ring. Yes, the bar is called the "Horse-A-Round Bar". Cheese anyone?I took Astrid to the arcade. I didn't realize at first that there's one section for older kids (that's REALLY loud) and another for little kids. Eventually I found the kiddie section and Astrid and I rode the Hippo for a quarter. Then we went into a photo booth and took 4 pics. (This is a photo of the original photo that's why it's blurry.) It has the date and Circus Circus on it so now I have a little memento for my print photo album.

We waited for the circus act to come on. I was hoping for a trapeze act or the little performing doggies, but it was two guys doing physical comedy. It wasn't funny and Astrid wasn't even watching (she was too interested in the flashing lights and sounds), so we left and headed back to our hotel. Astrid fell asleep during the walk back. Here she is in front of the display next to the resort elevators in the Wynn hotel. The roses are at an angle instead of directly submerged into the vases. The housekeeping staff was in love with Astrid. Everyone wanted to get a look at the little baby. One of the maid's even offered to put a sheet on the floor for Astrid in case she rolled off her mat. We brought the activity mat thinking that she'd want to play on it, but for the first few days she just cried when we put her on it. Then I tried putting two towels underneath the mat and a pillow and that did the trick. As you can see she's back to liking it again.

Then we changed into our bathing suits and went down to the pool one last time. Astrid propped up on towels sitting by the pool, wearing her tropical hat. Lift and flex those toes.Pretty blue eyes.I love Las Vegas.Astrid bundled up and taking a nap next to the pool.

Each time I've taken her swimming, she's taken a nap afterwards. I wonder if she associates the water with her bath, since at night she gets a bath and then goes to sleep. Or if it just tires her out.When we got back to our room I noticed that the maid had replaced the old sheet under Astrid's activity mat with a new, clean one.

Shortly after I took this photo the minibar lady came in to check the minibar.

MBL: Is you babysit?
(I took her broken English to mean "Are you babysitting?" as in watching the baby.)

Me: Yes, I'm babysitting.
(But then I realized she was asking me if I was the BABYSITTER. Big difference.)

Me: I mean this is my baby.

MBL: Oh really?
(looking at me and then at Astrid and then back at me)

Me: Yeah I'm the mom and the babysitter.
(The MBL was looking very puzzled.)

Me: My husband has blond hair and blue eyes.

MBL: Oh! Okay.

When I'm out with Astrid doing grocery shopping or whatever sometimes I feel like people do double takes when they see us. As if they're trying to figure out if we're related or not. Uwe always says I'm just being paranoid. But today someone actually expressed it verbally. At first I thought it was kinda funny. I didn't want to get into the whole "I'm half white" thing with a stranger, and how obviously I've got the recessive genes as well or Astrid wouldn't have blond hair and blue eyes. But later thinking about it, it wasn't funny at all. Someone thought I was my kid's nanny! How sad is that? It kinda hurts my feelings.

Uwe on the other hand was in the elevator with Astrid and some guy took one look at Astrid and one look at Uwe and said, "Your baby's a carbon copy of you."

Well at least she looks like one of us.

So tomorrow morning we head back to LA. The week in Las Vegas went by so fast.