This vacation really starts clear back in June, since that is when is Annie called me and asked if we wanted to go to a Justin Timberlake concert with them in Vegas in November! Admittedly we aren't huge JT fans, but we don't do many vacations and we really don't do vacations sans kids...so we decided to go for it and the planning began!
We booked flights, hotel rooms and most importantly JT concert tickets!
We were excited to travel without kids...it's been 4 years since the last time I flew without at least one kiddo!
Most pictures are of Jared and I and then Annie and Justin...here we are on the way to our hotel in the shuttle (I was a little excited to be on vacation)!
We stayed at the Vdara and had views of the Bellagio fountain.
The room was so nice and the perfect getaway location!
We actually left on Thanksgiving night, which seemed a little odd but both our kids were with grandparents and very well taken care of!
Thanksgiving night we had planned on doing a buffet at the Bellagio, but when getting to the restaurant there was a 3 hour wait!!!! We were shocked that anyone would actually wait that long for a buffet (there was a serious line), so we ended up at a Mexican restaurant at Aria. It was SO good! The chips and salsa were amazing, our food was amazing and the margaritas were amazing! I must say that Vegas is expensive though...each drink was anywhere from $15-$18! Needless to say alcohol wasn't a huge part of our weekend, but it was fun to get an occasional drink and enjoy each others company!
We were walking through the Aria and a guy told us we could get into the club (The Haze) for free, so we decided to go and dance for a bit. We were all glad that we didn't actually pay to get in (it is usually $20-$40 per person), it was fun but we didn't stay longer than about an hour or so.
I should mention that right after dinner Annie and I decided to put a dollar into some penny type slots and see what happened...well I turned my dollar into $28! I then put another dollar in and ended up walking away with $69! Seriously...it was so crazy! We all tried to play the same game again over the weekend and no one else won :(
On Friday we had an amazing breakfast across from the Bellagio fountains and then did some sightseeing and relaxing. We went to dinner at a fun Italian restaurant before the concert, rocked out to JT and then went to bed! We were not the all night party animals, it was so nice to get 3 nights of uninterrupted sleep and to not get woken up in the morning!
Annie and I were were a little pumped for the concert!
It makes it so much more fun if you are jazzed, so I decided to take pre-concert pics to show everyone's emotion prior to JT!
I think Annie and I won the excitement award :)
Who wouldn't be pumped for JT?!?!?
Our husbands were great sports though and danced through the night with us!
I'm so glad I got to share the experience with Jared!
Somewhere along the way we all thought Jay Z was opening for him and we were excited about that...unfortunately that wasn't the case but JT put on a great concert and he is a true entertainer.
He didn't have an opening performer and the concert was still 3 hours long with just him.
His set was amazing and along the way it actually moved and he came out to the middle of the arena and performed for quite awhile.
He danced,
sang,
played the piano,
played the guitar
and really performed for us!
It would have been more fun if I knew more of the songs because the last two songs were ones we knew and it was WAY more fun to sing along!
I'm sure JT was pooped at the end of the night because we definitely were!
Saturday we spent sightseeing, riding the New York New York roller coaster, eating some more and walking around the Wynn, Palazzo, and The Venetian.
This was the Cosmopolatian hotel...sooo pretty!
The Wynn had an amazing area where you can get drinks outside in front of a waterfall, at night the trees light up and there are different colored light shows...it was beautiful and one of the best nights!
We ended the night watching the Bellagio fountain for about an hour and then ended the night early again! We were going to go to another show but it was so expensive that we decided against it.
We had such a great time and it was so fun being with Justin and Annie. They are great travel friends who are relaxed, easy going, and up for anything (or nothing at all). We laughed a ton, had great conversation and are excited for our next trip together!
I'm sooooo thankful for the time I got to spend with Jared. It was much needed and much appreciated. It is rare (like years and years) rare when we get that much time alone together!
And here's a video of JT himself rocking it out and serenading us at his concert!
