Vegas, Baby!

The 3 of us are off to Vegas-- SAP had a technical conference there, Ryan had to go, Eunice said "not without me," so we decided to make a little two day vacation out of it! Spencer's first trip on a plane... a warmup for our big trip to Hawaii in January!



Spencer was actually fantastic on the plane-- the guy next to us is just feigning despair...we had no idea that he saw us taking the photo!


Where else but Vegas could we settle into our palatial top-floor suite at the Veneitian and roll our 2 month old baby down for a fancy midnight dinner at the base of a 20 foot Buddha, set to the beats of a DJ spinning upstairs? Tao was our hippest dinner out with Spencer yet-- the Kobi Sashimi, Sea Bass over asparagus, and a bottle of Reisling. Welcome to Las Vegas!


Spencer enjoying a little late night nurishment, Eunice enjoying the view over the strip from the living room of our suite at the Venetian.


Spencer gets dressed and ready for his first big day out in Las Vegas!


Ryan spent Tuesday inside the conference center-- Eunice and Spencer had a slightly more pleasant day exploring the pools and shops around the hotel. Let's hope the running water didn't give Spencer any ideas...


Spencer asking Eunice: "So where is Dad's next business trip?" She doesn't have the heart to tell him that it is in Germany... far less glamorous.


Ryan got a couple hours off at the end of the day for a quick dip in the Las Vegas heat.


Vegas dinner #2-- this time at an "outdoor" cafe along Venice's "Grand Canal," complete with singing gondoliers and St. Mark's Square. The only difference from the real thing? A never changing sky, which is actually a painted dome over the restaurants and shops. (Truman Show, anyone?) But the "outdoor" environment was great for a meal with the little guy... 100 yards in the stroller on the "cobblestone" streets combined with ambient noise were a sure bet to put him fast to sleep. The family next to us at dinner had 2 hapa kids of their own... they told us to enjoy the easy traveling while Spencer is young, because it doesn't get any easier! One thing is fore sure-- we defintely felt like the center of attention carrying around such a cutie.


Walking the strip for another late night jaunt-- our first excursion outside of the hotel (why leave, really?). Highlights included the sexed-up pirate show with fireworks at Treasure Island (now rebranded "ti") and these huge waterfalls pictured above outside Wynn hotel and casino. We discovered the main disadvantage of pushing around a stroller everywhere, especially in a city like Vegas with non-stroller-friendly escalators to take you up and over every cross street.... our little walk involved 6 different 1 story elevator rides!


The end of our final night in Vegas. We had such a good and easy time with Spencer along that we talked about joining forces on all future business trips. The next morning was a little bit of wake-up call... It took us four times as long as normal to get ready, and we ended up missing our flight home. Oh well-- Spencer played the slots at the airport and paid for the entire trip! :)