Thursday, June 25, 2026
Yesterday, after our pretty late night out on the town the night before, I was feeling lazy!
We ended up lounging by the pool for a long time.
It was honestly so nice. Hot but not like HOT in the morning yet. RELAXING!
Finally dragged myself up to shower and get ready. We didn’t head out until almost noon!
The plan was to explore a big chunk of the strip that we hadn’t seen yet.
Flamingo:
Our first stop was to walk through the Flamingo wildlife habitat area. This is the entrance to their GO pool which is basically a big party pool, ha. 21+. (We peeked in and it looked crazy busy and not my scene, music blaring etc! But it’s a vibe for sure.)
A pretty area with real flamingos:
We paused for a little bit in the air conditioning in the casino. My mom decided to throw away a few bucks 😜 and show the boys how it’s done.
Asher had brought $60 cash and wanted Iván to play them for him on the roulette table. He specifically wanted all $60 on all black.
Big winner! Hahaha. His $60 became $120!
It was fun though.
We made our way down the strip to grab some food.
Chick Fil A lunch:
A walk through Planet Hollywood:
Next stop was my favorite!! A newer one since I had been here last, the Cosmopolitan.
It has this insane multi-level chandelier, with a beautiful bar inside:
If Ivan and I come back alone someday, I think this is where I want to stay! I loved the whole vibe in this hotel.
The casino is beautiful too.
Another bar on main level:
The lobby is so cool:
Cut through a big mall to keep going:
Next stop, the Waldorf Astoria.
Main thing here was to take the elevator to the 23rd floor where they have a couple cool bars/restaurants and a place for afternoon tea. The views are awesome from up there. Would love to go back at night for sunset.
Kept going…. we definitely needed all the indoor breaks to cool off. We walked SO much!!!!
The Park MGM has this great upscale food market. We weren’t hungry but this area would be fun to eat or drink at.
Wandered around here a bit. Ethan commented that he really likes how we’re just doing a lot of free exploring on this trip! Everything is so cool to look at.
Then on to New York, New York:
The outside of this one is the coolest part! The best view is really from across the street. The inside is neat too though.
Walked through Excalibur, the medieval themed hotel:
Luxor, the one Ethan was most excited to see. Shaped like a big pyramid, all Egyptian themed:
He said it was his favorite and if he comes back when he turns 21 he wants to stay here. 🙂
Mandalay Bay is the last main hotel along the strip. After this, we turned around and headed back.
Opted to take the tram from Mandalay Bay back to Excalibur. I wish there was a tram that went all the way up and down the strip! (I walked 22,073 steps yesterday in flip flops. 🤪)
All of our legs were TIRED.
Everything is so big and spread out. Takes a long time to walk anywhere and then you often have to go up and over big pedestrian bridges etc which add more time (but make sense here).
Bellagio fountains by day:
We then spent over an hour trying to figure out where to watch the USA game. The boys had gone back to room, my parents and I went to check out a beer garden place by Paris, and Ivan had split off to go run an errand.
My parents and I ended up at a place that kinda worked but we couldn’t get a table for all 6 of us, so would be split at 2 tables and the beer menu was meh.
Everything was getting busier by the minute through as so many people were coming out to watch the game.
Finally Ivan texted that he was able to get a great table right in front of the big screen at the Tilted Kilt (where we watched Mexico the night before).
So we gave up our other tables (hadn’t ordered yet) and went over there. Turned out to be a good decision. Super fun vibe, packed with people for the game, etc. Whole place erupted in cheers when USA scored. (Boo on final outcome though.)
The game:
After the game, my energy was dwindling a bit. Game hadn’t even started until like 7 so well after 9 before it ended and we got out of there. We were coming up on 10 hours since we left the hotel room and hadn’t been back!
I had eaten during the game but my dad wanted to try the tacos we had told them about. 🙂
Boys headed back; we took my parents for tacos. (More walking! 🥵)
Ivan and I debated going back down to a casino for a little bit after that, but I was tired and my feet hurt and I was pretty done!
Got back to our room a little after 10, made some tea, collapsed on my nice, cool bed, puttered on my phone a bit and went to bed “early” lol by like 11.
A very fun family day!
Today we were planning to go to Hoover Dam, but just decided to switch that to our departure day because we have such a late flight. So chilling by pool this morning, going to lunch to watch part of France/Norway game and then I think doing Mob Museum and Fremont Street/downtown Vegas this evening.
GRATEFUL KAE 