Now I know how the other half lives!

Last weekend, I got the immense privilege of staying somewhere that I never would have gotten the chance to stay. You see, my older sister decided that since she won't be traveling to Italy in the next 3 years to see Little Sis, that we would make our Vegas stay one of celebration...and by that she meant that she would pay for us to spend the night in the lap of luxury!

Holy cow and YAY for us!

When we checked in to the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas, Big Sis went to the front desk and Little Sis, Mom and I (along with the 5 little kids and our assorted luggage) trooped toward the elevators to await her arrival with the room key.

Now let me tell you. The Bellagio is a big deal. From the moment you drive up to the hotel, the immense beauty is overwhelming.

And the people...well they are high class. And rather suspect of the Hillbilly's standing to the side of the casino, in front of the high-class, expensive gift shop store front. The ones with the mismatched luggage and Wal-Mart bags scattered on the floor around them. The ones with the three small children sprawled on homemade fleece blankets, whining about "how much longer we have to sit here" and the one small child with her oily snack covered fingers leaving prints all over the glass window. The ones who are well aware of the fact that they look like Hillbilly's and are therefore cranky and thinking thoughts of pulling out their shotguns and laying into all of those hoity-toity lookers on.

Needless to say, check in took a lot longer than we expected due to a credit card mishap (the company flagged her card because she had been shopping in South Dakota and several locations in California and then tried to put an enormous charge on it in Las Vegas for a hotel room!). By the time Big Sis came walking through the casino with the room keys, us Hillbilly's were ready to blow.

However, the room itself cured all ills (and all maniacal thoughts roaming through our heads). Why you ask? Because it wasn't just a hotel room (or two adjoining ones like we had originally reserved). It was a Suite! A Penthouse Suite to be exact! Yep! Holy cow and YAY for us!

The room was laid out like this... ...only the Bedroom on the top had two queen beds instead of just one king.

Seriously! That is where we stayed! Let me tell you some stats of our hotel room on that most glorious of nights...

~It had 5 bathrooms that included 2 steam showers, 2 jet tubs, 4 huge closets with robes in each, a baday toilet and free champagne looking bottles of shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash, shave gel, bath gel, and lotion as well as a razor and toothbrush/toothpaste!

~The bathroom also featured a scale called "The Thinner" that told you your weight if you were about 40 pounds lighter!

~There were 7 flat screen televisions (including one in each of the bathrooms!) and the biggest/main one had a DVD player hooked up to it.

~There was a mini-bar.

~A dining room table that seat 6 people very comfortably.

~A living room with a couch big enough to sleep all 5 small children!

~Amazing pieces of artwork. ~Views that were absolutely to die for (although weren't of the Dancing Fountains like we were originally led to believe!)

(Yeah, I know the picture is only of the Caesar's Palace across the street but it was still a great view!)

~And this? This is the bed I slept in. By myself. A wonderful, queen sized cloud of softness that cured me of any insomnia that I could possibly have possessed the moment I laid my head down on it's pillow of ecstasy.

(And no. That bear does not belong to one of the kids. It belongs to me. His name is Ripley. And just FYI, I took this picture with my sister asleep in the other bed and my nephew slumbering in a real crib at about 2 in the morning. That's just how I roll, sometimes.)

I'm telling you people, the place was amazing and well worth whatever price Big Sis paid for it. I enjoyed myself immensely. :) There was a lot more to the hotel that My mom and I explored and took pictures of but that is just going to have to wait for another post (if I ever get to it!) because there was just too much beauty for one blog post. You can go check it all out over here.

I am now thinking about using this as the location to go get married again. Any reason to go back!