Surprise of the Century

To some of you, this will be old news. To others, not so much. Troy turned 30 last week Wednesday. Just after our wedding last year, I started to think about what I could do for his 30th birthday - something awesome. I knew I'd have to plan ahead as I wanted to do something really special, and it'd cost more money than I could spend at once, without saving. So I began to save.

About that time, Troy sold his car, and gave me the money he got for selling it, to put towards another bill. I didn't put it towards that bill, but put it in my savings account (which he doesn't really have access to), as my float. Over time, I ended up paying back my float money, and saving up money for our birthday adventure.

I figured I better plan a diversion, as well - in case he was onto the fact that I have a surprise brewing. SO I planned a surprise party, and despite the fact that I called him from our home number, and told him I was out painting pottery - I managed to pull off the surprise, with the help from a few friends.

Finally November 21st came, and I woke Troy up at 4am to tell him that it was time to get up. He asked me if it was ok if he went back to sleep. I told him "nope - we have a plane to catch". He said "no, really?" over and over and over, until I finally managed to get him up - and believe that his co-worker would be by our house at 5am to pick us up, and take us to the airport where we would catch our flight to Vegas.

Despite being very tired, and Troy being sick, we managed to get ready and off to the airport at 5am, and arrived at the airport with loads of time to check in, and catch our 7am flight.

Off to Phoenix (we got to watch Transformers - which Troy's been really looking forward to seeing), and from Phoenix to Vegas. We arrived at our hotel around noon Vegas time, and checked into The Venetian. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Vegas, try to stay here - it was the most fantastic hotel ever. Our room was gorgeous, with a sunken living room, 3 flat screen tv's and at least 3 phones. King sized bed, Marble 6 piece bathroom, with a view of the Las Vegas strip, and 3 of the Venetians 7 pools below. We were on the 10th floor. It was a fantastic hotel. We ordered lots of room-service, and spent a lot of time exploring the huge hotel. There's a mall, with water canal's winding its way through them, with the sky being something quite indescribable. The Venetian is also home to the "Blue Man Group" whom we saw from the 3rd row, as well as Wayne Brady, whom we saw from the 2nd row. Also, as previously mentioned the Venetian has 7 pools. I think they're going for the "Roman Baths" theme, because they all have varying temperatures, so one is warm, then hotter, hotter, hotter. It was fabulous.

Other than our grand hotel, we took a night flight, helicopter ride over the city and had many amazing views. Then we dressed up, and went to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant which is a 1/2 size replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The restaurant is about 1/3 of the way up, and overlooks the fountains of the Bellagio. We had a magnificent meal, while we overlooked the Las Vegas strip as well as the fountains.

We had the pleasure of seeing the Cirque Du Soleil performance "O" which is their water show, only in Vegas. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen, and I spent much of the show with my hand over my mouth in amazement of what was going on. I would go see that show $1000 more times if I could. WOW.

We toured the Las Vegas strip, taking in things like: Siegfried and Roy's Dolphin and Tiger Habitat, The Forum at Caesar's Palace, the Lions at MGM, the Buffets at both the Mirage and Treasure Island, The Museum of Modern Art, Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum (where I nearly killed a stranger in the creepy scary part, and likely made him deaf in at least one ear), The Guggenheim Museum, we took a ride on the roller coaster at New York - (I closed my eyes throughout the entire ride cause I was scared).

We had a fantastic vacation, and it was a blast to give the one I love so much, such a fantastic birthday present. Thanks to all the people who kept the secret, and also those who helped to pull it off.