Summer 2018: Las Vegas with Kids- Red Rocks Canyon, Cancun Resort, and Yummy Food

Our 2018 “staycation” continued with a three-night trip to Las Vegas. We have been to Vegas so many times, that it almost seems like a second home. Although Vegas is certainly an adult holiday destination, it can also be a great place for a family vacation. We’ve taken my step-kids many times and they love it. On this trip, my step-daughter had just turned eleven and my step-son was nearly nine.

Of course, a Las Vegas trip with kids does not mean casinos, booze, and clubs ( honestly, clubs haven’t been part of my Vegas vacations since my 20’s), however, it doesmeans plenty of pool time, attractions, and creative food.

We’ve stayed at nearly every hotel on the strip and although we would have loved to stay at the Waldorf Astoria, a kid-centric trip gave us a different kind of focus. We picked a “new-to-us” hotel, The Cancun Resort.

The Cancun Resort is actually a Diamond Timeshare property. We are not timeshare owners and we are not interested in getting free nights for attending a presentation. This said, we have discovered that staying at timeshare properties and just paying for them like a normal hotel room, is a great option. They are usually a good value and the rooms are often apartment style, with a kitchen and laundry. Having these features isn’t as important when we are traveling as a couple, but they make a huge difference when we are on vacation with the kids. The kitchen is especially important, as we save money and have an easy way to cook kid-friendly food.

Now, there is a little juggling when it comes to the timeshare hard-sell. They will try to get you to attend a presentation and they will throw perks at you, such as show tickets or free nights at their other hotels. If you’re interested, go for it. However, if you’re not, you just need to be very clear and firm. They may call your room and present you with the offer multiple times- be firm, they will eventually go away. We didn’t experience too much of a hard-sell at The Cancun Resort, but it does happen at timeshare properties.

Although this was my first time staying at The Cancun Resort, I had visited the property in 2004. My godparent’s stayed here during my first wedding and actually threw a family brunch in their suite. During my first visit, I was very impressed with the pool complex, which is what made me consider it for this vacation.

Pool time was our primary objective.

As with many Vegas hotels, The Cancun Resort has a beautiful lobby and friendly staff, who even allowed us to check-in early.

We stayed in a one bedroom, two full-bath suite with a kitchen and balcony. The kids slept on the pull-out couch in the living room. This situation fit our needs perfectly, providing plenty of space for us to spread out.

And our balcony with a lovely parking lot view. A pool view would have been visually nicer, but admittedly the parking lot was mostly quiet. I always use the hotel balconies for a quiet place to read.

The room was a little shabby and in need of a remodel, but it met our basic needs and was not so terrible, that we wouldn’t return.

Besides…

The pool was fabulous. It had multiple slides and was enormous, plenty of space for everyone, even on a busy summer day. We never had trouble finding lounge chairs- which is a big deal. On a previous trip, we stayed at the MGM Grand and the pool scene was a nightmare; completely over-crowded with no spare lounge chairs to be found. The pool complex at The Cancun Resort has a nice layout and is spacious.

The kids loved the pool, but the resort also caters to adults with delicious tropical cocktails served in hollowed out pineapples and an adult-only area with hammocks!!!

Unlike the bigger hotels that have difficult parking situations, it was easy to grab our car from the lot and head out to explore Vegas. We took the kids to Red Rock Canyon, where we had a geology lesson and saw native tortoises.

We hit the strip for a visit to The World of Coke, Hershey store, and people watching.

Next to swimming, eating is always a top Vegas activity. On this trip, we went to Egg Works, which has become my favorite breakfast spot. The Greek scramble (half-size is enough, trust me) is a must and make sure to try their homemade banana nut muffins. The even made Mickey Mouse-esque pancakes for the kids!

At Creamberry, we joined a long queue to experience their instagram famous “Ice Cream Burrito.”

Check out their brag-board..

This monster of a dessert included multiple scoops of ice cream and toppings (of your choice) wrapped -up like a burrito in cotton candy.

It was a little sickly, but definitely worth the experience. One burrito was plenty to share among the four of us.

Creamberry is also known for other tempting treats; such as shaping ice cream into roses and fun cookie creations.

We loved Creamberry so much, that we returned the next day. The kids got normal scoops of ice cream and the adults had Italian affogatos: espresso poured over ice cream and topped with whipped cream. I discovered affogatos a few years ago and they might be my favorite coffee treat. I’m thinking a splash of Bailey’s might up the affogato experience. Thoughts?

The other somewhat strange thing that we discovered on this vacation, is how much the kids love to look at model homes. At the time, we were considering buying property in Vegas and looking at different communities was really fun. I think we were all dreaming of having a private pool. The kids actually requested to go look at model homes, rather than having pool time at the hotel. My mind was blown. In the end, we moved to Colorado, but it was a lot of fun looking at the options in Vegas. Lake Las Vegas in particular, is a beautiful community.

England 2018: British Food and Newbury

I’ve reached the final trip report from my 2018 vacation in England. For my final post in the series, I’m combining both a review of British foods and pictures from Dan’s hometown of Newbury. Newbury is also where much of Dan’s family lives, so it is usually our base for our England trips.

Let’s start with Newbury. It’s a beautiful city with a vibrant high street. Victoria Park is a large green space with a pagoda, toy boat pond, and lion statues. There are storybook-esque canals running through the town. It’s a fairly large city, but our family lives walking distance to the city center, making it very easy to navigate, especially as on this vacation, I stayed with my mother-in-law, while Dan had business trips all over Europe. I was a five minute walk to the high street and my mother-in-law’s house is just a short walk from my sister-in-law’s house. I bounced between the two to see everyone.

Here are some pictures of the town. My niece, Charis, is in the picture with the lion statues. I had the pleasure of a shopping/movie/sushi day out with her during my trip!

My favorite meal in England is Sunday roast dinner at my sister-in-law, Ali’s house. Check out all of the vegetables and the puffy Yorkshire pudding. My mouth is watering just looking at this picture!

Cocktails are always a must at Ali’s house and she makes them look fancy too! He cool straws and garnishes make me want to up our cocktail game.

And, as if the great food and fun family times were not enough, they have the most adorable gold retriever named Wilf.

We tried the corporate, chain-restaurant version of a Sunday roast dinner at Toby Carvery. Note, it is not “Toby’s Carvery,” but “Toby Carvery.” Grammar issues aside, I had been obsessed with trying this restaurant ever since my first trip to England. There is something that I can’t quite put my finger on, that makes me think of Colonial Williamsburg. Plus, any place whose logo is “Home of the Roast” is calling my name.

Toby Carvery is a buffet-style restaurant, where you get one pass through the food line to pile up your plate with various roast meats and traditional sides = vegetables, Yorkshire puddings, stuffing, roast potatoes, et… Patrons can choose between a regular portion or extra large plate. We went with the regular plate and we were STUFFED. It is so much food that we could not handle dessert. Toby Carvery does not compare to Sunday roast at Ali’s house, but it was pretty good. I’d definitely look forward to going back, especially for the roast beef.

Another traditional meal is the “full-english” breakfast. We have enjoyed this many times at the Hilton in Newbury. It took time for me to embrace this breakfast, but now I love it. There are variations on what can be included, for example, black pudding- a blood sausage, is traditional. However, my perfect combination is shown below = eggs, hash brown type of potato, mushrooms, baked beans, sausage, and British bacon ( which is similar to Canadian bacon.) The bacon is my favorite. It’s vastly superior to American-style bacon.

I spent one week at my mother-in-law’s house during this trip and she spoiled me with food. She bought many desserts and her favorite treats for me to try.

Plus, she took me out for many fabulous meals in Newbury. The best was at a French restaurant called Cote Brasserie, where I had an amazing fish pie.

We went for cake and tea at a French bakery called Paul. The carrot cake was incredible, but I made the mistake of ordering iced tea. A top tip: if you order iced tea in England, know that it will automatically come sweetened. It won’t just be sweet, but it will be southern sweet-tea sweet. Sweet tea, when you are expecting unsweetened tea, is quite a shock!

The desserts didn’t stop there…Jan took me to afternoon tea at Angelica’s Terrace Cafe. It was raining, so we couldn't enjoy the terrace with views of Newbury, but we were cozy inside with hot tea and cakes.

Twice, I went out to see my brother-in-law’s band, Beatle juice. Steve, my bother-in-law, is a really talented guitarist and even has a few groupies!

Beatle Juice puts on a fun show. I saw them play at a venue in Newbury, called Document House and in the nearby town of Thatcham at The Taste of England Bar and Restaurant. It was here that I discovered Swedish cider. Swedish cider is the best drink ever!

I never met a Hobnob that I didn’t like and on this trip, I ate my way through several packages. Hobnobs are my favorite commercially made cookie, especially the milk chocolate Hobnobs. Yummmmm

My other favorite is Biscoff. On the Biscoff packages sold in the United States, there is a claim that Biscoff is “Europe’s Favorite Cookie with Coffee.” This quite specific claim was omitted from the packaging on the cookies in England. The plot thickens!

I tried mango flavored Coke, which was strange and chemical tasting.

I love poking around English grocery stores. The Mexican food section is always very entertaining.

And we found this unappetizing gem.

Which, I must confess looks like something my mom would have bought in the mid- 80’s, when we were all aglow with excitement over our new microwave. She would have been proud to nuke this and serve it to me for lunch.

As always, our time in England was filled with family time and creating more memories. I wish we lived closer or that it was easier to visit.

England 2018: Beale Wildlife Park

Beale Wildlife Park is located very close to my husband’s hometown and every time we visit England, we would drive past the road sign. I often wondered about Beale Park and imagined it to be another Highclere Castle type of estate. It turns out, it is an actual park, with amazing gardens and animals. Beale Park is exactly the type of place that I love and we finally visited it on our 2018 trip.

On a Saturday afternoon, Dan, Jan (my mother-in-law), and I, spent a few hours at Beale Wildlife Park. The parking lot is massive, but luckily it was not very crowded, even for a sunny weekend.

Admission prices were fair: 11 pounds for adults and 9.50 for seniors.

I’m not sure about the connection, but the front of the park a single old poster for Titanic. It also had a sweet drawing and thank you message from local children.

Peacocks, whether art or the real-deal, were all over Beale Wildlife Park. They were definitely the park mascot!

We started by walking around the various themed gardens, which were in transition between spring and summer. The abundance of statues, especially lion statues, was quite impressive!

We took a refreshment break at a quick-serve restaurant in the park. British cakes and sandwiches are the best. I don’t know why they are so much better than their American counterparts?

Refreshed, we moved on to the animals. The animal section, which included many smaller animals, like birds and guinea pigs, also had some monkeys. The lemurs were adorable. I always love animals, but this is where the concentration of visitors had gathered, including many excited children, so we just took a brief look. This part of the park, also had a children’s train and playground.

I can imagine that if I lived nearby, that I would be a frequent visitor to Beale Wildlife Park. It is a wonderful place for the whole family, a great escape from urban life. The park is big enough, that you can explore the grounds and truly feel like you are alone with nature.