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.

Last April, Dan and I spent two whole weeks in Las Vegas, while he was prepping and working the NAB convention. Two weeks is twice as long as I had ever previously spent in Las Vegas. Part of the trade-off for going so early, was we had to drive the rental truck with the show equipment, and check it into the convention center.

I'm not sure that I'd want to do it again, but the experience at the truck marshaling yard was fascinating.

We set off before dawn to start our long day. Of course, we made our customary breakfast stop at Peggy Sue's Diner. I've never seen Peggy Sue's so empty, there were just a couple of guys sitting at the counter.

Here's our truck.

Our truck was just a baby compared to the other trucks at the marshaling yard. The yard was just outside of the strip, and this being our first time, it was a little confusing. Dan took the truck to the scales, while I queued to get our number. Luckily, several of the truckers were very friendly and answered our questions about the process. Basically, it's a whole lot of waiting around for the union workers at the convention center to be ready to unload your truck. They unload in a way that makes sense for stuff entering the convention space based on your booth location.

We were given number 398, which didn't necessarily correspond to the order in which we arrived, as there were probably close to a thousand trucks in the yard ahead of us. We found a spot to park and placed the number on our dash, waiting to be called.

We knew the wait could be long, but we had no idea how long, so we came prepared with books and movies. This is going to sound unbelievable, but I had never seen Top Gun, so we watched it on Dan's iPhone. There was a food truck for coffee and snacks. The most amazing thing was watching the insane parking skills of big rig truckers, who maneuvered their enormous trucks into tight parking spaces. I was impressed!

Several hours later, we were called to head over to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Unfortunately, we arrived just as the union workers were heading on their lunch break, so we had to sit in the truck until they came back to unload everything. There was some good people watching at the convention center, and as someone who has never worked a trade show, it was cool to see the "behind the scenes" flurry.

The fun part was driving a now empty truck to our hotel, The Signature at MGM Grand. It's a bizarre thing to drive up to the valet with an UHaul. We got funny looks, but the valet staff was awesome. They found an out of the way place to park the truck, and they were very kind and helpful during our stay. In fact, all of the employees at The Signature, were rock stars.

The rooms are fabulous, especially for an extended stay, as they included a small kitchen. Two weeks is a long time to eat out every day, so we stocked up with groceries, and ate about half of our meals in the room. We loved staying at The Signature and would definitely stay here on future trips. It's entirely non-smoking and does not have a casino, yet it's a quick walk through a series of hallways, to reach the MGM Grand. The Signature has its own entrance and valet, which were a lot less crowded and easier to navigate than the MGM Grand.

Our view-

The Signature towers at night.

While Dan was hard at work over at the convention center, I was working on our travel business ( Easy as Pie Travel) in the hotel room. We even brought our Mac, so that I could have a proper office. In the afternoons, I took a break and went swimming. Each of the three Signature towers, has its own pool and spa, but guests at The Signature also have access to the main pool at the MGM Grand. The towers also have a deli, Starbucks, and a gift shop.

There was only one negative about our stay: Our first week was at the same time as a big Arbonne Conference that was being held at the MGM Grand. Our hotel had several conference attendees, and the room across the hall was being used as a hospitality suite, with door kept wide open during parties. It was mostly women attending and they were LOUD! It was hard for me to get work done, because they were so incredibly loud, as if they were the only ones on the floor. It was inconsiderate. They were also very pushy; pretty much every time I got into the elevator or went to the pool, I was approached with a sales pitch for Arbonne products. This even happened while I was trying to work out in the gym! I complained to the front desk and they apologized, explaining that they had fielded a lot of complaints, including staff who were being harassed to buy Arbonne! I can tell you this much, Arbonne could be the best product on earth, but after dealing with the rude convention goers, there is no way that I'd ever buy it. When the convention ended, The Signature was peaceful and the perfect hotel.

We had a little bit of downtime for Vegas adventures. Since the truck was too huge to drive around, we had an additional rental car, and we took a drive to Mount Charleston, a mountain just a short distance from the strip. It reminded me of Big Bear, minus the lake.

Speaking of our travel agency, we found this very appropriate sign.

Vegas meals are always amazing and Fiamma is delicious.

Foxy and I are on our way to a cocktail party.

It was Dan's co-worker, Amanda's first trip to Vegas. We took her to Fremont Street for Jello shots, yard drinks, and cheap steak (not to be included in my declaration of amazing Vegas meals). Then we showed her the pretty side of Vegas, with a stop at the Bellagio Conservatory. The conservatory is beautiful in spring, bursting with pink cherry blossoms.

Dan's best mate, Paul, was also here for business, visiting from England. We spent a few days with him, which included The Pinball Hall of Fame and the Bass Pro Shop. Dan and I love the Bass Pro Shop, but every time we take someone there from Europe, they don't exactly share in the excitement. They always seem a tad horrified. Luckily, Paul has a great sense of humor. He's horrified and smiling.

Paul got us back by taking us to the worst show in Las Vegas - The Australian Bee Gees Show.

I'm not a fan of the Bee Gees, but I was quite surprised by how many songs I recognized -"Oh, that's a Bee Gees song? I never knew." The Australian Bee Gees Show has been at the Excalibur for years, and it's performed in the same small theater as the Thunder From Down Under show.

I'm unashamed to admit that on a girl's weekend in Vegas, I went with friends to see Thunder From Down Under, and although it wasn't sexy, it was hilarious and entertaining. The Australian Bee Gees Show wasn't sexy or very entertaining, however, it was hilarious due to the people watching. It was a bizarre thing, because although the performers lacked energy (I felt the thousands of shows that preceded this one: the same thing, every night), the audience had plenty of enthusiasm. Drunken, rowdy, middle-age/middle-America, enthusiasm. One guy in front of us stood up on a table to dance, and tried to get his mortified wife to join him, before security intervened. It was an awesome spectacle, far more entertaining than what was happening on the stage. Towards the end of the set, they shine a spotlight on a small dance floor. get a disco ball spinning, and invite everyone to join the disco. You can just imagine what that looked like, again, it was awesome. The performers can sing, and they do a fair job at recreating the sound and look of the Bee Gees, but they are clearly tired of their gimmick. Their boredom is infectious.

The show was lackluster, but we continued the fun with gambling and chicken wings at Hooters. A great way to end our final evening in Las Vegas.