Haha, just kidding. Well, kind of.
See, that's the weird thing about Vegas: the casinos are home to all of the fun stuff. (well, most of the fun stuff). I wanted Scotty to see Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and our friends, the Bickler twins, were headed that way for the afternoon. So for the second time in three days, I headed down to the Strip, this time with no feathers on my head but with a Bear in tow.
He loved Shark Reef. Let me say that again: LOVED. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I thought the child might want to sleep there for the night, he had so much fun.
Scotty had never really been exposed to an aquarium before, so why not, in traditional Vegas style, start with 1.6 million gallons of salt water? Go big or go home, folks.
And some not so little fish. There were some giant sharks in the tank that made me step back a bit and wonder just how thick this glass was. Of course, I was tempted to make a few lawyer/shark jokes as we stood and watch the creatures glide by, but I bit my tongue.
(Brian can thank me later.)
Afterward, we split off from the Bickler bunch and headed to the Burger Bar for dinner. The Burger Bar? You ask...yes, Hubert Keller's other restaurant. No, I'm not stalking him (::cough::) but I just thought that if he happened to be there, and just happened to walk by, and caught a glance at our cute little chubby Bear, than maybe he would just happened to be forced to acknowledge my presence.
And of course, he wasn't there. No dice. Oh, well.
I felt silly asking the waitress for a table for 1.5. (I quickly clarified it and said, "One and a highchair, please" after she gave me a weird look.) And in our first solo Mom-Bear dining experience, the little guy exceeded my expectations. He happily played with his bop-bops until dinner arrived, and then he noshed on his macaroni and cheese squares like a big boy. He munched on a few dill pickle spears (this is definitely my child) and snacked on some sweet potato fries, and for dessert, I ordered a scoop of chocolate ice cream - two spoons. I even let him eat the cherry.
It's really fun now that he's getting older, as he feels more like my buddy each day. I can't wait for more Mom-Bear adventures that lie ahead.