The hubby and I went to Las Vegas for our honeymoon a few years ago, so when his company said they would fly us out there for a weekend, and pay for our hotel room, we jumped at the opportunity. But what about our Cookie Girl? Well, she doesn’t turn 2 until July, so her flight would be free, so we decided to take her along.

I researched a ton about where we should take her and what we should do, before our trip, trying to be as budget conscious as I could–we budgeted $600 for food and activities, if you were curious. (After all, I’m in my second trimester, and we’re saving for our second child.) I also researched a lot about traveling by plane with a toddler, since this would be our first experience flying.

So, what worked for us on the plane? Honestly, I think because our flight was so early, it worked in our favor, and Cookie Girl slept on the plane. We loaded the iPad with shows and movies, but she wasn’t really interested in them since there was so much to see on the plane. The only thing that did interest her was a drawing app my hubby had on there. We also brought lots of snacks. And when she started getting fussy we’d sing with her, but overall, she did really well on the plane.

As far as Vegas went, Cookie Girl stayed on east coast time, which was fine, since it was such a short trip. But that meant we were getting up before most places opened (and in our hotel room before the craziness began on the strip). Thankfully, our first day we’d grabbed some snacks for our hotel room–string cheese, yogurt, peanuts, beef jerky, etc.–and I’d filled my suitcase up with stuff like popcorn, cheerios, yogies, and fruit snacks, so we had some things to snack on before breakfast and in between meals.

Let’s be honest, to a 20 month-old everything is new, exciting, and entertaining. Even the flashing lights in the Vegas airport had Cookie Girl saying “wow.” But there were a few places we wanted to make sure we took her during our visit:

1. The Flamingo Habitat (free) at the Flamingo Hotel. It’s not huge, but it entertained her. She loved seeing the “mingos,” koi fish, ducks, and turtles.
2. The Bellagio Conservatory (free). They had a Japanese Cherry Blossom theme this spring and the flowers were beautiful.
3. The Bellagio Fountain (free). As we left the Bellagio we stopped to watch the fountain show. The funny thing was, Cookie Girl was more excited about a rainbow that shone through the glistening water. She kept yelling, “rainbow, rainbow!”
4. The Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. The other times we’d taken Cookie Girl to the aquarium she was too young to appreciate it, but this time she loved it. She kept saying “hi” to the fish and the shark.

We wanted to take Cookie Girl on the High Roller (Ferris Wheel), and let her see the fountain show (free) at the Cesar’s Palace but we just didn’t get a chance. All-in-all it was a great weekend; long, but we enjoyed the time spent with each other.

If you’ve traveled to Vegas with a toddler, what’s been your experience? What places did you enjoy taking your little one?