Babymoon in Atlantic City 2014

When I was pregnant with James we had a "stabymooon" which is a word Allison made up to help me describe a cross between a babymoon and "staycation." The word "staycation" was all the rage back then because the media had to find a way to talk about people being poor in the new economy in a way that didn't sound totally depressing. But since we live in New York, staying nearby still allowed us to do basically anything we could imagine.

This time, we waited a little longer, and I was a little wiser to the fact that walking too much would be unpleasant, so I thought it would be nice to just soak in a hotel pool somewhere.  Hotel room rate comparison revealed that the cheapest rate anywhere in our vicinity was actually in Atlantic City. I guess the theory is that you will make up for the cheap room rate by spending money on gambling and food at the casino. Plus, the Borgata has a much nicer pool than we could get locally.

James's first time at a casino

Gambling all my pennies on wishes in the fountain

When we got there Kevin stood online behind hundreds of senior citizens waiting to check in early while I entertained James with a walk around the Borgata. As soon as we were checked in we changed into our bathing suits and went for a swim. Two interesting things: one is that it's kind of liberating to be so huge. It felt really awesome to wear a bathing suit and not suck in my tummy. Second, going swimming in my 3rd trimester was accidental genius. The minute I stepped into the water, the reduced gravity felt like a huge relief on my back. It was like handing the baby to someone else to hold for a minute. I could lie on my stomach. I could even bend a little at the waist. It was magical.

James and I are all suited up

For James, the swimmies took some getting used to, and he alternated between being afraid and clingy and trying to assert his almost-3-year-old independence. But we couldn't get him to try floating on his own until it was almost time to go to dinner. He loved the pool though.

Clingy fun in the pool

Trying to teach him to kick or tread water

Clingy fun with Dada

Trying to dunk Dada

Family picture on a timer!

Look Ma! No hands! (OMG,look at that cute face!)

Promptly starts swimming away

We all took quick showers before dinner, which was itself an experience for James since he usually only takes baths. He seemed to enjoy the shower a lot as long as it didn't get his face wet at all. Ha. We went to dinner at a casual noodles place called N.O.W. where you had to sit at long tables with strangers. At least James was decently good at the restaurant and even ate a lot of dinner. He even got almost an entire mango juice to himself.

Walking to dinner inside the Borgata

Me and baby girl at dinner

After dinner, James and I shared a big gelato at Borgata Gelato, then we went to bed. Kevin went gambling for a little while as part of his pre-baby relaxation. I was happy to have gone to bed with James, when James woke up super early the next morning. After a big breakfast we went swimming again before checkout. This time James was a lot more comfortable with trying to swim back and forth between me and Kevin or being shuttled around by us in the pool. A very successful (and pleasantly short) babymoon overall. We agreed that James had the most fun, and when we got home he declared that he didn't want to be home, he wanted to "go back to the big house," which is what he decided to call the Borgata. Maybe in another 18 years, buddy.

Sharing gelato.

Our last visit to a casino was in Vegas in July.

Las Vegas, NV 2013

We drove to Las Vegas for a fun night out. I've never been to Vegas or Nevada before so I didn't know what to expect. I don't enjoy gambling and we weren't planning on seeing a show, so I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I did! It's hard to explain what I love about it, but let me try. First off, it's totally cheesy. This might sound like a bad thing, but I think there is a place for everything. Cheesiness invading day-to-day life can be threatening to living an authentic life. But cheesiness in Vegas is a fun release from real life. For example, our hotel was an Egyptian-style pyramid. Ridiculous but fun. The hotel next to us looked like a castle. The strip has replicas of both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Eiffel Tower a short distance from one another, as if the two hotels were attempting to out-cheese each other. Feel free to use that as an expression: "out-cheese each other."

Welcome to Nevada!

See our pyramid in the distance?

The inside of our pyramid hotel (The Luxor)

The other thing I liked was that our room was really nice but extremely affordable. It cost less than we spend on economy hotels in other parts of the country. This because they expect that on average you will spend a lot more on gambling. Except I don't gamble, and on average, Kevin wins a little modest amount whenever he gambles.

Nice room with a  view (Kevin is bummed because we couldn't Facetime James)

Crazy view out of our window!

I also liked the general "fun night out" vibe of Vegas. We were only there in the evening, but the way the hotels and casinos are set up, they are dark all day long so it always feels like it's a fun night out even if it's early afternoon and you haven't even left your hotel yet. I feel like that has a lot of potential if you're body is still in a different time zone. It also has a lot of promise if like me, you prefer to party in the afternoon when you have a lot of energy, rather than in the evening when you're tired.

Drinks at Aurora, our hotel bar

The strip could have better more direct access over the highways or better signs through the hotels if you try to move inside, but generally, I liked being able to walk along the strip rather than having to drive or take a cab somewhere far away. I might have been a little sensitive though since temperatures were above 100 degress and my shoes were a little uncomfortable, but overall, walking up and down outside is part of  the fun.

Walking to the strip

Fun on the strip with Showgirls! Kevin looks pleased.

We had dinner at a Thai restaurant called Sea, and I was a little dubious because we have really good food in New York, but it was amazing. I wish it had been less amazing or that the portions were smaller because I definitely ate too much. It made the rest of my walk both more necessary and more difficult.

Fountain show at the Bellagio, walking along the strip after dinner

The strip at night

I even liked going into the casinos even though I didn't personally participate. Some of them are really fun to walk around. The Cosmopolitan was the fanciest one I saw, probably because it's relatively new compared to the others. It's cheese factor was low, however, compared to more playful ones like Paris where everything was designed to look like Parisian sites and bistros. Kevin did take advantage of the gambling. He enjoys being able to make random sports bets in Vegas since there are only a few places in the country where you can do that. He also won a little money at black jack. So overall, a very successful date night for both of us.

The Cosmopolitan casino