Week in Review - 8/13

I know, I know. I normally post my Week in Review post on Sunday, but it was the last day my sister was in town and I was still having too much fun celebrating my birthday. My 40th birthday is definitely one I will always remember. It was so special to have my family come to visit, and we had a great time!

We crammed in so many fun activities! Walking the Strip {a lot}, a helicopter tour, a pool day, hiking in the mountains, Hoover Dam. There were some very, very late nights and some early{ish} mornings. But mostly, there were good times catching up with my family that I haven't seen in way too long. Read my highlights below. 😊

Workouts:

Monday	Tone It Up Fitness Test Sandy Sweat video Squat+Leg Abduction (Day 27 of #ClarindaTurns40)
Tuesday	4.2 mile run Row&Press (Day 28 of #ClarindaTurns40)
Wednesday	Overhead Triceps Extension (Day 29 of #ClarindaTurns40) Walked the Strip in the afternoon (12,592 total steps for the day)
Thursday	4.0 mile birthday run (Day 30 of #ClarindaTurns40) Walked Fremont Street (19,083 total steps for the day, including the run)
Friday	4.0 mile hike up Mt Charleston Walked the Strip (22,600 total steps for the day, including the hike)
Saturday	Walked the Strip (21,335 total steps)
Sunday	Lots more walking! (15,932 steps for the day)

Highlights of the Week:

Flamingo Wildlife Habitat and the Bellagio Conservatory
The first group of visitors arrived late Tuesday night (around midnight), so we spent Wed walking the Strip with my parents and niece. We started at the Promenade between the Linq and the Flamingo. They all wanted In-N-Out burger, so we grabbed a bite to eat. Well, I just nibbled on the fries. :-D Then we headed to the Flamingo Wildlife Habitat. It's one of my favorite places on the Strip, and we got there just in time to watch the pelican feeding.

Just a couple of flamingos!

Pelican Feeding

Then we headed to the Bellagio to catch the water show and see the current display in the Conservatory. The water show seemed the shortest in my memory and was a little disappointing. :( But the conservatory never disappoints.

Helicopter Tour over the Strip
When Jeff started planning some surprises for my birthday, he came across a Groupon for a helicopter tour. It was such a fantastic experience! It was my first time in a helicopter, so I was a little nervous. Nothing to be nervous about, though. It was very smooth and the views were incredible! I would definitely do it again.


Pool Day on my actual birthday
I squeezed in my 4.0 mile birthday run in the morning before picking my sister up at the airport, and then we headed right to the cabana at the Stratosphere. It was a fun day in sun!

My sister, me, and my dad

My sister, her daughter, and me

After the pool day, we also went for dinner downtown at La Comida and then walked around Fremont Street. I was dead tired at the end of the day.

Hiking Fletcher Canyon Trail
We'd planned a hike for Friday, but I wasn't sure it was going to happen after the pool day fun! I'm so glad that we sucked it up and made it happen. It was a gorgeous hike with slightly cooler temps, lots of shade, and gorgeous views. We ended at 3.65 miles, so I made us walk around the parking lot a bit to make it a 4.0 mile hike. 😂

I'm a tree!

Mirage Volcano and the Wynn
After our hike, we relaxed for a few hours and then met up with one of my nephews. He had slept through the pool day, so it was the first I'd see him during his trip. We caught the Mirage volcano show at 10PM.

And then walked to the Wynn to see their water show and lobby.

Coca-Cola Store, M&M World and New York New York
My parents and niece left Saturday evening, so we did a little more walking before saying goodbye. We started walking through the Miracle Mile Shops and then headed to the Coca-Cola Store and M&M World. It was hot and we were all pretty tired, but those shops are pretty fun. After saying goodbye to those leaving, we headed to New York New York. We stopped at the Chocolate Bar for a couple martinis to share.

And I got photobombed on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Night Out with my Sister
We got all dolled up and headed back out to the Strip. We wanted to at the very least catch the water show at the Bellagio. :-) We started with some delicious pizza at Flour & Barley.

Got suckered into taking pictures with some hot G.I. Joes. For $20! OMG. I really didn't think it would be that much.

Had some delicious drinks and checked out Hyde.

We did catch the water show, and it was way better than the daytime one on Wed. But, I didn't take any pictures during it.

In-N-Out and the Hoover Dam
Sunday was my sister's last day. We stopped at In-N-Out burger, and it was delicious! We went to one off the Strip, and it was so much better than on Wed on the Strip.

Then we drove out to the Hoover Dam. Well, to the bypass bridge, which we walked across to see some incredible views of the dam.

We stopped at the Overlook, too. Gorgeous, but always a little sad to see how low the water is nowadays.

And thus concluded my amazing countdown to my 40th birthday as well as the many birthday celebrations. This was probably one of the best birthdays I've ever had, and I'm grateful to have been able to celebrate with a fitness challenge as well as fun times with my family.

How was your week?
What's one of your most memorable birthdays?
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I'm linking up today with guest host Michelle as well Tricia & Holly for the Weekly Wrap. Have fantastic week, everyone!