Blogging Event: Johnny Rockets Las Vegas

What a fun way to kick off my 1 year blogiversary with an actual blogging event! I've been getting my feet wet with attending movie screenings as "Press" in the past, but I actually got the courage and opportunity to attend my 1st blogging event! I was invited to join Johnny Rockets in celebrating their 27th Anniversary at their Flamingo Hotel location. Many veteran bloggers and Johnny Rockets staff (Rocketeers) welcomed me with open arms and I had a blast.

Johnny Rockets is located in the Flamingo Hotel's food court and you could immediately find it because it's the only restaurant there with the diner feel. I was greeted with so many friendly faces and yummy food and drinks. As I checked in to the event, there was a lady there creating art out of ketchup! How cool is that?!

The restaurant is known for their all-American favorites like their juicy 1/3-pound hamburgers, crispy American fries, classic sandwiches, and rich, delicious hand-dipped shakes and malts. They had servers walking around with samples of each, and every thing I sampled was a little piece of heaven. There was a Rocketeer dressed in a cute shake costume handing out shake and samples. She was definitely the tray to look out for all night. Surprisingly I liked the chocolate shake more than the strawberry! You all know I'll eat almost anything if it involves strawberries, and I'll choose strawberries over any other flavor any day but the chocolate shake was so rich and creamy. Regardless, both were super yummy. I did see a cookies & cream shake floating around but every time she got back to me they'd be gone. I'd take that as another yummy shake to add to the list ha ha.

After quick blogger mingling and food sampling, the President and CEO of Johnny Rockets, John Fuller, and President of the International Division, Steve Devine introduced themselves and told us a little about the company. Aside from the Las Vegas Strip, I see Johnny Rockets at our local mall and JAM always wants to eat there because the dancing employees that always grasp his attention. BUT, Did you know that Johnny Rockets is an international company and they're even found on cruise ships?! How cool is that? Mr. Fuller said that a Johnny Rockets can be found in 30 states, 20 countries, and 11 Royal Caribbean cruise ships. We also got to meet the owner of this local Johnny Rockets franchise and he explained that in addition to the 2 mall and 3 casino locations they already have in Las Vegas, they plan to open up even more in the near future.

I also got the opportunity to step into their kitchen and get a 20-minute Grillology lesson. P.S. Thank God their burgers aren't flame-broiled because the half a can of hairspray holding up my sock bun wouldn't have been too happy hehe. Anyways, they had two managers show us how to properly grill their burger and achieve their perfectly toasted bun to pair it with. All of their burgers are made fresh to eat. You can order a burger with ground beef, ground turkey, chicken breast or even Boca Burger. They season it with their secret seasoning that contains 38 different seasons and spices. The key to a juicy burger is to only flip the burger ONCE (I need to tell Mahal that hehe). I was super close to the cooked burger so I was low-key drooling the whole time she was describing the process because of all the wonderful aromas. The other manager then explained that their burgers are paired with a potato bun from a local bakery and taught us how to properly toast their buns. All of this explaining of burgers made me want to go find the Rocketeer walking around with the tray and have another sample.

We topped off the event with a fun dance session. That is JAM's favorite thing about the restaurant so that was something I was looking forward to all night so that I could show JAM the cool new moves mommy learned. I personally ended up not dancing since they had enough participants, but it was fun to watch my blogger friends do a little disco and chicken dancing. Johnny Rockets sealed the night with letting us cut into that creative hamburger and fries cake they had displayed throughout the night. It was a pleasure celebrating 27 years with Johnny Rocket at the Flamingo Hotel, and I can't wait to take Mahal and JAM there so they can try all the yummy things I keep raving about!

Who said Bloggers don't know how to have fun?

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What's your favorite thing to eat and/or drink at Johnny Rockets?

Las Vegas Reptile Expo

This weekend (09/08 - 09/09) is the Las Vegas Reptile Expo! They have a Spring (May) and a Fall (September) expo every year at the Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino, and we've been attending for about 2 years now. The first time we decided to attend, it was just to look and see what it had to offer. It was great! JAM especially enjoyed himself.

There were 100+ year old tortoises there that were the biggest tortoises I've ever seen! They had all kinds of snakes, geckos, chameleons, tarantulas, feeders, frogs, lizards, and every other reptile related item you can think of!

There were a lot of morphs (specialized "breeds" that have the fun colors and patterns) available that were nice to look at. Some of these morphs went as high as $10,000! No worries though, there were a ton of reptiles at a more affordable price. We ended up leaving there with another pet to add to our collection! We already had 2 ball pythons that we owned and we ended up purchasing a pastel ball python to add to our collection. We usually try to attend the expo twice a year but sometimes we just tell ourselves not to go because we know we won't leave empty handed hehe. Aside from our pastel ball python, over the past two years we've also purchased our bearded dragon and our albino pacman frog from the reptile expo as well. Let's see what we come up with this expo.

If you wanted to do something different with the kiddos this weekend this is definitely a fun place to take the family even if you don't want to purchase anything. Most vendors are even willing to let you pet or hold the animals if you ask. Did I mention that I attempted to get over my fear of tarantulas by holding one at the last expo?? Yea, I'm still afraid of them (ha ha) and I doubt I'll ever have one as a pet, but at least I can say I held one. Interestingly they're super soft, which I didn't expect.

The big lizard on the top right hand corner is there every year =)

Every expo has different vendors, with the exception with a few vendors that like to attend twice a year. Yay for American Cricket Ranch and Racks & Rodents attending the Expo again this weekend! They save me a TON of money on feeders. LLLReptile & Supply is probably the most obvious choice to buy your supplies and the most wide selection of product in the expo if that's what you're looking for. Reptiles aren't for everyone, and if you asked me 4 years ago if I'd be owning the reptiles I do I'd tell you that you're crazy for even thinking I'd own a snake but here I am! ha ha. If you're curious about it, this is definitely the place to come take a look and ask tons of questions. The vendors here are really great and helpful. Plus, I plan on making blog posts on all the animals I own so that you can see the responsibilities and care that each animal requires. Another plus about buying from the expo is that most of the vendors are local so you're supporting small businesses, and their prices are cheaper at the expo than in any other stores. If you were wondering, Adult Admission is $8, Kids under 12 are $5, Kids under 2 are FREE, and VIP passes are $25. VIP passes allow the purchaser access into the show an hour early both Saturday and Sunday. If you're looking to get first choice on a very specific animal, then this is a great way to ensure that you get that animal. For more information you can visit the Las Vegas Reptile Expo's website or Facebook page. You can pre-purchase expo tickets online off their website for $1 off the ticket price. Just print out the invoice and show it at the table when you arrive at the expo. You also receive a raffle ticket when you enter to put into a bucket at your favorite vendor booth for a raffle they do a few times throughout the day for all kinds of prizes and discounts at that specific vendor! We've even won a couple times! Can't wait to see what this Fall's expo has to offer and hope to see some of you guys there!

Do you plan on attending the expo? If you've previously attended, did you buy anything?

Movie Screenings

With movie tickets being so expensive at the movie theater, I try to find more frugal ways to watch movies. One very common thing that I love to do is attend movie screenings! This is definitely a match made in heaven for me. Not only do I live walking distance to the hotel that hosts most of the movie screenings, it's also FREE to participate! The only catch is that it's first come first serve so to guarantee me a seat (and a great seat in the theater) I have to arrive about 2 hours early and wait in line. For those of you who don't know how it works, two sites that I love to use to attend these screenings are Gofobo's website and 43Kix Las Vegas facebook page. You can check periodically on Gofobo's website for open screening, and on average you get a maximum 2 passes per movie and usually 4 passes for family/kids movies. You need these passes to attend, but it DOES NOT guarantee you a seat since it's first come first serve, hence, the two hour line waiting I mentioned. A little trick that I do is if all the passes are taken on Gofobo's website is that I can go on 43KIX Las Vegas' facebook page, and sometimes they post a link for the same screening. Through their link you can get passes that are available exclusively for them even though Gofobo's site says there are no more available! All you do is type in your zip code to find your nearest movie screening on Gofobo, and for 43Kix, just search your city to see if they have a facebook page. I know they have one for Chicago!

With that said, JAM was really excited to see the new Madagascar 3 movie, but I wasn't too excited to spend $30 on just movie tickets. Not to mention probably another $20 on the concession products he's gonna whine to get. Thankfully, 43KIX released passes to see it this past weekend! The downside: the movie theater that was hosting it didn't think their line arrangements through thoroughly. They made us form a line in the 100 degree weather that already peaked at 9am.

It was HOT! Luckily people around me had umbrellas for shade and we had water. JAM found some lovely shade at a nearby restaurant, which also had misters while I burned in the sun to hold our place in line (the things I do for my son). Regardless, Madagascar 3 was great! Tons of funny jokes for the whole family, and if you loved the first two movies, you'll definitely love this one. Another plus, it was in 3D! Some people don't like it, but my kid loves it. After the movie, the promoters asked 5 kids to dance to the "I like to move it move it" song that's popular with this movie for a prize. My son was too shy of course, but they ended up giving all 5 kids prize packs to the upcoming Ringling Bros. Circus! BUMMER! At the very least, we saw another fun movie for free and they had these fun paper wigs and temporary tattoos for the kids after the movies.

All in all another successful movie screening. I'll probably stick to movie screenings that are hosted at the hotel that is walking distance to my place from now on though since this theater lets you wait inside instead of in the heat.

P.S. I didn't receive any form of compensation for speaking about these sites or movie. I just wanted to share another frugal tip of mine and some family fun ideas for the weekend.