New Years Eve & Holiday Fun

Can I begin by saying that Gary and I don't go on trips, vacations, etc. I know, I know, we should travel as a couple right? Well, we don't. Some may even be surprised to learn that we didn't go on a Honeymoon. We instead purchased our first house (we are so, so responsible right?). We figured that on our one year anniversary, we would go on that much desired Honeymoon. Well, one year came and I was well on my way to St. John's Hospital to have Brooke-so much for that trip huh?? We have tried a few times, though, over the last 14 months to occasionally try to slip away for the night or weekend-9 times out of 10 this doesn't go well, bad luck I guess. This New Years Eve was no different.

Gary and I were total totally excited to go to my friend Marci's lake house in Springfield, IL for New Years Eve. My sister Tracie was so nice and offered to watch Brooke for us over at my sister Amy's house. About 2 hours before we were to head out, Gary wasn't feeling on his "A" game. He fought past it, though, and we headed to the lake for an evening of fun. Poor Gary made it through about an hour of good times before he ended up in bed with the flu (it had been going around my family). I felt terrible for him!! I was feeling fine-that is until 1:30 a.m. Restroom bound I was for an evening of porcelain goddess hugging-I hate the stomach flu (and I was totally feeling for my friends in the adjoining bedroom...So Sorry Guys). Needless to say, we were out the door on our way back to STL by 9:00 a.m. My only hope was that Brooke didn't get the bug. I called Tracie to inform her of our 'status' and she informed me that Brooke did in fact catch the bug-and threw it up all over Tracie at a strong 5:00 a.m. What a trooper Tracie is-and what a story we will have to tell Brooke about her ROCKING God Mother :) After a good 24 hours we were all 99% better. So much for that fun get-away right??

We also did some new and fun activities over the Holidays including the Magic House and The Incredible Pizza Place. Brooke had a GREAT time at both!

Brooke riding the space ship at IPP (Incredible Pizza Place). It took her all the way up in the 'sky' and she was so pumped!!

Her favorite-the Merry-go-Round. We couldn't pull her off of this ride without a tantrum following! I guess we will buy one for our house....Anything to keep her happy...

Wait..maybe this was the favorite. The girls loved the car when it was stationary. As soon as it started to move, look out! If you look closely at their hands, you will see that Lily is driving, but Brooke is trying to get her hand in there-Lils is always in control. Brooke finally settled for pushing the horn. She does not fight the Lily.

To the Magic House! Brooke loved 'shopping' and picked out her own groceries to make us dinner with that night (of course). She chose a lime, potato, circle of meat (yumm!) pineapples and two Irish coffee creamers. Sounds delish right??

Brooke is pretty nervous around other kids still. This was the only activity (around older kids) that she wanted to try out. It was a bookshelf with a hidden tunnel underneath. She crawled all the way from one end to the other and loved it!

We cannot wait to try out other 'St. Louis' favorites soon!