Field Trip!!

My "little" brother goes to college about 45 minutes away. I put "little" in quotes, because he is not my little brother any more. He is my man brother!! I was 12 when he was born, so I can pretty much remember every thing about his growing up years. We had some really fun times together. Now he is all grown up, making straight A's in college (What??) and working almost full-time waiting tables. The kids LOVE to spend time with him-he is super fun.

So, we decided to take a little trip down the road to visit him. He got up early, on his Christmas Break no less, to come play with us at the Discovery Center. I love this place and really wish it was closer than 45 minutes away. We have been twice and this time we saw things that I didn't even remember from the last time! And, there was a woman doing a talk with live animals! The kids were not really interested, but Uncle Sam and I were! Ha! Here are some pics of the fun:











After the Discovery Center it was time for lunch. My brother works at Macaroni Grill and wanted us to come see the restaurant and meet some of his co-workers. Let me just say that I entered into this agreement with fear and trembling. Two 2 year olds in a sit down restaurant? Oh my. This is a scenario just begging for disaster. I made sure he realized just how embarrassing this could turn out to be for him, but he wasn't worried. So...we did it! The kids were ultra, miraculously, amazing. I am still amazed and it was three weeks ago! And, not only did they behave well, but they ate like grown people. Let's just say that Lyla is not generally a big eater-more like a bite here and a bite there. But let me tell you, little girl threw down the fettuccine! She ate more that day at lunch than I'm pretty sure I've ever seen her eat in all of her life combined! And on top of that, she ate an ice-cream sundae. With chocolate sauce! (Um, Katy, did I mention that part??) It was astounding. I was pretty sure she was going to puke, but she never did. Check this out:






We hopped in the car to head home. It was already nap time and I was pretty sure they would conk out for 3o minutes or so and that would be it. But, another miracle occurred. Both kids stayed awake the WHOLE way home, and then took amazing naps. BEST EVER. You absolutely cannot script a day like that.

Thanks, Uncle Sam, for a great field trip!