Brooke loves dirt

Brooke loves to be outside. She will stand by the door and say please until I take her outside. There are a lot of fun toys to play with in the yard, but she always ends up in the dirt. Sometimes she eats a little dirt. She likes to stack the dirt in the umbrella stand. Here is my cute little mess playing in the dirt.

Visit from Uncle Josh

We were so excited to have Josh drive in from Ohio during his residency visit. He got to Pittsburgh on Friday night and we took him straight to Primanti Brothers. He loved the huge sandwich with fries and coleslaw. Brooke enjoyed her portion of my sandwich too.
On Saturday, we got up and headed to Pamela's for crepes. This was another big hit with Josh. We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the house. Brooke loved having someone else to play with her. The last time she saw Josh was in Arizona with she was 9 months old. She showed off her new walking skills.
We were sad to say goodbye to Josh on Sunday after church. The weekend went by too fast. Hopefully he can come back with Steph this spring.

Wiconsin Wedding

Keith's good friend from med school got married in Wisconsin on August 13th. We flew up to Wisconsin on Friday for the weekend. Brooke did pretty good on the flight, but she has a much harder time sitting still. Our flight was just over an hour to Milwaukee. From there, we drove about an hour north to Appleton, Wisconsin. We stopped at Culver's for lunch on our way to Appleton. Brooke had her first butter burger and she liked it! Our hotel in Appleton was the best. They had a pack and play for Brooke, a big room for her to run around, and a fridge/microwave so we could store her food and milk. They also had a heated indoor pool and spa. She loved swimming inside!!
We met up with a few of Keith's med school friends for dinner on Friday. They had never met Brooke, so it was fun to see their reaction. She was all over the place that night. There was a big birthday party in the same room at the restaurant. Each person had a balloon taped to their seat. I was not surprised when she walked over to their table and started pulling balloons off the seat. Luckily they were almost done and they thought she was super entertaining.
On Saturday we relaxed around the hotel room, swam and took a morning nap. It was the best! We had lunch a Qdoba and then started getting dressed for the wedding. We were ready for the wedding at 2. Brooke looked so cute in her dress from Grams and Poppa. She didn't last very long in the ceremony. The church was so beautiful and huge; it would echo your voice. Brooke thought the echo was so fun. Luckily there was a side area that we could take her to run around.
After the wedding there was a 3 hour break before the reception started. We went back to the hotel room and took another nap. It was perfect. Brooke was so rested when we left for the reception. The wedding couple (Brian and Kelly) setup a high chair at our table in the reception. They were so sweet to Brooke. She loved all the people, the food and most of all the dancing. When the DJ started that music she started bobbing to the beat. We couldn't get her off the dance floor. We finally left the reception at 10 PM; way past her bedtime. It was really nice to see all of Keith's friends from med school.
On Sunday, we got up early and drove down to our old church in North Chicago. We were so excited to see the Booth's. They had us over for lunch after church. Brooke loved playing their huge backyard. It was really nice to catch up with them. We really missed their family.
We flew back to Pittsburgh on Sunday evening. Brooke was awful on the flight home. She didn't go for more than 5 minutes without screaming. We were so glad it was a short flight. Overall it was a wonderful trip to Wisconsin.