Necessary Family Trip to KC

Marcus and I were able to get out of town for a few days with Derek and Alexia.  I don't really want to call this a 'babymoon' because I think that is pretty trendy, but I do think that is sort of what it was.  We normally go on our annual ski trip after new year's but since I can't ski this year due to being pregnant and have been advised not to travel once I hit 32 weeks, we chose to stay closer to home and visit Kansas City.  I really appreciate Derek and Alexia going with us!  They made the trip so fun and it was great to be able to spend some quality time with them.  Again, I completely forgot to take pictures, sorry!

We left Monday afternoon and drove straight to the outlet malls.  We looked for some cowboy boots for the boys but were not able to find any, so still no Christmas present for Marcus yet.  I found the Motherhood Maternity Outlet, which how sad is it that I am excited about the maternity outlet...yikes, but I did find some things I had been needing due to continuing to grow larger.  We ate dinner at Granite City and then headed to Ameristar to check into our room.  Well, turns out Ameristar gave away our reservation to their "ace players" even though we made the reservations over a month ago and called to confirm that afternoon.  Needless to say, the boys were not happy and decided to boycott the Ameristar and go to the Argosy.  Alexia and I hung out in the room talking, reading, and watching tv while the boys played the casino. 

The next day, we went down to the Plaza for some more shopping.  Alexia and I some how managed to spend over 2 hours in the Forever 21 store.  For dinner, we went to The Cheesecake Factory.  We had delicious food and I got the most wonderful cheesecake ever.  I totally recommend it.  It is was red velvet cake layered in with cheesecake.  If anyone is needing a gift idea for my birthday, this would be it :)

Wednesday, we went to a couple more outlet shops and then had dinner at Oklahoma Joe's.  Wow, that place was surprisingly good.  I wasn't sure when we pulled up to a gas station, but the line was never shorter than 15 people the entire time we were there.  After dinner, we headed to the Power and Light district before heading back home.  I tried to go to bed early, because I knew the next day I would need to set up and get ready for our annual Necessary New Year's party.  By this point I was beginning to wonder if maybe I packed my winter break a little too full...