latest adventures in our household

We are STILL searching for the *perfect* place to hold Brooke's 1st birthday. We have a beautiful backyard that would be a great place to have a casual backyard bash, but to be completely honest, I'm super lazy and don't know if I want to deal with setting up tables, chairs, tents and then having to clean up and break down. Vance keeps reminding me that I'm not the one that will have to do all of the work (in other words, HE would have to do the work), but still.

Anywho, I heard about this new French-inspired breakfast/brunch restaurant located in Waikiki called The Cream Pot and I thought it would be a cute place to have her party at.

We got to the restaurant at around 10:30ish and were told to wait. The hostess told us it was hard to determine how long the wait was (not sure why?), but that there were 5 parties ahead of us.

So we watched as a bridal shower was set up. By the way, the decor in this restaurant was tres cute! I loooooved the French inspired decor and how it looked like a little old lady's cottage :)

Brooke had just woken up from a short mid-morning nap so she was a wee bit out of it, but watched with amusement at the hustle and bustle.

Well, after HALF AN HOUR of waiting, we were seated. Then we waited. And waited. And waited more. We weren't helped or greeted or even asked if we wanted beverages for a good fifteen minutes when we finally decided to leave.

Yep, we left without eating or having a cup of coffee. Boo. In conclusion, we will NOT be having Brooke's birthday at the Cream Pot, even though it was a very well decorated spot. Can't comment on the food, or the service (except for the fact that they are way understaffed) because we didn't even get to try it. I was really looking forward to some strawberry crepes though. . .

So we were in Waikiki anyways and decided to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, which happens to be one of our favorite restaurants. I say "our" because Vance and I have eaten at a Cheesecake Factory in (almost) every city we've visited. Each time we've been to Vegas we've eaten at the Caesar's Palace restaurant and while in LA, we ate at the Cheesecake Factory located at the Grove. They ALWAYS have good food and we've never had bad service.

Here we are walking to the restaurant..

When we got there we scoped out the restaurant and discovered they had a semi-private room to rent, which would be great for a party :) Think we've finally found our little girl's first birthday location!

Now I just need to plan the rest of it. :(

AAAAAND I still need to plan our first family trip! Please give me suggestions people-- we are stuck on where we should go. Vance is still pushing for Vegas, but I'd love to see something different. We've been to Vegas so many times!