New Year's 2008 Part I

Happy New Year to all of our faithful readers! We hope that you had a great New Year's Eve and that 2008 will be happy, healthy and successful for you all. We took the week off and drove the 958 miles to St. Louis to celebrate the end of the year with Alexandra's family. Bruno was our faithful companion and slept for most of the 15 hour drive. Here he is protecting the car while we pit stop for gas somewhere near Oklahoma City:


Here is a photo taken along the way in Oklahoma, marking the very first time that Bruno saw snow! He wasn't quite sure what to do with it but he sure did like running in it :)


Bruno was an automatic hit with everyone in St. Louis, and Bob & Claudia got to see him running up & down the rolling hill in front of the St. Louis Art Museum in Forrest Park. We spent the rest of the day with them sitting in front of a roaring fire as the temperature outside plunged into the teens. We had a great meal that Claudia cooked and topped the night off with a replay of Casablanca. Here we are at dinner (Bruno is missing from the photo as he wouldn't leave his cozy spot in front of the fire):



Before we knew it, New Year's Eve was upon us. We spent the weekend at Susan & Jeff's lakehouse where it was cooooooold!! Brrrr!! The only thing to do when the temperature dips below zero: eat, eat, eat and watch movies! Here is a picture of Susan instructing Kevin in the fine art of bread making, along with the finished products 6 hours later (and numerous failed previous attempts in San Antonio):




New Year's Eve meal was Coq au vin, which was a flaming success:
...along with grapefruit/avocado salad with pomegranate seeds.





The rest of the time was rest & relaxation. As you'll see, Bruno made himself very, very comfortable indeed :O






Jeff & his new "Pal"...






We'll end here as it's time to sort through the rest of the photos for the next post...TTFN!