I can't believe it has been a year and 5 months since I was last home in St. Louis...just long enough so that it felt foreign to me but short enough that I was able to jog my memory fairly quickly. It was great to be back and see familiar faces. Brad and I also took this opportunity to visit some of the places around St. Louis where we have had some great memories. Below are some pics from our trip.
Brad and I had requested to go out to dim sum both Saturday and Sunday morning...and dim sum we got! As soon as we landed in St. Louis Saturday morning, we headed to Wonton King (where we had dim sum the morning after our wedding!). The picture above shows the group Sunday morning; we went with my family, my uncle Bill, and Sarah to Lulu's for dim sum (where we had our rehearsal dinner). 
Since this weekend was also Chinese New Year, my parents took us to a huge celebration (300 people) that included a lion dance (pictured above) and a 10-course traditional Chinese meal. There was also a raffle where we won a $25 gift certificate to a restaurant! Maybe this will be a lucky year for us...
The lions wandered the room. Brad somehow caught a pic of one of the lions behind me. Traditionally, you're supposed to feed the lion a red envelope with cash in it. I'm sure the big orange tongue (in the picture) helped to eat up the red envelopes :)
We are convinced that my parents party more than we do. Their friend, Tony, hosts poker and mah jong at his house every Friday and Saturday every weekend. Poker was a lot of fun...and it didn't hurt that Brad and I were both the big winners of the night :)
Here is a pic of the mah jong game going on. I think we've learned to play this game 3 times and I still can't remember how to play it. 
During the trip, Brad surprised me with a trip to the restaurant located in the Marriott Union Station for Valentine's Day. September 2, 2007 Brad and I had gotten married at the Hyatt Union Station (it changed hotel names but looks exactly the same) and actually haven't had the chance to visit since we've been married. Brad even called ahead and had the hotel concierge order some red roses for our table to surprise me. It was the best Valentine's Day surprise I had ever received.
Me holding the roses on the lighted floor in Union Station. We had some of our wedding pics taken here.
The exterior of Union Station at night all lit up. It sure is gorgeous at night!
And finally...a pic of the Grand Hall. Brad and I stood to reminisce about our wedding and the amazing reception afterwards located here in the Grand Hall. It was an amazing feeling to be back.
