Return to The Ritz

My big shoot this week was in St Louis. I wanted to bring Scout and Tyler and make a trip out of it, so we stayed at the Ritz Carlton in St Louis. It was a lovely home base after long days of work. Tyler loved all the amenities (like a TV in the bathroom mirror – how do they do that?!), and Scout loved all the Christmas trees (and free apples) in the hotel lobby. I, of course, loved the service that the Ritz Carlton is known for. We also took some family photos while in the lobby, but I’ll share those in an upcoming post.

Also, our dear friends Maddie and Andrew got engaged recently so we invited them to dinner at the Ritz to celebrate. We enjoyed mocktails, truffle pizza, and tiramisu with their picture on it (not kidding, they do that!).

Family Time in the Lou

During our St. Louis family trip, Scout and Tyler checked out the aquarium while I videographed the annual Christmas video for Arrow Senior Living. This was my fourth year shooting the video, and each year it comes out better and better. Tyler and Scout came by after shooting wrapped to play with the props (see the playhouse in the photos below). Stay tuned for the new video; it drops on Friday!

We COO of Arrow, Amanda Tweten, treated my family to tickets to GLOW at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We had a great time, and Scout loved dancing along with the Christmas music in the outdoor lighting extravaganza.

Finally, we took advantage of the shopping St. Louis offers and hit up Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus for some Christmas shopping. Scout treated herself to new toys from Saks, and the famous (infamous?) cookie from Neiman Marcus. While I can’t justify the cost of having the family along every week for work trips, it’s a nice break from lonely hotel rooms during my trips away from home.

Scout’s First “Tooth Doctor” visit

This week was also a big first for Scout: She had her first dentist appointment! She is OBSESSED with doctors and checkups, so we thought she would be cool with a “tooth doctor.” Mostly, she was. However, she is incredibly nervous but brave. You see, she didn’t let on that she was nervous. She was trying to be so brave and “grown up” but her hands sweat when she is nervous and, bless her heart, her hands left wet handprints on the dentist chair as she laid there silently and let the tooth doctor do her thing. We used Sprout Pediatric Dentistry, and they were great. And I couldn’t be more proud of my Scoutie girl.

Here’s to another great week!

Talk to you soon,
Dale