Lions, Tigers, and Beers! Oh My!

Woodland Park Zoo is one of my favorite places, and so far it seems it be one of Eleanor's too. A year ago we took the plunge and bought a membership that we shared with Jennie and the kids. Then we moved to California. Oops. But since we've been back I've made sure to get every penny out of that membership I can.

Gavin and I took our friends and their little girl for their first Woodland park experience. I also took advantage of a free member only night with my mom and Brad, where we got to enjoy an animal encounter with a possum and see the zoo a bit less crowded and the animals were more active at dusk. These excursions unfortunately don't have photo documentation, but our other zoo adventures do and I've included plenty of photos for your enjoyment below.

When Michelle and Jason were little I used to take them to Woodland Park at least a few times a year. Its fun to see them try to show Eleanor everything they loved, while experiencing all the new things the zoo has to offer now. One of my favorite zoo memories is when Michelle was little and I took just her; we were looking at the Tapirs when she suddenly got super excited. I thought it was because the beast was right against the window until she exclaimed "Look Karie! A squirrel!" Good to know the local park would have been just as entertaining. Haha!

Eleanor, Michelle, and Jason loved their zoo trip a few weeks ago. Eleanor's favorite animals are the otters and penguins, probably because they are very active and very easy to see. It makes me smile every time she gets excited about the otters, since my own Significant Otter is so very far away in Scotland. Miss you Tiffany!

Eleanor and I also had our very first "play date" with two moms and their kiddos from the mom bible study group I participate in. I was nervous at first, not having hung out with these ladies outside of Bible study, but it was a ton of fun and nice to talk with other women outside of the usual day-to-day. Definitely something Eleanor and I look forward to doing again.

Another AWESOME zoo event was the Brews at the Zoo fundraiser Woodland Park Zoo hosted. Gavin and I had a great date night (thanks for babysitting Jennie!) trying different beers and ciders, and enjoying the entertainment and atmosphere. There were over 40 breweries that participated, free snack samples, animal encounters, and custom button-pin making form Seattle Magazine -which was really exciting after a few tastes. I even had a beer float with a porter and vanilla ice cream that was so delicious! Great night and a fun way for the zoo to fund raise.

A weekend without the offspring

"What bears? I don't see any bears ..." -Gavin

We had forgotten what it was like to spend a whole 48 hours together without the baby. It had been almost a year since the last opportunity, which was also for a football game, and we were looking forward to our weekend in Pullman for the Coug game. The anticipation leading up to the weekend was killer too. Did I pack enough for the baby? Are the hotel reservations secured? Are you SURE you have the time off???

But alas, we left around noon on Friday with nothing but open road and each other for a whole 48 hours. And it was awesome!

"Well that's one weird looking rock ..." -Karie

After a five hours drive I couldn't think of what to show Gavin first. He'd never been to WSU's campus and suddenly it seemed like everything, yet nothing, was important . So I took him to see the bears.

Gavin didn't believe me at first that we had bears, and then didn't realize that they were so close. The bear on the left was trying to melt the ice off a giant piece of salmon. The bear above was enjoying a salt lick. We also saw some cute baby bears but they didnt seem to be in the best of moods.

Bowling's not his game.

Of course we visited Basilios too. disappointment struck when they informed me they didn't have the pesto chicken pizza, but I tried to make up for it with some sun pasta and Parmesan bread twists. Delicious as I remebered -Gavin thought it lived up to my hype too, which was good since I couldn't' stop talking about it.

Later we went to Zeppos for some cosmic bowling. I'd actually never been to Zeppos and was kinda surprised it wasn't crazy busy for a Friday night. (Remember I was the girl who didn't party her way through college, so it didn't occur to me why no one was there ...)

A little bar hopping and a quick stop for some cold meds (damn allergies) and our first night in Pullman was a success.

I was a bit better ... with a few drinks.

The second day was so much more eventful and entertaining. I drug Gav outta bed early so we could beat the rush at The Old European, then get on campus for a good parking spot. Breakfast was super good and we had a ton of leftovers. parking on the other hand ... well we definitely didn't need to be on campus at 10am. I don't think another car entered our lot until almost 1pm. And since it was a Saturday, not much was goign down on campus ... oops.

So we did what any good alumni (and supportive significant other) would do -we bought all the gear we could find. A few shirts, a water bottle, earrings, a jersey, a hat, and a few other random things later we were dressed head-to-toe in Crimson and Gray. There was no way anyone could mistake us for a Wyoming fan -and I don't think we were mistaken as college students, being on campus at 10am and all.

Small line at Ferdinand's ... only 20 minutes.

The rest of the day consisted of wondering around, showing Gavin where I had classes and the library where I spent most of my time (book nerd, I am). We did hit up the visitor center for a wine tasting and enjoyed some great Coug wines out of Coeur d'Alene. I also found a wine that I'd tried during a mom's weekend wine tasting a few years ago, which was pretty cool so of course we bought that too. A quick trip to Ferdinand's, some lunch in the CUB, and a lot of walking later we were ready for a nap before the big game. Of course now actual people were on campus so leaving our parking spot to go back to the hotel (which was in the next town over) was NOT an option. I think we dozed standing up for the last hour or so before the game.

Game Time Selfie

Finally it was game time! We had good seats, and since I was no longer in the student section, I didn't have to go in 90 minutes before kick off to get a good view. Having been away for almost 5 years I noticed a lot had changed in Martin Stadium. The jumbotron had moved to the Stadium Way side, a whole new building had gone up where the screen used to be, and the box seats looked awesome. It was like being in a whole new stadium.

New addition looks so good!

Since I'm sure many of you don't really care how the football game turned out I won't go into too much detail there. A game is a game is game. I will tell you the Cougs beat Wyoming, which was great to see. My last game as a student in Martin Stadium we won, and I felt it was only fitting they win my first game back as an Alum. the win also helped cement Gavin as a Coug fan -at least enough to talk about going back next year for a game. Successful weekend!

It's so early ...

The next morning was a tough one. We didn't get back to the hotel until 10ish and were exhausted. Unfortunately the hotel didn't have very comfortable beds and the room temperature kept fluctuating all night, so no sleep was really had. Our 5:45am alarm came a bit too early, but Gavin had work at noon, so we hit the road for the long 5-hour drive back to the west side. We really missed our little munchkin.

We have internet again!

Yeah yeah, it's been a while. But posting new blogs wasn't really an option when we didn't have internet (and no wifi) because it uses a TON of data. And we were already over our data by 5Gs ... Oops. 

So to make up for it I'm just gonna do a picture post of our little monkey! She is growing like a weed these days -mentally and physically. She learns something new everyday and she's constantly surprising us with her news skills. Like when she decides she would start feeding the dog; she had seen me take his bowl into the laundry room day after day to fill his bowl, so one day she picked it up and walked over to the door saying "doggie! Doggie!" and pounding to be let in. Now I can't feed him without her help or a tantrum will be thrown. Haha! My little helper. 

Enjoy the pictures. I hope there aren't too many Facebook repeats. 

Tickets fallin' from the sky!

Being a car business significant other (soon to be wife!) means having to live with a crazy work schedule. Gavin's job is definitely not 9-5 and having a weekend off is an anomaly. But I deal because the job also comes with some great perks. On closing nights he doesn't have to go in until noon, having weekdays off means the sights/parks/stores are less crowded, and one of my favorite benefits: tickets. And Gavin scored some seriously awesome tickets last weekend. 

The first set of tickets was for the Imagine Dragons concert at the Tacoma Dome. Not being a huge Imagine Dragons fan himself he passed the tickets along to me so I could take the biggest fan we know -my little brother Jason.

Not only does he like all their music, but he know EVERY SINGLE LYRIC. There was no song he couldn't sing! This was also his vey first concert, which was very exciting. In pretty sure he's addicted to live shows now.

Jason was that guy who stood up (through most of it -he is only 11), turned on his iPod flashlight during the slow songs (what happened to lighters?!), and sang as loud as he could. I felt honored I got to be the one to take him to his first show; and it was one hell of a show too. 

The next night was fun also. Hyundai is an official sponsor of the MLS and Gavin was able to get two tickets to the Seattle v. Vancouver match! Knowing how much my dad loves soccer, and wanting to get on his his future father-in-law's good side, Gavin let me and Dad go to the match -he even had a scarf for Dad, which is a must have. 

The Sounders lost the match, but I still had a great night with Dad. We had some awesome pre-match Irish pubgrub at Owl N' Thistle, then enjoyed our great club level seats with the other Car Pros employees -nice guys, btw. It was a great night in Seattle. 

The next day was a rare Sunday off for Gavin and we spent it at Woodland Park Zoo with our friends Mason, Ashley, and baby Molly. This time I provided the "tickets" with my membership. Haha! 

We enjoyed some time in the Zoomazium -an indoor play/learning/exploration center for the little ones- where Eleanor for to play in a sandbox, hug all the plush animals, and climb on the jungle gym with Gavin. 

Then we got to see a bunch of animals, including penguins,tigers, otter, meerkats, and monkeys. 

 

Eleanor even got to pet some goats in the farm animal area! 

Eventful weekend for the Gill-Smith Fambam! 

Home. Sweet home.

The Gill-Smith FamBam has moved back to Washington! This isn't really new news, but it's still exciting for us. Gavin really likes his new job and enjoys working with friends again, and being a stay at home mom is easier in a more familiar place. 

It was bitter-sweet leaving California, especially when it had started to feel like home, but now we can enjoy it as a fun vacation location. 

Today marks three weeks since we crossed back into WA; and a fun three weeks it has been! There have been a ton of family dinners, game nights with friends, multiple library trips, a concert, a Sounders match, and even a trip to the zoo! 

Eleanor is definitely getting some good Auntie Michelle and Uncle Jason time in. And she also has a "playroom" in our new home that she's excited about. 

The story of our new home is a good one too: my Uncle Joey just happened to be moving out of state at the same time we would be moving back and he didn't want to leave his house empty. Out he went and in we moved! Uncle Joey's house is the perfect size for us with a back room for Eleanor's toys, a front room for entertaining, great kitchen, three bedrooms, and even a big yard for Lucky! 

We look forward to many more adventures, especially as Eleanor grows and learns -and she's doing both like crazy right now. In the last week she has learned to stack her cups in the correct order without help, put her socks on correctly, and is starting to put together her foam bath puzzles! Seriously cool accomplishments for our little bug! 

We don't have Internet hooked up at the house yet but should be getting it shortly and then I promise to update a lot more (right now we're trying - and I'm failing- to save our cell data). Keep up with us on Facebook where I've tried to post a lot of pictures and updates. See you soon!