Exploration: California's Capital

Gavin and I decided that Thursday's are Adventure Days. We've lived in California (as a family) for 4 1/2 months now and haven't really explored much further than Folsom. Sure, we've been to Roseville, but that's just a Southcenter/Bell Square combo and not really unique, and Gavin drove to the gold rush town of Placerville almost everyday for work, but I don't think that counts either.

So we made a California "to-do" list of things we really want to see and explore. First up: Sacramento.

Being only a 20-30 minute drive for us means we should have been to Sacramento numerous times before last Thursday. It's RIGHT there. But other than driving through it to get to/from the airport every few weeks, we haven't visited. Gavin came up with the idea Wednesday, since two items on our list were the capital building and Old Sacramento. Easy to cross those off in one day (thought we decided going back sans Eleanor would be nice).

First stop was the capital building, and a beautiful building it was. From afar it looks like a run-of-the-mill  capital building: white stone, pillars, and a dome. Then you get close and the intricate carvings and statues come to life and the beauty of the surrounding garden enchants. One does have to look past the brown, dying grass and the dry "trout pond", but California is in the middle of a terrible drought and its good to see the capital doing its part to conserve.We walked around the building and were going to go in, but with the baby in her stroller the idea of metal detectors and security checks had us turning around. The garden's shade gave us the reprieve from the sun we were looking for, so we toured the different memorials and saw a diversity of plant specimens. Ive since fallen in love with magnolia trees and the giant white blooms they carry. I also saw my first orange tree which was pretty cool; I joked with Gavin that I thought oranges came from the grocery store. I've seen apple trees but the orange trees are a different kind of beauty.

After an hour or so we wondered over to Old Sacramento for a quick look around and sustenance for the growing rumble in our stomachs. We were rewarded with a little self tour of the historic gold rush era buildings and cobblestone streets. It was still very touristy, like the Seattle waterfront, with souvenir shops, candy stores, and carriage rides; the history of old town was preserved beautifully though. Once the heat finally beat us, we found a small pizza parlor to fill us up and then made our way home to our day with some relaxing family time.

Oh, HOT damn ...

The forcast for the news 10-days here in Northern California calls for sun, sun, and more sun. The highs range from 99-104 degrees. 104?! Our Washingtonian bodies are taking their sweet time acclimating to this new, dry, ever increasing California heat. To think, we complained when the thermometer hit the 90's in August. Now I'm thankful for the littlest bit of cloud overhead, or when the weather app on my phone is wrong and it only gets up to 88, or when the pool in empty and Eleanor and I can have it all to ourselves. Its the little things in life really. I've never gone through so much sunscreen.

But we've figured out ways to keep ourselves cool. As I mentioned the pool is always a good one. We're lucky enough to have two provided by our apartment complex, one of which is right by our building. when there aren't too many other kids in the pool we spend an hour or so relaxing and floating to our hearts content. A poolside lunch is always a plus too.

Elenaor's other favorite way to beat the heat is by having Nakie Days. She gets to run around in her diaper or little shorts. Wish this was socially acceptable for me, but alas I dug out all my shorts and tank tops instead. We did enjoy a few movie days in front of a big box fan. Eleanor is becoming a fan of Disney -I think it's all the animals.

We had a nice suprise yesterday actually when Gavin came home a few hours early form work to spend some time with his girls. We enjoyed a family dinner at Smash Burger -a burger joint that I'm hoping will expand to Washington one day. Gavin and I are doing our best to eat healthier, and bun-less burgers are one of our favorite ways to cut a few calories. I didn't think Gavin would like it at first, but there's no bread to soak up all the delicious burger juices so there's a lot more flavor to enjoy. Then we did a little shopping where Gavin and Eleanor had a few good father daughter bonding moments.

Eleanor and Gavin in the cigar room at Total wine. (Above: Gavin found an Eleanor sized wine cup and she loved it.)

We also had a nice visit with Grandpa Pete and Grandma Karen last weekend. They were on a road trip and realized they would be about 20 minutes form us, so they swung by and hung out with me and Eleanor for a few hours in the afternoon. Of course no visitor can leave without breakfast at Mary's Gold Miner Cafe, so the kiddo and I joined them for breakfast the next morning as well. (Unfortunately, Gavin wasn't able to see them due to his work schedule.)

We had an otherwise chill 10 days since the last post. It rained a little yesterday, which felt so good. When it rains here we get these little sidewalk visitors all over. I took a picture as I was walking the dog this morning. Just a little something to enjoy until our next post.

Memorial Day Weekend Festivities

So I totally got in trouble for not posting last weekend (happy Christina ...lol) but everyone needs a vacation and Eleanor and I had gone to Washington. Gavin unfortunately had to stay back in California because there's no rest for a car-guy during a holiday weekend -especially the first one of summer. So off to WA we went to spend a wonderful weekend visiting family, playing at the lakes, and enjoying a peaceful sunny weekend.

Then we got there and I remembered that it's never sunny in Seattle on Memorial Day weekend. 

First on our trip was a day at the family campsite by Lake Stevens. Eleanor had been there before by this time she could walk and play and eat twigs (no joke, she tried a few times). Too bad it was too cold to swim but we enjoyed our time worth Dad, Jen and the kids watching movies and making s'mores. 

The only downside to camping was sharing a bed with Eleanor. That girl wiggles and jiggles and scoots all over the place! It was already uncomfortable on the converted table, but kiddo wouldn't stop until she was right in my spot, pillow and all. Little Dr. Cooper in the making ...

Sunday we spent a day out at Papa and Nana's on Mason Lake. Seriously, I packed all Eleanor's swim paraphernalia but we didn't get to use any of it due to it being too cold. Major bummer. But we had an awesome time hanging out with the family -especially watching all three of the little girls interact with each other. 

Monday and Tuesday we didn't do much. I went and saw Pitch Perfect 2 with Jennie and Michelle. It was a good movie, but nonetheless it was still a sequel and we all know the sequel is rarely as good as the original (Harry Potter, LOTR, and Avengers are amazing exceptions in my book). It was a good girls date that involved waaaaaay too much candy, but a lot of laughs, especially from Michelle who always laughs super loud during movies. Plus, my Dad for some good papa-granddaughter time in. Tuesday was even more chill with a visit to Papa and Grandma Gill's house in Enumclaw. Eleanor entertained them by running around the house for over an hour and playing with Toby the cat. She also got to play the piano and play in a box Grandma got for her. Great day for a 14-month-old. 

Alas, we flew back to Gavin (and sunshine) on Wednesday morning. I have to give a shout out and major kudos to TSA at Seatac Airport this trip. They were incredibly helpful getting me and Eleanor through security, which always the most stressful part beside the flight itself. Props to Alaska Airlines too; they're ALWAYS super helpful and this flight was no exception. 

Cheers! 

And I would walk 500 more ...

I thought our house was properly baby proofed. Oh how wrong I was. Haha! Eleanor can find even the littlest hint of trouble, and now that she's walking it's even worse!

List of things Eleanor has gotten to:

• Multiple magazines, torn up and pages ripped out. I mean maybe she's starting her own hands on Pinterest or maybe she thought those articles were BS -though there was a good one about Disneyland, so I don't think she really read it.

•Dog food. I swear I feed my child. Good food too. I just made sweet potatoes last night! But heaven forbid we don't close the gate fast enough or the dog pushed his bowl too close to it. Her little hands get in it and next thing I know I'm fishing out kibble. 

• Toilet paper. Did you know that TP makes a wonderful streamer?! Next time you want some new decor for the bathroom, just grab the TP and pull! It comes off the roll with a quickness. 

• Everything that opens. EVERYTHING. Cabinets, boxes, doors, drawers. If it opens, those little fingers will work forever until they have succeeded. And nothing can be opened without then being emptied. I'm becoming a pro at drawer-stop installation. 

Its time to bolt the mirror to the wall too. 

We had a fun "day off" this week. We've been trying to checkout more of the sights, events and activities in our community. This week's adventure was the Folsom Zoo. This "zoo" is actually a sanctuary for a lot of local and exotic wildlife. Most of the animals came to the sanctuary as rescues, either found wondering neighborhoods or injured, and couldn't be released back into the wild. A few of the animals were pets, seized or surrendered when they becaue too much to handle. It has a nice assortment of animal population for a small zoo.  

Eleanor had a lot of fun -we all did. We weren't sure how engaged she would be, but as soon as she saw the animal she would point and babble. It was cute. 

And now for the shameless wedding plug. Only 299 more days! The wedding website is up and running and I will add information as it becomes available.

Check us out at: https://www.theknot.com/us/karie-gill-and-gavin-smith-mar-2016 (I'll add the hyperlink when I login from my laptop). 

Wedding planning is going pretty smooth -I don't feel the crunch since we pushed the date back to March. We have the venue on lockdown, the website is coming together, and I've been investigating vendors and invites. I think Gavin is started to go crazy. He's getting better at giving me at least some sort of opinion though -and he's getting better at keeping the sarcasm to a minimum. Sometimes. Haha! 

Well Eleanor and I will be heading to Washington for Memorial Day weekend. We hope to see you! But if we don't we hope you have a good holiday weekend! 

Weekly Update: The rest of the Fam Bam

Eleanor's milestone aside, it was an eventful week for the rest of the family too. We celebrated Gavin's 25th birthday and Mother's Day. And because Gavin and I are both horrible at waiting for the special day to give presents, it was more of a Birthday/Mother's Day-week in our house.

Family photo on Gavin's 25th Birthday!

I made it myself ... kinda.

We celebrated Gavin's birthday a day early due to his work schedule. We spent Thursday morning being lazy and hanging out. Gavin actually surprised me with breakfast and Starbucks and we had some good family time. Birthday lunch was at BJ's Brewery before we dropped Eleanor off to Sarah for some bonding while we went to see Avengers: Age of Ultron -which was A-mazing! We followed that up with a nice homemade dinner and an intense conversation about the Marvel Universe, Joss Whedon not being involved with the next Avengers movie, the overall awesomeness of both Joss and Marvel, and the correct order of the Marvel films (for which I found an awesome infographic that displays the timeline and cleared up any disagreements). Since Gavin isn't a huge fan of cake, we had Birthday Brownies and I sang happy birthday.

Friday was Gavin's actual birthday and we celebrated with a birthday Breakfast at Mary's Gold Miner Cafe, which is our favorite spot in Folsom so far. Eleanor and I gave Gavin his presents over a few days, because I'm really bad at keeping them to myself. He may have picked out the KC sweats I bought him, but I think he was happily surprised with the latest Vikings and SOA seasons, and the new wire BBQ skewers I found -which look really cool and I can't wait for him to use!

Zoodle/squoodle combo with shrimp

 Our Mother's Day celebration started earlier in the week when Gavin gave me the spiral slicer I've been saying I wanted. If you don't know what that it, its a neato contraption that turns unsuspecting veggies into noodles -among other things. so far I've made zoodles (zucchini noodles) and squoodles (summer squash noodles). Just spiralize, saute, then toss with some sauce and you're good to go! I'm pretty excited about all the possibilities; I'm making sweet potato "nests" tonight.

Mother's Day gifts <3

Moving on, Gavin was a good spoiler all week, surprising me with Starbucks and breakfast most mornings, and spreading the gifts out over a couple of days -seriously, waiting until Christmas morning is sometimes brutal for us. Haha! My loot contained Marvel movies because we're nerdy like that, a new cookbook, and a beautiful bougainvillea plant. I also got to go shopping by myself! Ive wanted an herb garden for a while, so I picked up some thyme, basil, and rosemary to start, and a nice big pot to plant them in. Oh, and a hummingbird feeder that I'm very excited about too. Christina surprised me with a Starbucks gift card in my inbox. She understands my need for afternoon pick-me-ups.

We hope all the mothers, step-mothers, almost-mothers, and mothers-to-be were celebrated last Sunday (and every other day)! I never really understood what being a mother encompassed until I was one, and I discover new things about myself as a mother every day. I'm honored to have two amazing mothers in my life who helped mold me into the mother I am, just as I'm fortunate to have a fiance and daughter who love me as much as they do.

Happy (belated) Mother's Day and Happy (belated) Birthday Gavin!   

Me and my kids on Mother's Day.

I would walk 500 miles ...

It's official! Eleanor is walking!

It started with her walking only a few steps almost by accident while she was playing. Then she started taking a few steps on purpose, then finally she started cruising all over without sitting down at all! and just in time for Daddy's birthday too. Enjoy the video!

Eleanor also got to try on her first pair of kicks! Gavin bought her a pair of Nike Force sneakers right after we found out she was a girl. He has been waiting for her to be big enough to wear them and was pretty excited when they fit her (they're almost too small actually!).

Not so sure about these Mom ...

Sneakers slide a little on tile floors.

Another skill Eleanor tackled was the art of accessorizing. She worked hard for days to figure out how to put her flower headband on, and finally she figured it out. Shes such a trend starter ...

Flowery butt-bands are where its at people!

(Lilo and Stitch in the background.)

I think she's really hoping this catches on so she can keep doing it. In the mean time she is working on dressing herself and gets a little closer every day. She knows shoes go on her feet, her feet go in the legs of pants (or through the neck of t-shirts if the mood strikes), and that shirts go over her head -though this one has been exceptionally hard for her to master, as it involves getting her head in the bottom of the shirt first, which she just doesn't agree with. Before I know it she'll be picking out her own outfits!

April: the month of Eleanor (and other stuff)

It's been over a month since I posted (Where was my reminder Christina??) I'm gonna have to make a habit of doing this weekly, and i promise to try and stick to it this time. Really. I swear.

April was a hectic month in the Gill-Smith house. We had Eleanor's birthday in Seattle, multiple family visits, and then a little adjustment for Gavin's new job. We'll go in chronological order to make things, well, logical.

We flew back to Seattle for Eleanor's first birthday. Gavin and I couldn't believe a year had passed since that crazy day(night) in the hospital. I remember the first 24 hours of visitors and doctors and nurses, then the slowest drive home we've ever taken (Gavin swears it everyone was driving like a lunatic that day), and finally it was just the three of us. It doesn't seem possible that a year has passed since then. We celebrated the milestone, and the fact that Christin was in town, to have family photos taken by Jamie/JLV photography. she has taken some amazing photos of our family and didnt disappoint for Eleanor's one-year-old photos.

See! I told you they were awesome! Eleanor's birthday party was the same day and the theme was "Somebunny turns ONE!". We had colorful cupcakes, bunny decorations, and little Easter baskets for all the kids -complete with bunny glasses, bubbles, and even bunny crackers. And so many people came to celebrate with her, my parent's house was jam packed full of people. I'm pretty sure Eleanor's favorite part was her cake, but only after we cut a slice off for her. there was no getting her fingers dirty for this girl.

The following day was Easter -the other reason we went home that weekend. We went to church in the morning and then spent the day with the family, finishing the day and our weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Wendler's for Easter dinner. We were on the early flight home Monday morning, since Gavin still had to work that day.

So, while we got to fly home, Dad, Jennie, and the kids hopped in their car for a nice long drive down to Folsom! They spent a week with us, sightseeing and enjoying the great California weather. We went to Six Flags discovery Kingdom, Folsom Prison Museum, and Alcatraz. It was really fun to spend so much time with them after being gone for two months. After they left we had a couple of days until we we got to enjoy more visitors: Papa and Nana Johnson! They were on their way up from Arizona for the summer and spent the night not too far from us. Gavin took a day off work and we spent the day together relaxing and catching up -though I'm pretty sure they were more excited to play with the baby all day. 

The surprise to round out the chaotic month was the news that Gavin left the dealership he was working at and is now a finance manager at Roseville Kia. This dealership is a bit smaller than the one he came from, but he seems to like the people and there are a lot of opportunities for him to try new things and learn more than he knows now. He gets along with his new coworkers really well and his commute is shorter by about 10 minutes. the only downside is the long hours, but those are a little offset by his guaranteed 2 days off now! like I mentioned earlier, its an adjustment, but one we are fully capable of making -we are a pretty good team after all.

That rounds out our April. Crazy, chaotic, and jam-packed, but we wouldn't have it any other way.