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! 

Two Days of Tahoe

The next check on the California Bucket List is the beautiful Lake Tahoe. Only an hour and a half away, we kept talking about how we wanted to visit but never seemed to have time. We finally made time this week -twice for Eleanor and me! 

Gavin had a rare Wednesday off so I made an executive decision soon after we woke up that we were going on an adventure to Tahoe. Neither of us knew what to expect -some mountains, sure, but not the beauty we would see. 

Once we passed Placerville (also on the bucket list) the mountains seemed to suddenly tower above us, and the world became more and more green and gorgeous. Highway 50 winds its way along the South Fork American River, between silvery rock hills, blanketed in a lush forest. It's an amazing sight after a few months of the yellow fields of the valley. It was a relaxing drive, reminiscent of the numerous drives on I-90 coming home from Pullman. 

Gavin was a good sport and pulled off the road at a few turn outs so I could take pictures of the landscape. 

First stop in South Lake Tahoe was Stateline Ave. Remember the movie A Walk to Rememeber with Mandy Moore? There's a part of that movie where her character checks off her bucket list "being in two places at once" by straddling the stateline. Corny, I know; don't judge. The stateline is very obvious, even without all the signs -one minute we were driving through a cute little mountain town and the next moment we were facing towering casinos. But I needed pictures on the actual stateline. Again, my family were great sports. Eleanor even sat next to an old Pony Express stateline crossing marker for me. 

Then the sightseeing commenced! We went in all the little touristy shops, me in search of the best looking magnet for our fridge -Gavin says spoon collecting is out, so magnets full our fridge- and Gavin in search of ridiculous places to place our child. 

Hunger eventually overtook us and we went in search of a beachy picnic spot. The Lakeview Commons was a great park with picnic tables, grills, and plenty of green, grassy open space for us to layout and enjoy the view. Eleanor loved running all over the grass after we ate and made friends will everyone around us.

Lake Tahoe itself was spectacular. A beautiful blue with a shallow that seemed to stretch forever! The mountains created the perfect frame for the lake. 

This was Eleanor's first real trip to a beach. How we had put it off for so long is beside me so we made the most of it. Since the shallow was so long we let Eleanor run and splash through the water to her hearts desire. Her and Gavin picked up shells, and she explored the sensation of sand between her fingers and toes. She had a blast. 

That night my mom, Diana, flew into town for an extended weekend visit. Originally we were all supposed to go to Tahoe Thursday, but Gavin's day off changed. Mom was still pumped to visit the lake, so the next morning we left on our own adventure. The drive was just as wondrous as the day before, as mom and I discovered waterfalls, rock formations, and canyons I hadn't seen Wednesday. It's a different view from the driver's seat. I took mom over the stateline and toured the town a little before we grabbed lunch and had a picnic at the same park. There we spent a few hours relaxing and playing in the water before calling it a day and heading home. 

Lake Tahoe forever has a place on my list of favorites. Now we just need to make a trip there in the winter ...

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.