Spokane Follies

So we took a little family trip to Spokane last weekend. I had to do some business over there so we combined the trip w/ some family play time.

Friday morning we got up at 4:00 am (!!!) got ready and left the house by 5:00am. Took a beautiful drive over to Spokane arrived at 7:00 am Spokane time.
Took Bea to Arny's diner for breakfast (where George & I had our 2nd date ever.....) then went to St. Al's on the Gonzaga campus for 8:00 mass. Bea wasn't so interested in mass, so she passed the time chatting it up with the statue of baby Jesus. She was conviced that the eucharist in the statue's hand was a "dookie" (cookie). Likewise, she was conviced that she was cheated out of a "dookie" when I was given the eucharist and she was not. She voiced her displeasure at the injustice of it all to the priest.

After mass we headed over to Safeco so I could attend some meetings and George (my chauffer) drove Bea around the parking lot in circles for about an hour or so.

Then we all went downtown, had some lunch (I swilled two glasses of wine; Bea threw chicken strips at the booth; and George exhibited a ridiculous amount of patience with the two of us.)
Realizing that Bea had been either strapped to a carseat; stroller; shopping cart; high chair; or was forced to sit through mass, we felt it was only fair to let her run wild at Mobius, the Spokane Children's Museum. It was an amazing children's musuem and all three of us had a ton of fun playing there.

After the musuem we took a ride over Spokane Falls in the new gondola system; then Beatrice and I took a spin on the carousel at RiverFront Park. It was perfect as the museum; gondola and carousel are all located right at the Park.

Not surprisingly we all walked back to the hotel for a nap. Upon waking we went for dinner at the Elk Public House where Bea absolutely inhaled the garlic & onion bread, as well as a Chipolte BBQ Chicken Quesadilla, or "DEEE-A!!" as so so fondly hollers when she's hungry. George indulged in a "hot lamb sandwich" that came back to haunt us all the next day.

Finally, back to the hotel for a little Daddy & Bea swim time in the pool. Then just as planned, Bea dropped dead from exhaustion and George and I utilized the free drink coupons provided by the hotel.

Thinking we were in for a good night sleep.....Ha! No such luck! Bea was up & at 'em at 4:30 am. So we just decided to get ready and pack another day full of activities. We ended up taking an early morning walk at Manito Park in the South Hills. Beauty of it is, George, Puggy & I froze our asses off while Bea slept blissfully in her jogging stroller tucked into fleece blankets.

But she woke up when we came to the duck pond, oh, the glorious duck pond. Bea and I hung out at the olive-brownish colored duck pond while George had a "come to Jesus" talk with the "hot lamb sandwich" in the Manito Park public restrooms. When George re-joined the group we were busy quacking like idiots at the ducks and taking family videos when out of the corner of my eye I see Bea's jogging stroller go flying towards the duck pond (Bea was not in it). George couldn't make it to the stroller in time and....kerplunk into the stagnant (duck shit) pond it went...and fully submerged. Poor George had to fish it out and strap it to the top of the car with an extra electrical cord found in the trunk. "Naass-nee!!!" (nasty) as Bea would say.

As if that weren't a rude enough wake up for poor Georgie, I then subjected him to a full day of shopping wherein I acted horribly indignant if he didn't take charge of Bea the entire time. Because after all, just how much time do I actually get to shop by myself?! George played along with my spoiled routine and I was granted an afternoon of shopping and he dealt with a very cranky Skeetie. He really is not only a good guy, but a gem of a husband and the #1 Daddy (to Bea, not me).

All in all it was a really, really fun trip. And pugster wins the award for the least amount of whining.