Tonight the Silver Wheatley, nee Galloway, came over to relieve Mommy and Daddy from their usual Friday night parental obligatos so that they could go out to dinner at How to Cook a Wolf with Daddy’s co-worker Patrick Napper and wife Rebecca Luke.

Silver and I didn’t make it too far into Ratatouille before I was lights out. Easy peazey for her. Mommy and Daddy didn’t come off too easy in the $$ department with the 2 hours spent idly tossing back the bevvies at Opal on top of dinner, but I hear the restaurant had some very tasty fare. Although not a place they’d return to due to the ASININE practice of no reservations.

And WTF with the crazy April snow?!! It was really coming down and STICKING!

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Tonight Daddy and I rolled down the hill from ELDC and met up with none other than the entire Smith clan at the Barking Dog, NW 70th Street’s finest watering hole. Lots of chatting ensued while Campbell and I ate pizza, drank root beer and colored with the restaurant-supplied kit of Crayons and doodle sheets.

Since Daddy is on a fast avoiding anything other than Belvedere martini’s, he stayed busy spoon feeding baby Carter his dinner while Tia and Doug crunched and munched on their respective dinners. It was funny watching Daddy spin a little while he tried to remember how to feed an infant. Sibs or no sibs… That is the question.

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At the end of last week Daddy received a new gadget in the mail… A Flip Video recorder. 60 minutes of video and audio recorded directly to the device with no moving parts or tape. He never made much use of our other camcorder and when pulling it out recently to get some footage of yours truly, the dang thing no longer worked.

Another reason Daddy didn’t use the camcorder too often was because of it’s bulk. The Flip is roughly the size of an iPod. It’s going everywhere with us. And getting the video couldn’t be any easier… Just plug the Flip in via it’s built-in USB connection and drag the files to your computer. Voila!

Mommy and Daddy took turns capturing me in action on Saturday as:  we visited the Frampton’s for brunch, my Spanish time at Sponge, getting my mani/pedi at Pro Nails on Queen Anne with Mommy, rocking one of the first backyard play sessions of the year (where I was washing dishes), the Smiths stopped by for some Guitar Hero III on the Wii and finally some sweet tuckage into bed. There will be no Palm D’Or for the camera work, editing or titles - Posterity is our purpose.

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Yesterday the fam and I headed up north to Vancouver, BC in order to meet up with Shannon Mead née Murray, her new son Luke, Shannon’s brother Marc, mother Susan, Marc’s daughter Maddie, 7 week old son Cash and wife Jen.

We arrived in Vancouver on Sunday evening after a leisurely drive up Chuckanut Drive. Our hotel was the lovely Hotel Le Soleil on Hornby. After getting settled in the room, we headed out and had a great time having bevvies and 3 rounds of oysters while seated at the oyster bar at Joe Fortes. Always a crowd pleaser.

Afterwards we headed back to the room to get a pizza from Nat’s, watch movies and enjoy some mojito’s made with genuine Habana Club Anejo rum all the way from Cuba. We had a junior suite so Mommy and Daddy had the main room while I was on the pullout in the living room. Daddy joined me later as he was booted by Mommy due to excessive snoring. Dudn’t bother me any, and you’re good in my book if you can take my non-stop barrage of kicking and churning.

Monday morning we had a relaxing morning around the hotel gnoshing on Starbucks breakfast sandwiches and watching the Canadian equivalent of Sprout TV. Not once did I see a show that I am used to viewing at home. Alas, all good things come to an end and it was time to saddle up and meet the Murray/Mead contingent at their accommodations, the Sheraton at Wall Centre.

Mommy and Daddy were thrilled to death to see Shannon and Luke. Meeting up with Shannon’s mom, Marc, Jen, Maddie and new baby Cash… THE BONUS. Cash is sooo small, Luke is soooo cute and Maddie is soooo much fun.

After some time mitigating the chaos of four children and no fewer than 4 adults six feet tall or taller packed into a ridiculously tiny cozy room, we headed downstairs to the hotel’s posh-ish Indigo restaurant for a lovely lunch. Mommy and Daddy paired off at a separate table with Shannon and Luke while I was left to raise the roof with Maddie under the patient and watchful eyes of Susan Murry, Jen, Marc and the unforgiving eye of little baby Cash.

An afternoon coffee session at one of the two Starbucks at Thurlow and Robson, a warm goodbye to Shannon and Luke and the Beelman 3 were on our way down south sans haste. I didn’t even make it through Surrey before I was out cold.

Daddy and Mommy got off at exit 230 and guess what they found. A taco truck!! And just in time for dinner. After a few tacos they proceeded to cruise around Skagit valley in an effort to find some tulips for Daddy to photograph. Sadly there were none yet, but they found field after field of beautiful daffodils. La Conner is quite the cute town and I can’t wait to visit in a couple of weeks when the tulips finally take off.

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Last night Mr. Owen Moriarty joined me as my first ever sleepover guest. And yes, he is a boy. It might be funny to share that sparks flew like crazy between us and that we stayed up all night plotting out our next 3 weeks of naps together, but it was just a simple play date that ended with us crashing on the different levels of my trundle bed and waking up to fresh pancakes a la Mommy.

Ella: Good morning handsome!
Owen: Hi
Ella: Are you aware of the significance of last night?
Owen: Umm…
Ella: We can still be friends, right?
Owen: Umm…

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Tonight the Family Smith (sans Carter) headed to Le Bistro de Beelzecchi for some serious French Bistro fare prepared by one Madame Sasha. For added texture and flavor, uber-dreamy pal Owen Moriarty joined us as my first sleepover guest. Yes, a sleepover. And yes, with a boy.

The Smiths recently acquired quite a few bottles of French wine from Sotheby’s as odds and ends from various lots and were looking to bust them out on Mommy and Daddy.  And what better reason than a French Bistro night? While the parents sampled a ‘94 this and a ‘95 that, we had a civil co-ed tea party upstairs and practiced jumping off of the bed. Thud.

Preparing Profiteroles

Chow Time

Grand Cru

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Howday partners. Sorry I forgot to post the slideshow for March’s addition to the 365.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

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Today on the way home from escuela, and a scant two blocks from home, Daddy’s bike blew a sidewall. There was a huge sound signifying catastrophe and we came to a screeching halt. So fast in fact, that Daddy wasn’t able to get out of his clips fast enough and tipped over. Poor fella. I’m not sure which was more bruised - His ego or his hip.

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The Smith family is sans Dougie this week as he is in Vegas for biz travel and then on to Texas to help move his mom.  In an effort to help Tia (mommy of two) keep her sanity, we met up with her at the Barking Dog for some adult and PG-13 libations to help wash down the pizza, waffle fries, Southwest chicken salads and eventual heart attacks.

Lots of chatting.  Lots of fun.   Always great to catch up with the bestest of friends.

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The parentals are feverishly working on organizing the garage and scaling down on the junk in the meantime.  As a reward for all of their hard work, Lynn Burgess and beau Joe Moriarty have invited us over for a casual dinner of lamb chops and a reserva Rioja that paired perfectly.

While the adults hobnobbed upstairs, Owen, J.P. and I watched the Kid’s Choice Awards hosted by Jack Black.  We thoroughly enjoyed the show and are equally jazzed that we didn’t get slimed!

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