Dad's (Extended) Birthday and My Foodie Obessions

Each year for my dad's birthday, I give him the gift of a homemade meal of his choice, and some kind of fun family outing. It's an unofficial tradition. Part of it is because his birthday is December 23rd, and it was always super important to me to make his birthday and Christmas special for him. This year, we couldn't celebrate until New Year's Day, due to our schedules and when we had time off from work (You might think a banker and someone who works for a community college could find some common ground in time off, but when you throw a toddler and Grandpa into the mix, it becomes a bit more complicated!)

For my dad's birthday this year, he requested Chicken Parmesan for dinner. Here's me, prepping in  the kitchen:

Yes, that's the Pioneer Woman's cookbook! AKA,
my food bible!

The prep took longer than I anticipated, but it was definitely worth it! My dad loved it, and Ellie even ate it!

After dinner, we were headed out pretty quick to go on a very special trip down to Seattle! I scored 3 tickets to the Woodland Park Zoo's WildLights display with my corporate discount from work! It wasn't much, but any discount is okay with us!

We were planning to leave as early as possible, but we didn't end up getting out of the house until after 5:30. (WildLights is only 5:30-8:30pm).

The drive down was pretty quick and relatively uneventful. Robert got turned around in one of the first parking lots, but we eventually found where we needed to park.

 The walkway was completely lined with lights on trees!

This is from the walkway looking down

Here's the entrance, once you get through the
gate

Everywhere you looked, you could see lights and animal shapes, silhouettes, and even moving light displays!

The pathways were not all open, but we didn't
feel limited at all. There was plenty to see!

Our little sweetheart, bundled
up cozy in her stroller! 

Under the regular lights at the zoo, some of the LED lights made the pathways appear purple! It was really neat. 

Robert, Ellie and my dad in front of a big
butterfly display

Daddy & Ellie looking at an amphibian display

My favorite part was seeing how everything looked totally lit up in the dark! It was really neat how they had everything set up! 

My dad is on the right, going into the Komodo
Dragon exhibit 

Ellie Jo and Daddy looking at reptiles 

Some reptile thing

Some slithery thing

She was happy to have Grandpa and Daddy right
there with her!

Turtle!! I love the pattern on its back!

Rawr!

We were a little cramped in a tight space
in this exhibit, and Ellie was the only one of us
who could have expressed her frustrations - and had it be socially acceptable. 

Another turtle! It was so carefree! Like the ones
in Finding Nemo!

I took this pic on my iPhone! Amazing clarity!

A pathway of animals!

The largest animal we saw! And I can't even
remember what it was...

She liked the exhibits where she could
peer in from the ground :) 

Daddy explaining about frogs

Looks like this was out of a 1980s
National Geographic. But it's not.
It's my DSLR lens vs. dirty glass.
#vintagenoeffort

Real? Or display? You decide!

The Spectacled Owl, Kova! We got
to listen to a whole demonstration
about him...until Ellie Jo got cranky.

One of the last things we did was take Ellie Jo
on the carousel. She LOVED it!  

As we left the zoo, we decided that we needed to have some dessert. We debated about where to go and what to eat, and then I used Siri to find something for us. I looked up something like "dessert" and found the closest locations I could. Then I decided one place that had molten lava cake "Hot Cakes" in Ballard sounded interesting, so that's where we went!

Little did I know what was in store for us...

In Ballard!! For real! We NEVER
go to Seattle anymore, and since
we have a kiddo, it's hard to be
spontaneous. 

But we were spontaneous that night!
Ellie Jo was excited to get inside
and get warm! (Note we all have like
4-5 layers on under our winter
jackets!) 

This place did not disappoint! From the moment we walked in, I was wowed! Most of you know how much I adore Chip & Joanna Gaines on HGTV's Fixer Upper.  (I mean really, I just applied to be on the street team for their book coming out on October 18th!) I just love how they work together as a couple, how they involve their kiddos in their work, their personalities, and their taste! Well, Hot Cakes may as well have taken a page right out of their book, because it was a Fixer Upper fan's dream!

Waiting in line

Rustic, yet classy decor

I was being slightly tourist-y, trying to get the
right angles and shots to send to Keri... with my
iPhone... we both realized there aren't enough
texts in the world. 

Look at the gorgeous sign! 

Tasting table! The Whiskey Caramel
is to die for!

That's right; it says, "DRINK your dessert" !! 

Yes, a s'mores bar! 

That wall!!!!

Brick + lighting fixtures + sign graphics = goals

The whole place

When we walked in, my dad immediately said, "No way... no way." I said, "What? Don't you want some dessert, Daddy?" He whispered, "I'm like, the oldest person here!" Robert and I laughed so hard... because he was right. The average age couldn't have been higher than 22 before we walked in, with the median age around 20. (No wise cracks about my math nerdiness! And no, I did not attempt to calculate the mode!) 

So Elizabeth was thrilled to be in a "big kid" place for dessert, lol! 

The biggest chocolate cookie she could find. 

Do you see this decor? DO YOU?!

Yeah, I don't think any of you truly understand my obsession with Fixer Upper...

...or my kiddo's sheer joy and happiness from a simple
cookie. 

Can we just take a minute to appreciate the
bathroom decor?! YES - BATHROOM! 

Hold the phone!!

Liquor "cabinet" goals...

To make my dad feel young, I encouraged him
fiercely to take a selfie. Okay, okay; I forced it
upon him. I know, right? You should have heard me
trying to explain what we were doing. It was hilarious.

Daddy and his girl outside Hot Cakes! 

We didn't actually eat the food there, we took it back to my dad's house for a special treat. I got the apple bread pudding, and it brought me up to a whole new level of appreciation for baking. Seriously. They put cardamom in the bread pudding. Cardamom! My favorite spice! I studied that bread pudding. I shall duplicate it sometime in the near future. I could seriously dedicate several posts to Hot Cakes alone...but I digress...

Dad had a really great birthday, and I had the most fun I'd had in months. Seriously! Or as Elizabeth says, "Sersssoly." 

Anyway, my pictures are a bit disheveled and not quite in perfect order, but it's good enough for my first blog post in nearly 3 months!