Juggling kids and careers during summer is a both rewarding and a challenge. We balance our lives by waking early while the kids sleep late, handing out their to-do (or not to-do) lists and tag team run interference should play time go awry. As part of our newly planned Summer Fun and to celebrate our first full week in Spokane, we ventured out to Riverfront Park to see the pre-Hoopfest hype, Spokane Falls and have lunch at Anthony’s Home Port, all in downtown Spokane, a quick 3 miles downhill from our house.Riverfront Park is an awesome stretch of park in downtown Spokane, along the Spokane river, complete with walking paths, “all wheels paths”, amusement rides, Spokane Falls Skyride, Looff Carousel and IMAX, not to mention spectacular views of Spokane falls. Check it out http://spokaneriverfrontpark.com/
I had visited the park in January with Jessica and in May with Trace and still haven’t seen or done all that the park has to offer. Today was the first visit for Vince, Niko and Andre. No matter the number of visits, Spokane Falls are an amazing sight.
Riverfront park was alive with Hoopfest event set-up. Portable basketball hoops in heights for all ages, food vendors, volunteers and news cameras were on the scene to get ready for the world’s largest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament. We are looking forward to checking out the action on Saturday.
After a stroll through the park, we headed across bridges spanning the river to arrive at Anthony’s Home Port on the northwest side of the river. Anthony’s is a Pacific Northwest seafood restaurant chain http://www.anthonys.com/. If you’ve ever flown into Seattle, you’ve walked past or eaten at Anthony’s at SeaTac. Anthony’s Home Port in Spokane features indoor and patio seating with spectacular views of the falls. Trace and I had lunch here in May and he was excited to return for their Ponzu Salmon bowl with jasmine rice and salad. Niko, our adventurous eater, loves mussels and ordered their Mussels and Fries plate. Vince ordered Cioppino and Ceaser, a delicious twist on a typical soup and salad lunch. I had the Chop Chop Seafood Salad with shrimp and crab. Andre, our pickiest eater safely ordered Mac-n-Cheese off the kids menu and requested a caeser salad as well. Andre’s green foods include avocado, artichokes and green grapes. That’s it. I told the waiter no side salad which Andre didn’t hear. When the food arrived, everyone dug in except Andre who was looking for his caeser salad. Vince told him they put it on his plate and put half of his salad on a spare bread plate. Andre said ok and started eating the salad. I asked him when did he begin liking salad? He told me “I have my secrets”. Andre proceeded to eat the entire portion of salad and then ate his Mac-n-Cheese. Not only did he eat salad, but he ate salad first! If I hadn’t been there to bear witness, I wouldn’t have believed it. Since everyone polished their meals, we ordered the three special desserts featuring strawberries – strawberry cheesecake, strawberry shortcake and strawberry sorbet. All delicious and gone in a flash as if we just didn’t eat a full meal! Our service, from hostess to waiter was excellent. If you haven’t been to an Anthony’s restaurant, we highly recommend you go.
After all that food, we walked back to Riverfront Park and decided to take the Spokane Falls SkyRide for a view of the falls from the bottom. We scored a $2 discount with our AAA card and also picked up movie information at the IMAX. Again, the views were beautiful.
Vince captured the adventure today best by saying, “This is awesome! We are so lucky to live here!” We all had to agree.
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To quickly touch on my image issue of looking like a dependent housewife highlighted in yesterday’s post, I am happy to report that I (1) found an awesome salon and fantastic stylist, Taylor, on my first try, hallelujah; (2) Taylor thinks my gray is elegant and he said I have great bone structure for short hair (flattery will get you a big tip…but…); (3) the salon is a non-tipping salon as in no cash tips allowed. WTH? Fine by me AND I feel human again with a super short cut. Refreshing on many levels. Thanks Tay-Tay for the cut and all the great insight on neighborhoods, great pizza, restaurants and outdoors adventures.
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Thanks Spokane! Our first week has been great and we are all happy to be here.
multi-hyphenated-me 