Zoo Boise

So after six years of living in Boise, I finally went to visit the zoo. I was at Brooke and Kevin's for the weekend, so I decided to run down to Julia Davis Park and meet up with Niki (who came bearing coffee) to wander through the zoo. For a zoo its size, it actually had some pretty great things- I loved the wallaby section and it was great to finally see the Hank the Giraffe in person, after usually seeing him over the wall when I park. There were quite a lot of monkeys- maybe a little bit too many monkeys- but I loved the lions, tigers and cheetahs and the penguins. 

The butterfly exhibit, which cost $1 extra, was phenomenal. The butterflies would land on us and on the pieces of fruit that were around the enclosure. It brought me back to 2nd grade, learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and also learning all about camaflogue. I loved the ones with the big eyes that made them look larger than they were. Certainly worth the extra buck. I would highly recommend it.

Elephant Shrew- neither an elephant or a shrew 

Baby wallaby

Old school!

My friend Hank the Giraffe!

It's no National Zoo, no San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park but for the size of the town and the size of the space, there is certainly a lot to see and worth an afternoon or morning. But be careful being there in the summer- it's pretty inexpensive so moms will take their kids and if you don't like too many children, avoid until the later afternoon or once school starts.

ISF MT

The night before heading home, Niki and I hit up the ISF for our second show of the season. One thing I think I'm going to really enjoy about seeing an entire season of shows is being able to watch various actors in multiple roles. At "The Mousetrap", for example, featured both the actor that played Benvolio and also Tybalt, in very different roles than in Romeo and Juliet. Another nice thing was that "The Mousetrap" featured a smaller cast, so it was slightly easier to follow and, it being a mystery, you were able to take part in figuring out what hapepened. I think I had most of it figured about maybe ten minutes into the second half, because you always know that no character in such a small play is there just for no reason. Everyone has a reason and a purpose and it just took awhile to figure that out.

Mr. Paravachini (l) was hysterical and really bizarre all at the same time

Totally dug the Steampunk-ish set (and Christopher Wren!)

deja vu to Romeo and Juliet- Trotter and Major or Tybalt and Lord Capulet

Mrs. Boyle was the epitome of crotchety Englishwoman

Oh Christopher Wren....

again, the Steampunk element was wonderful- plus i enjoyed the costumes

I loved how different each character was- and some of them were hysterical. Christopher Wren made me laugh nearly every time something came out of his mouth and Mrs. Boyle was truly the epitome of this crotchety, stuck-up, English marm who was not pleased at anything. The Major and Miss Casewell kind of had a background role until the end where their true purpose was revealed. But my favorite thing about the entire production was the way that they had the stage set up, including the backdrop that was incredibly Steam-punk. I love Steampunk (but not in the dress up kind of way....) There were also some interesting features with having voice-overs do dialogue while the actors were silently acting. I'm not sure I fully grasped what the director was doing with that but I still enjoyed it.

Next three shows will be in August/September and I haven't looked ahead yet to who the cast will be so can't wait for the next few!

Kelsey's Bachelorette/Shower

As part of our CMC duties, Regan and I threw Kelsey a Bachelorette Party/Shower with some of her local Idaho friends. We held it up at Bitner and luckily it wasn't too hot so we could enjoy the gorgeous outside view. Regan and I put together the food and Kelsey's friend Ellie brought some as well and we sat outside, eating, chatting, drinking wine, and eventually playing some games. The best was the game where Brad answered a bunch of questions and Kelsey had to see if her answers matched up. There were some hysterical answers, my favorite being "yeah right, I'm not answering this question...." Good answer, Brad. Steer clear or sensitive answers.

It was lovely to meet some of Kelsey's Boise friends as well as get the Happy Hour crew together to relax, open some presents, laugh at some games and of course, celebrate the beautiful Bride-to-Be!

yummy yummy wine

Regan's flower arrangement

my homemade dip, veggie platter and bruschetta

gorgeous view

wine country for sure

Katie!

Aly and her cupcake

so yummy!

more beauty

part of Kelsey's swag

Kelsey and Aly

officiating the games

Maple-Bacon cupcake

hilarity ensues

lots of presents!

the party

me and my closed eyes

CMCs

me and the lovely B2B

me, Regan and Kelsey

part of the Happy Hour crew

yay friends!

Best and Worst of Boise

This is maybe one of the best songs about Boise. "Legend" has it that this song was written backstage at the Botanical Gardens in about fifteen minutes. Love it.

And this is maybe one of the worst. (Although you can tell that they really do love Boise... the video and song are just terrible! First of all, the entire state of Idaho has the area code 208. The lyrics are just ridiculous (go to Camel's back, maybe have a snack....?) I just have no words for what's going on here. However, their intent is admirable, you have to give them that.