Downtown Aquarium

Last Friday Isabelle and I went to the Downtown Aquarium. We met up with my good friend Debi and her 3 kids. Isabelle absolutely loves when she gets to hang out with Claire, Lucas, and Emma! Belle spent her time following them around and Claire taught her a few new animal sounds, like how a tiger roars. Belle is getting really good at making animal sounds now! The tigers were exceptionally exciting for her to watch (and me too). They were huge and we got so close to them!


She also loved looking in all the aquariums and watching the fish swim around. Fish are really amazing to her. It may have started with her musical fish tank we have hanging in her crib. She's always loved to watch the fish move around, watch the bubbles float up, and listen to the music. Sometimes in the middle of the night or early in the morning we hear her tank go on. We've peeked in a few times to see what she is doing and she has turned on the music and is just laying back watching and listening it until she falls asleep again. It is really sweet! So, to say the least, real fish, in a real tank was extra cool for her!

Here is Debi, her mom, Emma, Claire, and Lucas as we first enter.

Here are a couple shots of everyone having fun looking in the tanks.
Claire did a really good job at teaching Isabelle some facts about fish...

They also had some fun climbing through holes and looking up inside of the water bubbles....

I think now we'll have to go buy One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

And here are some of the animal sounds Belle has mastered.....

WOW Museum!

A couple days ago we went to the WOW Children's Museum in Lafayette. Isabelle got to meet up with George and James and have some fun with the boys! She really had a good time. It was a great museum with a lot to explore. She checked out everything.....the pirate ship, the music room, the art room, the sandbox, the bank, and a ton more. I don't even think she knew I was around because she was so busy trying to take everything in.

Here they are heading up the ship. Isabelle tried really hard to keep up with the boys, but the slanted ramp made things a little difficult.
She's looking out on the deck of the ship to make sure everything looks good for sailing away. James was a great captain. He's back steering the wheel.
And looking out the ship window. Everything is clear....

They also did a lot of driving in the car at the bank drive-up window. She's holding on for dear life as James drives the car.
Then some time in the music room. The piano was a big hit. George was exceptionally talented with playing the piano. Isabelle' didn't quite push the keys hard enough for any sound to come out, but she enjoyed listening to George and James play.

She kept returning to this stage to do a little walking/dancing. She was proud to be the only one on stage. Show off!
Checking out what healthy foods to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Good girl!!

We'll have to go back sometime soon! She had a great time with her friends and exploring all the hands-on exhibits. So much fun that I believe she was asleep in her car seat before we even got out of the parking lot!

Nothing Much

Since getting back from our trip to Mexico we have been taking it pretty easy. We haven't had too much going on. Just a few trips to the playground, lots of walks, and playing around the house.

The one thing we have been loving is Isabelle's great personality...especially when waking up first thing in the morning. She has so much energy! I often wish I could take some of it to get me going in the morning. I took a few shots of our energetic child doing various hilarious things at 7:30 in the morning...

Climbing into a diaper box. She fit quite well and managed to get turned all the way around so her face was peeking out. Unfortunately, the camera batteries died the moment I went to take that picture....
Trying to sit on a miniature bus and ride it. She also tried to climb out of the bus via the door (notice her foot). It seemed like the logical thing to do, but after some frustration she quickly figured out that the door was a bit too small for that to happen. (Thanks for the bus, Lily! She loves playing with it and especially loves the music it plays!)

And here she is ready for her walk with Sierra. The reason this makes me laugh is because she spent quite some time trying to get her hat and gloves on even though I told her we wouldn't need them because it was the warmest day of the week. It didn't matter, we HAD to do the walk with no jacket, but with hat and gloves and pajamas.

She has been the most hilarious girl ever. We really love watching her personality come out. Isabelle, you make our lives so much fun and we love you for it!!

We did have to go buy Isabelle some more shoes yesterday because she is growing like crazy! We are learning that Isabelle is a shoe lover. We sure hope this isn't a sign of what's to come when she gets older....a closet full of shoes?? It was just a month ago that we went and bought her a pair of her favorite shoes ever...Elmo shoes! She insisted on wearing these shoes everyday. We were a little worried these were going to be the only shoes she would want to wear, but luckily, every pair of new shoes we introduce, she falls in love with. She also seems to really love wearing our shoes, as you can see here, they fit perfectly...
and here in Mexico....
Isabelle has been completely in love with having George at our house. When George arrives she is usually still asleep, but as soon as I bring her downstairs and she sees him in the living room, she about loses her mind because she is so excited! She practically jumps out of my arms to go say hi to him. They really have a good time together. They had such a good time the other day that I had to have them take a little break before having snack. Here they are watching Thomas the Train sing...

Belle got really excited (even though she was supposed to be taking a break) and decided to dance (another one of her favorite past times). Notice George being a good boy and sitting like I asked.

I thought this was really cute. It shows the two of them now and then the two of them about 7 months ago. They both have changed so much! It's amazing how quickly they grow up!!



















And finally, the last thing to share is a performance from our little dancer. She really loves music, singing, and dancing! She has been going to Book Babies at our local library for quite some time now and has been getting really into "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." She enjoys being the one child to stand up and show everyone how it is done. I tried to film it one day at home, but too bad Sierra showed up to interrupt our performance so it's not very good. Sierra is still the number one coolest thing at our house. Hopefully you can still get the idea of how much she loves this song (and excuse the horrible singing, please! Let's just hope she gets Jamie's voice.) One of these days I'll get the whole performance on video and she'll prove she can do a much better job.

Loving Beach Life!

We were so lucky to be able to go back to Sayulita, Mexico for our Spring break! We had a great time and the weather was perfect! Grandpa surprised us by getting us the best room EVER! We had a bungalow which was right on the beach with an outside kitchen, large patio, huge bed, and even a private open air shower! We were also steps away from Nana and Grandpa, so Isabelle got to spend a lot of time with them and mom and dad got some free time to hang out!! Here's looking in on our patio and kitchen. The doors to the left open up to the bedroom....
And this is the view from our room. If you didn't find us at the beach, then you were sure to find us sitting on the patio, eating, watching the sunset, and relaxing!
Isabelle even had her own private playhouse right off the patio which was a ton of fun for her!! We added the additional private pool for her to play in. Could she possibly ask for anything more?? She was in heaven!
Here we have the little sweetie enjoying her breakfast. Each morning we sat on our patio and enjoyed fresh fruit, cereal, coffee, and even fresh pastries from the lady who walked down the beach selling them....
Isabelle got to have a juice box for the first time in Mexico. (Her mean parents don't like all the sugar in the juice). It would be an understatement to say she didn't enjoy it. Here she is slurping it to the last drop!

One day we hiked through the jungle to Hidden Beach. It was great being the only people on this huge, beautiful beach. Belle had a lot of fun playing in the sand, collecting shells, and looking for leaves that blew in from the jungle.....

The waves were gigantic and Belle enjoyed sitting back and watching them crash down.....

Here we are at Muertos Beach. This was a small beach with much calmer waves so Belle got to do a lot of running around in the water. However, we had to keep a close eye on her because she has NO fear and loved running straight to the water, laughing hysterically...

It was pretty apparent that Isabelle loved meeting other people. She pretty much became friends with every single person and child in Sayulita. She was the highlight of the beach as she waved, said "hi" or "bye, bye" to everyone, or just simply walked up and joined in on other people's beach fun. Here she is hanging out with her new best friends in the campground. They played together for 3 nights in a row...

She really wanted nothing to do with us anymore....
And this is her new friend at Muertos beach. The language barrier didn't stop any of the fun....


She literally walked up to this group and just sat down to join in on the fun. No joke! It was pretty hilarious. She is concentrating very hard on trying to figure out what they are saying. They talked to her in Spanish the whole time, but she didn't seem to mind.
This little boy was so sweet with Belle. He loved her so much and played so well with her. They really enjoyed playing with the big beach ball....

Isabelle loved spending time with Nana and Grandpa. These pictures show the great time they had together!

Walking the beach (daily)!

Saying "hi" and "bye, bye" to everybody in sight (including dogs).....
Shopping with Nana.....

And here we have Belle enjoying the daily activities. Hanging out on the beach, kicking in the waves, swimming in the pool, digging in the sand.....


And what's a trip to Mexico without your daughter carrying a beer??We were sad to leave, but the fun had to come to an end. We'll never forget this trip.....
Hope to see you again soon, Mexico!!