Down on the bayou?

I pulled out the harmonica tonight just for fun and Izzi was instantly smitten. She started to play it and finally got the hang of it after a while. She started to play a deep slow riff and I asked her if her new song was called, "Down on the Bayou"?

She said, "No, it's called 'Clean Your Feet, And Take a Shower'. Ha ha. Point taken, Iz.

My Friend Ariel

Mom-Mom SuSu snapped this photo when we were in Florida a few weeks ago. How perfect that Iz and Ariel are mirroring each other...

Overheard in the WWOI

I'm still working right now (5:20pm) and Ed is in the kitchen making dinner. Isabelle is playing princess in her room. I just overheard Ed say...

"No, Iz, we talked about this. I'm just not comfortable with you putting a leash on yourself."

I better get in there....

Mermaids of Weeki Wachee

We just got home from a fabulous vacation in Tampa, visiting Mom-Mom SuSu and Pop-Pop Bill. We had great weather every day except for one. We were able to go out on Aunt Joann and Uncle Ron's boat, to a sandbar in the Gulf of Mexico, just outside of the Cotee River near New Port Ritchie. We saw fireworks in Safety Harbor for the 4th. We got a hotel room in St. Pete Beach for 2 nights and found an authentic Maryland Seafood restaurant at the beach! And we swam, swam, swam every day we were there. I think Isabelle averaged 6 hours per day in the water.

The one rainy day we had was Friday, and boy did it downpour! They got 3-5 inches of rain on Friday depending on where you were on the gulf coast. This was the day we had planned to go to Weeki Wachee anyway, so it wasn't so bad. The live mermaid shows of Weeki Wachee are indoors. They have a huge park there, most of which was closed due to the weather, but we enjoyed 3 shows in the indoor theatre and Isabelle was in heaven.

One of the current shows is "The Little Mermaid" which was really great, even if their Ariel didn't have red hair (of course Iz picked up on that immediately). Weeki Wachee is the only live mermaid shows in the country, so if you're ever in the Tampa area, check them out, it's pretty wild!

Congrats to Uncle Sean & Aunt Jenny

The wedding weekend was lovely, even if the rain was not. It was a little cool and rainy but we muddled through and still had a good time.

We started the trip on Thursday morning and drove 4 hours to Manasquan, New Jersey to stay with my Aunt Gail (Izzi's Great Aunt). We spent the entire afternoon and early evening on the beach. When we drove into town it was about 105 degrees (heat index) and even with the A/C on in the car, we were drenched with sweat when we arrived at Gail's. We quickly threw our bathing suits on and headed to the beach in Spring Lake, NJ and it was at least 15 degrees cooler there with a fabulous breeze off the Atlantic Ocean.

My cousins, Colin and Curran, both showed up with their wives and children and we had a great time catching up with family. We spent the night at Aunt Gail's house and finished the trip to Massachusetts on Friday morning. Aunt Gail followed us up and we arrived within a few minutes of each other.

We got to Massachusetts around 2pm on Friday and jumped into the hotel pool, again to cool off after a hot drive in the car. Then we had the Rehearsal and Dinner that night.

Saturday we had the whole day free since the wedding didn't start until 6:30pm. Mommy had plotted out all kinds of cool stuff for us to do that day, to explore the area. Unfortunately, all the cool stuff was outside. And it was raining. A lot.

So I got to go to a Dinosaur Fossil place with Grandpa and Daddy for a little bit that day, while Mommy went shopping with the girls. Then when we all met up again, Mommy & Daddy took me over to the Yankee Candle Flagship store. Boy was it HUGE! And so cool inside! They had a nighttime room with stars all over the ceiling and Christmas trees and villages and trains all over the room. And it SNOWED in there every 4 minutes. But it was a warm snow since it wasn't real.

They also had a huge toy store and we bumped into Santa and Mrs. Claus!!! He talked to me for a long time and helped me make a special butterfly out of a pipe cleaner and some tissue paper. It was so much fun, and I told Santa I'd been a good girl so far this year! Just 6 months to go!

The wedding took place at Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory in South Deerfield, MA. It was a greenhouse type room/area with tons of trees and waterfalls and ponds and gazebos and benches and beautiful lights. And they have over 4,000 butterflies in there!!! They were everywhere, landing on people's heads and shirts, floating all around us. It was really cool! Mommy was a little bit afraid but I told her butterflies don't make any noise so she would be safe.

I had a very special job in the wedding ceremony. Uncle Sean & Aunt Jenny asked me to be a flower girl along with Jenny's niece, Abby. I had so much fun getting dressed up like a princess and everyone said I did a really good job.

After the ceremony, we headed to a restaurant called Chandler's (at the Yankee Candle flagship store) for the reception. I was really really tired by that point and was kind of in a bad mood but I made it through to the end and even did a little dance party with the other kids.

On Sunday, we didn't get to split the trip up so we had a long 9-hour drive back to Edgewater. Thankfully, Mommy & Daddy had purchased a new portable DVD player for the trip so I watched movies most of the time. They also gave me dramamine so I didn't get car sick. That worked like a charm. No car sickness and I was drowsy and watching movies so the ride was peaceful (at least that's what they said).

Congratulations to Uncle Sean & Aunt Jenny!

Flower Girl

We're leaving tomorrow for Uncle Sean's wedding. What? Yes, Uncle Sean is getting hitched. His wife's name will be --- Jennifer Egan. Weird for me, but I guess I'll cope. I gave up the name 10.5 years ago so I guess I can pass it on. At least the name is being passed on to a reputable lady :)

Jenny & Sean asked Isabelle to be a flower girl in the wedding. I will post pictures as soon as I can. She is wearing a beautiful Lilly Pulitzer dress that her new soon-to-be Aunt Jenny bought for her (see pic on the left). It's white cotton lace with a hot pink flower applique on it, simply gorgeous. (That's a picture of the dress to the left, not a pic of Isabelle in the dress -- she hasn't gotten THAT big since you last saw her!)

When searching for white sandals, I found a pair with little white butterflies on the shoes. The wedding ceremony is at a place called "Magic Wings" which is a butterfly conservatory so Isabelle will be playing her part.

We've been practicing her flower girl duties all week, we hope she's up for the task. Worst case scenario, I will walk down the aisle with her if she's scared to go it alone. She'll have another fellow flower girl in Jenny's niece, Abby, who is 5 years old. But Iz tends to get a bit gun-shy when she doesn't know people so we'll just have to see how the whole thing goes down.

We're looking forward to the long weekend with family. But we are dreading the 8-hour car drive home on Sunday. On the trip up to Massachusetts, we're splitting the trip in half by driving to my Aunt Gail's house tomorrow in New Jersey. We'll hit the beach (it's supposed to be 100 degrees tomorrow!!!) and then finish the trip on Friday. But we have to the trip home in one straight-through drive to get back to work by Monday. We bought a portable DVD player with headphones and have 15 movies along for the ride. Hopefully we can make it work.

Congrats to Uncle Sean and Aunt Jenny! We can't wait to see everyone.

Ravens Magic

Izzi found a Ravens football toy in the house yesterday and she came into the kitchen while Ed & I were making dinner. She said...(and i quote)...

"Mommy! Daddy! I just took this RAVEN and I squashed it into a STEEWER head. And then I squashed it into a COLT head. And now they are DEAD!"

So, she's a true Ravens fan, even at 3! She may not be there with the Orioles yet, but hopefully she'll get there one day.