Merry Christmas!

This was my second Christmas, but the first that I was involved in opening presents. I still don't quite "get" the idea of opening presents, but sure had fun delivering them all to mommy and daddy.

I got all sorts of fun presents this year... lots that make noise-my favorite!!

If you didn't notice already, too, another thing I like to do is

take my diaper off and run around naked!

Grandma and Poppa Drew come to visit!

Grandma and Poppa Drew came to visit us for two weeks in October. It was so much fun. After a somewhat stressful check-in at the Johannesburg airport (our travel agent reserved our tickets, but forgot to pay for them) we made it onto the plane and to Livingtone, Zambia for 4 exciting days at Victoria Falls. Our first activity was a dinner cruise. We even saw crocodiles and hippos!

Their first African sunset was more than memorable:

It was so nice to spend some time with Grandma and Poppa Drew. I think they were excited to make their first visit to Africa, but even more excited to see me!

We visited both sides of the falls. Zambia the first day and Zimbabwe the second.



We even let daddy be King for a day...

Then, we visited a crocodile farm and I got to touch a baby croc!



We at at some nice restaurants along the way. Poppa Drew always tried the strange foods- crocodile steak, warthog, and croc "fingers". We ate a the 5 star Livingstone Hotel, saw elephants and vervet monkeys tried to steal another guy's french fries! He jumped right up on the table and grabbed a bunch! We also ate at Ngoma Zanga, a restaurant in town that offers a selection of different local dishes and drummers played while we ate. Maybe we ate one of the crocodiles we met today.

From there we went to Kruger Park to see the animals, but had to watch out not to hit any on our way:

We made it into to Kruger safely and saw all sorts of neat animals.

Then we went to Swaziland, where we did lots of shopping at the glass factory, Gone Rural woven products store, and the candle factory.



We also visited a cultural village and saw the traditional Swazi life, homes, and heard about Swazi culture. We also saw a young dance and singing group. Grandma even was pulled up to dance with them!

We stayed overnight at a place called Malandela's and Poppa Drew took some really sweet photos of me and Grandma in the morning.

Then, we finally headed to Mozambique! Mommy and Daddy had to work and Grandma and Poppa Drew got a personal tour guide, our friend Wesley, to show them around. After a week in Maputo, though, we had to take Grandma and Poppa Drew back to the airport to go home. What a wonderful time we had together!

THE BEST day of mommy's life

Mommy said that today is probably THE BEST day of her entire life until now. You know why? Because when she was getting me ready for bed, I walked away toward the night table and she said to me, "Isabelle, can I have a kiss?" and I turned around midway, looked at her, and walked right over and kissed her lips. So, then she made me kiss her over and over and over again! I know what a kiss is now and I love to give them to mommy!

Daddy's next...

My first birthday party!

Yesterday I had a bunch of friends over to celebrate my first birthday. Mommy and Daddy had some of their friends over, too. The best part about it all was that everyone was there to celebrate ME!

We had a lot of fun running around, playing in the sandbox, riding bikes and mini motorcycles, and finally hitting the ice cream shaped pinata.

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to me- once in English and once in Portuguese. Then, I got to dig in to my very own piece of carrot birthday cake (mommy made it) and vanilla ice cream.

The bigger kids also got to put all sorts of toppings on their ice cream- oreos, marshmallows, strawberries, gummy bears, and chocolate chips. These are my friends Zak, Alexa, Lucas and Nico eating their ice cream.

And here is Luca.

It was yuuuuuumy!

Mommy and Daddy had a lot of fun too. Mommy told me not to tell anyone, but she cried a little bit... she said it was because I was getting to be such a big girl and she loves me soooo much.

Hey, everyone, look at me!

Look at what a big girl I am now!!

Gardening

Friday's weather was so nice that Mommy brought me outside to garden with her when she got home from work. Our garden is doing really well, suprisingly. We have gotten lots of romaine and mesclun from it so far. Now we're waiting for our newly planted tomatoes and zucchini to grow.

There were lots of firsts that day- the first time I gardened; the first radish; the first time I pushed myself up to standing from sitting down; and the first time I ate a fistful of dirt. Yum, yum!

Happy 4th of July

I got all set for 4th of July BBQ with my patriotic red, white and blue outfit, special clips and sandals that Auntie Kelly bought me. Once I was ready, mommy asked me to help make a salad with her. So, I got to dry the lettuce in the salad spinner. Sooo much fun!

Carmel

Part of the reason we went to California this summer was to go to my Mommy's friend's wedding in Carmel. We had a really nice time there and I got to meet more of Mommy's friends from Washington, D.C. I was really lucky that Grandma came with us because I got to spend some special alone time with her. We visited a church garden to look at flowers, stopped in a children's gallery and got Ripsqueak books, and visited Carmel Beach to see the Pacific Ocean.

4 generations

Me, Mommy, Grandma, and Great Grandma-

All together in California!

My first trip to Lake Tahoe

Mommy told me that a trip to California is not complete without a visit to Lake Tahoe. She spent most of her vacations at the cabin my great grandpa built, so she said it would be a really special trip for me. I even got to put my first notch on the closet door to measure my height... the outlook doesn't look too tall for me. But, I've still got time...right?!

Even though it was too cold to go into the water, we visited Meeks Bay and walked down to the water's edge to take some photos. The water sure is clear there!

We also took a walk to Ward Creek, which is where mommy and Uncle Andy used to go climbing on rocks with Grandpa. I'm too little to do that now, but I'll get to do that in a few more years!

Thanks for taking us up there, Grandpa! We had a great time with you.