Oh Canada!

Phillips and I just got back from a week long gettaway to the beautiful cities of Quebec and Montreal, Canada. We spent 3 1/2 days in Quebec and 3 days in Montreal. We celebrated (a little prematurely) for Phillips birthday (32) on July 22 and our 5 year anniversary on August 13. We had a wonderful time just the two of us and spent LOTS of time walking around, learning about the history of New France, shopping, eating (local French Canadian style), and having some good french wines. Quebec was extremely romantic with its narrow alleys, amazing architecture, and lined boutiques/restaurants. The city of Quebec was fresh and the people were sooooo friendly. Montreal was little more upbeat and metro...and we had the BEST MEAL of our lifes there at a local French Bistro! The weather was great...warm during the day and perfect at night. We needed a trip just the two of us, but missed our little monkey like CRAZY! She had a ball in Lake Charles for the week visiting both sets of grandparents and getting spoiled rotten! More pics to come...it will only let me do five at a time.

Fourth of July Firsts

Isabel's first time to eat a hotdog....of course cut in forths, and first time to eat watermelon!!! In the second picture she is telling me more watermelon (with a pseudo sign: finger pointing to palm). We had a cookout with some of new orleans family friends with plenty of kids, dancing (for the kids), eating, drinking....and a good time had by all. And check out the presentation of our fried chicken (with decorations such as watermelon slices, bisquits, waffles....southern food at its best!)

Beach Black and Whites

So, because the water is a little on the brown side, I decided to edit some photos to black and white. You'll never know we weren't in Destin.

Biloxi Family Weekend Part 1

We had a Family gettaway to Biloxi, MS this past weekend. It was a perfect weekend. Friday we all arrived at the Legacy Villas Condo and had a relaxing evening of swimming, hotdogs, drinking good wine, and playing trivial pursuit. Then Saturday we woke up, some played golf and others headed to the beach. This was Isabel's first encounter with sand; and what an experience. It took her almost 2 hours to warm up to the idea of sand. She finally adjusted after much distraction and we were able to get some cute pictures. The water was of course not as beautiful as Destin; but NO OIL....YET!! The Saturday afternoon we headed back to the condo for naps and more swimming. Saturday night we had a great evening out thanks to one of our family friends volunteering her evening to keep Isabel. We ate at Mary Mahonneys and hit up the Beau Rivage....ooohh so much fun! Sunday we did Mexican lunch, J Crew outlet, and headed home. It was a super weekend!

Birthday Party Fun!!

Today we went to The Monkey Room to celebrate Abbey (6) and Ella (3) birthdays. The entire place is filled with indoor play equipment, and it is extremely clean. Isabel was beside herself with the toddler jungle gym. Everything is padded and safe for them to play on. I am kicking myself that I did not know how wonderful this place was until today. We will be going back alot this summer, especially now since it is so miserably hot outside. In the last picture is Ella (the birthday girl) and Isabel sliding together!

MOWING like Daddy

It was one of the cutest things I have seen. Phillips was cutting the grass and Isabel ran to the storage closet to get out her popper. We usually pretend that the popper is a vacuum around the house....but in Isabel's world it doubles as a lawn mower. And everywhere daddy cut....so did Isabel! Oh and the pictures were converted to black and white because daddy went to get Isabel a clean shirt after dinner and the outfit was a sight for sore eyes (totally non matching colors)....but who needs to match when doing yard work?

First day of Toddler School

Isabel started her first day at BIG GIRL school in the Toddler Class at Little Red Schoolhouse. She is attending summer camp right now and is second to youngest in her class....in the whole school for that matter. She had a wonderful day on Monday and had many firsts: eating breakfast at home before drop off, commute 5 minutes instead of 20 minutes, bringing a lunch box, drinking out of a big girl cup, meeting lots of new faces, sleeping/napping on a mat, etc... We are so proud of her transition. Although she is doing quite well at school, she is worn out when I pick her up. The last two evenings at home have been very interesting and very fussy. I tried to capture her holding her first day of school sign...here are the three attempts.