Joshua Tree

Off to Joshua tree near Los Angeles. She was an absolute angel on the flight out - hardly a squeak out of her. Here she is sitting in one of the new big blue rocking chairs in the waiting lounge. She spent time taking ice cubes from one cup and putting them in another... then back again. Kept that up until all of the ice cubes either fell on the floor or melted. Then she discovered that little bunny would slide down the tray if it was tipped a little. That was another ten minutes of entertainment. And, of course, lots, and lots, and lots of munchies. We brought some toys and books along but they didn't seem to be all that interesting or needed...

It was very hot (surprise, surprise) so we spent a lot of time playing chase the shade around. Isabella had her own little chair, which she quite liked. Although she had a few problems with tipping it over - she kept leaning way over one side. The chair had a "lock" on it to keep it from folding up, which, of course, she promptly figured out how to slide up and down. Oh well. Bunny also spent a fair amount of time sitting in the chair.

 
A large part of the entertainment was "splashies" - Marilee filled up a tub with water and we got a cheap set of plastic toys from the grocery store. Water got poured in the tub, on the ground, on the shoes... in the mouth (oops). At least we managed to not get anything (like books) in the water.

Another favorite entertainment was driving the car. She figured out how to eject the CDs and make the music stop and go. And re-arrange all of the mirrors, the stereo presets, etc. 

Unfortunately, music failed to soothe the savage beast. She woke up and screamed every twenty minutes on the drive out from LAX. And was none too happy on the drive the next morning. She didn't do too badly on the drive back and some of the other drives, although car seats are definitely not on her favorite list.

Our little mimic - I showed her what she was suppose to do with the deodorant and she promptly started practicing on her own.

She seems to like playing in the tent, but isn't so keen on *sleeping* in it. We had a couple of rough nights. We brought the blanket this time, which was easier to keep on her. But she kept rolling around and off the thermarest and thrashing around. She had one good night, only waking up once. Not sure if she was just overtired, cold, upset tummy, or what. 

We went on a couple very short walks with her in the carrier. It wasn't too pleasant for her, I think, because she was too hot. But she did have a good time playing at the "lake". We did the time honored throw rocks (pebbles) into the water and watch them go "splash". The hard part was keeping her from wanting to walk on the really icky green slimy stuff next to the water. 

Picnic lunch time. It took Isabella a while to get used to Magic, the doggie. She never really got interested in petting him, but she quit freaking out whenever he came to visit. She had learned his name, along with Grandpa and Nana, by the time we left. (She's still saying Grandpa, especially when she sees a picture of a truck.)

New words for the trip: Splashies, airplane, hat all done (she kept asking to take her hat off), helicopter (in the little book), munchies (as in all the time), clean diaper, truck.

I don't know if she's just been feeling sick, or what, but it's been all munchies all the time. I think she was either nursing or napping the entire trip back, with an occasional stop to look out the window. It was just me on the trip back, with the big red suitcase and a box. The backpack carrier is a lot easier to manage in the airport than the stroller - and she was good about hanging out even though we had to wait a long time both in the security line and for baggage. Although they wouldn't let us gate check the backpack carrier on the way out (no one said anything on the way back).