Bad guy

Isabella got to visit most of the family while I was visiting ILM. It was a very long flight - well, after we spent three hours sitting in the airport waiting for the plane to get there, it was long. So we got in just in time to sit in traffic, and got to the hotel just in time to turn around and head out for our tour of ILM. They have the original Darth costume in the lobby. Bill took Isabella over to show her the "bad guy". She definitely decided that he was scary - much more scary than the storm trooper. Despite it being 4 hours past her bed time (and no nap) she made it through the part of the tour, only to fall asleep while we watched the (very loud and not kid appropriate) trailers for up-coming movies. 

Our hotel was about as un-kid friendly as you can get - big vase on the floor, glass table top, shoji screens... fortunately, she's not given to running around like a maniac. And glass tables are pretty decent for playing with Play-doh. And she really liked the shower - they had a hand-held shower with a bucket, and a big tile floor. 

Isabella had a great time playing with Grandma and her cousins. She and Alexander are very cute - he lets her sit nex

t to him and play with his legos. Everyone went to the Exploratorium; apparently the echo tube was a big hit. I didn't see much of anything, since I was busy late each evening. Isabella also got to see Julia again, and play with the plastic animals.

Of course, by the time I went to head back, she was absolutely exhausted. I took a bump 

(enough to go home for Christmas!) and went back through Chicago. She passed out for two hours on the flight. She got a bit fussy on the second flight, but was basically good. And enjoyed her lollipops.

We did a short camping trip - there was hardly anyone there. She really likes sleeping in the tent. It was a beautiful day - on S

aturday. On Sunday a guy drove through the campground warning about the up-coming tornado alert. So we started packing up - and the storm came in. Actually lifted up one side of the tent, which didn't make Isabella very happy. 

We had an Easter Egg hunt today, along with coloring eggs. They had one at day care on Friday too - our little ocd child had collected almost all of them while her friends picked up a couple. Sigh. She wants to do an egg hung again, of course. We also colored eggs, which she may be a little bit young for - she could dip an egg in, but wanted to keep putting them in over and over again.

She was a bit of a fashion disaster today - purple shirt with an over-sized yellow tank top, striped pants, and a flower jacket. Ah well. That's what she wanted to wear. 

Her latest thing is stop lights - "It's red, we have to stop. Oh, it's green, we can go!" She's not very patient "I want to go, it's my turn!". Bill's been explaining about roads versus sidewalks, which she also seems to get. 

She's also been learning to block and make light saber sounds while swinging her sticks (cardboard tubes from one of her presents from Ann). And climbing in the gym - she can actually hang from some holds and put her feet on the wall. Chris and I went down just the two of us (Bill's allergies were bad) and she stayed put, which means we can go down with only two people now. She has discovered that the chalk ball makes a good drawing tool. 

She's also figuring out size - "oh, I can't reach that". "Mommies bigger than me", "I'm too small". And becoming recalcitrant - no, don't want to leave the park, no, don't want to sit in my car seat...