Beach house

The week after siggraph we moved to our new place, which is somewhat bigger. That week is best not remembered, between the stomach flu and the joys of moving. On the plus side, there are several new toys for Isabella and Ian - a bunkbed, a dollhouse, a rocking horse, a new stroller, some new books, and a talking alphabet train (which, much to my chagrin, is still a big hit - but it keeps them entertained while trying to do housework).

Isabella found the tattoo stuff again, and requested many of them. Bracelets, all the way up the legs and arms, forehead... we got quite a few comments on the flight out, especially from big manly guys with tattoos.

Note to self: Alaska airlines has a 30 minute checkin limit, their long-term parking is $15 a day, and far away. We missed our flight. Fortunately, there were a lot of other ones and we ended up saving a bunch of $$ because Ian & I took the car back to the house while Bill & Isabella took the train. We then all took the train back into the airport.

Ended up driving out later in the day then expected, which led to no stops at the fruit stand and somewhat crankier kids. Ian blew out big time, which forced a stop at the rest stop. Still, not too bad - forgot to bring a lot of in-car toys, so we made do with monitor cables and graham crackers.

 Ian learned to walk at the beach house. Stubborn little guy would just get up and walk a few steps, go splat, then do it again. By the end of the week he was making turns and picking things up! Made watching him challenging because there were two sets of (short) steps, and he was absolutely determined to learn to walk down the steps. He took a few tumbles; fortunately, they're short and well-padded. We ended up making blockades to keep him away.

Unlike his sister, Ian has no problem with doggies, even when they lick him in the face! Which was a good thing... Isabella and Casper have come to an accommodation - Calin was very good at keeping him from running her over.

Ah, cousins - while the cousins were there, we hardly saw Isabella. She was out running around with them. She and Manny hit it off pretty well - they bonded over the $2.50 "Buzz Lightyear" phone I got for Ian to keep him occupied while we went shopping (the kids got to ride around in one of those silly cars in front of the shopping cart, which they really liked).

 Isabella also adopted her aunt Lisa - the three of them played with a computer game where you line up colored balls until they go boom.

There was, of course, a lot of sand castle making to be had. Well, in Ian's case it was sand castle destroying. And eating.

Not too surprisingly, Isabella was quite happy to chase after her cousins into the surf, even though she was much shorter than them, and we hadn't been able to coax her into the water by herself.

The beach was covered in rocks, and the tide a lot further in, so not much exploring and no beach at high tide. Still, we managed to do a tiny bit of kite flying and body surfing.

We took Isabella and Ian into exciting Canon Beach to get some salt water taffy and toys for the trip home (Ian played at the park while we went shopping). I promised Isabella one toy for her and one for Ian. We walked into the toy shop - first thing she saw was a Curious George, which she insisted on having. I made her look at everything else in the store, just to be sure, but that's what she wanted. He's now her favorite stuffed animal, and goes everywhere with her! Go figure. I got a little bendy dinosaur for Ian, but it hasn't been that big of a hit - certainly not as much fun as the fake cell phone.

Flight back was uneventful, but remind me not to be the last people to leave the Beach house with a plane to catch and two small kids... Bill managed to leave his keys and memory stick there, but fortunately, Jeff mailed them back. My wetsuit never arrived - it's still at some post office somewhere. Sigh.

Isabella is still announcing, in a loud voice, that she didn't throw up when landing. This was particularly funny on our flight because one of the seats a few rows up was "off limits" because some adult-person had thrown up in it on the previous flight...

Oh yeah - and lots of teeth now. Molars have come in, but still gaps.

Thanks to everyone for the pics!