And Then She Was Two

Isabella's Birthday Week was a great fun time. On Monday the 9th, her actual birthday, she said she wanted to go to LaSpada's Phily steak sandwich shop in Dunedin. So the Boys lunch club varied from Italian and went for a sandwich. Dom couldn't join us today so it was just Matt, Joey and Grace, Cousin Shannon, and Isabella and myself. Well when we got there it was no longer called LaSpada's it was Delucas or something like that. I'm thinking we have driven 40min for a sandwich and now it's not going to be what we expected but it was all the same, just a different name. Next a quick stop at the pet shop next to the sandwich shop to look at the baby skunks... no new pets for me ;) We parted ways with Matt and Joey and Grace, and went to the Countryside Mall the one with the ice skating rink in the middle of it. Really just killing time. Shannon had to take a test at the Clearwater SPC campus at 4 that afternoon so i didn't want to drive all the way home just to drive back again. I got Isabella 5 sets of pajamas from the Disney store and an new stuffed Tigger and Mickey and a new dress to wear to her party. Her big present is still in the works... I am shopping for the playfort/swingset combo something like this, but not that, at the right price.

Tuesday the 10th The big Party
Goofed off most of the morning / early afternoon playing around the house. a trip to Target and to SPC for the second part of Shannon's test then a stop by Sam's Club to pick up cakes for the party. Mom has decided to have the gathering at the Club by the pool. It worked out perfectly everyone got to eat what they wanted and no one had to clean up afterwards. Everyone swam in the pool early. Isabella and I got there early so she tired early. There was a great turnout for the group party... it is Kellen and Grandma Rifenburg's Birthday today so there were nearly 25 of us there. Isabella changed into her party dress. Everyone got hats. We had lots of cake. There were wishes made. Isabella knows how to eat some cake, and how to clean up too. And then there were presents. she got a grass skirt to go with a new bathing suit. There were new bath squirt toys. She really loved the binoculars. I think they were her favorite of the day. Anyway back to SPC to get Shannon and home to bed after a big day.

Wednesday the 11th
Today began with a trip to see mom and grandma. I had to get Shannon to the Tampa airport around 3 so we just went to hang out at mom's house for the early afternoon. Shannon got to the airport on time only to find out that his flight was delayed 2 hours. This worked out well for him as almost all of the other passengers had to change flights to accommodate a connection in Memphis so he got to fly on a nearly empty plane and got to sit in first class. Isabella slept the whole trip to and from TIA so she was ready to roll when we got home. With nothing planned for dinner I called up Rebecca and she and Mia came over for brats and potato salad. They got Isabella a great floppy dog puppet and the classic Tales of Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-Duck. We had a nice evening watching the Planet Earth DVDs after playing in the back yard for a little while. Birthday is over... time to start saving for Christmas :)
Be Good