Ryan & Megan Tie the Knot and Isabelle Goes on Vacation

Ryan and Megan are married! Congratulations, guys - it is going to be phenomenal having you on the Cape! Highlights from the fabulous fun Fitzy wedding: John's leap from the shore as the boat leaves the dock (hey, it was about to happen!), gorgeous sunset sail ride and unbelievable lobster dinner, Barking Crab visit, at breakfast bumping into an ambling groom shopping for bridesmaid's gifts, doing the whole Cliff Walk (with Jane in her Super Orthodic Sandals--that stands for SOS!), jogging to and around Goat Island, watching Ryan's face light up as he waits for Megan to arrive on the alter, seeing Auntie Bri's eyes well up as she stands in the groomsmen line as sole groomsperson, hanging out with amazing family and friends, and knowing Isabelle was safe and sound with Grami and Grampi. They took Isabelle on a trip to Fairfield to visit Anika - and what a time they had!

Isabelle came home requesting one thing, "Noisy kisses! I want noisy kisses!" Noisy kisses... just like Grami gave her! Isabelle tested out her new move on them; it's the one we call sprint-to-the-street-and-scare-the-crap-out-of-you. That didn't go over so well in the Brundage household!



Father's Day was a blast... Dennis turning to me in the middle of the circus, "This is the perfect Father's Day." Isabelle and Daddy rode an elephant and a ate cotton candy. We sang "Happy Father's Day To You" all the way from CT back to Newport and then all the way home from Newport. In fact, we're still singing it today! We capped off Daddy Day with --what else?--tacos... served, of course, in the jalapeno taco holders that were Dennis' Father's Day gift two years ago.

Go Daddy!

"Daddy swims in the pool AND the ocean, and he rides the bike and he can run, too," Isabelle shared with us after the Hyannis Tri. Dennis finished 9th in his division, and came in second if you count him and Tracy (way to go, Rockstar Trac!)! It was great to see Auntie Peg (who is probably still scraping smushed fruit bar off her seats), and not so great to let the guilt set in about not actually doing it.



Here's also what up:

Isabelle is giving me a little ego boost by calling the Elmo & Julia Roberts video on YouTube "Elmo and Mommy." It would be a bit more satisfying if Julia weren't full-on 1985.

She doesn't just say "again" anymore; she says, "one more time" -- which, of course, means ten more times.

When I guide Isabelle's fingers to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on the piano, I only use her pointer finger. Cheryl (who Isabelle loves and requests kisses from) taught us that I need to teach her to keep all her fingers extended because it will really help her to understand form from the beginning. So happy to know that! She also gave us a couple piano books, and says she can start giving Isabelle lessons at 2.5.

It's Ryan and Megan's wedding this weekend! Psyched to be docking at the Newport Yacht Club. Isbelle is heading to Gales Ferry to hang with Grami and Grampi. On Saturday they're taking her to pick strawberries with Anika and Elli.

I found new office space today, and decided I cannot live without it. And am so happy with our new CFI.

When Nana took Isabelle to the store yesterday, Nana commented on a passing stoller, "Look, Isabelle, a baby!" "No, Nana," Isabelle said looking at the twin boys, "there are two babies."

The Mission

The mission: Get Isabelle on as many free flights between now and her 2nd birthday as possible! Where we go and what we do... TBD. I've always wanted to just show up at the airport and figure out what flights are about to leave and board... maybe now is the time to actually do it! We've got two months left for Isabelle to fly for free. Look, paying for her ticket isn't a big deal - it's just that not having to pay for it somehow seems that much better!

Last night I told Isabelle a story while she went to sleep. She and Anika (she insisted on Anika as a travel companion) drove to the airport and spent a week in Paris together. They met Fifi the white, curly-haired dog and Jean-Philippe, the blonde, curly-haired god. Wait, different story! They walked along the Seine, searching for the bookstore with Walt Whitman's great-great-great-maybe great again - grandson. They ate nutella and banana crepes underneath the Eiffel Tower. They cruised the chunnel to catch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in London. Then they were very tired from their exciting day... and... fell...........aaahhhhhhh.....sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...

Unfortunately, bedtime tonight wasn't so smooth. It was MOMO MADNESS:EXPERIENCE PAKISTAN night!!! Isabelle loved the chicken tikka while rockin to the beats of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan! And she wore her decorative, turquoise blue jingly outfit from Afghanistan. We've never had a sitter while we're still in the house, and it was impossible for Isabelle to comprehend how we could be so near and so far away. Kelsey was amazing (and tinkled on, I just learned), but there was no way Isabelle was going to bed without Mommy or Daddy.

It was great seeing everyone tonight - Nana, inaugural Momo'ers--Matt, Heather, and Olivia--Isabelle's Fairy Godmother, Beth, Ellen, Elise, Daniel, Nicole and Eric! Go MOMO!

Yogurt Scares Me

Awesome day on the boat with Aunti Bri, Erin, Molly, John, Alby and Louis (who was taking a break from his bartending duties). In the picture the girls are hoping Isabelle will go for the high five! First stop: getting gas in Onset (if the high schoolers working at Fiddlers had answered our call to come to the fuel dock, we would've gotten gas at our marina and paid 50 cents more a gallon - which adds up with a couple hundred gallons!). Then we went to the Chart Room and Isabelle stretched out over the dock to watch the jellyfish and be a part of the action with the older kids using nets. I caught a "sleeping" crab. Up at the restaurant, she and I scaled the rocks down to the beach--she loves her new water socks--and played with the seaweed, popping the bubbly sections. In the bathroom she answered a woman's "How old are you question" with "My happy birthday is in August and I'll be two." It's one thing to hear her say it to us - but it was quite something for her to announce this to a total stranger while sitting on the potty in a crowded public bathroom. We missed most of the mud slide action back at the table! On the ride back, John was the brave one to take a dip. SO great to finally meet the Hearts on Fire crew!!!

"Yogurt scares me," is the quote of the day (from Daddy) - appropriate as Isabelle was already fully washed and dressed before breakfast (before asking for yogurt she wanted goldfish and mac and cheese - what have we done???). After a ridiculously fun day of boating yesterday, she wasn't too keen on the idea of playing with her daycare friends. "I want to play with Mommy and Daddy," she told us after we mentioned her BFFs Genevieve and Cici (and please everyone remember what we learned -- being a BF is better than being a...).

What's being said...

"My happy birthday is coming!" Isabelle loves to inform anyone and everyone who will listen! "I'll be 2." The ladies in my step class this morning were thrilled to have an Isabelle sighting. She appeared in Daddy's arms wearing a pretty pink dress, her new hot pink water socks and sunglasses -- just in time for sit-ups!

Thursday

Things are a little crazy this week - with a return from Anacortes, WA, a crushing edit deadline (thank you, Bill for coming up from NJ!), having a crew in WA, and the 37-point To Do List I wrote up yesterday. But I still wouldn't have missed Isabelle's Parent Lunch Day today! The teachers at day care were so sweet - all decked out and wearing red corsages. And it was so much fun to see Isabelle in her element. Mostly she wanted us to go potty with her and read stories. Other attention was given to jelly sandwiches and cake.

I was under strict orders today to be home by 6:30 in order for Dennis to get to his zoning meeting. When the calls started coming into the office at 6:10, I shouted -- I swear, I'm leaving -- in the background. Still, my butt was firmly planted in the edit seat as I was feeling on a creative tear. Although they met me in the driveway (Isabelle's cheddar goldfish in Nelson Mandela's Robben Island cup), there couldn't have been too much of a time crunch since Dennis walked with me inside and then gave some instructions for putting Isabelle to bed. I wasn't even gone a week!!!

You should see Isabelle's deck! Nana and Grampi built a deck on their house, and have dubbed it "Isabelle's deck" because she was a consideration in the specs, and they love hanging out and playing with her on it. It's also a fun place to maneuver the remote control cobra Nana picked up on her latest Saturday morning jaunt.

Smushed goldfish now have a new home in Isabelle's moonwalk. After all her jumping, we were going to take a bath, but she wanted to play with the letters in the shower. She knows exactly where to find the letter "I for Isabelle" and promptly picked it up and stuck it to her belly. She's also pretty good at finding the letters A, B, D and M.

Our cell phones are no longer "Daddy's Hello" and "Mommy's Hello." A twinge of sadness that that description has been replaced by "Daddy's phone" and Mommy's phone."

She refuses to wear "nighttime" underwear (i.e. pull up) to bed. Suddenly I'm back in Urine Town (did we really buy my parents tickets to that show for Christmas a few years back??).

For what I believe to be the first time in my life, I had this thought tonight: "I'm so glad I'm not rich." Were I rich - here's how the night would've gone. I would have called on the Nanny to keep watch tonight with Isabelle while Dennis went to his meeting and I continued editing in the office. I would've missed singing "My Favorite Things" five times in a row (with her turning the pages and repeating the song)... I would've missed watching her sit her dolls down and give them a ride on Thomas the Train... I would've missed sounding out C-A-T with her.

Isabelle enjoyed her special delivery from Anika this week! It was a thank-you-for-the-great-weekend package stuffed with whole almonds, fruit bars and organic dip mix! Thank you, Anika.

Tonight reading the book, "More, More, More," I told Isabelle that the book was a gift to her from Bonnie. I said, "Bonnie loves you very much." And she said, "I love you, Bonnie!" Those birthday sisters!