The life and times of ... Isabel

I've been having one heck of a winter! Fighting off flu bugs, pushing out new teeth, learning to (and then refusing) to crawl, taking family trips ... and wait, have I mentioned yet that I spent a fantabulous 13 days stateside? I haven't told you yet? OMG, where has my head been? Well let me tell you about my trip then!!

Mommy and I said our farewells on July 7th and headed to the airport. It was a cold night and mommy had me all bundled up in my warmest PJs for the 10 and a half hour flight to Florida. I thought the plane was totally cool and decided that it was SO cool that instead of going to sleep I'd stay up and meet all the new friendly faces. PJs, yeah right. Mommy should have put on my walkin shoes!

I met some pretty nice people on the plane and all were very impressed at how well behaved I was. Well, all were impressed up until about 1am when the lights went out and ... yup, you guessed it. My lights were still on highbeam! Someone seriously should have sent me the memo that said hair pulling is cool until said hair owner wants to sleep. Oh well, friend made and friend lost. Mommy decided cruising the isles would be better.

So, 15 hours and two airports later we arrived in Gainesville. Grammy was there at the airport waiting for me (oh yeah, and mommy too) and we headed off to her house. The land of the green trees. Lord, I'd never seen so much green! Her house was really fun. I got to meet my Granpa Cacho and a new furry friend, Cacho the dog.

I loved them both, but decided that Cacho is definitely a bit sloppier (and wetter) in the cuddling department. The 5 of us did some really cool things together. As you see from the picture, I had my first kiddie pool experience but I'd say the coolest thing we did was when went went to my great grandpa's house to meet the whole Stefanelli clan. Man, there were lots of them! They talked a little funny, were really nice, and there was definitely nothing lacking in the love department. It was there, and I got LOTS of it! Take a look at this picture ... it's my great grandpa with all of us "grands"

That's great grandpa in the middle with all the grands...

So, after an incredible welcome from all the Stef's we took it down a notch and dig some relaxing. I played with new toys, ate some new food (which was MUCH better than the junk they have in Chile), visited a bunch of grammys friends from the livrary and even did some exploring at the Sante Fe zoo. Here's a few snaps from those days ...

Hanging out in the backyard with mommy and Cacho

I loved listening to Granpa Cacho play guitar

Me and my grammy spending some snuggle time

The hairy thing in the zoo were a lot more entertaining when they ran around.

After spending time with my grammy I was really itching to get over to my grandpa's house. Mommy and I headed over there and I got a really loving welcome! I got to meet grandma Marsha for the first time and she was really fun. I also spent a lot of quality time with my grandpa. I think he liked to play with my toys as much as me! On our second day there I got to meet my uncle Joey and aunt Judy and also my uncle Jacob. Uncle Jacob was a little more impressed by his date than he was with me ... but aunt Judy and uncle Joey played enough with me to compensate :) I also was real excited to meet mommy's friends Jill and Mark. They were a cool pair but the coolest was hanging with Dulcie, their daughter. She's bigger than me but we still had a load of fun chilling out in my inflatable pool and playing with my new toys. Here's a couple pictures from our get together.

Grandma and grandpa picked me out some delicious toys!

Dulcie and I with aunt Judy and uncle Joey

My new fried Dulcie Sue. I was mesmorized ...

So after that night I had a few more days to spend with my grandma and grandpa Luke. Grandpa wanted to create some great memories, so we had to take full advantage of our time together. We took a trip to Paynes Prarie, went out looking for alligators, went to the "swamp", and even went by my granddad's old stomping ground, the Beta house.

It's great to be a Florida Gator

A final splash beofre heading back to Chile.

The end of the trip went sooo fast and was so packed with fun that by the time I got on plane trip numero 2 ... I was ready to sleep .... the WHOLE way home!

So, as you can see ... I've been keeping myself pretty dern busy lately and I tell you what, I've been loving every minute of it!! Now I've just gotta slow down and find the time ... to do it all again!