Isabelle's busy weekend

As this past weekend approached, Jason and I knew it would be a busy one - but we had no worries that Isabelle could keep up with us (and outlast us, if it came down to it).

We started Saturday by dropping off Jason's car for some minor repairs, then took a trip to the doctor's office where Isabelle received her flu shot through their weekend flu clinic. She was a champ - not a single tear shed following the injection. As a reward she got to pick where to eat for lunch; naturally we ended up at Noodles so Isabelle could indulge in their macaroni and cheese.

Following lunch we spent some time at Barnes & Noble, where Isabelle played with their Thomas the Train set in the kids section and browsed through a nice selection of "boy books" (books about trains and cars) as well as "girl books" (anything with a pink cover that had pictures of princesses). She's nothing if not well rounded.

Next we headed over to Party City so Isabelle could pick out her Halloween costume. Not surprisingly, she chose to be Cinderella. I'll be surprised if the costume isn't in tatters by Halloween, as she asks to put it on the minute she gets home from daycare. She's only allowed to wear it inside, and not during meals.

After party city we spent some time at a nearby playground so Isabelle could run around and burn off some energy, followed by a trip to Target where we picked up some groceries, household items, and the best surprise of the day - glittery silver shoes to match the Cinderella costume. It seems that even at two, Isabelle already has a shoe fetish. When we rounded the corner at Target and wheeled our cart into the shoe section, she did the beauty queen gasp and exclaimed, "SHOES!!"

Our last stop of the day was to pick up Jason's newly repaired car, which is conveniently located next door to a self-serve frozen yogurt establishment. Isabelle had the chocolate frozen yogurt topped with some Fruity Pebbles.

On Sunday Isabelle's day started with some low-key activities, primarily playing some educational games on the computer at PBSkids.org (she loves the Curious George games). As you can see from the photos below, she has already mastered using the computer with mouse, and has figured out how to browse through the game menu and select a new one whenever she gets bored with the one she's playing.

I had to head into downtown San Diego to swing by a work-related event that afternoon, so we decided to make a family excursion out of it. The best part of the day - eating lunch at Basic, which has the best woodfired pizza in town. Pizza for lunch is a rare and extra special treat, especially considering Isabelle loves nothing more than to sprinkle cheese on top of her pizza from the parmesan shaker.

After lunch we took a sunny stroll along the San Diego harbor, where Isabelle saw a "pirate ship" (the USS Midway aircraft carrier) and got some free helium balloons from the work event I needed to check in on. Then we headed home, which allowed Isabelle to take a cat nap in the back seat due to the 45-minute drive.

Of course Isabelle needed to change into her Cinderella costume the minute we got home, and she wore it grocery shopping with me. She even made me put her hair into a ponytail, "just like Cinderella," as you can see in the below photos:

Doesn't she look like a proper young lady? You would think so, until you saw her strip completely naked after dinner and run laps around the kitchen laughing like a loon, all in front of our dinner guest (Uncle Bubby)....

Isabelle fell promptly to sleep Sunday night after such an exciting weekend!