Visiting Tia Tara and Fathers Day

What a whirlwind of a weekend! Mom, Dad, Isabelle and I headed up for San Francisco around noon this past Friday to visit with Tara, see her new place and meet her new beau, Shane. We thought that would be the perfect time to leave since Isabelle's nap time is from around 12:30-2 and that she would zonk out once we got moving. Well after 3 movies in the car and a dozen books being read to her later, Isabelle finally fell asleep....for a half hour!! Yes, a whole 30 minutes but that little energizer bunny was ready to go once we got to the city!

Our 7 hour car almost made it with no accidents, I say almost because while in Buelton we put a pull up on Isabelle just in case she fell asleep and had to go and thank goodness we did. As we were sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the bridge to get to Tara's place a little voice chimes in saying "potty Mommy". I look around and we still had about a mile left to crawl off the dang bridge. I told her to hold it (if she even knows what that means). She continued to watch Elmo and then 5 minutes later she asks again, this time with more severity. I told her there is no potty, I am happy she asked me and that it would be okay to go in her pull up this time. She started crying and saying, "No Mommy, potty. I go pee pee in the potty." I felt awful! There was truly nothing we could do! I couldn't believe myself but I kept encouraging her to go in her pull up...and all I could think of was the mixed message was I giving her. She finally did go and we finally made it to Tara's new place.

"Pee-pee" stop at Anderson's Split Pea in Buelton With one big swoop, since Isabelle and I were staying with Tara, I unloaded and moved us in; pack and play, stroller, carry-on "toy" bag, my purse, Izzy's toddler tote and a large duffle bag. Sitting in the car for that long, even with the stop in Buelton, got me fired up to get moving! "SUPER MOM", is what Tara called me as she saw me trudging up the stairs to her apartment. I just told her that I don't like making trips back and forth so I get it done in one shot :) After dropping everything off, changing into warmer clothes (it was in the 60's there, compared to our low 90's that day), taking a tour of Tara's new place-which was all of 2 minutes, considering this is the smallest of places she has yet to live in-love you Tia :), we all walked to dinner at a restaurant a few blocks from her place called Savor.

Tia Tara, Mom and Isabelle at the San Francisco Zoo

Isabelle was so excited to be outside and out of her car seat! On the drive up she kept asking to get out and sit with me or with Grandmama. I told her that Mommy would get in trouble if she wasn't in her seat belt and that she had to stay in her seat belt like Grandmama, Poppy and I had to. It worked for the most part but as 2 year olds do, she kept asking just in case I had changed my mind. At dinner I was thinking, this kid is not going to sit still but Tia brought a few presents for Isabelle...finger puppets! She loved them and they kept her entertained but they didn't keep her from laying her head down on the table a few times about to fall asleep. Isabelle got her third wind when dessert arrived; Halva crepes and vanilla ice cream! We got back to Tara's around 10, stopping at a market on the way back to get Isabelle some milk, and had her in bed at 10:30 only to be woken up at 7:30 the following morning...to think I thought we were going to be able to sleep in a little bit!

The newest edition to the San Francisco Zoo...baby gorilla "Hasani"

Being up early has its perks though....after a quick bite to eat at Tara's place, we headed down to Dolores Park. Isabelle walked hand in hand with her Tia having a great time singing, galloping, running and screaming like Forest Gump, "Run Tia, Run!" We got to the park and all I have to say is what an eclectic bunch of people! There was a group of about 10 people doing Tai Chi on the basketball court that bumps right into the playground...talk about concentration!! Dogs running around everywhere, people laying out, others playing music. All of this at 9am on a Saturday! Isabelle ran right over to the swing set and met a little girl who was almost 2, Ava. She was there with her father who just happened to share with us that Ava' Mom was at yoga; I think he thought Tara and I were a couple until Tara introduced us saying I was her sister and we were going to the zoo today with our folks. We stayed for a little while until the call came in from Mom and Dad that they were on their way. We said our goodbyes to Ava and walked to a little cafe and people watched till we were picked up.

Our little prariedog!

Again, San Francisco has an eclectic bunch of people living there! Gays, straights, all ethnicity's, fashionistas and granola folks...speaking of granola folks, as we were waiting outside of the cafe, Ava and her Dad were crossing the street over to where we were at. Isabelle just happened to have her huge bag of goldfish crackers out of my bag (a gallon Ziploc bag full) and to work more on her sharing skills, I asked her to ask Ava if she wanted one. Besides us being complete strangers to these people and maybe thinking "we don't take food from strangers", although Izzy had just shoved a fistful into her mouth as Ava was walking up, her Dad said to me/Izzy "She doesn't eat those yet". With a smile, I told Isabelle thank you for sharing with Ava but she doesn't want any right now. We said good bye again and Tara then shares with me, that they probably only eat all organic since most kids are in San Fran and don't eat things like fishies. I laughed and told Tara that it was really a lesson for Isabelle and that I was glad she shared her food without pulling an attitude but seriously, what child doesn't eat fishies! That is a famous childhood snack for the past umpteen years....ok, I am off my soapbox :)

Poppy got this great shot through the fence! Mom and Dad picked us up in front of the cafe and then we all drove to the San Francisco Zoo, the zoo on the beach as I called it. The moment we got in there Isabelle wanted nothing to do with her stroller. We headed over to the safari circle of the zoo to see the zebras, giraffes and the newest edition to the zoo, their baby gorilla "Hasani". Just as we approached the fence Isabelle tells me she has to go potty. I rush off with her in a heated search to find a bathroom and luckily, 10 minutes later, we made it in time. However we weren't so lucky once we got to the petting zoo.

Isabelle petting her new best friendIsabelle has only seen goats, horses, pigs in real life a handful of times; Lombardi Ranch, which she more than likely doesn't remember, and most recently, on our trip to Kauai. However she never got to touch them and at this zoo, she got her chance. As you all know, Isabelle LOVES her dog and to show her love she rolls on top of Bear, gets right into her face and kisses her, hugs her and holds on tight even as Bear gets up to move away from her...very affectionate. Well based on this, Isabelle took it upon herself to sit down with the goats, pet them then tried to grab their necks to give them a hug. We quickly diverted that before one of the goats got upset and butted her or something. Instead of hugs, we found brushes for her to brush the goats and food to feed them with. Then as we were walking out of the petting zoo gate Isabelle says to me, "pee-pee" and I say, "OK, lets go find a potty" but she stops me and says, "I went, Mommy". BAH!

We had a great time seeing all of the animals and through a child's eyes...which didn't close the entire time we were there. The animal Isabelle got the biggest kick out of was the polar bears. There were 3 of them total but in 2 areas; we overheard that one of them didn't get along with the other 2 so they had to be separated. As I was carrying Isabelle, we walked up to the fence saw the 2 bears playing together going in and out of the water. Then we went to the "lone bear" who was sleeping peacefully in the sun. Isabelle noticed that too and said to us, "he's sleeping", I nodded yes and then suddenly out of no where she blurts out, "WAKE UP!" And no joke, the bear opens his eyes, lifts its head and looks right up at us! All I thought about was the tiger incident they had last year. "Time to move along", I said.

Isabelle yelling "wake up" to the polar bear...and he did!

The polar bear Isabelle woke up!

We finished the zoo in about 4 hours; Tara thought it would take 2 hours but I teased her saying that she has never gone anywhere with a 2 year old :) We headed back to Tara's place for a well deserved nap for all before heading out to dinner where we got to meet Shane who got along very well with Isabelle, oh yeah and the rest of the family too!

Grandmama, Isabelle, Mom and Tia Tara Since San Francisco is a walking city and there are lots of streets to cross, Tara and I taught Isabelle when to walk across the street and when we had to wait (never letting go of her hand, mind you). By the end of the night she knew that the "white guy" (which later turned into the "go guy"-we don't want to seem racist) meant its ok to walk and the "red hand" meant we had to wait. We would walk up to a street corner, stop and then ask if we could go or do we wait or she would yell it out to us before we even got to the corner.

Isabelle's wonderful picture taking abilities

After dinner we decided to go and get coffee. We found a little cyber cafe that had one patron and us in there. Isabelle was sitting on my lap, playing with Grandmama and I while Dad, Tara and Shane were talking. We read a few books that I had with me, looked at pictures from the zoo on Mom's camera and she pigged out on a "cupcake" (aka: chocolate chip muffin). In the midst of chowing down, Isabelle stops eating turns to me and says, "Boobies". Not sure if I heard her right I said, "what?" and again she says, "boobies" but this time points at a picture on the wall...an abstract painting of a woman and sure enough, she had her "boobies" showing! We all got a huge laugh out of that.

Devouring a "cupcake" (aka: Chocolate chip muffin) with no hands.

We got back from our dinner/coffee escapade around 10 (late again) and as we walk into Tara's apartment Isabelle announces that she has to poop. Tara takes her into the bathroom, plops her down on the toilet and Isabelle looks up at her and says "Go Away". Tara replied, "You want me to leave?" Isabelle responds with "Go away, and close door" to Tara. So Tara does as she is told and then a few minutes later Isabelle is yelling for Tia that she is all done. Hate to burst my kid's bubble but with no doors at school and I wouldn't do this in a public restroom, our house and at friends/families homes is the only place this new found "independence" of hers will be allowed.

Isabelle taking a picture of her Poppy at Fathers Day brunch. Fathers Day morning we met Mom and Dad for brunch at Savor once more before dropping off Dad at the San Jose airport on our way home. We got back into the SCV around 6:30, a little too late to BBQ so Mom and I went and picked up dinner for all of us and brought it home. Isabelle gave Michael his Fathers Day presents, which were a huge hit :) Besides the handmade "Walk Next to Me", tear-jerker, footprint card and yummy Gorp that Isabelle made for him at school, we also got him the new Friday the 13th-The Final Cut DVD (yes, he requested that) and I framed the following picture of Isabelle for him to hang proudly in his office. (Thanks again Melissa, for enhancing it for me!)

I had another photo in the mix to choose from that I was thinking of also using for Michael's Fathers Day gift. We like to call it....."Penguins Suck! WAHHH!" Happy Fathers Day!