"Was Dat?"

For those who have kids, have hung around kids or have overheard kids, you will notice that "What is that" is one of the most common phrases a 1-2 year old will say. So curious of everything going on around them seems to trigger that question. Of course it has nothing to do with the child hearing Mom and Dad say that to them over and over again when they point to something and then, the parent tries to get their child to tell them "What is that?". Well, Isabelle has officially started the "Was Dat" stage in her life, pointing at and questioning things she knows but again, we ask her to tell us what something is that we know she knows what it is. What a vicious cycle but it is so much fun at the same time :)
"
Was Dat?"...with her frozen yogurt mustache

The past few weeks have flown by and the Owston household has been flying around with them. Weekends, even the 3 day holiday weekend, came and went and we still feel like there is not enough time in the day. What is next? Blink and Isabelle will be going into Kindergarten? OK, I won't get too ahead of myself :)

Tia Tara and Isabelle

Speaking of holiday weekends, lets back things up a bit and recall Labor Day weekend. First and foremost, Tia Tara came out that Saturday morning to spend the weekend with all of us. Mom and Dad picked her up from the airport while Isabelle and I headed out to Cavanaugh's 1st Birthday party! It's always a fun time to get all the rugrats together and run amok! Isabelle wanted to be outside as much as she could in the 90+ degree heat, running around in the grass and playing in the little bounce house. Thank goodness Grandmama stopped by to give hers and Poppy's birthday wishes to Cav. She and I traded off with the "backyard duty" :) Unfortunately, we had to cut the party short since we had to pick up Tara, to dinner and do the Izzy swap with Michael at the theatre so Tara and I could see Suburbia; the AWESOME show that was running at our theatre when Tara was visiting which just closed this past weekend.

Sunday morning came and Mom was feeling a bit under the weather so we scratched our plans to go to the Santa Barbara Zoo and instead, Michael went to work and Tara and I took Isabelle "malling" at the Northridge Mall (one of the bigger malls in the valley next door). We were there for probably about 2 hours and had a blast...who would have thought you could have as much fun as we did in a mall? I think it may have had to do with the whole, "seeing it through a child's eyes" thing. That really does turn ordinary, run of the mill things into something pretty cool.

Isabelle playing at Northridge Mall As we were walking around the mall, we would stop at the play centers (the "cesspool of germs" as Michael calls it) and let Isabelle play. She and Tia had a blast but we were sure to wipe both of them down with Wet Ones after they finished playing...never leave home without them cuz you never know when you will need them! That goes for both children and adults :)

The next stop was the Pet Store. As some of you may know, Northridge Mall is about one of the only places that I know of that actually have various pets there besides the typical, "available at every Petco and Pet Smart", birds, snakes and fish. Isabelle's face lit up and she squealed with delight when she saw the puppies in all of the windows. She didn't know which one to go to first but we made sure she saw each and every one of them before leaving the store. While she was perusing all of the windows, she spotted a pair of puppies asleep on one another and as Isabelle walked up to their window you heard her say, "Nah Nigh". It was too cute!

I want that one, Mom
While we were at the pet store, Isabelle got to see her share of fishies that she just stared at, birds that she "tweeted" at, cats that she "mauw-ed" at and snakes that I had her quickly walked past and she even got to pet one of the bunnies but, the puppies were the ones she wanted to go back to. A true dog lover!

Isabelle pointing at the "TEET TEET"

That night the family headed to Spumoni once again where Isabelle feasts on their garlic bread twists, penne and carrots meanwhile, entertaining us and a few of the servers. Up until now, Isabelle loved taking Michael's and my phones and opening them or turning them on to see a picture of her smiling face but this night, Isabelle came to realize that her picture was in almost all of our family's cell phones when she flipped them open or turned them on. Here is a little clip we caught of her reaction, after licking the garlic schmotz off her hands, turning on Michael's cell phone and then "shush'ing" me:

OK, is she Michael's daughter or what? That is pretty much the reaction she gave each time she opened or turned on any of our phones at the restaurant or otherwise. All I have to say is, look out Papa! Because as much as you don't want her to, I think your little angel may be on stage instead of backstage!