Animal Overload

Isabella has become enamored with animals ("an-maaal"). In particular "ets" (elephants, and she puts one hand up in front of her mouth/nose like a trunk, gotta love sign language) "ions" (lions, points to hair on head) and the animals that go "ooh ooh ooh" (gorillas, accompanied with shaking of the arms).

When Grandma and Grandpa were down last week we went to Bass Pro Shop in Fort Lauderdale and saw all the deer and bears, and then on Fathers Day we went again. Isabella could not stop talking about those deer. Fort Lauderdale's Bass Pro didn't have what Zach was looking for, so yesterday, Monday June 22nd, we headed to the Miami Bass Pro Shop. It is a smaller shop, with a focus on diving and boating rather than hunting like the Ft. Lauderdale location. Unfortunately there were no bears (oh how we looked...) and only 5 deer. However there were probably 25 stuffed racoons that I'm sure my dad would love to have adorn his basement. ha ha, anyone who knows the drama my parents and dix and judy have been having with racoons at their homes is probably laughing :)

Anyway, we decided to drive up north a bit further and take Isabella to Rainforest Cafe at Sawgrass Outlet Mall. It was not busy and we were able to get a nice table right by the elephants and a fishtank. Isabella LOVED the elephants! Couldn't stop pointing and oohing as we sat down. She loved the tropical fishtank that was right by her seat and we thought "hey, what a GREAT idea coming here!" yes, Zach and I were patting ourselves on the back for taking the 45 minute drive, as it seemed well worth it...

.....then the first animal "show" came on, and the elephants came to life. Oh dear. Oh, this was not a good idea, she went NUTS, and not in a particularly good way. No, tears were flowing and other patrons were giving us a "yes, I understand" look as we tried to comfort her. A walk around the restaurant in a deathgrip hug proved to kind of calm her down. Enough to make it back to the table and sit down.

The gorillas were a favorite - from a distance, as were the flapping butterflies and Rhino, Hippo and Zebra heads. We managed to have a good, somewhat distracted dinner, but she did really start to get "into" the theme. She kept flapping her arms, kind of like when a person says, "no no no" and moves their forearm up and down, well, that is her gorilla impersonation accompanied by "oo h ooh oohs". We counted the elephants over and over. Mommy and baby, one - two. Whew. What an adventure.

Back in the car 8:30pm we are heading home. What noises kept coming from the backseat? "ooh ooh ooh" and "et et et- one - twooo!" 45 minutes home with recalling all the wonderful animals we saw - over and over- this girl is tenacious- but it did give Zach and I the reassurance that she did have a fun time, and no significant scary drama was sitting on her psyche from this dinner experience.

Fast forward to 5:50am Tuesday morning when Isabella woke up crying. I laid her back down in bed, laid with her and we both fell back asleep til about 7am when I opened my eyes to see her pretty blues about 8 inches away from mine. She was saying "et et - one, twoo!!!" and then came the elephant noise, the kind of noise you get when you put your lips together and blow, that pfffttt sound, and the spittle that accompanies it. Then "ooh ooh ooh". Well, you get the idea. It was hysterical. We talked about all the animals she saw yesterday, and she did a great job remembering them all, even the "coon". :)

Father's Day evening


Father's Day at Houstons Restaurant