Isabella reading?

I was in the kitchen and heard Isabella "talking" to someone- turned out she was "reading" out loud...

The weather has been lousy (lots of rain but still very hot & muggy) so we've been reading a lot of books lately. This one has been a favorite, a gift from Odo - Breatrix Potter.

Road trip to Alicante...

Since Papa is in San Diego Isabella & I decided to take a day trip to Alicante to catch some of the Volvo in-shore racing, one week before the start of the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race. The weather was perfect and it was a great opportunity to catch up with some former OWC teammates. Besides, neither Isabella or I had ever been to Alicante. Visiting the Volvo village was great fun, complete with a Moors & Christians parade but the hill top castle was closed. We will just have to go back!

A little pre-parade pre-functioning?

No fiesta in Spain is complete without Moors, Christians and, of course, fireworks...

A hint of what is to come... this years Volvo includes a stop over in India. Should be interesting!

Back in Valencia & Isabella's first day of "playschool"

The uniform is still too big but that didn't seem to bother Isabella (now 20 months/9.3Kg/20.5lbs) as she headed out the door for her first day at the local guardería, Colegio Ingles – 2 hours a day and hopefully the opportunity to learn a bit of Spanish…

Our favorite photo subject

Isabella checking out papa's big camera...

Visiting Renee - in France...

Renee was somewhat surprised to wake up Friday evening and find Isabella sitting on her bed...

...but soon the girls were chattering away like to old friends.

Renee (a Kiwi) has been a great little friend to Isabella this past year in Valencia (as her mom has been to me...:-). Unfortunately the cup hiatus has forced Renee (with her mom & dad) to relocate to France - hopefully only temporarily. We only had a couple of days to get up to France and back, before papa was off to San Diego, but happily we were able to squeeze in a surprise visit Friday night and then enjoy a beautiful Sunday afternoon showing the girls Antoine's old stomping grounds.

Sunday we visited the walled city of Aigues-Mortes (meaning "dead water") which dates back to the 10th century and was the departure point seventh crusade (1248) and eighth crusade (1270).

Obviously the girls were much more interested in rolling in the grass outside the walls...

Lunch time in the square: "sharing is caring!"

A fun day and two tired toddlers.

Quick trip up to Avignon, France....

A very French breakfast - sharing fresh croissants with Grandmere Jacquiline

Papa lends a helping hand

Sur le pont d'Avignon....

Reading with Odo

One last book, with Odo in Seattle, before heading back to Europe...:-(