We were supposed to be on our way to Washington DC today for a week, and then on to Boston and New York, but unfortunately we're still home and have had to cancel our plans. There's enough of a chance Andy will be required back in Australia at some stage during the next two weeks, so we're a little disappointed about missing a chance to attend the Ball next Friday and catch up with a few other friends here in the US. We may be lucky enough later in the year to get back over to the west coast, but we probably won't get another chance to attend the Ball. Bugger.

Isobel continues to explore her 'world' which consists of the family room and the dining room adjacent to our kitchen. The fences and gates allow us to limit our babyproofing to a smaller area, but she's still managing to wriggle under coffee tables, push the dining chairs around on the floorboards, and reach up for things we've quarantined on the seat of the couch. Obviously that hiding spot isn't going to last for much longer!  She's spending more time up on her feet, hanging onto anything she can find that will support her weight - the fireplace, couches, chairs, even the gates ... all she needs now is a tin can to rattle back and forth along the bars .

Isobel is also having great fun with a few new flavours this week - squash (pumpkin), peas, banana custard, even a bit of pasta sauce, yoghurt and some chocolate ice cream from Mum and Dad. If she spots one of us eating something, she turns on a folorn puppy-dog-eyes look to make us feel guilty about not sharing . Sometimes it even works . She hasn't shown signs of rejecting anything we've tried to feed her so far, which is amazing ... and she's now scarfing down most of a 3oz container for both lunch and dinner. Granny suggested a couple of weeks ago we give her a spoon of her own, which was a great tip - she's not so keen on grabbing the 'real' spoon now she has one to play with and chew on. Isobel's also pretty good about letting us know what she wants - she'll lean out for the spoon with her tongue out when she wants another mouthful, and ignore us completely when she's had enough!

The Mustang is still with Blue Oval Pony Dave, so Andy's plans to put it back to driving status this weekend fell through. This meant we suddenly had a free weekend, so after my netball game yesterday (we won - yay!) we did a bit of tidying around the house and started on the garden - the front yard is newly mown and looking much more spring-like.

Today we headed down to Tacoma to visit the Port Defiance Zoo - it was a bit of a punt on the weather when we left home, but it fined up by the time we arrived. This was also the test drive for our new jogging stroller for Isobel, which is much nicer to push around than the venerable Graco. We had a bit of juggling to do as some of the exhibits were not stroller-friendly, but Isobel loved it - lots of underwater windows to the exhibits, so she was able to see tropical fish, a beluga whale, walruses, puffins, polar bears and sea otters whizzing around on the other side of the plexiglass. Lots of little kids out visiting for Earth Day today, and a couple of them came up to say hello to the little baby in the cute hat. She managed a bit of sleep in the car on the drive to and from the Zoo, but less than her usual naps, so she was off to sleep a little earlier than usual tonight. With a bit of luck she'll be back to an 8am-8pm schedule this week, after some late-ish nights last week.