Happy Birthday!

Here is a look back at the First Birthday weekend. On Dad's side of the family - Max, Nana, and Aunt Courtney flew in from North Carolina; on Mom's side - Gramma Carol flew in from North Carolina. Local friends and family joined us for a party on Sunday Nov. 1st.

Isa had a great time sharing her house with her pals and grown ups alike. The party built to a crescendo with presents to open, Happy Birthday to sing, and cupcakes to eat. I think I was more overwhelmed than she was as present after present bombarded her followed by the entire room singing and cheering. She kept her cool and daintily ate some cake.

It is so hard to believe that a year has already gone by. She is growing up so fast and the time is flying by.

Home Movie - Little Walkabout

First Steps

The biggest news of the moment is Isa Is Walking. I think it is safe to make the claim now as she is taking a dozen steps in a sequence and seems to be very excited about it and is apparently intent on making her primary mode of travel. For the past couple weeks she has been taking 2 or 3 steps at a time and a couple days ago made it up to 5, but tonight she crossed the line into bipedalism. A very exciting evening for all 3 of us, indeed.

The swim cap/speed racer helmet hat

jamming on the keytar (or is it guitboard?) with Kai

Her 2nd carousel ride, this one at the Addison County Fair

Transatlantic flight home from Vienna

The photos above are a bit of a catch up since we haven't posted since returning from Austria. Unfortunately, we don't have a good walking or standing shot yet, but we'll put one up as soon as we get it. The top one was taken tonight after the camera slowly decided to engage as Isa walked toward me, or should I say, as Isa walked toward the camera. So it missed the action, but caught a rather cute expression and those blue eyes.

A Trip to Venice

On July 6th we drove down through the spectacular alps on the Austrian/Italian border and west to Venice for a few days. Isa got lots of attention from friendly Italians who described her with words like bellisimo, piccolo, bella, complimenti...

We took a bus through the main canal to Piazza San Marco, pictured above with Tiffany. We spent the day winding our way through the streets and across bridges eating gelato, drinking cappuccino, and seeing some of the world bienniele art exhibits happening there now.

Isa's name, Isolina, came from our last trip to Italy, a long belated honeymoon. We were eating dinner at Pane e Vino in Cortona where the dessert menu gave credit for the confections to Isolina. We liked the name and it stuck with us and two and a half years later Isa was born. Finally we have gotten some clarification on its translation. we saw Isola on the map describing the islands of Venice and others nearby. Next, an Italian artist, Alesandro, who is here in Austria with us offered an explanation. Although the name is rare and probably isn't meant to be translated literally, the -ina suffix means small or tiny. Tiny island.

We have one more week in Austria! It has gone by so fast. Tiffany is gearing up for a performance on Friday and Marty is firing his new work tomorrow to be exhibited this weekend for the big presentation.

Ciao!

Ponies and Kitties

These are the animals that Isa is very excited to see on her walks past the farm.

Away from Home Movie - Schrattenberg Panorama

Hotel Pupik - Austria

After something like 24 hours, 6 time zones, planes, trains, and automobiles we arrived a bit groggy at Hotel Pupik in Schrattenburg, Austria. Luckily Isa slept away almost the entire transatlantic flight. She was incredibly patient while being strolled around several airports partially in the wee hours of the morning when she would rather have been sleeping. She also kept her cool as Tiffany and I had a momentary crisis over the possibility of losing our luggage in Geneva (everything arrived as planned).

Hotel Pupik is a summer artist residency run in part by our friends Heimo Wallner and Hedya Klein. Tiffany was invited to spend a month here working on new choreography and presenting it on July 18th. Isa and I are riding her coattails. Heimo lent me a guitar and has offered a stash of clay, so I have some options for artmaking as well.

If you would like to come for what promises to be a weekend of experimental art, music, performance, and dance let us know and we'll get you directions. If for some reason you can't make it, you can follow Tiffany's time here on the
Big Ape website.

Here is Isa enjoying the train ride from Vienna to Unzmarkt. She is quickly becoming fast friends with Louis, Hedya & Heimo's son. They are having fun with call and response baby talk, playing with the diaper package (a long time favorite), sharing toys, laughing at the ponies, and occasionally holding hands.

Check back here over the next month for ongoing saga of Isa in Austria.