Izzy's Actual Birthday

Izzy may have had the worst first birthday EVER. It involved a seven hour car ride to Grand Canyon ("they" don't like it when you call it 'the' Grand Canyon, though it would be proper english, I think). She slept for 2 1/2 of the first 3 1/2 hours (yay!), but was a bear for the third hour, while we were trying to get into Phoenix for lunch. Then we played and walked around MetroCenter Mall. Then, back into the car for another 3 1/2 hours. Again, she slept for the first 2 hours, and the last bit was pretty sucky. But in the end, we got there, we got checked in and settled, and we went to dinner. For our first night, we went to Bright Angel Restaurant in the Bright Angel Lodge, where we were staying. It was pretty family friendly. I had the worst spaghetti ever. I didn't realize it was possible to overcook noodles so much that they were mushy. Yuk. But the meatballs were good. And Chris liked his trout. And everyone thought that Izzy was cute!

Here she is, looking one year old!


For dessert, instead of traditional cake (we did that when we got home), we had ice cream (of course, since we were in Grand Canyon National Park, haven of tourism, we paid $2.50 for a tiny scoop...but we splurged on her birthday). Izzy was all about the ice cream!


I've figured out why Chris is clearly the fun parent...


And here she is, totally engrossed in ice cream.

Grand Canyon Mule Jokes

Well, the Grand Canyon has these mule tours, where people ride them to the bottom of the canyon. And that left a lot of jokes for Chris and I to come up with.

First of all, this was a joke in itself: We pondered the difference between a mule, a burro, and a horse. I told Chris that a mule was like an Eeyore, and a burro was a spanish Eeyore. I was wrong. (here comes the joke...) At the top of Bright Angel trail, there is a sign that explains the difference. As Chris and I (and Izzy) were walking over to read it, the woman sitting by it LEANED FORWARD and audibly farted. The joke was on us. And she was just one of the many weirdos that we encountered that evening. But what the sign told us before we were chased away was that a male burro + a female horse = mule of any sex.

And since mules are also called Jackasses or asses, there were jokes aplenty. Here they come...


Hey, get your asses out of the way!

There sure are a lot of asses in the Grand Canyon.

That woman has a HUGE ass.

Nice ass.

Move it, jackass.

Stop hitting your ass.

Stop hitting my ass.

Your ass stinks.

Watch out...big ass coming through.

Do these pants make my ass look big? (Thanks to Chris for that little gem.)

Four asses walked into a bar...(just kidding).

I am sure there are many more mule jokes, but this was just a taste of our humor. (Boy, it tasted like ASS...hehehe).

And here are some mules lined up on the side of the trail.


And this is...well, you know.

Giant TV, broken = New places to hang out

So, for most people, the title would imply that the Pack Family has decided to get out and do something better than sit in front of the tv. For everyone who actually knows us, they know that it just means we've moved to the other room. Boring, I know, but football season is upon us, and after all, we DID pay for our college gameday...waste not, want not.

But let's start at the beginning, Sunday, August 31, when after a large popping noise, our big screen tv started to sound like our vacuum cleaner, and look like we were crossing our eyes. So we turned it off and began the search for the warranty. Alas, it was not where it was supposed to be, so I lost my temper (I have a short fuse when it comes to not being able to find things, and when electronics don't work the way they're supposed to...so lost things and electronics, beware), and Chris quickly took over the search. (He's a good and patient man.) He found it in a place that had a logical connection, but it was NOT WHERE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. So, I called the warranty department, and they gave me an appointment for the next day with the repair company. When I called the repair place the next day, they said they first had to order the part, and then wait for the part to come in, and then call to set up an appointment, so it would most likely be at least a week. I figured, oh well, what can you do...but the next day, I got a voicemail from the repair company saying that they called to order the part, and it was on back order, so it may be at least 14 days until the part is even available. Long story short (this is the short version?), if our tv can't be fixed within 14 business days, the repair company is pretty sure that Best Buy will replace our TV! Which is great, because our tv is so old (a whopping 3 years), that Best Buy doesn't sell it anymore, and the one that they do which is comparable is WAY fancier! Whoo-hoo! So, keep your fingers crossed that the part DOESN'T come in soon, and that we score a new tv!

But since we love our TV and our football, we have all moved into the office for the time being. That includes the dogs! We sit on the bed and in the papasan chair, and watch tv and read and hang out. And Izzy is loving being on the bed, because she seriously flops around. And she especially loves to "chill" and lounge. She is clearly our child.

Here are some pics of Izzy doing some power lounging.

Play Group!!!

A few weeks ago, Mommy and I started going to play group. We found the group through meetup.com. Almost every day, there is something to do, but mostly, me and Mommy go to Kindermusik (our version), and other fun baby things. When I get older, there will be other things for me to do, but for now, mostly kindermusik. There are other kids there to play with, and I like them a lot, but they are all older than me, so sometimes they can do things I can't. That's okay, though. I'll grow up eventually.

Here I am at our first group. It was a get together to make the instruments for kindermusik. I couldn't really decorate anything, but I had fun playing with the other kids.


And this when we all met at the park to play with bubbles. It was the park near our house, so Mommy and me just walked over. Bubbles were fun, and I got to crawl on the ground and get all dirty!


This picture was taken at one of our kindermusik play groups. I had lots of fun banging things and playing piano. Those other kids have great rhythm!!!


And then, I just couldn't help myself. That boy was sooooo cute!

Isabelly Topknot, by Eden Pack

Woof...excuse me while I clear my throat...woof, growl, woof...Okay, let's begin. Now, my sister, Izzy doesn't have a lot of hair, compared to me and my little bro. We beautiful specimens are covered from ear to claw with glorious fur. Izzy only has a little on her head, and let me tell you, I've checked everywhere. I've sniffed her toes and licked her face, and no where but on the top of her head, can you find hair. At first, it laid flat on her head, like a little black hat. But, as she got older, it stood up, as if she was a little baby Ridgeback who was excited. But alas, she is but a human baby. Well, I've noticed recently that her hair has begun to lay flat and get in her eyes. I'm not sure she notices, but maybe she does, because she sure does fall a lot. Anyways, I got a big surprise recently when I looked, and she had some sort of hair tree sprouting from the top of her head. It was definitely her hair, because I sniffed it good, but it was held in place by a band. And I could finally see her face again. I had forgotten how fun it is to lick all the leftover food off of her face.

Here she is, wearing her hair-tree hat (Dad and Mom call it a Topknot, after Tasselhoff Burrfoot, someone from a book they both read.)


She's such a pretty pup. Here, she looks like she's modeling.


And who is that gorgeous creature? Oh, it's me! I'm sniffing her topknot, to make sure it's her hair.


This is what Dad calls her "Ed Grimley" look. I don't know who that is, but I don't care because my Mom didn't know who that was either, and had to look it up on the internet.


And here's Daddy and Izzy. There so cute when they get ready for bed!

Banana Begging Crew

Once upon a time, there were two young dogs. There names weren't important, because this story is about BANANAS. On the day involving the aforementioned BANANAS, the King of Mango-land (Banana-land just sounded wrong) began to eat the national food, a BANANA. He peeled the BANANA and began to bite chunks off of it. Zooooom...in rushed the two young dogs. Hipping and Hopping on over, because the scent of BANANA had wafted through the air, and into their sensitive sniffers. Chugga Chugga Chugga...in crawled the Princess of Mango-land. She, too, had smelled the national food.

"Oh, please, kind King, give us a little bite of BANANA!"


"We love BANANAS! They smell so good! They look so good! Please! Please! Please!"


"BANANAS! BANANAS! BANANAS! BANANAS! BANANAS! BANANAS! BANANAS! BANANAS!"


"Ah, shoot, stupid King is already eating the last bite."

The doomed Hike

On Sunday, Chris and I tried to go on a hike with Izzy. We packed up and drove out to San Pedro House, which is near our house, but out towards Bisbee. We got there, and it was great at first. I was a little concerned about the sun on Izzy because I hadn't put sunscreen on her, and we didn't have any with us, but it was only a short walk down to the shaded area near the river.

But then we got to the river...and saw that there was no path there at all. It had rained a lot, and the path that was shaded was covered in water and mud. So we walked out in the sunny area, and I tucked Izzy's arm in the backpack, and put one sock on her foot. It was silly.

So, we're walking along, and then we see some writing on the path that says "Bear" and had arrows pointing along the path. Chris said that there probably wasn't a bear, since there was no sign up by the trailhead, but I didn't want to chance it, so we turned back the way we came.

Then we started going on a new trail once we had backtracked the whole way, and it was really mosquito-y, so much so that Chris noticed (I usually complain first!). So we decided that it just wasn't our day to hike, and went back.

Don't forget that each time we turned around, I untucked Izzy's army and retucked the other side, and also changed her one sock...

Here are Chris and Izzy!


This picture shows the mountains in the background.


And this one shows their smiley faces!