In late May of 2003, Isabelle flew all the way across the country with her mother to Oakland, California. Isabelle's mother is called Rachel. Isabelle and her mother visited Grandpa George, and also Dina and Rosa.

While they were visiting with Grandpa George, Isabelle saw Jonathan Woolley again. And she met Clare Puskarczyk, Belinda Ricklefs and Luv, the bear. Isabelle also met Connie at Connie's Cantina and she met Kelly who served her food at the Mimosa. She didn't meet Peter Lee, but she saw four of his murals. Nor did she meet Ronnie Alfaro, but she did hear "The Legend of Sir Ronnie" which is about him. Ronnie doesn't live anywhere near Oakland; he lives in Costa Rica.

She got to go to the bird sanctuary at Lake Merritt and saw a lot of Canadian geese. :) But she didn't see any baby goslings, and she didn't see any pelicans. :( Isabelle visited the colonnades at the Lake too.

And she went to Children's Fairyland which is also by the Lake. She got to visit the Cinderella party area even though officially it was closed. :) The day she visited, there was free bubble gum ice cream. Also she got a duck tattoo on her wrist. And there were some fun performances. But she didn't get to ride the Jolly Trolly train. :(

Isabelle and Rachel and Grandpa ate out a lot. Some of the places were the Mimosa, Connie's Cantina and Ananda Fuara. One thing that was really good was the macaroni and cheese at the Mimosa. Isabelle ate a whole adult serving of it. Isabelle is such a good eater. Isabelle had nachos more than once. She did get ice cream thrice: once in Lakeshore Park, once at Children's Fairyland and once at an ice cream store. Also, Isabelle and Rachel and Grandpa George had cookies at the Japanese Tea Garden. Isabelle got very tired of eating out so much and complained. So at the end Rachel was buying and preparing the food. Rachel is such a good cook.

Isabelle got to go by the Grand Lake Theater which is really big and looks fun. :) But she didn't get to see a movie there. :(

Isabelle and Rachel and Grandpa spent some time in San Francisco. They ate at Ananda Fuara and then went to the Japanese Tea Garden and the Science Museum in Golden Gate Park. Somehow they missed seeing the dolphins. :( Later, Isabelle and Rachel visited Dina in San Francisco. They went on the cable car and visited Ghirardelli and such.

Grandpa George read stories for Isabelle and he made up stories too. Also, together they made up and illustrated several stories which they put in a special book that Isabelle took back with her to Brooklyn. :) Most of the stories that Grandpa George read were Junie B. stories, which we highly recommend. Very fun. Many of the other stories were Apple Bird stories. One apple bird story was called "The Apple Bird Association". There was also a non-apple-bird story called "Mommy Goes to the Gym". Rachel did, indeed, go to Gold's Gym twice during the visit. To Isabelle, it seemed like her Mommy was gone a long long time.

Rachel called Isabelle guapa, and she talked to her mostly in Spanish. Isabelle gave Grandpa two Spanish lessons to get him started. Isabelle taught Grandpa ¡hola! and adiós. She taught him casa, ventana, corinas, cinco, computadora, espejo, cubierto and maestra. She also taught him these color words: blanco, gris, negro, rojo, rosa, marón, amarillo, and verde. Isabelle worked very hard and did a good job. Grandpa, however, needs to work harder. Grandpa learned a lot, but he was not very good at pronouncing r. Isabelle is, as we all know, an excellent teacher.

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