LIGHT BROWN RUDY

Since we have no dog, Bella has adopted every dog in our building. At the top of that list are the two Rudys. Both are tiny dogs, but one is black and white - hence he's "black and white Rudy" - and the other is light brown - so "light brown Rudy." Light brown Rudy - Bella's dad refers to him as Rudolph - is owned by an older couple near the elevators. Rudy has a weird under bite, and apparently showed up at the building one day about 7 years ago and was adopted by the couple. They take him for a walk twice a day, and we usually run into them in the afternoon when Rudolph either waiting for the elevator to go for his walk or returning from said walk. He's a very nice dog, and, like all the other dogs in the building, loves the treats Bella gets from the local pet store. He sometimes comes to her door looking for her actually. And Bella has accompanied Rudy on at least one occasion for his afternoon walk around the block. In these photos from Spring 2012, Rudy is just back from his walk, and Bella is about to go on hers. It was raining.

CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ART

Bella took an afternoon trip downtown to the recently relocated and enlarged Children's Museum of Art with her friend Sophia. First, Bella got dressed, and her dad walked with her in public like this.

Once we got to the museum, she and Sophia quickly found the netted room filled with giant bouncy balls. The dynamic duo had a lot of fun in there for 20 minutes until it got too crowded.

Later, Bella took time to look in a curved mirror and draw a self-portrait.

At the end of our visit, we watched Sophia's sister take part in a fashion show to end a fashion design camp at the CMA for young people. It was cute, and the museum well worth the price of admission. We'll be back!

FOURTH OF JULY IN NC!

Once again, Bella headed to Lake Junaluska, NC for the Fourth of July holiday (and week after). As you can see, she relaxed on the porch swing - several times. She also got to hang out with her friend, Emma, again, and get her face painted on the Fourth.

She got her first semi-piano lesson from Izzie at the upright in the living room, and Bella did quite well trying to learn the scale.

She also was brave enough to climb aboard an inflatable canoe with her dad and row out in the middle of the lake. This was made much more fun by the up close feeding of ducks and geese - until one of the geese tried to hop into the boar with her. Dad almost had to kick yet another goose in the head!

Bella also spent A LOT of time in the pool. She took several lessons from Kaylynn, and really blossomed into an underwater swimmer. She dove head first into the pool, and swam halfway across the shallow end under water. And she did this MANY times. She also did some underwater flips and dove for toys at the bottom of the pool. Bella also discovered pool toe - five times! All in all, it was a great trip!