LauderKids

I think Fort Lauderdale must be the most romantic place in the whole world. I'm back again, blog friends - your faithful blogger Isabella. And this week I'm going to tell you about the best date of my life. It was so special I'll never forget it. Ever!! Girls, I totally hope you get the chance to experience something this amazing. And guys, I hope you're as nice as Francisco so you'll do something this awesome with your girlfriend.

Because Francisco asked me to go with him to the Fort Lauderdale beach. And to stay out alone with him until 10 p.m. And my dad said Yessss!! Dad, YTB! :-)) He said just be really careful and even gave us money to take taxis to the beach and back home. I had to call him a couple times to check in and everything. No biggie. Thanks, Dad!!!

What happened next is too beautiful to just blog about, blog amigos! Remember I told you I want to be a famous writer some day? And remember I'm writing a book about my life in Fort Lauderdale? Well, I already wrote several pages in my book about this amazing date. So I'm going to share some of it so you see how incredible it really was, ok? This is what I wrote in my book:

"I don't know if I should call Francisco my ‘boyfriend' yet or not. Maybe it's too soon. But I already feel things for Francisco I've never felt for anyone in my life. When he showed up at my door tonight, my heart smiled. He carried an old backpack with something in it - Francisco just laughed when I asked what was inside. Then we jumped in our taxi, which felt like a fancy big limousine to me, and we rode together to the beautiful Fort Lauderdale beach at twilight.

Francisco got out first and held the door for me. Such a nice guy! Then he gently took my hand, something he never did before, and I let him take my hand too. And we walked holding hands this way to the wide sand beside the South Beach parking lot. Francisco opened his backpack now and took out a thin blanket and some fruit and two bottles of water. He spread it out on the beach in the moonlight. Then he smiled at me and once more my heart smiled back at him.

Fort Lauderdale is a place I truly love now. Very much. The palm trees swayed in the tropical breeze and the moon rose high over a quiet sea and the stars began to twinkle over our heads. Sometimes I can't believe I really live in such a place! Romance can fill the air here, like a perfume that is sweet and impossible to resist. That is just how it felt sitting next to Francisco for the first time on the beach in the starry moonlight. I knew we were going to kiss here for the first time too. 

I think all of this made it happen - the moon and the stars and the breeze and the ocean. Fort Lauderdale made it happen, helped us to feel the romance in the air. And so he smiled at me again without a single word and just leaned over and took my head between both hands so gently. Very gently. Then he kissed me in a way I've never felt before, in some way that was as gentle and beautiful and romantic as his hands on my face and the tropical breeze in the trees."

That's what it was like, blog buds! As you can tell, a very very special night!! Of course it's easy to have a special time in Fort Lauderdale even without a great guy. And without spending a lot of money. Because it's so beautiful and romantic here. Or you can have an amazing time and spend a LOT of money like when Dad took me to Steak 954 for my b'day dinner! LOL!! There's so much to do and I love it!!

Anyway, so Francisco got me back on time and Dad was all happy about that. Then Francisco went home and texted right away:

Francisco: "thank u! best nite 4 me since coming 2 fla! :)"
Me: "maybe best nite in my life! ;-)))"
Francisco: "me 2!!"
Me: "still feel yr 1st kiss!!"
Francisco: "didnt want it to stop!!! ever ..."
Me: "me 2!!!!"
Francisco: "c u 2morrow? I hope!! :)"
Me: "YESSSSS!! call me in a.m., ok? cant wait ..."
Francisco: "YESSS!!!"
Me: "xoxo!!"

And yes, I did see Francisco the next day. And the day after that and then today too. But I miss my BFF Juliette and want to see her really soon!! (Hi J!! Hope you're reading this ...) I think things get more complicated in high school. It seems that way already even before I really start classes. But it's ok because I have such a great BFF and live in the best, most romantic place in the whole world. And because I have such a great ... boyfriend!! Haha!! See ya next week, blog-o-buds!!!

Hola, blog amigos! Just practicing my Espanol because I've kinda started dating a guy from Colombia. Hahaha. Or "jajaja," as they laugh in Spanish writing. Pretty funny. But anyway, this is your faithful blogger Isabella and I had the greatest afternoon today - in any language. It really started this morning with some sweet texts from Francisco. He's so romantic, girls. I love texting with him. Then guess what happened next? I have someone with me who's going to tell you! Here she is ... my guest blogger this week, Juliette!! Yay!!

Hi again, everyone!! This is Juliette doing the blog thing again with my total BFF Isabella!! We just got to her house after the most awesome afternoon. So then Isabella goes like, "Let's write a blog about it right now!" Very cool. Thanks, Isabella!! But maybe you should start telling everyone about what we did, ok?

Isabella: Sure, J! I'll start by just saying I took my BFF and two of the nicest, coolest girls in my class to the new W Hotel on the Fort Lauderdale beach. Remember, I told you before that I went there for my 15^th birthday? I totally couldn't wait to show Juliette how incredible this place is. And I also asked Nicki and Francine to come with us because they're going to be in high school with me next year. I really like them both!! :-))

Juliette: I wish I was a year older so I could be in high school too! But I'm only 14 and it totally sucks because sometimes I feel like some total kid or something. :-(   You and Nicki and Francine are all SO cool!!

Isabella: No way are you just a kid, J! You'll be with us in high school pretty soon anyway. But it doesn't matter because we all had so much fun together today, right?

Juliette: Right! The W is like going on a trip to the future. When we walked inside, Francine noticed the awesome fountain and all these flowers and everything right away. Nicki loved it too and me too but Isabella just goes, "Wait til you see the aquarium!!" And she was right. You won't believe this until you see it!!

Isabella: J means the jellyfish aquarium I blogged about last week. Remember all those spooky white jellyfish in a huge, huge tank? A waitress told Nicki there's like 2,000 gallons of water in there and SOOOO many jellyfish all swimming in this big circle. But even the jellyfish weren't the best part of our trip to the W. Right, J?

Juliette: Most deff!! Because we walked around and saw all this cool stuff like the hugest outdoor patio and all these big couches in the lobby. But then Isabella just says, "Wanna see the most awesome pool?" And then it's like right there in front of us. I hadn't even noticed but the stairs go up to the pool from the lobby. Wow ...

Isabella: Up through the middle of the swimming pool!! Now THAT'S definitely awesome!! They call it the "human aquarium" because you just watch everybody swimming in the pool like they were fish or whatever.

Juliette: Or maybe jellyfish!! Teehee!

Isabella: LOL! So Nicki just says, "Let's get something to drink and hang a while, ok?" That was the best part. Thanks, Nicki!! And Francine was so totally nice and bought Cokes for everybody and wouldn't let anyone else pay. Thanks, Francine!! So we just got four chairs and hung by the pool for like an hour or maybe longer. I'm not sure. But I think we all felt pretty cool to be chillin' at the new W pool!!

Juliette: Some of the guys around the pool thought we were a lot older too! I could tell they wanted to totally hit on us! LOL!

Isabella: But we just had fun laughing and drinking our Cokes and sending texts to our friends. Francine even tweeted a couple times - you know, like, "At the new W hotel pool in Fort Lauderdale and totally luvin it!!" Stuff like that. Fun!!

Juliette: Nobody wanted to leave the hotel, right, Isabella?

Isabella: Right, J! All of us just wanted to get a room and stay there for like a week!!

Juliette: Totally!!!

Isabella: I wish!! But we're home now and writing this blog about our latest summer adventure. A great day with just the girls. I'm really glad we all went together to see the W Hotel. I love it there. And now I want to go back again. Really soon. Maybe next time for a nice romantic date with Francisco on the patio next to the beautiful blue ocean. That sounds "muy bueno" to me! Jajaja! BFN, amigos!!

I'm back again, blog friends. It's Isabella, your faithful blogger. And no, I didn't make some weird typo mistake in my title for this blog. I turned 15 on Monday and I had a great birthday blast with my dad. Thanks, Dad! :-) So yeah, I was the "birthday girl." But I also got my big birthday wish about a pretty special boy. I'm going to write about both things in my blog this week.

My latest summer adventure started when Dad took me out for a verrrry amazing birthday dinner - to one of the coolest places I've ever been in my life. The new W Hotel on the Fort Lauderdale beach. I think I'll be going back with Juliette and maybe some other friends soon to show them around. But for now, I'll just say that we went to this beautiful patio that's right beside the blue Atlantic Ocean. I just got a Coke and Dad had wine and we ate some great food to start off the big b'day evening. Then we went inside for dinner at this restaurant called Steak 954. Like ... just ... incredible! There's even this HUGE aquarium and it's filled with live jellyfish! Totally awesome. They look like little white blobby ghosts swimming inside the tank. And the food was probably the best steak I've ever eaten. This is a great, super cool hotel and I can't wait to show it to my BFF now.

Dad was so totally sweet to me all night and bought me some nice new clothes for gifts too. YTB, Dad!!! Especially because I got to wear some of those new clothes on my first date with Francisco. You remember him from last week, I hope. Dark hair, dark eyes. When he smiles, I can't help smiling inside and outside at the same time. And he's really soooo romantic too! Guess where we went on our first date?

Francisco told me, "We must go by the sea again, where we met." He's from Colombia and his English is very good. But he says things in a different way sometimes. I like it! Haha! So listen to this, blog buds. Francisco and I got together at exactly the same spot at exactly the same time as when we first met. His idea! See what I mean, girls? How totally romantic is that, right? ;-)))

But the best part is that Francisco is just so nice, you know? Totally different than that stuck up Bryan! Francisco wanted to learn all about me so I talked about the book I'm writing - the one about my life in Fort Lauderdale, remember? But you know what? I didn't tell him about this blog. Not yet! Maybe I will later this summer when we get to know each other a lot better. But right now it's just our secret, ok? Shhhh! Hahaha again!! 

Anyway, we walked and talked and laughed a lot. We even stopped for gelato. In the same gelato place I went with Bryan! Too weird. Except that Francisco was just SO nice and just the sweetest guy all the time. We finished our romantic first date with a long walk on Las Olas and we walked all the way to the downtown buildings. Then we kept walking on the New River under this big white moon that was shining over the water. All I can say is, wow - it was perfect! And we both said we want to see each other again. Soon!! I'll bet you'd already like to know where our next date will be, wouldn't you? Well you know what? So would I!! We haven't decided yet. But next week, you totally know that I'll have a lot more to say about Francisco so stay tuned for that!! I have a funny feeling that this summer is about to get a LOT hotter for me!!! LOL!! See ya next week!!

That's what my dad likes to call it. He keeps saying, "You're going to have a No-Bummer Summer!" You know, like nothing too lame or awful or whatever is going to happen to me all summer long. I hope he's right. It's been pretty great so far but I have to admit I was a little worried right after the 4^th of July. That's when I got together with Bryan, remember?

I was telling you about that last week in my blog. And, yeah, we met for ice cream on the Fort Lauderdale beach just like I knew we would. Here's what happened. As soon as he sees me Bryan starts with all this goofy stuff about how beautiful I am and everything. Eeeww. I'm kinda like, "Yeah ok - uhm, thanks. Let's get some ice cream." So we walk up the street to this good gelato place and he takes out a $50 bill to pay for it. For gelato that cost like a whole $6.45! Whatever. Except it was SOOOO totally obvious he was just trying to impress me.

Which was definitely NOT happening. You girls know what I mean, right? Like I care he has $50 in his wallet. Because I don't care. Bryan's some rich kid and he's already in high school and oh, like, big wow! He just thinks I'm going to date him because he's older and because he drives and because he has this fancy car his father bought him. Yeah, right!

But it was so great just walking beside the beautiful Fort Lauderdale beach that I tried to ignore him and have fun anyway. We walked along the sidewalk and then we finished eating our gelatos. And then he suddenly tries to hold hands with me. In the first half hour on a first date!! I'm like, "Huh? NO!" This is when I started to really worry that maybe Dad is wrong. Maybe I would have a "Bummer Summer" after all!! So what could I do? I'm stuck on this lame date. I just watched the gorgeous blue ocean coming into the beach in pretty white waves. And I was soaking up the rays and looking at other people walking around. And Bryan totally doesn't even notice that I'm soooo bored with him and he keeps talking all about ... guess who? Himself! "Me, me, me" like all the time, ya know? Major eeek!!

Except then you know what happened? I got lucky because we bumped into these two guys he knows and I know one of them too. His name's Francisco and he was born in Colombia. He goes to my school and I've seen him around the halls a million times but we never talked even once. But guess what? We'll both be going to the same high school next month, which is kinda cool.

Anyway, Bryan starts talking to the other guy - whose name I totally forget! But then I just start talking to Francisco about going to high school and I found out he's really nice. Pretty cute too! LOL. Dark hair and great dark eyes. Bryan is just like going on and on talking to this other guy about whatever. So you know what I did then, blog buds? I asked Francisco to text me this YouTube link he told me about. (Just so I could get his cell number! HAHA!!!)

So he texts me while we're standing there and I have his number now and Bryan doesn't even know or anything. Bryan also doesn't know I write a blog because he never asked and so he'll never read this. He also doesn't know I'm never, ever going out with him again. I just told him I had to go home almost right after we walked away from Francisco and the other dude.

Bryan? Totally stuck up jerk. Francisco? Hmm, interesting! :-))) I'm glad it's all over with Bryan. Because next week I turn 15 years old!!! Yay!!! I think Dad is planning something but I don't know what. But I do hope one great birthday wish might come true - because then I'll get to see Francisco again really soon. I'd like to go some place totally fun with him the first time like maybe Riverwalk or Las Olas. Wherever. Yes, blog amigos, I think Dad may just be right. This really will be a "No-Bummer Summer" - for sure! TTYL!!

Ok, so there's this new Pixar flick called "UP!" right? Haven't seen it yet but friends say it's pretty funny. But it's also the best word to use about my most incredible adventure of the summer so far. Most deff, I was totally "UP!"

Hi again, blog buds - it's Isabella back to finish the story I started in my last blog. Remember I was talking about all those exciting things I was doing with my BFF Juliette? Like scuba diving and riding the Water Taxi. Remember that? But we also went parasailing together. Which was completely amazing.

Oh ... yeah. I guess I should tell you something else, since we're friends, ok? I also texted Bryan back this week. I still think he's lame but we're going to get together anyway around the 4^th of July. Just so I can get him to stop bothering me. ;-)) More about all that in a sec. Because now I want to tell you how cool parasailing really is.

So Juliette and I took the Sun Trolley to the beach. We saved up our allowances and everything so we could do this special thing. We just go to this one place and pay our money and pretty soon there we are. In the middle of the wide ocean on a fast boat. Well, not really in the middle of the ocean but it was exciting anyway. Then we both get strapped into this thick harness thingie that holds us to the parachute. We'll be floating way up in the air soon. And we're looking at each other like, "Is this REALLY a good plan??!" Gulp.

If you've never been parasailing, it's just this huge, huge parachute that lifts you into the sky, right off a moving boat! You go flying around in the air as the parachute keeps you up, up, up! But the parachute is still hooked to the boat so it's really great because the boat pulls you all around. Like water skiing 300 feet in the air! LOL.

So Juliette and I are all strapped in side by side. Then the guy driving the boat really hits the gas and - woo-hoo! Before we knew anything else, we're taking off into the clouds. It's a major thrill ride when the wind grabs you and carries you straight up totally fast! I think we both screamed, kinda, sorta. Maybe... a little. :-)

But then we looked around at the beautiful scene everywhere. It was Fort Lauderdale, way down below us! I never saw this city look so totally amazing before. Always beautiful, but not like this. Because there we were, blog amigos, hanging under a parachute in the blue sky, just some straps keeping us from falling into the sea. And the beach and the shops and the hotels all were sparkling so bright in the sunshine. Wow! Major rush.

You get to stay up in the sky a long time as the boat buzzes around, pulling you behind it on that rope. The wind blows through your hair and you see the tiny people below you swimming in the ocean. Scary? At first, yeah. But you get used to it pretty fast. J and I were talking and laughing like crazy up there. You know, like, "Whoa! Look at that big old ship out there! It looks so small!" And, "This just makes you feel so totally free, ya know?" Stuff like that. Finally, we had to come down and they reeled us back in to the boat on that rope. When we landed on the boat deck, J just says, "Awwwwwwe-some!" She was right.

That same night, I got another (!!) text from Bryan. I guess this guy won't ever quit. It said, "Plz, pleez, pleeeez! Meet 4 ice cream? Pleeeeeez! :)" So this time, I texted back. "OK, OK! Whatever. When?" Then it seemed like we had about 50 texts back and forth. Anyway, we're going to get ice cream on the beach this Sunday. No biggie, right?

I just hope I like Bryan better this time. He was such a major jerk at the mall. But I have to admit, he is kinda cute too!! LOL!! Next week I'll tell you how it goes and everything, ok? Stay tuned, blog-o-buds. Believe me, I don't think I'll be falling in love or anything, ya know?? The only fireworks I'm going to see will be the ones they shoot off at the beach this weekend for the 4^th of July. Hahaha!!!! See ya next week!!