Archive for August, 2007

Wood park

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Today, grandma and I took Ella a park in Leonia – the town my parents live in. The park has this huge structure with tunnels and slides and other fun stuff. Ella tried to get grandma to go into the tunnels and go on the tunnel slide, but grandma decided that it was something for one of Ella’s mommies to do. Since Sunny was home doing work, it was my job to go in the tunnel and go on the tunnel slide. It was a bit of a challenge but we did it!

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Ella climbing through the little tunnel

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Let me drive the bus!

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Oy – this is the structure I was talking about. We climbed through the alligator, went across a shaky bridge, crawled through the blue, yellow, red and green tunnel, went up some steps and went down the tube slide.

The diner and the hippo park

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Yesterday, we went into NY to have a visit with our friend Tina. We met at a diner and Ella sat in a booster seat for the first time! She did a great job.

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Ella sitting in her booster seat

Tina gave Ella a cool ball for a present. Ella looked at Tina and said, “Thank you Tina”. We asked her what she was thanking Tina for and she said, “Thank you for the present Tina…thank you for the ball Tina.” Ella is becoming such a big girl. She had a great time with Tina.

After lunch, we all went down to Riverside park to go to the hippo playground. Ella had so much fun with the hippo and the water. She also climbed up a slide all by herself and went down all by herself! Here is a little movie of our time in the park.

Happy Birthday Jesse

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

Sunny and I had a great time away at Foxwoods Casino.  It was sweet and peaceful and we had a blast at the craps table.  Grandma and papa loved being with Ella.  Grandma even asked us if we wanted to stay one more night!  Maybe next time.

It’s uncle Jesse’s birthday today and Ella has a shout out for him…

Sunday in the park

Monday, August 27th, 2007

Sunny and I took Ella to NY with the intention to go to the Museum of Natural History. When we got close, Ella saw the park and told us that she wanted to go there. We went to a playground in the park. Ella had a great time on the swings and slide and then wanted to try something new. There was a big sprinkler/spout of water in the park and Ella really wanted to get wet. We took off her shorts and t-shirt and let her run around in the water with her diaper and shoes. She had a blast. After the park, we met our friends Sarah and Pato for some coffee. Ella liked meeting them. At the end of the visit, she sang a lot of songs for them.

When we came home, Ella had some dinner and then grandma and papa gave her a bath. After the bath, Ella started getting ready for bed. We have had some issues with Ella waking up once in the night. The other night, we tried something new. We gave her a bottle and then let her run around and play. After about 45 minutes, we changed her diaper and she went to bed. That night, she slept through the night. We also taught Ella to say, “I will sleep through the night”. Then we all clap and say “Yay”. Tonight, Ella said, “I will sleep through the night” “YAY” and then she said “Papa will sleep through the night, grandma will sleep through the night, mama will sleep through the night, mommy will sleep through the night…” That all made sense to us since we were all in the room with her. Then she said, “Stella will sleep through the night, Juliet will sleep through the night, Helen will sleep through the night, Ronny will sleep through the night”. Did you hear that Arena family? You will all sleep through the night. YAY!

Sunny and I are going away for the night to Foxwoods Casino and Resort. We will have no responsibilities for 30 hours. I wonder what that will feel like. We’ll check back in on Wednesday.

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Ella the hillbilly in her diaper and shoes

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Running through Central Park almost naked

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Smiling with grandma

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Brushing teeth with papa. Ella is a tooth brushing addict

Saturday pool and hanging with friends

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

It was a really hot and beautiful day on Saturday so we went back up to the pool. We always have a good time there! After the pool, we went back to grandma and papa’s house and KK and Karen came over for dinner. Ella had a great time with all of us. She took out her doctor kit, listened to everyone’s hearts and gave us shots. We had Greek food for dinner and Ella really loves spinach. At one point she was crying out, “More spinach…spinach…spinach!” She is speaking so well now.

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A sweet kiss at the pool

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Dr. Ella giving Karen a shot

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KK reading to Ella and Mommy

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Love and laughter

Normyn’s new trick

Saturday, August 25th, 2007

Friday

Saturday, August 25th, 2007

The sun finally came out and we went swimming at papa’s club.  Ella really loves the kiddie pool.  We had a great day at the pool.  We drove into NY in the evening to have dinner with Jordin and Kevin.  It was a hot, balmy night.  First we went to a playground in the west village so Ella could swing on some swings and slide down the slide and then we had a great pasta dinner.  After dinner we went back to Jordin and Kevin’s house.  We ended the night with Tasti -D.  It was a great day and night.  We all had fun.

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Ice cream with mommy at the pool.

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Jordin helping Ella down the slide

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Ella just told Kevin a very funny joke

Pony ride, train ride and carousel ride

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

What a great Wednesday. The rain finally stopped – still dark and cool outside, but we decided to take Ella to Van Saun Park. Ella had her first pony ride today. She was a trip. She just went right on the pony without any real reaction. Sunny and the guy walked with Ella and she just bounced along. She went around the “track” 4 times! It was a lot of fun to watch and be a part of. After the pony, we went on a little train ride around the zoo. Ella sat with grandma and waved at people, watched the animals go by and enjoyed going through a tunnel. What’s a great park without a carousel? Ella spotted the carousel when we were just finishing the train. We took her over there and she went on it twice. Sunny and I watched Ella and grandma go around and around. It was a fun filled hour. We didn’t even make it into the zoo – Ella was getting a little sleepy. Tonight we went into NY and had dinner with Nicky B and then after dinner, we went back to Nicky’s house so that Ella could play with Mimi again. It was a full beautiful day and night.

Normyn is very happy

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

This is just a shout out to Jamie and Michael in Japan.  Your beautiful Normyn is doing great.  It took her a few days to adjust to all of us, but now she is herself again.  She is playing with her toys – even her little cow.  Mom and I took her to the park today (the rain finally stopped).  She ran and ran in the tall wet grass and had a blast.  Love you guys – hope you’re having a great time.

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Rain rain go away

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Oy – the weather has been pretty bad. The rain hasn’t really let up for a few days. Today we decided to try to take Ella to an indoor play area. We thought it would be something like My Gym in SF, but it wasn’t at all. It was a place that would probably be a 10 year old’s dream – video games, bowling, junk food, basketball, a big climbing maze…not too much for a 21 month old, her moms and grandma to do. There was, however a caterpillar train that we spent a lot of time on.

The video on the bottom of this post is a video of the crazy caterpillar train

It was still sprinkling out when we got out of the crazy caterpillar train place, but Sunny and I had plans to go to the Mets game with Nicky B. We dropped grandma and Ella off, drove into NY to pick up Nicky B and the three of us made the adventure into Queens to see the mighty Mets. It felt like an April San Francisco game…cold and wet. We made it a few innings.

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That’s not fog in the lights – it’s rain. Notice that there are about 100 people in the seats.

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We were just happy to be together! Nice Giants hat Nicky B!