Life With Ella

We had a little bit of a late start today (11:30), but we stayed out all day. The weather was gorgeous and we spent the day walking to the Ferry Building and back. On the way we stopped at Maria’s (The Java House) and of course played around the spider. We met up with Phyllis for a little while at the Ferry Building. Ella spent a while visiting with the live crabs and lobsters. We met up with Becca and Tucker on the way back and Ella requested that Becca come to the park and play with her. We went to the park and Ella played hard for a while. The 3 of us had a great dinner at Acme and Ella passed out at around 7:45 tonight. I really hope she wants to sleep for 12 hours!

Ella insisted on wearing her tutu today.

Ella was having a great time dancing ballet in the grass.

Ella walking the wall with Becca.

Check out this look of concentration.

Our beautiful barefoot kid.

After coming back from paradise, 3 days of work seemed like 3 weeks of work! Thursday has finally come and I was able to enjoy a beautiful day with Ella and a beautiful night with Sunny and the Kim/Arenas. Ella and I started our journey today by going to My Gym. Ella did a fantastic job jumping on the trampoline, hanging from the uneven parallel bars, running up stairs, sliding down the slides both on her back and on her belly, and just being an all around great kid. After My Gym, we went to lunch at Maria’s for grilled cheese and french fries and then we took a walk down town. Ella fell asleep for a little while while I was doing some stuff and then we came home an took the dogs out. At around 3:30, I took Ella to the gym and we went swimming. Ella is so brave in the pool. She walks around on her tippy toes all over the place. She told me today that she wanted to go under water all by herself. I told her to remember to blow bubbles. She did it and did a great job. After the pool, we met up with mommy and went over to Helen and Ron’s for dinner. After dinner, we all took a walk to this new park a few blocks away from our house. The park is in a funny place, right under the freeway, but it has some great basketball courts, a tennis court, and a beach volleyball court. This huge lot is filled with sand. This was a true test to see if Ella would actually put her feet in the sand. Anguilla had the most beautiful soft sand and Ella would not walk on it. Tonight, after a few minutes of touching the sand with her hands and hanging out by the edge, Ella actually walked all over the sand and played in it! Go figure. It was a really fun night.

The sun is finally out here! What a beautiful day.

This is right after My Gym. What a happy kid.

I took these pictures of Ella after swimming while we were letting the dogs out. She did all the poses by herself. I did not encourage them. The last one is like the old ad, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins”.

This is from this evening. Ella was calling for her buddies to come run on the grass with her.

This was the how Ella began her sand process…she was hanging out on the edge and touching the sand.

In the meantime, here is an amazing role model. Stella was having a blast playing in the sand.

Another amazing role model. Although it was pretty cold and windy, Juliet put on her hood and kept playing in the sand.

With some amazing coaxing and support from mommy, Ella took the plunge and stood on the sand.

And she started walking around all by herself.

By the end of the evening, you would have never known that she had OCD about sand. Thank you Kim/Arena family for helping Ella work through her issue!

We had one last birthday dinner over the weekend. It was a lot of fun. At Helen’s recommendation, we even had our friends watch the kids while we all went out. Of course, we just went across the street to Acme, but it was liberating. My parents left on Sunday and I’m sure they are now going through Ella withdrawals. We miss them too! Here are some cute pictures from last Sunday.Here are Sunny and I at Acme.What a beautiful cake! It didn’t taste as good as Carol and Marietta’s Duncan Hines cake, but it was beautiful!Here are a whole bunch of our friends having dinner with us at Acme.Ella getting tickled by Towby licking her.Ella kissing papa.Ella kissing grandma.Just look at these three beauties!

It’s been a while…I feel a little overwhelmed. I have an incredible amount of pictures from our trip to Anguilla. I somehow have narrowed it down to about 78 pictures. That’s a lot. We had an amazing time. We were so sad when it was time to leave. It was a truly beautiful way to spend my 40th birthday. It was also so wonderful to watch Ella with our family and extended family and see all the love that everyone has for each other. Thank you everyone who celebrated with me, in San Francisco and Anguilla. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. Thank you mom and dad for making the week possible. I love you all. Now onto the pictures…

Ella on the airplane watching Dora and eating Cheerios

Here are Jesse and Heather on the boat from St Maarten to Anguilla.

Nikki B humoring me and giving me a great big smile as the boat takes us through bumpy waters

Grandma, Jesse and Heather on the boat. It had been almost 5 months since we all saw Jesse and Heather. We missed you guys!

Here is a really cool picture that Jesse took with his super zoom lens from his balcony. Mommy is walking and holding Ella on our first night in Anguilla. The weather was perfect.

Here are grandma and papa on their roof/terrace. They were checking out their place.

Ella gnawing on her first lamb chop with grandma and papa at the beach barbeque on our first night in Anguilla

AJ, Ella and Michael dancing with each other at the barbeque

Here’s part of our gang…Michael, Heather, Jordin, Kevin and AJ

Ella and papa having lots of fun together

Here are the 3 of us in the ocean. Ella had a pretty good time in the ocean, but she preferred the pool.

Here I am playing Kadima with Kevin.

Here are papa and grandma playing Kadima.

Here I am having a sweet moment with Ella.

Another sweet moment.

Here are grandma and Ella playing on the beach. Ella did not want to get sand on any part of her. She was sitting on a towel and had us carry her when we were on the sand.

Here is the amazing beach that we spent every day on. It was literally outside of our rooms.

Beautiful Ella getting ready for dinner. She was wearing an “om” necklace that AJ and Jordin gave her.

Mommy and mama at dinner.

Here’s the whole gang at dinner.

Ella drinking her first Shirley Temple and looking a little like Shirley Temple with her curly hair.

Another beautiful birthday celebration and an incredible chocolate souffle.

Ella in the morning. She had on a tutu and nothing else and was dancing around the room.

Here is a very happy Sunny welcoming in the beautiful day. This is the pathway from our terrace to the beach.

Here is Ella wearing…

AJ’s hat

I know this picture is from really far away, but that is Sunny and Nikki B out on that kayak! I wish I had Jesse’s super duper zoom lens.

AJ playing Kadima.

AJ was very patient with Jordin while they were playing Kadima.

Here’s a great picture of Uncle Jesse chillin’ on the beach

Here I am building a castle for Ella.

Here is the finished sand castle. I think Ella’s toys appreciated it more than she did!

Grandma and papa taking a walk on the beach.

Ella with a captive audience at the pool.

Grandma and Ella waiting to be seated at dinner.

Beautiful Ella smiling for the camera.

Another Shirley Temple!

The next morning, papa and mommy went out and hit some golf balls. Looks like they had a blast.

While papa and mommy were out hitting golf balls, Nikki B and grandma were out on the sea in a kayak! Uncle Jesse took this one with his super zoom.

On Monday, we all went over to Calindius by the Sea – KK and Claudius’ house. KK (Carol) hosted a beautiful birthday lunch for me. Claudius cooked an amazing meal and KK and Marietta made a beautiful party. Jordin and Kevin also helped make the day perfect. KK even hired a live singer who serenaded us while we ate lunch. Thank you for such an amazing day KK, Marietta, Claudius, Jordin and Kevin.

Here is Claudius cooking the crayfish. I couldn’t include his face in the picture because he is a Rasta and he said that a photo can steal his soul.

KK, Ella and papa in the pool at KK’s place.

Here we are having lots of fun in the pool.

Marietta, KK and Jordin hanging out at the party.

AJ helping Ella the burrito dry off.

Here is a sweet picture of papa looking very happy.

Ella jammin’ on the recorder.

Nikki B in heaven…the great outdoors and a diet coke.

Here we are getting ready for the cakes to come out.

There’s nothing quite like Duncan Hines white trash cakes! They were delicious.

Birthday kiss!

Another birthday kiss!

Jordin and Kevin finally relaxing.

Mommy rocked Ella to sleep! Nothing more sweet than that.

Mommy passed Ella over to uncle Jesse who got to feel the amazing feeling of Ella totally letting go.

Ella and Heather relaxing after breakfast. Unfortunately, it was Jesse, Heather, AJ and Nikki B’s last morning in Anguilla.

“I see you…” Here is Ella checking herself out in the coffee pot.

Ella about to attack her chocolate croissant

The siblings. It was so great to be together for my birthday!

Saying goodbye to Nikki B and Heather.

Grandma and Ella in the pool after lunch.

Papa and Ella enjoying the water.

Mommy and Ella swimming over to papa.

Mommy and I went to get massages and Ella and grandma took a nap on the beach. Thanks for holding down the fort papa!

I had to bribe Ella with M&M’s to wear this head band!

Checking out the fish pond.

Mommy and Ella checking out pictures on papa’s computer.

Papa and Ella playing around in the closet.

Bye grandma and papa…we love you!

Ella doing a little ballet in the room.

Ella relaxing on “crabby” in the pool.

Kissing mommy in the pool.

More fun in the pool.

Hanging out on the beach chair with Chloe – a friend that Ella made on our trip.

Sharing spaghetti on our last night in Anguilla

Making friends everywhere she goes…Ella and Etienne at the airport.

Waiting for our luggage to arrive at JFK.