Archive for January, 2012

Fun weekend for Ella

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

weather was beautiful and Ella had an fun filled weekend.  On Friday night, we had Friday night movie night with the Kim/Arenas.  This is one of Ella’s favorite things to do!  On Saturday, we took Ella to a birthday party at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley.  First the kids made slime and then then all played hard outside.  Ella loved it.  On Sunday, we spent a good part of the day outside.  Ella, Stella and Juliet were on their Heelys and KJ was riding his scooter.  The kids had a great time.  After our outdoor activities, we met Becca for brunch and took Juliet with us.  On Sunday night, my old friend David came over for a visit.  It was great to see him.

118.jpg216.jpg Climbing on the DNA structure outside of the Lawrence Hall of Science.

510.jpg Getting read to make the slime.

85.jpg Helping Rosie make the slime.

75.jpg Having a really fun time.

94.jpg Deep in thought after the party.

102.jpg119.jpg Heading over to “tall mountain”.

123.jpg133.jpg Towby enjoying the great outdoors.

143.jpg 153.jpgPicking flowers.

173.jpg The finished product.

182.jpg193.jpg Fun with Towby.

And now for another slow motion movie from this weekend…

A few more photos

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Here are a few shots from over the weekend.  It rained all weekend.  We needed the rain and it didn’t keep us from going outside and having fun.  On Sunday, we went to Pier 39 and the Aquarium by the bay.  Ella never gets tired of that place!  Afterwards, we came home and built a cool building while watching the football game.

117.jpg I’m running in the rain!

215.jpg Patiently waiting to pet the ray.

37.jpg Settling and petting an anemone.

414.jpg Our leaning tower of King Street.

Seems like all I’m doing is catching up!

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

Our days and nights have been so full!  Ella is still loving life so much.  She is doing wonderful work at school, her friendships are tight and real, she is funny, she is a bit defiant, she’s beautiful, she’s enthusiastic about everything that she does…what a great person.  Last week, we participated in a CDS walk to honor Dr. Martin Luther King.  We made a sign together for Ella to hold.  Ella asked me to write, “Love and Peace” Dr. Martin Luther King.  I did it in my old school bubble letters, and Ella colored them in.  Sunny made a Let Freedom Ring-Equality for all on the other side of the poster.  It was a sweet march.  The kids are all learning at their own pace.  Ella had a sleep over on Friday night at Stella and Juliet’s and loved every minute of it.  Mommy and I went out with some friends from Ella’s school.  Stella spend most of the day with us on Saturday and then some of our friends and their daughter came over on Saturday night.  We had a lot of fun.  On Sunday, we did a video chat with grandma and papa and then watched the NY Giants win!  What an exciting weekend. Here are some pictures from the parade and from ballet today.

116.jpg214.jpg The beginning of the “march”.

36.jpg413.jpg59.jpg65.jpg84.jpg93.jpg74.jpg 

Ella and her Heelys

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

We had a long weekend this weekend.  We both could have used a few more days to get the work done that we need to do but it was great to get some good family time in.  On Friday night, Stella, Juliet and KJ came over for movie night.  The kids watched the Little Mermaid.  The girls ended up staying over because their cousin was born early in the morning!  Ella loved having the girls sleep over.  On Saturday, Helen gave Ella her Chanukah present.  It was a pair of Heelys.  They are sneakers that have wheels on the bottom.  They are pretty hard to do.  Ella spent some time struggling to figure out how to do it but soon figured out her own way.  The video at the end shows the 1 day evolution of Ella and Heelys.  Ella went to TaeKwonDo on Saturday and then on Saturday night, we hung out with friends from Ella’s school.  While the adults were downstairs hanging out downstairs, the kids were upstairs watching Star Wars.  It was Ella’s first time, and her friends Harry and Eli were great about explaining what was going on.  We pretty much spent Sunday and Monday around the neighborhood, Heelying around and then today, I took Ella out to the cove to do some batting practice.  This year, Ella’s t-ball team is going to do coach pitching.  Ella was amazing.  She made contact with the ball quite a few times and I was pitching from pretty far away.  There are 2 small clips of that in the video too.  I think you have to download it in order to see it.  Not sure why this issue is happening, but the movie is there.

115.jpg Ella and 2 of her favorite people.

213.jpg35.jpg Ella’s TaeKwonDo group is now made up of Ella and about six 7 – 9 year old boys.

412.jpg58.jpg Ella meditating at the end of class.

64.jpg73.jpg83.jpg Ella and her Heelys.

Trying to download the movie again

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Not sure if the movie able to load so I’m trying something else here… I am also posting some pictures from last week.  As soon as I get this all in, I will start taking pictures again!  Just checked, and you can  watch the movie by clicking on the download thing under the movie.

114.jpg210.jpg34.jpgThese are from New Year’s weekend.  Nikki B was in town and we took a little hike in Glen Park Canyon.

410.jpg Towby wanted to sit on Ella’s lap in the car.

54.jpg Celebrating Helen’s birthday.

63.jpg Ella dancing with her buddy Hannah in ballet.

The past month in slow motion

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Sunny gave me a beautiful new camera for Chanukah.  One of the features is a slow motion effect.  The slow motion lasts for about 1.6 seconds.  You’d be surprised at how many things happen in 1.6 seconds.  I made this little video of this past month’s slow motion pics.

Anguilla part 2

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

So sorry for the space between blogs.  Re-entry was pretty busy!  Ella is back at school doing great, I’m back at work trying to motivate my students and Sunny is back at work… read the SF papers if you want info on what’s going on with the new sheriff.  Sunny continues to do her magic!  OK – so back to Anguilla (I wish we were really back there!), on Christmas day, we were invited to our friend Claudius’ family Christmas celebration.  It was really wonderful and those of us who made it (Michael was back at the house sick and grandma and papa stayed with a napping Milo) we were so grateful that we got to experience the Richardson family Christmas.  Amazing people, amazing food and an amazing bouncy house and kids for Ella to play with!  We literally pulled up to the house, Ella saw the bouncy house and the kids and said,  “A bouncy house, kids, can I unbuckle please?”  She was out of the car and into the bouncy house within 10 seconds.  Here are some shots from that day and then many others of the family and the beach.

112.jpg27.jpg32.jpg Ella made herself right at home!

42.jpg52.jpg Ella, mommy and our beautiful friend Claudius.

62.jpg Claudius’ brother.  You can see the tent and all the people in the background.  Claudius – if you see this, thank you so much for including us with your family.  Sending lots of love.

72.jpg Back at the house, we just delivered some delicious food from the party to grandma, papa and Milo.

82.jpg These two love each other so much.

92.jpg Papa wasn’t relaxed at all!

101.jpg113.jpg122.jpg132.jpg Dinner at Picante.

142.jpg152.jpg162.jpg172.jpg Hanging around the house.

181.jpg What a beautiful shot!  Pure happiness.

192.jpg Dinner at Veya.  Ella and Milo were dancing a little to the live entertainment.

212.jpg Ella was acting goofy so grandma joined in.

201.jpg Checking out the koi pond at Veya.

221.jpg Papa sporting grandma’s stylish reading sunglasses.

231.jpg241.jpgThe beautiful place where we stayed, Villa Gardenia.

252.jpg261.jpg271.jpg281.jpg291.jpg301.jpg312.jpg AJ got a hold of the camera.  This is just a beautiful morning by the pool.

321.jpg I took the camera back!

33.jpg Cannonball!

38.jpg Here are the beach shots.  Our favorite beach this time was the beach at the Great House.  The sand was perfect, the sea was calm, and it wasn’t crowded.  Ella and Milo did some serious digging and looking for shells and we loved swimming in the sea.

39.jpg Papa in paradise.

40.jpgAlmost got the shot right!  We had a lot of fun taking this.

411.jpg Lunch time!

421.jpg Milo making himself very comfortable with his mama.

43.jpg Best friends.

44.jpg Papa teaching Ella how to make music with a glass.

45.jpg Beach snuggles.

46.jpg Mommy and Ella paling around in the ocean.

47.jpg Beautiful grandma and papa.

48.jpg Our beautiful threesome.

49.jpg The most amazing aunt and uncle.

511.jpg The Leonhart’s new album cover?

521.jpg Ella and her AJ.

53.jpg More fun in the ocean with mommy.

55.jpg One of the sand castles that we built.

56.jpg Ella and Jesse played some great Kadima together.

57.jpg Last dip in the sea for 2011.  Look at the amazing clear water.

Incredible time in Anguilla (part 1)

Friday, January 6th, 2012

The celebration of my dad’s 70th birthday and Jamie’s 40th birthday was amazing.  The week in Anguilla was wonderful on so many levels.  It was so great to be with the whole family for a week. Ella and Milo were in heaven with each other, their grandparents and loved being able to spend so much time with Jesse and Heather.  Dad and mom – thanks for an amazing week!  We love you guys.  I’m now going to post some pics…there are a lot so I’m going to have many posts.

110.jpg Very first night…playing a heated game of Go Fish.

21.jpgElla was in the pool every day.  It wasn’t heated so most of us had to ease our way in, but Ella was in the pool every morning.

31.jpg41.jpg51.jpg61.jpg71.jpgOur first dinner out.  We went to Smokey’s on the beach.  Food was great and we all had a wonderful evening.

81.jpgHere we are in the morning checking something out on the iPad.  I can’t remember the last time we call had breakfast together in our PJ’s!

91.jpg111.jpg121.jpg Our little mermaid.

131.jpg Ella and Milo are in love with their grandma and papa.

141.jpgElla and Heather playing around in the pool.

151.jpg Mommy getting a splinter out of AJ’s foot.

161.jpg Beauty.

171.jpg Sweetness.

191.jpg20.jpg Ella loved reading to Milo.

211.jpg This was the main house where grandma and papa stayed upstairs.  The bottom floor was where we all hung out.  The house that we all stayed in was right next to the main building.

22.jpg23.jpg True love.  Grandma can’t stand bananas and yet she peeled one for Milo!

24.jpg Ella “reading” the Fantastic Flying books of Morris Lessmore.  What an amazing book.

251.jpg One of the friendly Anguilla Lizards who lived in our yard.

26.jpg28.jpg29.jpg30.jpg Ella was not alone in the pool!  We all went in on this beautiful afternoon.

311.jpg I love this shot!  It’s all about love and fun and being in the moment.

NYC and the Nutcracker

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

I have so much to catch up on but instead of trying to do it all at once, I’m going to do a little at a time.  We came back from our winter trip to NY and to Anguilla on Friday night.  We had an incredible time.  We started out in NY and had a very special day with grandma and papa.  We went in early, saw the tree at Rock Center, walked along the beautifully decorated Fifth Ave and then went to an early dinner near Lincoln Center.  After dinner, we went across the street to see the Nutcracker.  The ballet was magical and Ella was mesmerized.  After the ballet, we had a very special backstage tour by one of papa’s patients who is in charge of all of the children in the ballet.  She runs the ballet school for the New York City Ballet.  She was so wonderful and welcoming and Ella experienced the magic of being on the stage at the Nutcracker.  She had a once in a lifetime backstage tour.  I took a lot of pics!  On Tuesday, we went to KK’s to celebrate the first night of Chanukah and to see KK, Jordin, Kevin and Twyla.  It was a really sweet night.  On Wednesday, we left for Anguilla…I will post those pics tomorrow.

1.jpg Beautiful Ella getting ready to go into NY.

2.jpg The 5 of us on the way out the door.

3.jpg4.jpg The Rock Center Tree!

5.jpg6.jpg7.jpg Lincoln Center.

8.jpg The Mouse king’s crown.

9.jpg Sitting on the main stage!

10.jpg The skirt where all the kids come running out of.

11.jpg The sleigh from the end of the show.

12.jpg Ella taking a little rest…it was all so exciting!

13.jpg Holding a wooden rifle.

14.jpg Ella looks like a natural on stage!

15.jpg The walnut boat.

16.jpg Ella and our incredible host.

17.jpg The first night of Chanukah with mommy.

18.jpg Twyla and Jor.

19.jpg Holiday fun with KK!