Life With Ella

On Saturday morning we drove to Calistoga for the July 4th weekend.  One of Ella’s classmates has a family vineyard in Calistoga and every year they invite a bunch of families from school up there for the July 4th weekend.  We had a great time.  Ella had a blast!  While we were there she said, “I love this weekend in Calistoga.  I think I love it more this year than I did last year!”  It’s so cool watching Ella grow up.  I could see how the experience was different for her this year.  She is really growing up socially and intellectually and it’s great to see that when we’re around such a large group of kids.  It was a really sweet weekend full of lots of kids.  We are all very happy to be back in our own beds though.  We “camped out” on their lawn.  There were 13 families in tents all around.  We had air mattresses in our tent and used comforters and pillows and it was nice and cozy, but there’s nothing like your own bed after a weekend “camping”! Ella LOVES swimming! Dinner time! Sometimes Ella can be a close talker.  Luckily, her friend Luke is used to her! Ellal and her friend Fiona hanging out on the tire swing.  Ella spent a lot of time on the tire swing. We went to the county fair.  It was about 102 degrees outside.  Ella went on the bumper cars with Tess, one of the older kids who is just wonderful with Ella. Ella really wanted to ride this pony.  She said that she loved it but her face is saying maybe she was a little nervous. I love this shot of Ella. All the kids back at the pool after the county fair. Ella and Tess in the pool. A brownie on a stick.  Ella was in heaven. Ella wasn’t into being a part of the water balloon fight that the kids had, but she loved walking around with her own little pet water balloon. The kids were all watching a Charlie Brown 4th Of July special on a giant screen that they put up. Mommy pushing Ella on the tire swing. We were in beautiful nature this weekend. Mommy and Ella hanging out by the pool. Ella helping to fill up water balloons. Ella swinging on the tire swing with her friend Tessa. The whole gang!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 at 7:13 am and is filed under pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.