Life With Ella

We had an amazing summer!  After Ella came back from Camp Winnarainbow, I went to Colorado for a conference and Ella and mommy had a week without me!  Ella went to an ice skating and bowling camp and fell in love with ice skating.  When I got back from Colorado, Ella and I headed to NJ and were met by mommy a week later.  During the first week, we celebrated Milo’s 6th birthday, did a lot of swimming, saw Inside Out again and also saw the Minion Movie.  We had an amazing time in NJ and then headed for Anguilla.  Anguilla was a fantastic trip.  We mostly stayed with KK and then ended our trip at the Frangipani.  Here are pictures from the first week in NJ and our trip to Anguilla.  The rest of the NJ trip and the rest of our summer will follow.

 Ella, Panda and I on our way to NJ.

 Grandma and Panda watching us catch fireflies.

 Ella and Milo reunited!  They were catching fireflies on the first night.

 Ella made this birthday card for Milo.

Sweet Milo very focused at the Leonia pool.

 Ella was super happy to see her friend Emma again.

 Ella and Papa before Milo’s birthday dinner.

 Happy birthday Milo!

Sweet and goofy family photos at Kiku.

 Ella practicing her shot.

 Ella and Emma had a great time together.

 Cousins in the sun!

 Our mermaid.

 Beautiful cousins.

 The Minion movie!

 Milo drying himself off!

 Fun and love on the front yard!

 Chillin at the club!

6:00 am and we’re on our journey to Anguilla!

 It took Ella about 4 minutes to get comfortable.

 So happy to get some quality time with KK!

 First family ocean shot!

 We were swimming in the ocean with this beautiful creatures.  I was pretty freaked out by the ray.

 Reading…

 Building sand castles…

 Baking a cake… life is pretty incredible on the island!

 Ella checking out the water while we have lunch.

This is the life!

 Best family shot EVER!

 We did a dolphin experience.  It was amazing.  I will have to find our disc full of pictures of us with the dolphins and post it.  

Later on that day we went to Junk’s Hole where we were invaded by seaweed.  Ella wasn’t very happy about the sea weed!

 We did manage to get a few smiles out of Ella despite the sea weed.

 Here are some shots from a gorgeous day at Da Vida.  We all tried paddle boarding.  Ella was awesome!

 We had a beautiful dinner at Malliouhana with KK.

 We love you Ella!

 Love in Anguilla.

 A view from the pool at Frangipani.

 Nothing like having a delicious dinner on the beach at Smokey’s and Ella getting to play in the sand.

 Ella had a fantastic time tubing.

Perfection.

 Lunch at Blanchards.

Ella and KK taking a dip at Frangipani.

 Attempting the skim board.

 Last day of lounging around for us!

Sending a lantern off into the moonlight.

 Boat ride back to St. Maarten.

 Panda and his buddies.

Last week was pure happiness for all of us.  The three of us were on the steps of City Hall when the city celebrated marriage equality in all 50 states!  It was a beautiful morning and there is a lot to celebrate.  We marched in the pride parade with the independent schools, which meant that we got to march with the Kim/Arenas.  It was so much fun and Isaac was the hit of our section of the parade.  He would walk, face the crowd, say “Hi” and then like 50 people would respond back “Hi” to him.  He loved it!  On Tuesday evening, we flew to LA, had a really sweet evening with Jesse and Heather (although there was a big black out and we went to sleep with no power) and then spent about 14 hours in Disneyland the next day seeing all of the Diamond 60th Anniversary additions.  It was so much fun and we were totally knocked out the next day!  Thank you Jesse and Heather for a wonderful 36 hours in LA!

 Here we are on the steps of City Hall.  Looks like we may tie the knot!

 Decorating the wagon with rainbow streamers.

Getting ready to march.  It took a while!

 Our sister Helen!

 Pride parade gang signs “PEACE”

 Walking through the crowd sprinkling rainbow confetti which the kids were calling Unicorn Barf!

 After the parade waiting for a table at Dim Sum.

 Waiting for the train to take us home!  What a fun day!

 Now in LA, it looks like the Minions have taken over the Cinema Theatre!  Ella took these pics and was thrilled to see these guys larger than life.

 Ella just LOVES Jesse and Heather!

Tram selfie!

 Pure happiness and joy.

 First ride of the day.  Mommy and Ella are rocking it on Cars.

 Jesse got to ride the Matterhorn twice!

 Waiting on line for Peter Pan.

 Love this ride so much!  That’s a Go Pro on my head.  I will edit video at a later time.

 On line for Space Mountain.

 Space Mountain Sshot.  Ella was supposed to be pretend sleeping but she was too excited!

 Starting to get dark out.  We look pretty good going on our 11th hour!

 Saw an incredible fireworks show and parade.  Here is one of Ella’s favorites from the parade.

Ella, Stella and Juliet are at rock climbing camp this week.  They are having so much fun together.  Tonight, we went to see the movie “Inside Out”.  It was a hit with everyone.

 Planet Granite is located in a beautiful spot right near the Golden Gate Bridge.  Not a bad place to hang out!

 All of the kids are having a blast!

 Ella can’t wait for this movie to come out!

 Acting aout all of the different emotions.  The movie had joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust.

 Very clever movie ad!

Ella had an amazing week at Camp Winnarainbow – her first time at sleep away camp, and her moms made it through the week without missing her too much!  The pictures in the first part of this blog were taken by Ella.  She took a camera with her to camp and took some sweet shots and fun videos.  Here are the pics.

The teepee circle

 Tight rope practice place.

 Aerial practice place.

Nurse’s dome.

 Dinner menu!

 Chocolate pudding.

Turquoise teepee (the place where Ella slept for the week!)

The rainbow stage.

 Another look at the tightrope area.

Another shot of the turquoise tent.

 The road to the lake.

 The lake – Ella passed the difficult swim test.

 The campfire!

 Great shot.

Looks like a selfie to me!

Ella explained her teepee experience as a group of girls who were sisters for the week.  She said that they felt like a family.  I know that she loved being there with Stella and Juliet and that she also made some new friends.  The counselors told us that they were the best group of girls that they ever had.  Ella even bragged about the teepee winning the cleanest tent award!  They were rewarded with M&M’s.  Here are a few more pics from Ella’s camera.

 The next group of pics are taken from my perspective.  The shots of Sunny, Ella and I were taken by Karen who was visiting from NY.  Thank you for taking these pics!

 Not exactly your “traditional” camp!

 Reunited and it feels so good!  We love you so much Ella!

 A little unicycle action.

 A new friend Cadence.

 Very sweet closing show.  I have videos that I will throw together which show Ella doing gymnastics and some aerial stuff.

 Back in SF, Ella started rock climbing camp today.  She successfully did the purple path today!

Well – today Helen and I dropped off Ella, Stella and Juliet to Camp Winnarainbow.  Ella was sooooooo excited to go.  Last night, Sunny, Ella and I were talking and we asked her how she was feeling about going to camp.  She said, “I’m really excited, and a little scared”.  We told her that it was natural to be scared.  Then she said, “Do you want to know why I’m scared?”  We said “sure”.  She then told us that she was afraid that she had lice and would not be able to go to camp.  Here’s the back story – the camp has a zero lice policy.  When you check in, you have to go and get your head checked and if you have lice, you have to go home until you get rid of them.  Ella had lice in the second grade – over a year ago, and I think it traumatized her.  Needless to say, she did not have lice and at this moment, is hopefully sound asleep in the Turquoise teepee!  Here are some pics from today.

Last family selfie until Saturday.

 Hugs and kisses for mommy who had to work today!

Excited girls on a lunch break from our road trip.

 In the parking lot headed over to camp.  It was a HOT day!

 Glamorous Stella!

 Such happiness!

 This X means that she has NO LICE!

 Talking to the nurse.

 So wonderful to see Ella so excited!

One more selfie.

 Checking out the teepee and meeting a new friend.

 Now it’s getting really exciting.  This was about 5 minutes before the girls told us to leave!

 This is Cadence.  She’s also in the turquoise teepee.  I think the counselor was making funny faces behind my back while I was taking this.

 The Teepee panorama style.  Ella will be sleeping between Stella and Juliet.

Ella and her “adult” counselors Xanthia and Josie.  An adult at Camp Winnarainbow is someone who is over 18.

 Helen and I are about to be evicted!

This is the life!

This is the teepee village.

I think Ella is going to have an amazing week.  We will miss her but are so happy for her!

So since my last post, Ella has moved on from being a 3rd grader to a 4th grader!  It seems like it all happened so quickly.  Grandma and Papa came to visit and got to see the “passing of the torch” ceremony at Ella’s school.  It was so great to have them here with us.  While they were here, we celebrated their 52nd anniversary, Ella’s promotion, and Sunny’s birthday.  Tomorrow, Ella leaves for sleep away camp for 5 nights and 5 days.  She is so excited to go!  We can’t wait to hear all about her adventures.

Ella met Kristi Yamaguchi a few weeks ago at the gym.

 Ella had a haircut during the first week of June.  This was the first time that she had her hair blown out straight.  She really liked the way it looked and felt.  Her haircut was on a Wednesday and she rocked the straight hair look all the way until Sunday!  She also loves her natural hair and has been practicing different ways to put it up for camp.

Picking up Ella on the last day of school!

 Ella’s promotion dessert.

 3 beauties at Golden Gate Park.

 Ella helping KJ tie his new white belt with a yellow stripe.

 Tai Kwon Do group shot.

 Grandma out for a stroll in front of AT&T Park

 Love these 3 Musketeers!

 Ella had a sweet visit with Ms. Kay’s daughter Gabriella.

On Wednesday, Ella and Juliet gave Panda a bath.  They did a terrific job and deep down, Panda loved it!

Ella and Emmi had a fun day together on Thursday – bowling and fooling around at AT&T Park.

On Friday, I took Ella and of my students to the Oakland Animal Care and Control that Becca now runs.  Ella was so happy to be reunited with Pineapple!

 We took out the duffle bag to get Ella ready for camp this weekend and Panda decided that he wanted to get into it!

 Ella stopped by a birthday party for her buddy Sophie today.  When Sophie saw Ella she said, “My buddy is here!”  She was so happy to see Ella!

 Tonight, we celebrated Mommy’s birthday at the Slanted Door.  The dessert was Ella’s favorite – Lychee cotton candy!  Happy birthday Mommy!  We love you so much.

Ella has had 3 weeks full of so much fun.  I will illustrate her fun with photos…

 Ella and I took our first adventure on the Cal Train.  We were heading to the Makers Faire somewhere on the way to San Jose.  We even sat on the top deck.  It was really fun and much better than getting stuck in traffic.

 While we were looking for Heather, Andy, Elaine, Chloe, Oscar, Heather’s dad and uncle.  Wow – we were looking for a lot of people!  And we finally found them…

 Ella had a blast and really loved seeing Heather and hanging out with the kids.

 Ella and her friend Marlowe after pajama day at school.

 There’s a big election coming up in San Francisco.  Ella has joined on our quest to get Vicki Hennessy elected!

My beauties on the morning of my birthday.  Chocolate croissant birthday treat!

 The three of us on the morning of my birthday.

Birthday fun at Benihana.

 Sweet Ella waiting for the train.

So much fun with cousins Izze and India at Dim Sum.

 Ella went rock climbing with Izze and India.  All of the girls did a great job.  Ella loved it so much that she is going to go to this place for camp for a week!

 Fun with Stella and Juliet.  This picture looks like I probably said something inappropriate.

Ella took Juliet to iFly SF – indoor skydiving, for her birthday.  The girls were amazing, fearless flyers!  I will post some movies tomorrow.

 This past Saturday, we volunteered for the Giants Community fund glove drive.  Ella collected glove, counted money, and loaded all of the gloves on the table.

 Sunny and I had a sweet Sunday afternoon baseball date.  The Giants lost, but we had so much fun.

 Ella spent Friday night and Saturday with her friends at Lexy’s sleepover party.  Looks like the girls had a blast!

We went to Disneyland the weekend after we came back from NY.  Ella won 4 Disney park hoppers last year and time was running out…Ella decided to use the park hoppers on her friend Carmen, Carmen’s sister and Carmen’s mom with us to Disney.  Uncle Jesse met us there and we had a fantastic 36 hours at Disney.  Here are some pics from our whirlwind trip…

 Ella and Carmen, bright and early, ready to have a blast at Disney!

 Joined by big sister Bianca.

 Toy Story Mania!

 The Little Mermaid.

 At the Wilderness Explorer Adventure Trail.

 The Cars Ride!

 Ella told me to take this “classic” shot.

 This visit with Olaf made everyone smile from ear to ear!

 Ella was our “driver” on the Temple Of Doom ride.

 Space Mountain!

 Ella mustered up all the courage she could find and conquered “Splash Mountain”.  She actually went on the night before and really liked it and then went again the next day and LOVED it!

 Back at the ranch…Sunny and I at the opening night of the Giants season.  They lost, but we had a blast.

 Big thumbs up from Kuip!

 We took Stella and Juliet to a fireworks night game.  The Giants didn’t play well at all and it was 48 degrees that night!  Sunny and I wanted to leave in the 5th inning.  The girls wanted to stay for the fireworks.  3 against 2 wins!  We stayed and they were beautiful.

 About 3 weeks ago, Ella broke a 1/2 inch board!  She was super proud, we were blown away.

We have had an action filled April and I am getting way behind.  I am going to several entries starting with the beginning of the month.  Before I post for our wonderful Passover trip, I would like to wish mommy a happy 15th Anniversary.  I love you so much!  Tonight, mommy, Ella and I went out to dinner at Anchor Oyster Bar to celebrate our anniversary.  We had a great dinner and we love celebrating our anniversary with Ella.

Now for the pics of our Passover trip to NJ…

Airport selfie!

 Panda on the airplane.  He was super comfortable on mommy’s lap.

 You can’t tell from this pic, but when we arrived, it was snowing!  This was Ella’s first and only snow of the season.

While we were in NJ, we caught up with my childhood friend’s kids.  They actually live in SF, but it’s easier to get together when there is no work or school.

 We picked up Milo from school on Thursday, and then rode the train downtown for Milo’s swimming lesson.

 Milo signed himself into his lesson.  He first wrote Milo.  When he saw the signature column, he asked AJ what he should write.  She said, “It’s your signature, write it however you want”.  Milo decided that his signature was “Leo”.

Ella loved watching Milo at his lesson, but she really just wanted to jump in and swim!

 Soccer in the morning.

Playing and loving before the seder.

 In love with grandma and papa.

 Milo found the afikomen!

 More soccer on the yard.

 Milo and Sam playing chess.

 More fun at Wood Park.

 Love on the stairs.

Thanks for yet another amazing trip back east.  I didn’t get any pictures of Jesse or me or David, Lisa, Brownen, Abigail, Ray, Esther, Donna, Emma, Cheryl, Nikki B, Lynne, Cliff, Diana, Adrianne, Emma, Henry or Ashley, but they were all there, and we loved seeing you guys!