Life With Ella

Since we arrived, we have gone swimming in 4 different pools and 2 water playgrounds.  It has been really hot here and I love it.  It feels like a real summer.  Mommy arrived on Thursday night and we are all so happy that she is here!  Today it got up to 106º and we spent the day at papa’s pool and tonight we went over to Cheryl’s parent’s pool.  Cheryl is one of my oldest friends and I grew up at her parent’s pool.  Tonight, we hung out there with some other special childhood friends and all of our kids.  It was a great night.  Ella had so much fun.  On Thursday, we spent a good part of the day with Doris and her grandchildren.  Doris is one of my parent’s childhood friends.  Ella had a great time with her grandchildren too!  Ella has started to dive off the side of the pool.  She has never done this before and she’s becoming a natural.  Ella has taken her swimming to a new level this summer.  She is so comfortable in the pool.  We are having such a great time here.  Tomorrow we are going to see the Gazillion bubble show.  Should be very exciting. Ella and Doris’ grandchildren Hudson, Stella and Gibson. Ella and Milo love each other so much! Grandma and Ella were doing some beautiful swimming together the other day.  Guess I shouldn’t have them pose for pictures with the sun glaring in their eyes. Our under water beauty.We love you mommy…so happy you’re here. Grandma and Milo – great swimming partners. I am the coach of this swim team. Milo is so much fun to swim with. Two beauties. Chatting away in the kiddie pool. Ella doing a jack knife off the diving board. Ella and Cheryl’s daughter Emma.  Emma was so sweet with Ella – just like a little mommy. The whole gang -James, Ella, Ava, Sophia and Emma. Ella and the twins.  They had so much fun together. 

We have been having a wonderful time here.  It’s been great to get to spend some beautiful time with family and friends.  Mommy – we love you and we miss you!  Come on over already.  Mommy comes on Thursday and we can’t wait.  On Saturday, Ella, Milo, AJ, grandma, Iya and I went to papa’s club.  We had a lot of fun swimming and then at the end of the day, Ella, papa and I took a ride around the golf course in the cart.  Ella told papa that she wanted to hit some golf balls with him before the end of our trip.  On Saturday night, I went into New York to see my friend Karen,  AJ went in to do a gig, and Ella, Milo, Iya, grandma and papa hung out in NJ.  Ella and Iya watched Tangled.  On Sunday, uncle Michael came in for a quick 36 hours and we all went back to papa’s pool.  On Sunday, Ella passed the deep water test at papa’s pool.  This means that she is allowed to swim in the deep end.  At first, Ella was really scared to do the test.  She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to do it.  I kept telling her to just try and I also told her that if she didn’t do the test that I would only swim with her in up to 5 feet of water for safety reasons.  The test was to swim 25 meters without touching the floor of the pool, any walls or lane lines.  After the 25 meters, you have to tread water for 45 seconds.  After lunch, Ella got up all her courage and said, “I want to take the test”.  She took it and passed the first time!  She was so proud of herself and we are so proud of her.  She was also so happy because the was allowed to play in the 9 foot area and is really great at diving down 9 feet to get things I throw down there.  One of the lifeguards made her a certificate and Ella recited it about 30 times already!  On Sunday evening, KK came over to grandma and papa’s and we hung out on the terrace, the kids blew lots of bubbles and then we had Chinese food.  It was great to spend time with KK.  OK – time for the pictures and video.Fun times in the pool. Sweetness on the golf course. Ella concentrating hard on creating this modern art. Trumpet fun with uncle Michael. Ella and her swimming certificate. Ella and Iya are excellent swimming partners. Michael and Milo getting ready to do some laps. Ella is a great underwater photographer. Milo decided that he wanted to wear AJ’s cover up. Ell and one of her summer buddies Sofia. 

I went into NY really early this morning to get my eyes checked and Ella and grandma spent the morning together.  First, they went and got manicures and then they went grocery shopping.  They came back with a lot of stuff!  After lunch, we went to the Leonia Pool.  Ella couldn’t wait to get in the water.  We usually sit by the kiddie pool but Ella did not go into the kiddie pool today.  Ella spent the whole time in the adult pool.  We had a nice relaxing evening at home tonight.  Tomorrow, AJ and Milo are coming for 3 nights.  We can’t wait.   Ella and her rainbow manicure. Getting into the pool –  it was a little cold. Ella decided that she was going to get out and jump in! The underwater smile.  

Today was another beautiful day…a little cooler than yesterday, but still sunny and great.  It was Buster Posey bobble head day at the ballpark.  Mommy and Ella went out for lunch at Maria’s and then I met them over by the ballpark.  We waited on line a little bit for our bobble heads and then I brought them home.  Mommy and Ella stayed at the ballpark and Ella went down the Coke slide and hit some balls in the little ballpark.  It was a great game tonight and the Giants won.  Ella and I are headed to NJ tomorrow for 3 weeks.  Mommy is joining us in about 10 days.  We love you mommy – we’ll miss you and can’t wait to see you in NJ.  Grandma and papa – Ella is so excited to be in NJ.  She is telling everyone who will listen about our trip! This is from Saturday before Ella’s class.  She was very serious about practicing her kicks. Waiting on line for the bobble head. The best place to wait on line…on mommy’s back! Family love at the ballgame.Ella ran the bases tonight.  She usually does it with an adult who “borrows” Ella because you need to be with a kid in order to run the bases, but tonight Ella did it all by herself.  Ella flew around the bases.Here is a video of Ella and her latest musical endeavor.  Ella has been drumming her little heart out.  She’s really good!

Today was a sweet day.  Ella woke up earlier than she does for school (of course) and came into bed and watched some TV.  We did some stuff around the house and then went to Sports Basement to get some stuff for Hawaii.  After that, mommy came home for lunch and I went to an appointment.  When I got back, I took Ella to Mizu to get a manicure.  After the manicure, Ella had a piano lesson.  She’s doing really well…we let her lessons slide for a few weeks.  Tonight, we went to dinner with Hannah, Max and Ilene.  We all had a lot of fun.  So far, summer break is really fun.  Today, a few people sent me pics of Ella and Cassi from graduation.  I think that they are beautiful.  Check them out.  The video at the end is a little bit of Ella’s piano lesson.

Today was a big day for Ella.  It was her last day as a Leaping Lizard.  Ella is now officially a kindergarten student.  The Leaping Lizards escorted their 8th grade buddies to the graduation stage. Ella looked really happy, proud, nervous excited – you name it, she looked it.  Ms. Alicia did Ella’s hair one last time today and it looked beautiful.  It’s been an amazing 3 years.  Thank you for taking such amazing care of our Ella, Ms. Alicia!  The little video at the end is of Ella and some of the other Leaping Lizards singing goodbye to their buddies.  I think Ella was so overwhelmed that she forgot to sing! Ella and Ann’s last day of school together…no stuffed animals in kindergarten. Ella and Brickelle on their last day of school.  They are now a kindergartener and a first grader. Ella walking her buddy Cassi to the stage…look at that smile! Beautiful Ella watching the ceremony.

Today was mommy’s birthday.  Unfortunately, she had to spend 3 hours in the Apple Store dealing with iPad, iPhone, MacBook stuff, but we had a beautiful dinner tonight at Benihana with Phyllis, Michael, Hannah and Naomi.  WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH mommy/Sunny.  You are the BESTEST. Sunny and her girls!  Love you! Here are the Benihana ladies singing happy birthday to mommy. Ella helping mommy blow out her birthday candle.

Ella started her day with a CDS fashion show.  The school has come out with a new “clothing line” of t-shirts and sweat shirts and some of the kids did a little fashion show during assembly.  Ella was one of the kids who modeled a t-shirt.  She was so cute and sweet and said that she had a lot of fun.  Check out the movie below.  After the assembly, Ella’s class, the leaping lizards had a culminating event in the classroom.  The kids showed us their portfolios on the bee project that they have been working on since the beginning of the new year.  Ella had some fantastic work in her portfolio.  I will take some pictures and post the portfolio tomorrow.  Alicia made a great video of the past 4 months of bee study with the whole class and then the kids took us around the classroom and showed us what they have learned about.  Their bee vocabularies and their understanding about bees is amazing.  Great job Alicia!  Great job leaping lizrards!  Great job Ella.  After our sweet morning in the classroom, I went to the airport to pick up Nikki B.  It was so great to see her and hang out.  She’ll be here for the weekend to celebrate my birthday and have some fun.  Thank you for coming Nikki B.  We had a delicious lunch at Delfina Pizza and then picked up Sunny and Ella.  We took Ella to t-ball practice and then had dinner at San Jalisco.  After dinner we came home and watched UP.  After Ella went to sleep, the 3 of us finished watching an amazing Giants game. Getting ready for the fashion show. Ella gatting very excited to show us her portfolio. Fun at t-ball practice. Nikki B helping Ella on the high monkey bars. The low monkey bars. Nikki B and me teaching ELla how to do the hand jive. How many people does it take to glue planets to the ceiling?  I think more than these three! Nikki B and Ella watching UP.

I asked permission to take a few movies during Ella’s swimming lesson today and the lifeguard was kind and let me.  Check out how great Ella is getting at freestyle.  She’s becoming an amazing swimmer. Here’s a shot that I took of Ella and Towby the other day.  What a big kid!

Ella told me she had a great day at school today.  That is always a great thing to hear.  Ella is also getting ready for a ballet recital at the Disney Museum in June.  They rehearsed again a little bit this week.  Ella will be leading the line of girls.  I made a movie of ballet, taekwondo and a little wiffle ball that you can se at the end.  Here are a few shots from ballet. The last 2 shots are of Ella acting like a sad ballerina…a direction from teacher Laura.