Life With Ella

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!

Ella played futsal (indoor soccer)  for the first time this winter.  Most of the girls on the team are from the Black Widows – the soccer team that Ella has been playing on since pre-school.  They had an awesome season and finished it off as the undefeated champions!  Ella’s skills have improved so much since she started playing futsal.  Here are some shots of Ella and her teammates – The Shadowbolts with their trophies.

 So much happiness everywhere!

Ella very tired after practice on Friday.

Ella and Mommy went to Ella’s first women’s college basketball game with Rachel, Liz and Isabel.  Stanford won!

 Colette sent these pics of Ella and her classmates on a field trip to the Bay Model in Sausalito.

 Ella beginning her fractions unit.

 Love this shot of Ella and Panda.

We’ve had quite an amazing two weeks.  I’m going to start with Spring Training.  We went to Scottsdale 2 weeks ago with the Giants Community Fund.  We had a great time with our friends from the fund, got to see Cindy, David, Bob, Jackie and Emma, and also got to see grandma, papa, Anne and David.  I’m going to start with Spring Training.

 Classic airplane shot.  Off we go!

Here are some pics from the pool…

 Ella always has a blast with her friend Jesse.

 Ella, Jesse and Bella have spent quite a few spring trainings together.

 and now for the throwback…

We had a very special morning on the field on Sunday morning.  We were able to watch the Giants warm up before the game.  Here are some pictures of the players.

And now some fun shots with the players and us!  We had some great selfies and photo bombs and some actually legit pics.

Here are tow shots of Ella and Jesse doing their work for the Junior Giants.

On Sunday evening, after a really fun day of baseball, we went over to cousin David and Jackie’s house to hang out with sweet cousin 2 year old Emma.  We also got to see Aunt Cindy and Uncle Bob who drove up from Tucson so that we could all get together.  I didn’t get any shots of the adults, but I did get some shots of Ella and Emma.  They were so sweet with each other.  Emma kept hanging onto Ella’s leg and Ella loved it!

On Monday morning, we had the best visitor!  Grandma and Anne drove to our hotel and we went to the Musical Instrument Museum.  I don’t have any shots of Anne, but I will include a little dancing video in my next entry.

 And this is what’s happening back in San Francisco.

Sweet mom and daughter

I have to go to sleep now,  I am very sleepy.  More tomorrow.  xoxoxoxo

Wednesday afternoon was a super happy special day for us!  AJ and Milo arrived in SF.  Once I got off work, I picked up Milo and AJ and we went to pick up Ella from school/camp…here is the first official shot of Ella and Milo together (with one of the CDS sheep in the background).

We had a low key evening – Milo was on NY time and fell asleep at around 7:00.  We are planning on having fun filled days and mellow nights because we don’t want Milo to get too used to the time change… he has school on Monday and needs to be able to wake up!

Day two was spent at Golden Gate Park and the Academy of Science.  Sunny came back from LA in the afternoon and we all had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant and celebrated the Chinese New Year.

Ella with the high climb!

 The kids were having so much fun playing soccer with each other!

 Not so sure that such cute kids really look that tough!

Some serious swinging was going on.

 Ella was catching a wave and Milo was catching the ball.

 Fun in the sand.  What is really mind blowing is that Milo was sledding in NY two days before this picture was taken.  It must feel good to be able to play outside in a t-shirt and “shorts”.

Cousins in the rain forest.

 Beautiful Ella.

 Tide pool touching zone…I don’t think this woman war ready for Milo’s questions!

 You can’t spend time at the Academy without hanging out in front of the GIANT fish tank!

 Morning fun at Dolores Park.

 These two love each other so much – it’s been wonderful watching them spend such great time together.

Bungee fun!

The kids were having fun on the piano steps and then Ella noticed that on the side of the building it said “Mirror House”.   The kids really wanted to go in and Jamie and I really didn’t, but we all went and the kids had fun – we were both totally panicked and disoriented.  Milo loved it so much that he wanted to do it again…and we did!

 Crazy people in the Mirror House.

 Playing “Schemer” right before Milo went to sleep.

Ending a beautiful day with bananagrams – and Ella and AJ having some decaf!

Here is a quick time lapse movie of Milo, Jamie and Ella going down the slide at Dolores Park.