Life With Ella

Today we all went to the Aquarium by the Bay and met up with Brickelle and her family.  We had a great time.  Ella was super happy to see Brickelle.  Milo really loved the aquarium.  All of the kids (plus Michael and Brooke) were really into touching/watching the rays, skates and sharks in the touching pool.  After the aquarium, our family went over to the Crab House for lunch and had a delicious meal.  Ella went to TaeKwonDo this afternoon and Michael, AJ and Milo went to visit Michael’s grandma who lives in SF.  For dinner, Ella, AJ, Michael, Milo, Grandma and Papa went over to Amici’s and Sunny and I went out to meet our friend from out of town.  Reports from AJ said that dinner was a blast and that Ella watched Despicable Me with Grandma and Papa for the 5th time!  I can’t believe everyone is going home tomorrow.  It has been such a great week and so wonderful to be with you guys.  We love you so much! Ella and Brickelle sporting their aquarium hats. Under the octopus bubble.  Looks like there is a fish sitting on their heads! The whole gang going down the first tunnel.  Check out Papa’s reflection.Milo was totally into the tunnels. A very happy papa in his penguin cave.Girls just wanna have fun. Checking out the sea life. Will Milo touch a ray??? No way – he would rather touch his mommy’s hands. Ella and Brickelle touched the rays 12 times! Brooklyn and grandma checking out the bees. Ella is so happy to be surrounded by so many people who she deeply loves and who love her.  Life is beautiful.

My dad came in Thursday night at 2:30 am.  We were all so happy that he made it safely.  We decided that since it was sunny out, (although it was very cold) we would all go to the Yerba Buena park.  We started at the carousel where Milo had his first carousel ride and then Ella played hard in the park.  Ella went down a huge fast slide, went down a firefighter’s pole many times (hurting her knee only once) and then she just ran and climbed everywhere.  We had lunch at Mo’s Grill and then headed home.  Grandma and Ella watched Toy Story 3 while Michael and Milo napped and AJ and I went downtown to do some shopping.  I finally got the new iPhone and will see if I love it by the end of the week.  Tonight Sunny made chicken and crab and cous cous and we all had a great time at home with a lot of love and laughter.  After dinner there was a fire drill in our building and we all had to evacuate.  We got to hang with Helen, Ron, Julie and Justin for a while. The girls tried to comfort each other about the noise – it was really sweet.  Here are some amazing shots from the park.Beautiful Ella. Ella loves Milo so much and has been such an amazing cousin/sister! An old pro. AJ is smiling here because the carousel didn’t start yet…once it got going I thought we were going to need a motion sickness bag! Second ride for grandma, Ella Michael and Milo.  By the end of the ride, Milo was sleeping. Come on everybody!  Let’s go to the playground. Ella did a lot of climbing and sliding.  At one point, she almost had the whole park to herself!Papa was at the bottom of the little slide making sure everyone made it down ok! Michael and Milo watching the kids on the big slide. Sweetness. Beautiful people on a cold and beautiful day. Milo watching Ella play music. Love and happiness.

Milo’s cold is in full force but it’s not stopping him from having a lot of fun and some sweet adventures.  We went to the Academy of Sciences today.  Ella loves this place and knew exactly what she wanted to do.  Ella and I ran around and did what she loves…touching the starfish and urchins and shells, and then we went to the Angler Fish exhibit.  Ella is fearless there.  We met up with AJ, grandma and Milo and looked at some pretty beautiful fish, sea horses, jellyfish, lizards, frogs and plenty more.  We had lunch there and headed back here where AJ and Milo napped, Grandma and Ella watched TV, and I meditated and took care of our crazy dog Towby.  We ended the night at Amici’s where we met Ellen for dinner.  Dinner was filled with lots of laughs.  Ella is having a blast.  Here are some pictures from today. Ella very excited about touching this shell. Cousins checking out the fish. Milo and AJ walking towards the sharks and rays.Ella and Milo getting a closer look at the sharks and rays. Sweet shot of a lot of love. Sweet parent/child moments. Grandma and Ella busy at work doing a word search at the restaurant tonight. Mommy and Ella on their way home from diner.  Ella said, “It’s Alcatraz cold!”  Luckily Ella got a great ride from mommy

Today was a really fun and full day.  We started in the morning at the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  Ella and Milo had a great time.  It was a clear sunny day – a little cold, but beautiful.  We came back here at around 1:00 so Milo could nap and then we took the red wagon to the little park behind the ballpark.  At this point, the kids were pretty much doing their own thing.  Milo was mastering climbing the wall and making friends with kids his age, and Ella was climbing all the way to the top of the red structure in the middle and being spun on the merry go round.  Tonight we had a great dinner at Nama.  It’s so wonderful having you guys here! Ella and Milo playing around in the tot area. Happy beautiful boy. Sweet Ella dressed up like a skunk. Sweet cousins. A little hike. Two beautiful people.Milo getting ready to write a love poem. Ella the ultimate explorer. The last thing Ella wanted to do here – ring the big bell. On the way to our local park.Ella is on top of the world. Happy while spinning. Milo working on walking the wall. Ella and her buddy Lou Seal.

After school today, Ella had her piano lesson with me.  She did a great job.  She really seems to love the piano.  I’ll make a video tomorrow – I’m too tired now.  Ella started learning “Ode To Joy” today.  Her focus continues to amaze me.  After her piano lesson, Ella decided to take out her trumpet.  She had a really strong sound coming out of the trumpet.  Maybe uncle Michael will give Ella a little lesson when he’s here later on in the week.  Stella, Juliet and KJ came over tonight for Friday night movie night.  They watched Despicable Me again!  They all had a great time and at the end, the girls were all dancing this crazy dance, smacking themselves in the butt and cracking up!  It was too crazy to capture it on film.  At the end of the blog, I am putting in a few pictures of a shopping list that Ella made.  Sunny and I told Ella, earlier in the week, that we were not going to tell her how to spell words anymore.  We told her that she should just write down how the words sound to her.  We also told her that in kindergarten, they have the kids sound things out and write them down the way they think they are spelled.  We told her that she can start practicing now and then things would be so easy for her.  Tonight, for the first time, Ella did the words all by herself.  It was so great to see!This is a picture from the other night – Ella has been into wearing her princess dresses lately. Wednesday evening – a fun game of Candyland.Ella was looking up the planets in her dictionary. Tonight’s piano lesson.Move over Chet Baker! Having fun before the movie.  Check out Ella’s off the shoulder look.  Stella came over with her Belle dress on and Ella really wanted to put on hers.  Stella and Ella went upstairs and so that Ella could change.  She yelled from upstairs that her dress was in the closet and she couldn’t reach it.  I told her to have Stella help – Stella is much taller that Ella.  About 5 minutes later, Stella came downstairs and said, “Presenting Ella” and Ella came downstairs looking like Belle.  Later, we asked Ella how they reached the dress and she said, “We took the step stool from my bathroom and carried it into the closet” (That thing is really heavy).  She then said, “We carried it together, ya know, teamwork”.  So great! The whole gang watching Despicable Me. OK – here is the translation: Oranges, toothpaste, no idea what the first one is on the second page, butterscotch pudding, olives, bananas, watermelon, cucumber, pasta, butter, dogs, fish and apples. Great job Ella!

Ella’s bond with Stella and Juliet is so deep.  Their relationship is a family relationship.  I love watching the 3 of them together and it’s an extra special moment when KJ is in the mix.  He’s just super cute and super sweet and loves being around his big sisters and Ella.  KJ is super comfortable around me and Sunny and that’s wonderful too.  We love our next door family!  Ella had a good day at school today – she has little struggles with one of her good friends.  Ella ignores her friend at times when she’s doing something that’s fun and her friend keeps calling and calling Ella and Ella ignores her.  When Ella’s friend ignores Ella or doesn’t want to play with her, Ella gets super sensitive and very sad.  I was trying to explain it to her tonight that they do the same thing to each other, but Ella didn’t seem to grasp the whole concept.  She’s going through a stage of “look at me” and it can be exhausting.  We’re trying to respond by saying, “I can’t right now, I’m doing something” or “in a minute” or “sorry Ella, you’re going to have to show me later”.  She doesn’t like getting these responses but it’s the only way that she’s going to learn to satisfy herself.  Today after school, I taught Juliet her piano lesson and Stella came over and hung out with Ella.  After the lesson, Juliet came over.  They played their little strange games that only they understand and then we all went out to dinner.  We went to the burger joint and everyone ate really well and had a lot of fun. I took this the other morning before school.  Ella really wanted to do her math workbook. We met up with Brickelle in front of school on Tuesday.  It was freezing out and Ella was getting shelter behind Brickelle.Pottery that Ella made at a birthday party 2 weeks ago. Beautiful Ella dancing around and waiting for Stella to come over.Playing some kind of fairy wizard of oz game.  Who knows! All the beautiful kids.