Life With Ella

Today we went to the SF Zoo with  Stella, Juliet & KJ.  The girls had a great time together.  They were also totally into using the map.  They were actually “reading” the maps – the zoo does it in a really cool way where they show a silhouette of the animal on the map so they were figuring out their next moves by looking at the animals on the map.  After about 4 hours at the zoo, we came home to watch the Giants win!!!!  Stella, Juliet and Ella stayed in our room and watched Monsters Inc while we watched the game with our friends and their 3 dogs.  It was hard to breathe during most of the game but that 9th inning was so exciting and we went crazy.   Ella is indulging us and was shaking around her pom poms and having a great time with us. Just a few wildlife shots…notice the egg in the flamingo pics.  We watched this flamingo fight with someone to keep it away from her egg, she inspected the egg and then she rubbed herself all over the egg and finally sat on it.  I just love the giraffe shot because it looks so sweet. Ella scratcing her ear. Riding on the mother lion statue. Walking with their maps. The peacock…Ella’s favorite.I took this in November of 2007…3 years later… Ella and the girls and then KJ and his sisters.   Ella loves these goats. KJ making a new friend. Ella was really loving this sweet young goat. Stella meditating with the ducks. The girls chillin. Having fun with Juliet’s dress. Juliet and Ella hanging like bats. This was taken in November of 2007… Here they are 3 years later! Going down a funny slide. One last time trying to get a peacock. Ella after the big Giants win!

I don’t think any of us realized how beautiful it was going to be today.  Ella slept in this morning (8:30 is sleeping in for her) and we had a relaxing morning.  We decided to go to the ferry building for lunch.  Ella wanted to ride her bicycle down there.  Ella did great.  She rode the entire 3 mile round trip.  I think it’s almost time to get rid of the training wheels.  Ella gets distracted pretty easily and at times needs to be reminded to look straight ahead and not get distracted by something else going on so we have to work on that a little bit more before the training wheels come off.  After our active early afternoon, Ella had taekwondo.  She had a great class.  She seems to have a really good time in class and learns the moves pretty quickly.  It’s pretty challenging.  She tends to be entertained by the kids who get in trouble and have to run laps.  There is a little taekwondo video at the end of this entry.  After taekwondo, we came home for a little while and then met Toby and Debby for dinner at Moki’s.  By that time, Ella was pretty exhausted but she hung in there and we had a nice dinner.  We’re getting ready to watch the Giants game tomorrow at our place.  We have our rally rags and pom poms ready.  Go Giants! Ella with her hair down this morning. Waiting for our lunch – Ella and Sunny were doing some math with the little ketchup cups. Getting ready to go to class. Ella smiles a lot in class. Class is over!  Right ofter this, ella began chasing her classmates around pushing these huge exercise balls.

Ella wanted to wear her Giants sweatshirt to school today.  She has Giants fever.  Ella had a great day at school and then we did our Friday Bi-Rite ice cream run.  After Bi-Rite we came home, Ella took a shower and then she ran over to Stella and Juliet’s for dinner, a movie and the beginning of a sleep over.  Sunny and I went to the game and were so happy until the 8th inning.  It went downhill from there.  Wow – what torture.  We’ll get them in Atlanta.  This has been a really fun season!  I’m not ready for it to end. Ella and mommy headed into CDS. Casi and Ella at the assembly. Ella and her friend Rosie enjoying their ice cream. Ella was a little cold after she had her ide cream so I gave her my sweatshirt. Happy child. Here we are at the game before the 8th inning.  We were still hopeful and happy.

What a great night!  Sunny and I were at the game tonight and the Giants won 1 – 0.  It was an amazing game.  Ella had a great day too.   Well actually she started the morning off by telling me that I was the worstest – I told her to go to the bathroom before she left for school and she got mad.  It wasn’t like I was being a nudge, she hadn’t gone to the bathroom since the night before and I didn’t want to get stuck in the car with Ella having to pee!  She got over being pissed at me once she heard Stella and Juliet in the hallway.  She went to school and found Brickelle so she got to see her 3 favorite friends within 30 minutes.  Ella was also really happy that Ms. Alicia was back in the classroom.  She was out on jury duty for 2 days this week…we are all happy that she didn’t get picked.  After school was soccer – Ella had fun at the practice. Good morning hugs from Stella, Juliet and Brickelle. Here we are at the game tonight. Tim Lincicum and one of his last pitches.

The title may be misleading…it was not a great day for us because the Giants lost.  It was painful to watch the Giants lose – especially since the first two runs were scored on walks.   The great day for us was that we learned that the Kim/Arena clan are not going to go to Noe Valley for 8 months – they are staying right here where they belong.  We love you guys!  You can’t ever leave the building.   Sunny left the game today to take Ella to taekwondo and got a text from Helen that they weren’t going to move during the class.  After the class, Sunny told Ella that Stella and Juliet weren’t going to move and Ella got so excited that she punched Sunny on both sides of her face!  In Sunny’s words, “Ella jawed me!”  Ella is like Elaine from Seinfeld – she has a difficult time controlling herself when she’s excited. Sunny and Ella doing some mother daughter bonding before the game. Cotton candy! Rally rags! Maybe tomorrow?

I don’t know how Ella does it, but she made it through her busy day and from what I saw, she loved every minute of it.  Ella said that she had a great day at school and she loved Tree Frog Treks. Today they met a tortoise named Flowers.  She loved touching it and learning about it.  She taught us that the difference between turtles and tortoises is that tortoises don’t swim and turtles do. After Tree Frog Treks, I picked up Ella and took her to ballet where she did a great job.  I left for a little while, but Ella told me that they used the ballet barre today.  One of the moms told me that Ella did a fantastic job following directions.  I took some video but there is no way that I can make a movie now.  After dinner, we went to Blush with Stella, Juliet, KJ, Helen and Ron.  We’re just trying to do one day at a time with them and enjoy the ease of living next to each other.  This morning Ella told us that she had a nightmare.  We asked her what her nightmare was and she said that Hannah Montana moved from California to New York and that she never went back to her home in California.  You don’t need to be Carl Jung to read into this one!  We just talked about her feelings and that she had every right to feel whatever it was that she felt.  She said that she really wanted them to come back and not stay where they were. After school shots.  Check out Ms. Alicia’s magic on Ella’s hair.  OK – time for me to have my first French braiding lesson.  Ella looked so beautiful in ballet with her hair-do. Ballet on Bay Street. Eating Blush and watching the Food Network…3 zombies! KJ happy watching the football game.  He is growing up so quickly! Ella getting some free samples of rainbow sprinkles.Hey mom and dad – if you’re around tonight (Tues) let’s do a video chat.

The weather has been amazing – real summer weather.  Today we started out at the ballpark – there was no game so we were able to play around on the coke slide and Ella did some great batting on the little field.  After the ballpark, we had lunch at the Java House.  After the Java House, Sunny and Ella went to Pier 39 to the Aquarium and all that stuff and I went and got a haircut.  Sunny said that she and Ella had a great day together.  Ella bungee jumped and couldn’t stop giggling.  She’s still not into doing any flips, but I bet the first time she does one, she’ll never want to stop.  Tomorrow is Ella’s busiest day of the week – first school, then Tree Frog Treks and then ballet.  She went to sleep pretty early for Ella tonight – around 8:30. Pretty cool action shot.A sweet ballet move after coming down the slide. I wish I could figure out how to super impose a background. Ella tood this shot of the shark and the ray. There was once a time when Ella was terrified to touch the rays – now she doesn’t want to leave! What did that starfish ever do to Ella?  Why is she giving it the finger?  Actually, Ella prefers to point with her middle finger.  One day we may have to let her know that this is not the best idea.