Life With Ella

There are so many words to describe our week in the southwest…love, fun, adventure, risks, fear, conquering fear, laughter, happiness, closeness, wonder, pushing the limits and heat!  We had two guides, Eric and Heather and they were amazing.  They took great care of us, helped to keep us safe, made sure that we had a lot of fun and a lot of challenges, and became part of our family for the week.  I am going to put in around 93 pictures.  I am just going to name the place where we were and then put the pics.  If you have any questions, please ask me!  One thing that is missing is footage from the pink coral sand dunes where we boogie boarded and almost fell face down due to heat exhaustion.  Thank you mom and dad for them most loving and wonderful adventure.  I don’t think that any of us will ever forget this trip!

 Watching mom and dad watch their special happy anniversary video.

Our first lunch stop.

The experienced loving married couple sharing a chocolate shake!

These next several shots were taken at the GRAND CANYON

 Ella is becoming quite a photographer.

 Ella papa love.

 Climbing a very tall fire tower.

Now we’re on our way to  Willis Creek

At the Cowboy Cookout in Bryce

OK – I am fading.  That’s all for now.  Hopefully I can finish this in the morning. Otherwise, I will have it done by next week.

Today, Ella came home from camp with 136 pictures on her camera!  I narrowed it down to 17 here.  Ella had a great time today and her two highlights were watching a chinchilla run around the room and petting it and petting and feeding hamsters.  Here are her pics from today.

 Turtle up for adoption!

Chinchilla photo shoot.

Fun with the hamsters.

 Self portraits.

Ella is continuing to have a blast at SPCA camp.  She spent time with cats, kittens, rats, saw some mounted horses, dogs, puppies, made toy piñatas for rats, made cat toys, learned about the environment and is just having so much fun.  Here are her pictures from Tues and Weds.

 Here are some of Ella’s friends…Juliet, Emmi and Macy.

Ducks!

 Bug/Panda looking dog.

SPCA gang in the morning.

More hamsters or guinea pigs.  Not sure what they are.

 Ella took a picture of Juliet’s picture of the mounted horse.

 The art of love.

 Self portraits.I gave Panda a practice run of the drugs that I want to give him when we fly to NY.  It zonked him out!

 Took Ella and Emmi over to ACC after camp to see Pineapple and Becca.

 Dress up time!

Today was Ella’s first day at SPCA Camp.  She appropriately wore her ACC (Animal Care and Control) t-shirt.  Enough said.  Ella, Stella and Juliet are all attending SPCA camp.  Ella and Juliet are in the same group and Stella is in the older group.  We sent Ella to camp with the little camera this morning.  Tonight’s blog will be SPCA camp through the eyes of Ella…

First of all, happy father/papa’s day.  We love you so much.  You are the best dad and papa.  Can’t wait to see you next week!  Ella had a great week at golf camp.  Can’t wait to see you guys play a little together.

Here are a few pics from the past week.  It was Mommy’s birthday on Wednesday and she took the day off, played 9 holes (while Ella was at golf camp) we gave mommy a golf lesson for her birthday so then she had a golf lesson.  At night, we had dinner at Roy’s and then the Kim/Arena clan came over with delicious peach pie.  It was a beautiful day and night for mommy.

 We took Ella, Stella and Juliet to see Epic last Sunday and they were very excited to see this ad for the new Monsters University movie.

 Ella and mommy sharing the beautiful love at Roy’s.

 Panda loves sitting at the table with us!

Ella loved her second day of golf camp.  When we went to pick her up, she was in a classroom meeting and she was taking notes.  Here is a picture of the notes she was taking.

Believe in yourself, stay positive, concentrate, perseverance, Don’t give up!  Try, try again.  We love that she is learning this great stuff and LOVE that she was taking notes!

After golf camp, I took Ella to the zoo and we met up with Marlowe and her dad.  Ella and Marlowe had a blast. Our beautiful butterfly.

 Hanging out by the prairie dogs and meercats.

 Petting, feeding and brushing the goats…a favorite thing to do at the zoo.

 We saw the baby giraffe again…this time she was with her mommy.  So sweet.

Today is grandma and papa’s 50th Anniversary.  We love you guys so much and can’t wait to celebrate your amazing life together at the end of the month.  Here’s to 50 more!

Ella got her green belt with a black stripe today.  She was doing some amazing kicks today.  Mommy and I were watching and it blew us away.   Here are some shots of Ella at Taekwondo.

 This is the face of a very happy and excited child.

 THe big kids waiting to get their belts.

 Getting the promotions from Steven.

Putting on the new belt!

 The whole class.

 Ella and her very proud teacher.

Today, Ella came with me and some of my students to play a gig at the Exploratorium.  Sunny had a board meeting and couldn’t come, so Ella hung with us.  Ella had a blast hanging with the 13 and 14 year old girls.  It was a really mellow gig, only two students performed, and Ella loved being there.  The kids really loved having her with them.

 Just in case you were wondering how the ocean got created…

Walking on the fog bridge.

 Our cool little surfer.

 During rehearsal.

 The gang.

 Ella and Melissa watching the performance.

 At the end of a super fun night.

On Friday, I picked up Ella from school and then we picked up Stella and Juliet from their school.  We went out for yogurt and then went to visit Becca at SF Animal Care and Control.  Ella was very excited to introduce Stella and Juliet to Pineapple who now lives at the ACC.  Stella was super psyched and put her arm out for Pineapple to climb up on.  Juliet was a little hesitant but after a few minutes of watching Pineapple hop from Ella back to Stella, she put out her arm and didn’t want Pineapple to go to anyone else.  We also met a puppy named Tory who had a terrible thing happen to her.  She was brought in a few weeks ago after beaten so badly.  She is blind due to traumatic cataracts and other things were done to her, but she fought for her life and is doing so much better!  Ella fell in love with her and asked if we could adopt her.  We told her that she needs to be with people all the time but we were sure that Becca would make sure that she would go to the best home in the world.  We didn’t go into details with the girls, but we did tell them that someone very mean hurt Tory.  They had a hard time wrapping their mind around it.  The kids are so loving and beautiful.

 The kids (last one is Becca’s kid Tucker) with Pineapple.

 Tory!

We went to Disneyland this past weekend to celebrate my birthday and because we wanted to go to Disneyland!  We went with the Kim/Arena clan, Jesse and Heather joined us and so did Emily.  We had such a fantastic weekend.  For anyone who was there who is reading this, it was so great to get to hang out.  This was the first time that Ella was at Disneyland with other kids.  Although she had a great time with the adults, she had such an amazing time being there with Stella, Juliet, KJ and Isaac.  Ella went on some rides she was never on before.  She went on Space Mountain – sat next to Heather and had her head buried in Heather for the whole ride.  She made it through and actually said she liked it!  Ella also went on Indiana Jones for the first time…she has been looking forward to doing this ride for a while.  The last new ride that Ella went on was Splash Mountain.  She did not like it at all and cried from the first big drop to the last one.  She is not interested in going back on that one.  Here are some pics from our weekend.

 Getting ready to go on the Star Wars ride.

 On line for Autopia.

 Ella drove me around on Autopia.  She’s not the greatest driver!

 Ella right before we blasted off on Space Mountain.

 Here is a picture of our picture on Space Mountain.  Stella and I were in the front and a very crouched down Ella was next to Heather!

 Ella and Jesse on Buzz Blasters.

 Ella and Juliet caught up with Alice who was kind of a jerk.

 Jesse, Heather and I on Splash Mountain.

 Ella after Splash Mountain.

 Jesse and Heather treated us to a very special birthday dinner at Club 33 – a fantastic private restaurant in Disneyland.  It’s wonderful to have friends in high places!  Notice the fancy toilet…

 Sunny and I on the Cars ride the first time around.

 Our car raced against Jesse, Ron and the kids.  They beat us!

 Here’s the “Disney shot” of Sunny and me on Radiator Springs racers.

 Here’s the Disney shot of Ella’s car.

 Jesse and his posse.  The kids LOVED Jesse and all of the Disney stories that he shared.

Radiator Springs second time around.

 This shot really made Sunny laugh.  Check out my hair.

 Snack break!

 Ella and Juliet reading the Disneyland newspaper.

 Heading back in to DCA!

 Ella is checking off rides from her list.