Life With Ella

We went to a game on Thursday and one on Friday. Everyone is caught up in Barry chasing Hank Aaron’s record…except Ella. Ella is much more interested in Lou Seal and Charlie Brown. Luckily we can “cover all bases” at the ballpark! Barry didn’t hit a home run on Thursday, but he did it last night. We were there, but not in our seats and not with our camera out. I couldn’t capture the swing, but we did capture highlights for us of the past 2 games. There were fireworks at the game last night, which was a long game. It was an exciting game and Ella stayed up for the whole thing! She was struggling at the end a little, but once the fireworks started, she was laying in Sunny’s arms, mesmerized by the magic in the air and completely relaxed.

Ella, Sunny and Lou Seal at Thursday’s game. Ella is holding 2 Lou Seal cards that the usher gave to her. She held onto them through most of the game.

Here we are coming towards the end of Thursday’s game. I was still totally into the game…Ella was a little too through.

Friday night right before the game. This is not a posed picture. They all just sat down on the steps once we reached the lobby. They are too much!

There is the home run counter right there on the wall. He did it in the beginning of the game. Some history to show Ella later on.

So we’re all excited about the home run and Ella really wants to go see her friend Charlie Brown. She’s getting brave now. She’s standing on the platform with him!

Something very exciting happened. Duane Kuiper – one of the voices of the Giants (that’s him in the upper left hand corner) who knows Sunny from the Giants Community Fund, spotted us in our seats. He saw Ella and gave two big thumbs up. A few minutes later, one of the ushers came down to us and handed a ball to Ella telling her that it was from Duane Kuiper. What a treat! Ella loved holding the baseball and also shared it with her buddy Stella.

Here we are with the ball from Kuip.

The evening is almost over…the lights in the stadium are starting to go off…the girls are getting ready to watch the fireworks.

It was another beautiful day today – the three of us went to the park behind the ballpark for Ella’s first kite flying and some fun times. Sunny flew a kite as Ella watched on. Ella went for almost 2 blocks on Sunny’s shoulders which made Sunny very happy. Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

The kite launched!

There’s nothing like a sweet kiss from Ella.

A big kiss and a big smile.

Laughter!!!!

Now Ella can see all the boats! Things look different from up here.

Happy child, happy mommy.

Today, we met Jesse, Heather, Elaine, Andy and Chloe at the Oakland Zoo. This was sort of a mini-reunion of our time last summer at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It was a wonderful day. The girls were so sweet with each other. Chloe is a very thoughtful, beautiful, sweet and funny kid. Ella and Chloe hit it off right away. It was a great day for us to be with everyone and a special day for Jesse and Heather because they will be moving to LA within the next month so having a day at the zoo with their nieces was perfect. Sunny and I took Ella on the carousel at the end of the day and Ella did the same thing she did yesterday…she was so happy when she was riding (an elephant today) and when the carousel stopped, she cried and cried. We have to work on carousel transitions.

Here we are arriving at the zoo.

Heather, Elaine and Chloe

Chloe and Ella looking at the flamingos.

Ella and Jesse

Ella coming out of the cave

Holding hands

Shaking hands

Sharing the “zoo ride”. Heather was the official driver for Ella today.

Mommy and Ella checking out the giraffes.

No food at this petting zoo…only brushes. The kids were able to brush the goats and sheep.

Andy and Chloe watching two monkeys communicate with each other. They were very loud monkeys.

Waiting for the train that goes around the zoo.

Ella is getting better and better at communicating. She’s at a place now where she is stringing words together and making sentences that make sense. Last night she looked at me and said, “Go to bed mama”. She wanted to go to sleep! It was incredible. Tonight, we were having dinner and we were just about winding down. Ella looked at us and said, “Are we done?” We just stared at her in wonder and delight. After dinner, Sunny said, “OK Ella – I’m going to bring you up to go to bed”. Ella looked at her and said, “OK – brush your teeth”.

These are probably things that only parents are proud of, but I thought I would share them. Sunny and I are just so moved by this little one.

Here are some pictures from her day today.

Here is Ella at My Gym crawing through a little tube.

The three amigas

Resting after playing hard with Stella and Juliet

Mommy and Ella reading “Don’t Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late” – a gift from Helen