Life With Ella

Today, Ella went to school and Jamie, Milo and I went on an adventure to the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  Milo had so much fun there.  His favorite activity was climbing on and “driving” a ship.  Milo was having so much fun because every time he wanted to drive, the wheel was available.  Then came a sticky situation…a little girl was steering the wheel and Milo was not having it.  He pushed her out of the way and  grabbed the wheel.  She sat up and went back the wheel like nobody’s business.  This went on for about 10 seconds too long and.  They were screaming and crying and needed parental intervention.  AJ got Milo right out of the situation.  He was very  upset and took a while to calm down.  He finally did and let us know that he felt better.  He said that he was sad and that he wanted to be the captain.  We tried it again after lunch and he was very successful.  After the Bay Area Discovery Museum, we picked up Ella from school.  Then off we went to Pier 39 to the aquarium and then both kids went bungee jumping!  Ella went super high and Milo was so brave for his first time.  For the most part, he had a huge smile then every once in a while, he got this look like…”what the hell am I doing” and then it went back to joy.  After our Pier 39 adventure, we came home and Helen and the kids came over for a pizza party.  Milo had a lot of fun with all the kids.  On Friday (today, I was too tired to do the blog last night), Milo and AJ joined me and mommy at Ella’s school for the assembly.  It was so great to have them at Ella’s school.  AJ and Milo got to meet a lot of our friends.  After assembly, mommy went to work and AJ, Milo and I went to a park near Ella’s school and met KJ, Helen and Isaac.  Milo and KJ played really well together and they had a lot of fun.  We went home for a few minutes and then we took Milo for a little ride downtown on Muni.  Milo was saying that he wanted to go on a train – on Muni during this week and today was a great day for it.  We took the train, had some lunch, did a little shopping and then turned around and went home to get the car so we could pick up Ella from school.  We picked up Ella and then headed over to Ella’s baseball practice.  Milo and Ella played in the park for a little while and then Ella went over to practice.  Ella was amazing in baseball.  She got 3 hits, played first base, threw the ball where it needed to go and was just fantastic.  After baseball we had dinner and then we ended the evening over at the Kim/Arena household.  The kids watched Winnie the Pooh.  Milo laughed out loud.  It has been so wonderful having AJ and Milo here.  We are going to miss them so much!  We love you guys.

 A very happy Milo at the wheel of the ship.

 Getting a quick hug from mommy before going back to the wheel.

Ella took this shot of Milo on the way to Pier 39.

 Ella leading the way over the troll bridge.

 Beauties.

 Ella was under the bubble and this amazing octopus swam by.  She wasn’t freaked out at all.

 Ella and Milo in the tunnel.  I love these two together.

 Waiting patiently (and beautifully) for a ray to swim by.

 Ella really caught some air!

 Sweet Milo and the bungee.

 Love, love, love.

 AJ meeting Isaac for the first time.

 Milo hanging with the 4th Floor gang.

 Milo and KJ had a blast.

 Milo and I somehow got ourselves stuck in this net.

 Milo really liked this thing that spun around.

 AJ and Milo riding the Muni.

This weekend, it was Ella’s turn to take hom Trilby, the class stuffed animal.  We’re so happy that Milo was here to take a picture with Trilby.

 Ella on the monkey bars with Trilby.

 Milo rockin’ the monkey bars.

 Ella our baseball superstar.

 Ella and one of her buddies Torin with Trilby.

 Fourth floor family shot with Trilby.

 Watching Winnie the Pooh.

Milo woke up at 4:45 this morning.  When Jamie told him that he needed to go back to sleep he excitedly said, “I’m in California!”  He was so excited and had trouble going back to sleep. Ella is a pretty deep sleeper and slept until mommy woke her up for school at 7:00.  Ella went to school today, mommy went to work, and AJ, Milo and I had lunch at Crossroads and then went to the Randall Museum.  Milo had a lot of fun running and jumping around outside and then checking out the place inside.  At around 5:00, we met mommy and Ella at the pool.  The shallow part of the pool is 2 1/2 feet deep so Milo was able to walk around on his own.  He had the biggest smile on his face.  Ella joined us for some play time in the pool after her swimming lesson.  They had a blast.  I have a few great pictures on my underwater camera (took them before the lifeguard scolded me) but I have to figure out a way to get them off the camera.  I didn’t have a disc in and can’t find the plug anywhere.  After swimming, we had a delicious dinner at Koh Samui and the Monkey.  Ella read Milo a bedtime story again tonight.  They are truly beautiful together.

 Milo loved this tree and the stones around it.

 Beautiful smiles.

 Laying down on the whale bench.

 Milo is really into jumping.

 Leaving the gym after swimming.

 Sharing sticky rice, mango ice cream and mangos.

 Sharing love!

AJ and Milo arrived safely in SF this afternoon.  I picked them up from the airport and then took them straight to Ella’s school to pick her up.  Milo has changed so much since Anguilla.  He is speaking so beautifully and clearly.  It was so amazing to see Jamie and Milo.  Ella saw them and ran out of her afternoon class.  It was impossible to get her to stop smiling.  Ella and Milo had a great afternoon together.  They played, Ella read Milo some books and then we had a great dinner.  Tonight, Ella brushed Milo’s hair after the bath, brushed his teeth and read him part of his story.  She gave up her bed for Milo and she is sleeping next to him on an air mattress.  We’re all going to have a great few days together.

 AJ and Milo picking up Ella from school.

 Happiness.

 Dinner time.

 As Ella was  brushing Milo’s hair, she said, “this is so addictive”.  I asked her if she knew what addictive meant and she said, “yeah – like something you’re hooked on”.

 Milo requested that Ella brush his teeth.

 Finally, a bedtime story.

en super busy.  T-ball has started up again.  This year, Ella is doing coach pitch.  Sunny and I are coaches again.  So far we have had one practice and unfortunately, our game was cancelled because of the rain.  Stella and Juliet slept over last night and the girls had so much fun – especially in the morning when they were so happy to wake up with each other.  This afternoon, Ella moved up in Taekwondo and got her yellow belt with a black stripe.  Tonight, Sunny and I went out to a school fundraiser and Ella had a beautiful night over at Becca’s with Tucker, Digby, and of course Becca!  They watched a Dolphin’s Tale.  I am very tired right now but want to get these pics out.   Ella’s amazing Gran Jete.

 Art Shot.

 Beautiful Ballerina.

 Running laps at t-ball practice.

 Ella got in trouble for talking in Taekwondo.  She had to drop and do 10 pushups.

 The new belt!

Class pictures.

 My beauties.

Ella with Tucker and Digby.

We spent the weekend in Scottsdale watching our Giants during spring training.  It was a great weekend.  Mommy did her work with the Giants Community Fund selling mystery baseballs and Ella and I hung out in the mornings swimming and then met mommy over at the game.  The Giants won both games we were at and we got to see Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez make their Spring Training debuts.  On Saturday night, Ella woke up at around midnight with stomach pains.  By 1:00 am she was throwing up.  It was pretty much finished by 7:00 am and Ella handled it all like a champion!  She was just really sweet and wasn’t scared.  One of the other people at dinner also had an evening of throwing up which leads us to believe that it was food poisoning.  We were supposed to leave Arizona on Sunday but changed our flight to Monday morning so that Ella would have time to recover.  Now back at home, Ella feels all better.  She spent the day with a babysitter and went Heelying, out to lunch, played games, and went to Lucky Strike for some afternoon bowling!

Getting ready for the ballgame in her orange sundress.

 Ella and her friend Jesse helping with the Mystery Balls.

 Buster!

 Freddy!

 Pablo!

 Buster up at bat.

 Beautiful Ella.

 Ella showing Jesse the helicopter twirl into the pool.

 A little gaming before dinner.

I took Ella ice skating on Monday after school.  She did a great job – no holding onto the side.  She went about 10  feet away from the wall and started skating.  She had a blast. Today, Ella had ballet.  She had a lot of fun there too.  After ballet, we met our friends Liz and Eli for dinner at the Burger Joint.  After the Burger Joint, we stopped over to say hi to Isaac and his family.  He is so cute and little.  We are going to spring training on Thursday night and we can’t wait to get out of SF for the weekend.

 Ella is pretty serious on the ice.

 I was fooling around with the fun features on the camera.

 more fun with the camera.

 I snuck this picture of Eli and Ella at the Burger Joint.

I just tried to upload 2 movies of Ella ice skating but it’s not working and I’m tired.

After school/work, we went to the hospital to meet the new man in our lives – Helen and Ron’s new son Isaac.  He is a beautiful, sweet, alert and hungry boy.  He tolerated all of us (including Ella) holding him, and his siblings are so amazing with him.  Thank you Helen and Ron for giving Ella another amazing “sibling”.  After some great time at the hospital, we took the girls to dinner and then they came back to our place for Friday night movie night.  The girls loved watching Ariel’s Beginning – part 1 of the Little Mermaid that went straight to video.

 Sunny’s first time holding Isaac.

 Ella’s first time holding Isaac.  She did a great job.

 The fourth floor gang.

Friday night movie night…business as usual.