Jumping back into work was intense. I loved the time we all spent together over the break. Now it’s work and trying to play! Here is a little video that I made of Ella and the last week of December – last weekend. It’s full of music, ice skating, racing Juliet on the slide, sparring and golfing. What a beautiful life Ella has!
I don’t like being too busy!
January 15th, 2014Happy New Year!
January 2nd, 2014We had a great day and a wonderful evening on Tuesday. Grandma and papa left early yesterday morning. Grandma and papa – we loved getting to spend so much beautiful time with you both. We love you very much and can’t wait to see you in February! Here are some pictures from Tuesday.
The threesome on the train heading down town.
Pre- New Year’s Eve dinner pics.
After dinner at the Epic Roasthouse.
Artsy train shot on the way home from dinner.
Panda was feeling a little shy.
Self-timed shot…welcoming 2014 (NYC time)!
Sweet and wonderful times
December 31st, 2013We are continuing to have such a wonderful time with grandma and papa. This past week has been terrific. We’re doing crazy touristy things and that means large crowds and patience. All of the adults are making sure that we don’t forget to breathe. Ella is having a blast. On Sunday, we went to Pier 39 to the Aquarium by the Bay. We always have fun there and this time we watched a 3-D movie on sharks which was beautiful and very informative. Today, mommy had to go to work, but Ella, grandma, papa and I were very brave and went to the Academy along with the 16,000 other families who were in SF for the holidays. After the Academy we took a beautiful walk around Stowe Lake and tonight played some great games.
Beautiful shot of Ella and papa.
Ella picked out an oyster and got a silver pearl.
This is true love – grandma actually put her hands in the water! What do you think of the photo bomber behind them?
Classic shot in front of the giant wall of fish.
Awesome trio of love.
I photo bombed Ella!
Playing an amazing game – I forgot the name but it teaches all about the United States.
Ella’s first time golfing 9 holes
December 29th, 2013Today was a very special day for mommy, Ella and papa. The golfing threesome went to Fleming and Ella did 9 holes with mommy and papa. They all had a great time and mommy and papa think Ella is a natural. Here are some great pics that mommy took.
Dim Sum, family, hikes, marine mammal center…
December 28th, 2013We have been having a wonderful time with grandma and papa here. Ella wakes up every morning and crawls into bed with them and snuggles for a little while. Such special times! On Christmas, Jesse, Heather and Colette met us at Yank Sing for some delicious Dim Sum. After Dim Sum, everyone came back here and we hung around talking and Ella did a lot of art work and projects. Colette brought her sweet dog Minka over (beautiful black lab) and Panda seemed to like her. Panda did have a little man complex and every time he was on one of our laps and Minka came near him, he growled. They were really great together. Ella did a lot of drawing with the gift that Jesse and Heather gave her and Heather and Ella worked on a snow/glitter globe project.
On Thursday, mommy had to work so grandma, papa, Ella and I went to Marin to Tennessee Valley and took a really sweet hike down to the beach. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful walk. In the evening, we met Abigail and Ray for dinner at a sweet little Italian restaurant in our neighborhood.
Today, mommy had to work again, so grandma, papa, Ella and I went to the Marine Mammal center and learned so much about protecting the creatures in the ocean and some of the bad effects of every day human behavior. After our journey, we went into Sausalito and had lunch. Tonight, we all had dinner at home and Becca came by to play poker. Ella is getting good! She cleaned our clocks.
This has been a really wonderful, relaxing week full of love, spending great time together and exploring!
You gotta love the self timer!
Doing a little research…
I wonder what Jesse is showing mommy.
Art projects with Heather. These two can spend hours together creating.
Tennessee Valley Hike day. So sweet.
Learning about how we can destroy marine mammal life.
Saw these beautiful deer on the way out.
Love in Sausalito.
Winter Break
December 25th, 2013It is finally sinking in that we are on winter break! Grandma and papa arrived yesterday and we are all having a great time. Today, Ella went to see the Nutcracker with grandma and papa. Reports from the grandparents say that Ella was on the edge of her seat. She has a much better attention span than I do! After the Nutcracker, I met the trio for lunch – mommy was still at work. Tonight, Ella and I learned how to play poker. Mommy, grandma and papa already knew how. Ella is a serious gambler. She won one hand on a bluff and if we were playing with real money, she would have lost her shirt! She was really funny tonight.
Ella in the Zen garden with Juliet and Audrey. I took this from our bedroom window.
Love before the Nutcracker.
Ella intently listening to grandma reading the hundred dresses which Ella just received from KK.
There was lots of laughter tonight.
Ella wants to go all in!
More beautiful music from the Octopus class
December 22nd, 2013Ella’s last day was 1/2 day on Friday. She participated in the school winter concert with the Octopus class. I snuck away from work because I didn’t want to miss it and Sunny ran from City Hall after she performed a marriage ceremony! There was nothing better that watching Ella and her class singing “Moon River” accompanied beautifully by Ella’s teacher Colette. Check it out for yourself!
Purple belt!
December 15th, 2013Ella got her purple belt today! We started off the day at the zoo and bumped into some old friends from the neighborhood. Ella had a terrific time but was sad when we had to go because they were so busy playing in the playground at the park that we hardly got to see any animals. Ella got over it after we saw a tiger, leopard, hippo, lion, some monkeys and a very active and happy rhino on the way out. Later on in the day, Ella earned her purple belt in Taekwondo. She was very proud and is showing some great progress.
Friday night movie night with the Kim/Arena clan. We gave them all Despicable Me minions for Chanukah. Here are all the kids watching Despicable Me 2 with their minions on their laps.
It was a beautiful day today.
Busy working on building with some leftover sticks and wood.
Ella had some great kicks.
Ella is the youngest student in the group of purple belt recipients.
FANTASTIC!
The new belt is on!
The class.
Another moment of acheievement with Steven.
Octopus assembly
December 14th, 2013Today, Ella’s class had their assembly at school. About two months ago, Ella had a music share in her class. She decided that she wanted to teach her class how to do the Cups song. Ella’s teachers loved the lesson and decided that they would all perform Cups for the assembly. Ella worked hard with Colette and Kay to teach some of her classmates how to do the Cups rhythm. Today, after months of hard work, the Octopus class hosted an amazing assembly. They were all wonderful. After the assembly, we were invited up to the classroom to take part in a book publishing celebration. We loved Ella’s book. I don’t want to ruin it by trying to summarize it, but the story was so creative and Ella truly worked so hard on in. I am going to try to take some shots of it next week and put it on the blog.
Ella and her classmates getting ready for the assembly.
Check out the video…
Happy Birthday Papa!
December 12th, 2013Hi dad aka papa. We love you so much and hope that you have a beautiful birthday. Video will come later on in the day. Can’t wait to see you!