3 posts tagged “ella”

Last weekend Kevin and Maggie and I drove to meet K. and Nigel and Ella and birthday boy Barrett at the "Casa De Fruta" rest stop in lovely Hollister, California. It was a gorgeous day, and the perfect halfway meeting spot for us both. The girls are now both old enough to play together, and so the adults were able to sit and relax and catch up while the girls fed the ducks at the nearby pond.

When I first saw Kirsten, I hardly recognized her. She is a skinny minny. She has lost 20 pounds since I last saw her in January! TWENTY!!!! Check out her cuteness: We all had a picnic and cupcakes and sang songs, and Kirsten even sang a little rap number she remembered from a contest she had been in in college.
Then we took a tour of the grounds. There was the carousel: And the cute little caboose for photo opportunities:

And then we went on the "Casa de Choo choo

Which was a fun little ride on an old train that went by acres of old farm equipment, a white deer, some peacocks, and the "casa de buffalo" I am not kidding about that last part. There was even a sign. I just didn't have my camera ready.  But I did have it ready for the rest of the "casa"s It really was an enjoyable day. We got to catch up with each other, the girls got to visit, we got to celebrate little boy Barrett's first birthday together, and we all got a giggle about our theme filled setting.

Well, I have just returned from a nice visit to Fresno to visit with the Medhurst family. Maggie and I drove down for the day, and I made sure that I had my camera to take lots of photos.

Ella was her regular charmingly adorable self. She was very huggy and was extremely excited by the new batch of shoes that Maggie brought her.

Then Barrett woke up and shared with us all of his different expressions. He was quiet as a mouse, and the only time I heard him make any noise was when he was eating. Cracked me up. He is adorable.

Ella seemed to be okay with the whole idea of having a little brother. She really was sweet to him. And there were no tantrums and no fussiness. Nothing. K. has got the whole routine down to a fine art!
      Here are a few more photos of the happy parents and their children

Last weekend we went to Montecito Lodge in the Sierra Nevadas. It is about 5 hours away, right in the middle of the huge Sequoia redwoods.

Amazing, right? You can't even get a scale of just how freakin' gigantic this tree is. It is very very very BIG. And we were about the only people in the midst of this woodland wonderland. Sequoia Kings Canyon is just amazing. It looks out over the same heart stopping view as Yosemite But this place is nowhere near as crowded as Yosemite. And for that reason, I love it even more. Plus, this lodge where we stayed was just fabulous. It was cozy with two great big fireplaces. And games and books in a lending library. There were activities planned everyday. Lessons and artclasses and nature hikes for kids. Plus night activities like dances and movies and BINGO ( I love Bingo). And we could check out all kinds of snow gear all day long, for just $5 -- TOTAL!! A day. In one day we checked out tube sleds, snowshoes, crosscountry skis and a pull along dogsled type sled. Such a wonderful deal! The low price made it less annoying when Maggie FREAKED OUT about the snow shoes and screamed her head off when we suggested that they might help her to walk in the five foot deep snow.

"No! Oh my god, spawn of satan snowshoes! No!"  All of the screaming and crying bouncing off the snowbanks and echoing up into the cloudless blue sky.  Ummm. Okay....How about Daddy pulls you in this super cool sled?

"akkkkkk! No, never! I will never go in the sled! No never! Don't try and make me or I will lie down in the snow and tantrum until  complete strangers walk by and make tsk tsk noises!"

Well, so, Maggie walked. And that was fine. Because in the end, Ella used the sled. Plus it was just $5, oh, and also, we had bundled Maggie up pretty good, using the good old ghetto technique of waterproofing : plastic bags tied on with rubber bands. yeah baby.

The bags worked pretty well. And so she was able to frolic in the snow and build snowmen (we built three separate ones over the three day weekend.)
And she played with Ella and Cockeye. (Nigel couldn't come because he had to work unexpectedly on his thesis and he was sorely missed) But the girls had a really good time. Ella was adorable all bundled up in her cozy coat. And we all enjoyed the fact that none of us had to cook any of the meals. And there was hot chocolate on tap at all hours of the night and day. (Heaven -- that is pure heaven!) Really, it was the perfect vacation. We plan to go again next year. Especially since Maggie will be 5 then, and old enough for all of the kids activities. (let the counselors deal with her irrational fear of snowshoes and cozy sleds...Kevin and I will be off cross country skiing!)
 
We had a great time catching up with Kirsten, and Kevin and I both read novels each night before bed (cell phones and internet were not an option -- so freeing!) But I think that the best part for me was watching Kevin and Maggie enjoy each other's company. Those two are quite a pair.