A couple years ago we went up to Mendocino (about 3 hours north and west of us) for the 4th of July weekend.  We had such a great time, we thought we’d do it again this year! 

We stopped at Navarro vineyards on the way, and took some beautiful pictures.  Alex is loving his new “work” camera, and it is the reason for the incredible upgrade in our photos!

We got up to Medocino around dinner time.  The last time we went we took Milo, and there were a bunch of restaurants that we could sit on the patio and bring him with us.  Unfortunately we didn’t know that for many restaurants they had changed their policy.  So poor Milo spent more time in the car than we had hoped.   

This is our hotel.  We had a great room with a huge bed, couch, and jacuzzi tub.  Both Ella and Milo enjoyed the jacuzzi tub!

The view of the bay.

Ella with her “packpack”

Not sure what she’s waiting for, but love this pic.

On the 4th we took our new and never used beach tent, and set up camp down by the ocean.  Mama enjoyed the shade, and Ella enjoyed the water!

We also had some great dinners.  And although we didn’t take pics of the food (I know only some of you are disappointed), we did take lots of pics of us and mostly E in and around our meals.

Ella enjoyed the bacci as well…

We had a great time.  Ella refers to Mendocino as “the country.”  Swimming, walking, eating… a wonderful relaxing weekend.

Our second anniversary of Family Day was on the 9th.  But Alex was in Mississippi for work, so we had to delay our celebration until Friday night when we were all together.  Alex and Ella made a cake, complete with sprinkles, as they are the only reason for making a cake in the first place (according to E).  Then we had to sing — and have candles.  E is obsessed with “blowing out the fire.”  Here are a few pictures I happend to take on my iphone…

Blowing out the candles.

Her toe happened to land in the cake, and only a parent would think to lick the frosting off

Family cheese (I was on the couch with the camera, so excuse my absence!). 

I let Ella wear the necklace I bought for her for her very first Family Day, and she kept saying “you gave this to me?  for my family day?”  It’s nice to have a day to remember how we chose to be a family, and celebrate together.   Happy Family Day!!!

Monday was my birthday, but I was out of town for work… so Alex and Ella sent met this video.

Sometimes during the day our nanny will text us pictures she’s taken of the kids.  I love this.  I love knowing that Ella is having fun.  Today she sent this picture.  And sometimes, you see a picture of your kid and all you can think is “man, I love that kid!” So so much.  E, you’re amazing.

On Saturday we went to the San Francisco Zoo. It was an absolutely beautiful day. We met up with some friends, and Ella and Ben Luka had a fabulous time. Here are a couple pictures…

I have been neglecting this blog lately, and for that I apologize. See, it’s so easy now to take a quick picture with an iPhone, upload to Facebook, type in a snappy caption, and DONE! But this means that I spend less time doing proper blog posts, and for those of you who don’t use Facebook, you don’t get the great updates of Ella. And that’s really why we’re all here. So, without further ado, here is a video seen nowhere else but here! Feel better yet?

I finally found all the camera cables (everything disappears when you move!) and uploaded all the pictures off the camera. To my surprise, they went back before Thanksgiving. So, for those who want the more thorough tour, visit our Flickr site. Otherwise, here are the highlights:

Wayne joined us for our annual Thanksgiving party. He has come every year for the past 8 years. He and Ella had a ball playing in her toy chest.

This year we ordered a Heritage turkey from a local farm up in Point Reyes. We ordered before we had a confirmed headcount for dinner, and this happened to be a small year but a big bird. Somehow we decided since I was taking the day before Thanksgiving off, it would be a fun family outing to drive up to Point Reyes to pick up the turkey. But no one else could come with me — so I drove 4 hours round trip by myself. But the turkey was delicious, and well worth all the extra effort.

After the “Big Move” (and it was — so it deserves caps and quotes, believe me). We decided to do something Christmasy. We hadn’t decorated the old flat – because we were moving, and it didn’t make sense to decorate the new falat because we were traveling to SLC for the holiday. So one Saturday we decided to take the bus downtown, and hop on a cable car. Ella had never been on a cable car – despite living in San Francisco her whole life. I guess we don’t have many new visitors anymore… Anyway, she loved it. She was entranced with the break man, and could hardly peel her eyes from him to enjoy the amazing views.

Then we walked down to Union Square to check out the Christmas tree and the ice skating rink. Elle will have to wait another year or two to try skating, but she loves to watch the kids go by.

Before we left for SLC we had to open presents from Meme and Papa, since we wouldn’t be seeing them for Christmas. Ella was very excited, and opened all the presents — even those that weren’t for her.

The next morning we set out for our 12 hour drive to SLC. As soon as we got there, we had to pack it up and drive over to Ann and Lon’s house for the annual family party. They even had a Santa! Ella’s last experience a week or two before with a neighborhood Santa had not gone well, so we figured she would not be excited to see this one. We were so wrong. We kept having to pry her off his lap so another kid could have a turn.

After Santa, and a huge buffet dinner there was the annual nativity play. We haven’t been to SLC in about 7 years for Christmas, and had no idea how the production had evolved. Costumes were sewn – no more bring your own bathrobe! All the grandchildren were sheep. Yep… Elle was the only black sheep. Oh, but she loved it. She ran up to me, in costume and said “Mama! I’m a sheep! Baaaaaaa”

Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa’s house

We had a wonderful time, but are glad to be back home, settling into our new house and enjoying the new year.

The entire month of December was one bit of craziness on top of another. The big news – we moved! We bought a flat in the Central Richmond district of San Francisco. The timing fell that we were packing up right after Thanksgiving and moved in before we left for SLC for Christmas. It was incredibly hectic, but we’re all moved now and loving it.

We drove out (dog and child buckled in tight) to SLC for Christmas with Alex’s family. We had a fabulous time, and Ella loved playing with her cousin Gray. Eventually I’ll pull all the photos off our camera and upload.

Things are back to normal now. Ella has graduated to a twin size bed leaving her crib behind with the old house. She’s taken to the change remarkably well, and hasn’t looked back. We’re deep into potty training, and she is doing very well – even testing the waters with training pants! Our next challenge is researching a preschool for her come Fall.

Ella talks up a storm. Her favorite things are to ask you “what happened?,” “you okay, Mommy?,” and “como estas?” Alex has also taught her to count to 10 in German — which she does usually by shouting the numbers. Her favorite being “fumpf!” She loves to help in the kitchen, and enjoys doing dishes.

Amidst all the folks who talk about how bad 2009 was, it was a great year for us. Alex stayed very busy at work, as did I. And Ella is growing and amazing us day after day. 2010 looks to be even more eventful and exciting. Can’t wait.

Two years old today. Time flies so quickly. Hard to believe that it was that long ago that Alex and I travelled to Alabama, spent time with her amazing birthmother Tiffany, and met our daughter.

Ella is such a bright and happy child. She loves to sing, and usually wakes us up in the morning to one of her favorite songs. She loves her puppy “Milo-bug.” She is always asking “how are you?” and wants to help when you’re in the kitchen cooking. Her favorite movie is “Babies” ie: Happy Feet and asks to watch it at least 10 times a day. She loves ice cream and playing with her toys. She is an amazing child and brings such joy to our family.

Happy Birthday baby.

Yesterday Ella had her second birthday party. Her actual birthday is not until next week, but Grandma and Grandpa B. were in town, so we had our celebration a bit early. Here are a few pictures from the party:

The party was a fish theme. The cake was kind of a disaster (melty frosting, crumbly cake, etc), but it all turned out okay.

We had the party at Golden Gate park between the carousel and the playground. Before all the guests arrived Ella and Grandpa rode the carousel together.

When time came to cut the cake, I realized that our lighter was out of fuel — so we just sang. And Ella enjoyed her piece of cake with lots of frosting.

Loved the frosting so much, she dipped her salami in it. The food was all of Ella’s favorites, which included Cowgirl cheese, salami and mortadella from Boccalone, and lots of veggies with “sauce” (ranch dip).

Lots of her friends came. She and Audrey are very huggy.

The most exciting gift came from our friend Gail. It was a horsey. LOVED the horsey. It even had a button in it’s ear when you pressed it it made galloping and naaying sounds.

Mom and Dad’s big present was a bike. She liked it when I helped… but is still an inch or two small to ride by herself. I think this will be a big hit in a month or two.

We opened the rest of family gifts today.

But the horsey was still the favorite…

Grandma got her a Mr Potato Head. The glasses were small, but not small enough..