Beacon Hill Park

Erin had the day off so yesterday we headed out to Beacon Hill Drive-In for the best ice cream in town and then walked over to Beacon Hill Park. The peacocks are in their mating season and the boys were all show for us. Ella was fascinated with them and they were shaking their tail feathers at all the ladies in the park. We went to the petting zoo and Ella pet all the goats. She really doesn’t fear anything or any creature. Auntie makes a great ride and is much nicer than Mommy and Daddy, who make her walk everywhere.

Last night we had dinner with some close family friends. It’s always nice to see them and really feels like home when we get a chance to visit. The view from their patio is breath-taking… but for us a little too cold to enjoy as the evening air off the water makes us the biggest wimps!

Friends

Oscar and Ella are two peas in a pod. It's so much fun to see them together....

We went with Matthew, Stephanie and Oscar to Coombs, a little touristy town outside Parksville for lunch before heading to Victoria. Coombs had a park with lots of animal statues that Ella climbed all over.
After a nice afternoon with Steph and Matt, we headed to Victoria to meet up with Erin. Her family had a picnic dinner at Beacon Hill Park with lots of family and friends... lots of babies! Everyone had little ones or were pregnant. Here's Ella with Auntie Sue (Erin's mom) and Mackenzie (Erin's neice). Too much fun!

Oh, Canada....

We arrived safe and sound in Vancouver yesterday, the first of July, Canada Day... very fitting. The overnight flight was a bit difficult as Ella took few minutes to adjust to being forced to stay seated. Once the flight took off she was alseep and slept the whole 5 hours to LA.


The 3 hour flight to Vancouver went okay, Ella was overtired, overstimulated and a bit cranky but managed to sleep most of the way.


The weather is gorgeous, warm and sunny with the nicest cool breeze. We're staying on the island and are spending our second night here in Parksville, camping with Stephanie, Matthew and Oscar. If you can really call it camping... an RV park in a loaded RV with a/c, stove, microwave, bathroom and TV. It's a very nice way to "camp".
I forget how beautiful it is here and the landscape is stunning. We headed to the river where we are camping and crossed to the other side to get to the sand. BURRRRRRRR!!! The water is freezing and the current almost had me toppled over. I did loose a flip flop to the current and as the locals pointed out it was just down there, near the shore, probably not too deep... did I mention the water is FREEZING. I did go in and get it to save face. Ron didn't even make it to his knees before deciding it really wasn't worth it...

Happy Birthday, Emmi

Today marked the last of three birthday parties in a week. June is a very popular month it seems. Emmi turned 4 and Ella has been so excited to go over to his house and play... I've been bribing her with sleeping and napping all week. Between the kids, chasing Emmi, games, bounce house, candy, cake and a pinata, Ella needed a few minutes to rest up before another round of crazy!
Here are some pictures from the day....

Zoo Birthday Party

This afternoon we headed to the zoo for a birthday party. One of Ella's many boys (why does everyone have boys??) turned 2 and had pizza, crafts, a tour, and birthday cake at the zoo. Ella had so much fun. There are lots of pictures of little Marshall and Ella, who would give him a hug every time we told her to wish him a happy birthday...

I'm also posting some video of the apes... they were loud and Ella loves to watch them over and over... hopefully Nolan, Oscar and Eli will enjoy it as well...

Downfall to Island Living

Hawaii, paradise right? Of course! But some things that make living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean a pain in the butt...

Sand: It's EVERYWHERE! It's in the car no matter how many times you vacuum it out, even when you haven't been to the beach in a while. And today, when I pulled out our luggage for our trip to Canada (in 11 days!!) there was sand in the bottom of the suitcases. What???

Necessities: Matson shipping company brings in most of the goods to the island (90% I think I heard on the news). They are in disagreement with the Hawaii dock workers and there may be a strike in the next couple of weeks. People are stocking up on supplies like water, rice, and toilet paper because a strike would mean nothing coming into the island.

Just a little island ranting... maybe we're in more need of a mainland vacation than we thought... island fever finally setting in???

Goodbye Crib

It's official, no more crib. It's been almost a week and Ella has adjusted to her new toddler bed with little effort. Now if only we could say the same about the potty training.

She goes to bed at her regular time but ends up playing for almost an hour. She doesn't come out of her room or turn on the light, she just plays quietly with her toys in her bed or her rocking chair. We go in about 30 minutes after laying her down to put up her toys and tuck her in again. She'll play a little more but when we go to bed and check on her for the night, she's still in her bed sound asleep, maybe a toy or two with her for good measure. Usually, one of her dolls is on the floor, on a pillow with a blanket - the only evidence that's she's even gotten out of bed.

She is up between 6-6:30 and sometimes turns on her light and plays in her room for a few minutes before coming in and turning on my light. I'm not sure if it's just that she's up that early or if Ron's morning routine wakes her. Either way, it's my only complaint - I have to adjust and that seems to be the only issue in the transition. Obviously, Ella got the early morning gene from Ron...

...OH! I forgot to KNOCK ON WOOD!!! Keep your fingers crossed for us...

Happy Father's Day...

...to me. Ella woke up at 6am and because Ron was already up, we gave him his father's day gift - a fitness watch that tells time, reads heart rate, measures steps and records workout regimes. It's what he wanted so he was happy... so much so that I got to go back to bed while Ron took Ella to the park to try out his new watch. I ended up sleeping until 10 - who was more happy about that! :)

I have said it before, I have an amazing husband and father to Ella. Ella absolutely adores him and will light up the room when she sees him. I see how wonderful, kind, hard-working and generous he is everyday. He has been working hard and wants to go into the officer program once his degree is finished.

This past week at work, he received an officer's cap, handed down to him from a co-worker, a retired officer. Apparently, senior officers hand down their cap at retirement to a junior officer whom they see fit, it's tradition and it's an honor. This person didn't have the opportunity to hand his down and when he heard that Ron was looking to become an officer, he presented Ron with his cap.

(Disregard Ella's messy face. :) She insists on wiping her own face after dinner now. I usually get the rest at bath time.)
I am very proud of all Ron's accomplishments, of all that he does for his family, and I am most proud that the man of such kindness and integrity is the man I call my husband and father to our baby girl. He may not be an officer yet, but he's definitely my gentleman. Happy Father's Day, Ron. I love you.

To our Dads (Grandad and Papa),
Happy Father's Day to you both. We hope you enjoyed your day. Thank you for everything you do for us. We love you and miss you.

Second Night Successful

Last night Ron had watch from 11pm to 7am. I had a restless night, sleeping lightly and waking often to listen for Ella. I have this fear she'll get into things around the house and I'll sleep through it. Our neighbor has a 3-year-old who has gotten out of the house many times. Usually (at least once a week) we find him at our back door and have to take him home. Twice it was at the crack of dawn, he made it all the way out to the park - far enough from home, strangers have brought him door to door looking for his house (he doesn't talk so even at 3 he can't communicate). Long story short, the MP's and CPS got involved. We have the chain on the front door and a pin lock at the top of the sliding glass door so it is almost impossible for Ella to get out. But the fear of her trying to climb cabinets, closets, furniture; getting her hands on something she shouldn't; or just being unsupervised for too long makes for a not so peaceful night sleep.

We are lucky so far (KNOCK ON WOOD!) Ella went to bed at 7:30 last night.... she didn't wake up until 5:30 this morning, when she came in and woke me up. She even had a dry diaper and used the potty, bonus! I tried letting her sleep with me, no luck, so I put her back in her bed with some toys. She stayed in her room playing and reading quietly until I went in to get her at 7:15am.

She slept a couple of hours at nap time today and when I went to peek on her to see if she was still asleep, she was quietly playing; waiting patiently for me to come in and get her. This playing in her room until we get her is going to be a habit we try to form immediately. Maybe we can get more sleep physically as well as some peace of mind that she's at least safest in her room.

A Pretty Good First Night

Well, Ella slept in her princess bed from bedtime at 7:30 until 2:30am when she came in and woke up Ron (he sleeps closest to the door). I changed her and put her back to bed.

Of course, I couldn't sleep until I knew she was asleep. She just laid in her bed, talking to her princesses and her Snoopy. I checked on her once and when I didn't shut the door tight, she got out of bed to close it. By 3:30am she was still awake and tried to meander down the hall. I caught her, put her back to bed, shut off the night light I had turned on and she was out shortly after. All in all I was back asleep by 4:30 and up at 6:30 for a shower. Ella woke up just before 7 and came into my room to get me for the day... "Good morning, Mommy".

Two hours may seem like a major disruption in sleep but considering it was just waiting for her to go to sleep completely rather than constantly putting back into bed, I chalk it up to a successful first night.

Keep your fingers crossed it continues to go well...