Ella and I spent another wonderful and relaxing week in Gulfport with Sara, Wyatt & Miles. It was so nice to visit, catch up, hang out, and just rest. Here are some pictures from the trip...
On the way:
Dancing around the house before bedtime:
Walking the dogs with Wyatt:
The pier at Keesler Air Base:
Typical Morning:
Bedtime Story with Sara, Wyatt & Miles:
More pics to come....
I know she does not get her fearlessness from me when it comes to bugs, creepy crawlies, critters or "lil' guys" as Ella refers to many of them... so I'm assuming she gets it from Ron. Last week we caught a baby frog that was the size of a nickel... and today on the patio, we saw him again (of course it's him Ella!) and now he's almost the size of a marshmellow, the regular ones, not the minis. So as I wasn't about to catch him in my hand again, Ella used her bug net and declared him a pet.... I did manage to convince her that he would miss his family so she reluctantly put him in the grass and bid him adieu, "Go find you family, Frog! Bye!"...
"Mommy, I miss my new pet...." :)
Summer is in full swing and I've been busy with photo shoots all week... 3 in 4 days! (Check out my other blog @
Inspire Me Photography to see what I've been shooting) Ella at the park while I was doing a shoot...
And Ella and Kiyomi in the sunflowers during a photo shoot of Kiyomi and her little brother...
On Wednesday, we headed to Chuck E Cheese with some friends from ballet....
Today, Ella and I braved the sun, the heat and the crowds and headed to Sea World to enjoy the water park. Our little fish is back! She refused a life jacket and inner tube on the lazy river, and we spent at least an hour just going around and around, I following and keeping close watch as Ella swam and bounced her little heart out. She also loved the wave pool and her new thing is to go under the waves as well as jump with them... And if I can just get her to swim ABOVE the water....
One day last week while we at Sara's, Ella and I headed out to the beach after dinner to play in the sand and enjoy the beautiful sunset. I wanted to specifically enjoy the coast while it was relatively untouched by the oil spill... There weren't many people in the water, the oil spill workers were further down the coast in the next little parish, but the beach itself was still gorgeous white sand. I took a million pictures of Ella running up and down the little sand dunes. I have a feeling that we may not see it like this again for many, many years so I am happy Ella and I had a chance to enjoy it...
Dancing around the house before bedtime:
Walking the dogs with Wyatt:
The pier at Keesler Air Base:
Typical Morning:
Bedtime Story with Sara, Wyatt & Miles:
I know she does not get her fearlessness from me when it comes to bugs, creepy crawlies, critters or "lil' guys" as Ella refers to many of them... so I'm assuming she gets it from Ron. Last week we caught a baby frog that was the size of a nickel... and today on the patio, we saw him again (of course it's him Ella!) and now he's almost the size of a marshmellow, the regular ones, not the minis. So as I wasn't about to catch him in my hand again, Ella used her bug net and declared him a pet.... I did manage to convince her that he would miss his family so she reluctantly put him in the grass and bid him adieu, "Go find you family, Frog! Bye!"...
Ella and I made a collage for Ron's office with all his favorite pictures of of her that I've taken in the last little while. This has been the first event involving presents that she actually understood was a surprise. We went out last night to shop and Ella told him we got a present and talked about Father's Day, but she didn't actually spill the beans. While I was putting the collage together, she was very aware that Ron wasn't to see it, so even though she kept going in and out of the room she always made sure the door was closed and peaked out first every time to see if he was there before leaving. It was too cute. 
This morning we let Daddy sleep in (I'm running on 2 hours of sleep) and he got his 'surprise' which is now hanging over his computer desk in his office. 
We also baked him chocolate cake, with chocolate icing, whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, while he did homework at the library.
