Our friend Brad Roeber enchanting Ella with his guitar, she loved it.

Sunol Train Ride.

Last week Ella and I rode a historic disel train on a very well known and historic railway in Sunol County. We went as a group with the Moms Club as shown above. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. Just cool enough to enjoy being outside. I even got a couple of shots of some old buildings that are probably as old as the train itself. I love old buildings. I could have spent all day in that town. They even have a steam train that they decorate during the holidays. Maybe Daddy will go with us next time.

So as you can tell Ella and I have been keeping busy. Ella has been busy learning new tasks as well. She is now able to walk behind her push toy with out assistance the full length of the house. She is also starting to communicate by sign language now, which I'm really excited about. Her favorite sign is "more", and "milk" . Sometimes she uses " All done" but I have to coax her. And she is able to let go of an object while standing and balance without arms for several seconds. She likes to clap her hands after she has done this cause she knows Mommy gets excited when she stands by herself. Ben will be amazed at all the new tasks Ella has mastered in the short month that he has been gone. I can't wait till he comes home so he can witness it himself.

Tilden Park

So a week or two before Ben left for New London we went on a family hike in Tilden Park. It was about a 40 min drive north of us, and well worth it. They had a paved trail that went along the mountain ridges so you could see the valley, the bay and a beautiful lake. It wasn't a challenging hike but tiresome just the same due to its length and the chilly weather. They had a beautiful historic carousel that was built in 1902, so we decide to give Ella her first ride. She wasn't overly thrilled with it but she was a sport and hung in there for the whole ride. As you can see below after it stopped she was done with the ride and wanted out of there! Im sure we will be taking more trips to Tilden as they have a petting zoo, a steam train, and plenty of picnic areas for us to enjoy in the future.

You can tell Ella had her fill of the carousel.

Wed, 18 Aug

Ella doesn't always like when Baxter gives her kisses, but today she
was very amused by him.

Making friends.

Today we went to a place called Superfranks. It's almost like a chucky
cheese except it's clean and the food isn't gross. So Ella is of the
age I have to let her explore,and play. So that means exposing her to
germs too. I hated letting her touch these community toys but she had
fun. She even made a new friend. She couldn't stop laughing at this
little girl and even reached for her hand a couple of times. It was
neat to see her interact with older kids. And she had her first French
fry at lunch!

Mon, 09 Aug #3

So earlier before I took this Ella stood up on her own without pulling
up on anything and stood for a few seconds without any upper extremity
support. Here in the video you can see she let's go of the couch and
is able to stand without her arms again. She is really getting good
at balancing.

Thu, 05 Aug #2

Playing with Baxter !!

Culinary adventures!

While Daddy is away I decided to make a new recipe for Ella....and
me. Ben hates salmon so that's why he doesn't get to share in this
recipe. I was really excited to be making something both Ella and I
can eat together, and interested in how she would handle the more
solid texture of the food. Well as you can see by scrolling down it
did not go over well. I thought it was pretty good but I guess that
will be the last time it's made for awhile.

Last pic with Daddy...

For a month that is. Daddy left yesterday morning to go to the Coast
Guard academy and to visit grandma and grandpa Robinson. We were all
sad, but I'm sure the month will fly by because Mommy is making all
kind of plans to keep us busy and entertained. Thank goodness for
the moms club and the fellow coastie wives on base. Eat a whoopie
pie for me daddy!!! Mommy says bring he some Maine lobster and
blueberry pie!