2015 - July 14th - 17th - Ella's (joined by Ruby and Evan) Summertime with Papaw & Grandma

Ella had her own special time this year with Grandma and Papaw. While Grandma was doing her weekly volunteer day for Shepard's Grove, Papaw drove to Murrieta to pick up Ella for her visit with us. She was a great companion on the drive into the house. On the way she read books (including Brother Bear) and colored some pictures in the coloring book, both of which Grandma had prepared in a travel bag for Ella's ride. We stopped in Brea at a McDonald's for lunch. They had a gigantic indoor play area that Ella had a lot of fun climbing on and through while we were there. We had to finish up lunch with a Ice Cream Sundae! Ella had her favorite, hot fudge while Papaw settled for caramel!

We arrived home followed shortly with Grandma's arrival. Being a sunny afternoon, the two of them took off to the swimming pool at Mayfair Park to have a great time and cool off. Dinner, shower and then onto watching a movie. As Ella had not seen Brother Bear and she had read the book on the drive to Lakewood, she wanted to watch the movie. We all really enjoyed it, being a long time since we had watched too!
                             
After a good night's rest, Grandma made pancakes with a side of bacon (Ella's request) for breakfast. It had been arranged for Ruby to spend the day with Ella, so she came over and the girls started having fun! Our day with them was to go to The Orange County Science Museum Cube. We took off for Santa Ana to begin our day of adventure. This was a new adventure for all four of us. The museum has many interactive fun activities for the kids to do. They both had a great time trying out all sorts of experiments and learning many science related things. They both enjoyed the shopping cart experience finding healthy foods and scanning the items to add to their grocery cart. They also had fun following the interactive backyard experience hunt for their ecological friendly areas of their clue map.
              
               
              

               



We also saw The Lost Word 4D movie about dinosaurs in the Science Center theater. After the movie, we hit the outdoor Dino Expo where they each had a explorer map to find various Dinosaur related subjects. We all had an excellent time out there!
              
All of the Science Museum pictures are at this link. As it was late afternoon when we finished, we searched for someplace close to have lunch. As both girls liked Carl's Jr., we found one about five minutes away. That was satisfying after the few hours we spent at the museum!. We arrived home in time for Grandma to take the girls to Mayfair Park for 2 1/2 hours of afternoon swimming. Then Grandma made her special spaghetti for dinner that everyone enjoys. The evening was spent watching 102 Dalmatians before going to bed with Ruby being a sleep-over guest. Ella & Ruby decided they wanted to share a bed rather than sleep separately. They both got a great nights sleep.

Thursday morning, Shirley and the girls (Ethan is at Boy Scout camp) drove in with Evan so he could join Ella and Ruby for the day. Our adventure was to up to the Los Angeles Zoo. Ella got to be the Big Sister and Big Cousin, a roll that she doesn't get normally with her older sisters and brother taking on that roll. She was GREAT being the older one of the three. We saw lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Plus many other great animals. The elephants have seven acres to roam, so they are hard to really spot in the viewing areas. But at the end of the day, Ella spotted one real close! Great job Ella! We ate lunch across from Grandma's favorite animals, the Giraffes. Evan said many times "Papaw, take a picture of that" or "Papaw take my picture" and "Ruby, come here so Papaw can take our picture"! Reptiles, flamingos, alligators, gorillas, chimpanzees, crocodiles, kimono dragon, zebras, various deer and mountain goats and much more were seen by all.
              
              
                     
                     
                   
              



All of the days LA Zoo Adventures are at this click-on link. It was a full and fantastic day at the zoo for the five of us. On the way home, we went to Bob's Big Boy for dinner where everyone got re-fueled! Ruby was picked up to go home and after showers, Ella and Evan enjoyed another movie before going to bed.

               
               
               


Friday morning after breakfast, Ella & Evan played for a little while we gathered everything to take them back home. Ella was ready to return to her Mom and siblings. She did really good for it being the first time alone and then as the "older" one. But enough was enough for her by this time. We had a fabulous time with Ella and also Evan and Ruby!