Another month has gone by and Ella is really growing into a wonderful little girl. Ella has started combining words into two-word phrases, and just this morning Jamus told Ella to say "Hi Mommy, I love you", and she did! We were pretty impressed. 
We also started up a music class with Ella's best friend Susanna. We had done this in the spring, and Ella liked it, but now she is really into it, dancing and playing with the musical instruments. She loves the songs from the class, and that's pretty much all we can listen to now while we're in the car with her. The class has been a lot of fun for both of us.
This month we went on a family vacation to San Diego, CA. Jamus had a conference for a few days, so we decided to extend the trip and make a vacation out of it. Jamus and I were both pretty nervous about our 5.5 hour direct flights, but Ella was once again a trooper with the airplane. She loves talking about how the airplane goes "up up up" in the air. We spent time both in La Jolla and San Diego. La Jolla was a gorgeous little town with an amazing rocky coastline and tons and tons of seals.
In fact, there is a beach called children's beach, where a large concrete wall was built to create a cove where children would be safe from the waves. The seals have since taken over the beach, and it's a lot of fun to go watch them laying on the beach, and swimming in the water. Ella loved watching them and trying to imitate their sounds. We also spent two days at Sea World, which we all loved.
The exhibits are really amazing. We spent a lot of time staring at fish swimming around, and Ella particularly enjoyed the sea turtles. She would request to see the "tu-tul"(s) over and over again. The very most exciting part about Sea World though,
is that there is an area with Sesame Street characters, rides, and play areas. Ella got to meet Elmo, who she adores. She loves to talk about meeting Elmo, and you can really see the wheels turning in her head, remembering the moment - so cute! 
There are some really great tidal pools in San Diego, and we spent a good portion of one day exploring the sea life, and looking at shells. Although we loved our trip, we were happy to get back to the comfort of our home. It was nice to have a home-cooked meal instead of going out (I never thought I'd say that!).
