Big Day!

We had a big, exciting day today. Many milestones reached.

First, we headed up to Redondo Beach to see my bestie Judy receive an award from the Wyland Foundation for being one of thirty Southern California teachers recognized for their commitment to environmental education, and for being great teachers. It was such a fun event! They had bagpipers, they had students and public figures, and Wyland was on hand to reveal his updated mural on a local power plant. Judy is an amazing teacher who is committed to getting her kids to love science, explore the outdoors and learn about the world, and Ellie and I are super proud of her, and were happy we could make it up to see her accept her award. We also brought the camera and shot pictures in a rapid fire style that allows Judy to basically make a flip book of her walk up to the stage. It's how we do.

Then we went out for celebratory lunch and a little relaxing in the shade! I'd managed to keep Elizabeth covered for most of the afternoon, and of course she was wearing her fabulous little bee hat.

Here I am, giving her a whale tale mustache

And here is the fabulous Judy with her award!

After we left Redondo Beach, we drove down to mom and dad's to make sure that Ellie got to say goodbye to Great Lisa before she flies out tomorrow afternoon. While the other ladies were getting pedis, Gramps and I worked with Ellie on her rolling skills. He'd seen yesterday that when I say she's close to rolling over, I mean she's almost impossibly close. We figured out today that the key is getting her to move her fat head, because she can get her arms and upper leg all the way over, but unless she picks up her head and looks forward, she tips back over the way she came. Today, with Gramps' tutelage, encouragement and coaching, we got her to roll over twice in pursuit of her jangly toy. The first time it was just he and I, and we immediately started yelling and clapping. Of course, the baby then began to cry. Later, we got Elizabeth to replicate her trick for Grams and Sara. She refused to make a liar out of her Gramps. However, she wouldn't do it on tape. Below, is two and a half minutes of NOT rolling over, for your perusal.