Ella has always had what I’ve called “an accidental design eye” when it comes to taking pictures. Some of my all-time favorite photos have been taken by her, some when she was very, very young and on cheap, cheap cameras (for an example, Facebook users should look at Melinda’s profile picture – I love this pic!). So last night, after we met her at her school at 11pm (their projected return time) and rode our beloved Line 2 home, I was not surprised to find several such photos among those she took while in England the past week as we excitedly looked through her collection.

Case in point, today’s photo. I think it’s brilliant. It captures something in London that impressed Ella while demonstrating that they did a lot of touring on a bus. At this point in the trip I think she’d figured out how to turn off the flash, meaning you don’t have a light reflection from the bus window in the photo. But even those look pretty interesting.

To sum up the trip, Ella had an absolutely marvelous time. She enjoyed being the one student who could speak the native language (for once). Her favorite place was the wax museum, with Shakespeare’s Globe coming in second. Her host family was very, very nice. She is also quite pleased to be back home. She slept in until noon today and has spent the day reacquainting herself with her iPad.

Welcome home, Ella! Not only did your iPad miss you, we missed you, too!