I got to witness a wee bit o' history this past weekend. At first, there was just a lot of waiting, and frankly, the view sort of sucked:


Then, after 45 minutes or so, the big moment drew near-- here's the view from Daddy's shoulders:


By that point, I had had enough. The conversation went like this:
Me: Daddy...
Daddy: Yeah?
Me: This is BORING.
Daddy: But Eli, our next president is about to come out.
Me: But I want to go home... NOW.


In the end, we stuck around and heard Obama. Something about the middle class, hope, lifting people up out of this financial crisis, creating jobs...


I would have preferred that he pander to my demographic a little bit... maybe throw me some red meat about manned missions to Mars, tax breaks for cat purchases, government subsidies for drawing mazes... stuff like that. I might write him a letter or something.

BIG NEWS-- I'm officially a professional student! It's been a week, and so far I am tearing up my kindergarten class. I haven't yet calculated my GPA, but it has to be about a million-billion. Of course, it helps that I gained a solid foundation over the summer. First, I went to an art camp, whose end-of session exhibition featured one of my masterpieces:

It's basically what Van Gogh would have painted if he had been an astronaut.

Then I spent a weekend toughening up with Uncle Wren on the mean streets of Avalon, New Jersey:

Working out with Daddy...

And learning how to swim. I think I'm well on my way to a Phelpsian physique. I've heard he barely eats anything just like me...

The final pre-kindergarten test was a rugged weekend at Graves Mountain Lodge in Virginia:

I hope hill-climbing is on the curriculum.

And before I knew it, it was time for the big day. Here I am with my sweet-a** backpack and lunchbox:

Here's my ride. Don't worry-- that's not a new brother, just a kid that mommy's been taking care of. I would have told you about something like that, notwithstanding how infrequently I've been posting these days.

And finally, we arrived:

Everyone had to get in on the photo op:

And then it was time for mom and dad to let go:

I think I saw Dad cry like a little baby, but I'm not sure.

More later,

Eli

Spring is upon us like a pile of oak fluff here in Jenkintown. Warm sunny days mean more time sniffing flowers in our garden:

Playing with Evie in my new water table...

Training for sand castle competitions on the Jersey Shore this summer...

And picnicking with my friend Cathy on the lawn...

We got a sneak preview of spring back in March when we made our triumphant return to Charlottesville. It was a tearful reunion with Jack and Rachel...

Ari and Xavier...

And dumplings on the Downtown Mall...

The hours in the car were a little rough. Luckily we stopped at some scenic rest stops to stretch our legs and play in traffic:

This is not to say I haven't been experiencing the smorgasbord of cultural events that Philadelphia offers. A few weeks ago we took in the Indian cultural fair, where I made sand pictures on a floor...

Freaking my dad out with my badass Indian mask...

And vice versa...

Then came daddy's birthday. I won't divulge how OLD he is, but let's just say he's definitely not allowed to say he's in his "mid"-twenties. He did enjoy the cake that mommy and I made him:

Mmmm... we devoured it together soon after this picture was taken.

But far and away the highlight of the last two months was going to the circus with grandma and grandpa. Taking the Philly subway down to the arena was a good start, the urine smell notwithstanding:

We got there early so that I could hang out with the performers...

Then we got into our seats with grandpa...

...and grandma and Evie and my $11 snow cone...

The whole experience got me thinking, with tomorrow being Mother's Day and all, it's about time I expressed my adoration of grandma in some sort of poetic form. So here goes:

Grandma is the greatest, I love her warm embraces,
And when she comes to visit, we see the coolest places.

We go to the museums, and to the circus too.

We hop aboard the metro, and take it to the zoo.

She always keeps me safe, from dangers great and small,

Like cars on busy streets and rare diseases from Nepal.

She gets me books and stylin' clothes, even when I'm acting bratty.

So Happy Happy Mother's Day, and thanks for making Daddy.

Love to all,

Eli

As my sister just posted, the reason for the three month delay is that we were both showing solidarity with the striking writers. Now that the strike is finally over, we can both peel ourselves off the couch, stop watching reality TV, and post some pictures.

Unfortunately, as you might imagine, there are too many pictures, too many great stories, and not enough time to cram them all into one blog post. Christmas and my 5th birthday alone would take up so much bandwidth, your computer would basically freeze up from exhaustion. So it's all going to have to trickle out, much like someone with... OK, dad just told me to stop that train of thought.

Without further ado, here are some pictures:



Mommy and I relaxing at Paki and Grandma Mitzi's house.


Me freezing my buns off in the Minnesota snow.


Boo getting intimate with one of my new Christmas stuffed animal acquisitions.


I've been dabbling in digital photography. In addition to a bunch of out-of-focus pictures of my stuffed animals, I captured this startling picture of a starving Rochester goose on the rampage.

This is just the start. Keep posted as more pictures ooze out, little by little.

I made my theatrical debut this morning in an off-Old York Road production of a story that some of you may be familiar with. It's the story of a cow who witnesses the birth of some kid in some town somewhere. What's important here is that this cow is feeling very nervous about being on stage, yet somehow, through sheer force of will, triumphs over this anxiety to become the crucial cow in this particular dramatic production:

Moo, I say. Moo.

Apparently, someone wrote a book about this story at some point. Mom had heard of the book, but my dad didn't have the slightest idea about it. It didn't involve the Berenstein Bears, so I hadn't heard of it either.

The crowd called for an encore, so my fellow thespians and I regaled them with an impromptu, in-tune collection of seasonal melodies.

Jenga bell, jenga bell, jenga aldaway...

I thought our performance was worthy of five stars, but our harshest critic was the one I least expected. Evie gave it a paltry one projectile puke:


We'll see what the Inquirer says tomorrow. Stay posted!

Let me just say right off the bat that my delinquency has nothing to do with daddy abandoning his family for his job. The fact that I see him maybe an hour a day and one day on weekends is entirely irrelevant to the lack of blog posts. I'm not going to lay this at daddy's feet this time, no sirree.

Instead, let me tell you the real reasons why I've had better things to do than post pictures and witty banter for my adoring fans. First off, Evie and I have been doing spa day at least a few times a week. That takes up lots of time:

This water is naturally heated (by our hot water system), with therapeutic powers derived from the little fizzy tablets that turn the water blue. (No yellow tablets necessary-- zing!)

Then there was Halloween. Anyone who knows mommy knows that this can be a very time-consuming thing in our house. First there was the costume. I was going to be an astronaut, but had a hard time finding any suits that I could fill out. So I went with the cat, though I wasn't happy about getting my second choice:

Mrrrow.

Cathy was my Halloween buddy this year. In addition to going trick-or-treating with me, she invited me to her killer party.

That's her-- Superwoman.

I successfully bobbed for some apples too. That took a fair amount of time:

Har to poft to fuh bog wike dis.

Just as I was sitting down to blog about Halloween, wouldn't you know it but PaKi and Grandma Mitzi came to visit. They kept me pretty busy with...
Tea time...

Showing them around Philadelphia... (they had never even been!)

Indulging in some tasty BBQ...

Chopping down all sorts of crap in our back yard...

And then riding on said crap...


See? Busy. And THEN, just as I was going to post about all of that, Thanksgiving crept up on me, with the arrival of my Idaho cousins. Well, there was certainly no time to post when there was mayhem to make...
Creating a post-apocalyptic dystopia in my basement...

Scouring the yard for colorful leaves...

Watching light shows in downtown Philly...

Getting dramatic readings from mommy...

And, of course, doing... this?


As soon as they left, darned if it wasn't time to rake leaves. Daddy sure as heck wasn't going to i it...


All of that hard work out in the cold made me sick, along with mommy and ev. Funny, but daddy seemed to be perfectly healthy. Must not be a whole lot of germs up in that law firm of his...

Trust me, he's healthy. His kids, not so much.

And THEN, just as soon as I was feeling better, it was time to make my list for Santa Claus:

It's pretty cool that he stopped in Jenkintown... although we are apparently the center of the universe.

So that, in a nutshell, is why it's been almost two freakin' months since I last posted. But don't worry-- I'm sure the next few weeks will be pretty sedate. I mean, other than flying in Minnesota, ringing in 2008 and celebrating my fifth birthday, I'll have all of the blogging time in the world.

Love,
Eli