Hangin' out with Eli

The past two weeks have been mostly full of enjoying the beautiful spring weather, trying to plan for the future, and fighting a mild but persistent stomach bug.  Plus drag queens and a visit from Uncle Andy!

Two weeks ago we took Eli out on an overdue special "date."  I know you're supposed to do that sort of thing pre-baby, but what with Opal being born during the already-birthday-crammed holiday season, it was too hectic by the time it occurred to us to do that.  So we took our video game addict to Dave and Buster's in Plymouth Meeting.  On the way there, we stopped for some root beer float flavored gum for snack-forbidden Mommy, which I shared with Eli in an effort to make him feel like more of a grownup.  Later I realized the gum had expired around last Christmas, but eh, such is weird-flavored gum at a gas station.  Daddy (oh, excuse me, "Dad" is what Eli calls him now) and Eli started off with a creepy abandoned themepark full of clowns shoot 'em up:

Did you know clowns can be cannibalistic mermen?

 

followed by various racing games.  Check out Eli's ID pic, featuring baby sister:

 

 

He played a ton of other games, included a heated air hockey match with yours truly, then finished up with some good old fashioned skeeball, purchased a Dave and Buster's mug with the ticket winnings, and then had his first-ever Blizzard from DQ (mint oreo):

 

 

 

Afterwards, since we were in the area and Eli asked, we decided to pop in at the hotel where Nic and I got married.  Despite new management and over eight years, still looks the same!

 

The next day was Earth Day, which at Eli's school means "recycled hat parade."  This translates to making a hat out of garbage.  Eli went with a robotic theme:

 

 

He said it was the "second biggest," which was of course important to him.  Then this thing sat on the floor in the dining room then the living room for about ten days, after which Zeb decided to rip off the tube on top and peel off the foil, forcing us to actually recycle it.  The hoarder in me, which is mostly activated by kid-related stuff, felt guilty about it, but really come on - isn't the ultimate destiny and purpose of the recycled material hat to end up being recycled?

 

So Eli was home sick with a stomach bug most of this week.  Wolfie had it last week in that he barfed once on Monday then played and scampered and acted fine all the way up until Thursday when he barfed again at 4AM.  Then he ate and acted fine once again.  So we weren't even sure what was going on until I got it Monday and Eli got it Tuesday, but we didn't barf if you know what I mean.  Thankfully it's a pretty mild bug.  Wolfie's the family barfer in that if his stomach is even slightly messed up, he'll probably spew.  It's actually almost a BBQ tradition at our house that Wolfie barfs by the end of the night. 

 

I think if I hadn't been up way late Saturday night at a club in the city watching my favorite drag queens from RuPaul's Drag Race (team Alaska, woot!) with Jyl and Sally then I might not have gotten sick at all.  I think I'm just not made for staying out late.  Too often it destroys me for like a week at a time (Sally's birthday party a few years ago).  I'd say it's because I rarely do it and I'm getting old, but back in college I remember long stretches of time where I'd be sick and I wouldn't go out because I knew it would make me sick indefinitely.  Beforehand I was anxious and guilty about leaving Opal at bedtime for the first time, and afterwards I felt guilty that I was so tired and wrecked for Uncle Andy's visit.  But the show itself was soooooooooo much fun.

 

Anyway, I think Eli is like I was as a kid in that being sick enough with a virus to stay home from school makes him act a lot sweeter.  Not that he was all laid up, either, just spending a lot of time on the can quietly contemplating if his guts would ever be back to normal.  He's really quite a nice funny character of a kid, and I'm enjoying seeing him grow up and become a real actual person.  Look at this guy:

 

 LATFH

 

 

Oh yeah, last weekend he also finally got to do his volcano from Xmas.  I was really impressed with the paint job he did, pretty much exactly what you'd want from a stereotypical baking soda vinegar volcano dealy.  We all gathered round in the backyard to make it erupt:

 

 

 

More updates on the other kids later!