Turkeys and Toboggans

We're celebrating Thanksgiving in Erie with family and lots of snow. The Thanksgiving feast was delectable (especially the rhurbarb pie!) and we took a moment to give thanks for our fortunate lives.
Some of us were thankful for the cold weather and accompanying snow, which gave us the opportunity today to take out the old toboggan (finally fix it, thanks, G-pa) and head for the snowy hills. The day started off with a visit from Aunt Marsha and lunch (and much needed coffee) at Panera. We headed back home and donned appropriate sledding clothes, paused long enough to build a small snowman, and prepared for the mile long hike to the sledding hill that Stephen used as a child.

I much prefer to take the photos then be part of the action, but I crumbled under the peer pressure, especially when my 2-year-old assured me that it would be "lots of fun." It turned out to be slightly enjoyable for me; but, more importantly, Eli, G-ma, Stephen, and Lemon had a blast. And I have the photos to prove it. (See below.)

Flashback ... To The O.C.

It is not December yet, so technically I'm only 2 months delinquent in posting a blog for the final day at The OC. (My sincerest apologies, Adam.) So, as I try to think back to our last day of our mini-vacation with the Pierces, I remember the cloudy sky, eating well, and the dreadful feeling of "our vacation is over." However, before we left the beach, we drove out to see the wild horses of Assateague. And, I believe that the pictures will reveal descriptions far stronger than I would be able to tell. Enjoy!

Finally, we say goodbye to our good friends and head back to Virginia. Thank you, Pierces! We had a fabulous time crashing your family vacation. Maybe we'll get invited back next year.

Guest blogger - Aunt Jenine

Sharon is forcing me to be a "guest blogger," basically because I just heated up a slice of pizza for her and she is now too busy to blog herself. I am not really Eli's aunt, but am proud to pretend to be, as she is the cutest kid ever in my totally unbiased opinion. Eli is so well-behaved that I am convinced Sharon hired an adult actor to play the role of a child this weekend. We were walking down the street, and Eli noticed one of those coin-operated rides on the sidewalk. We put her on it after she said she wanted a ride. The thing started up like the Concord and Eli got scared. Did she cry like a normal kid? No. She just put on a face of mild annoyance until we finally noticed she was miserable and took her off the ride. She is such a good sport.

Eli is definitely her mother's daughter. She glares at me when I do something wrong, then erases the damage with what I like to call the "Bhagwandin sass," which consists of an adorable shoulder shrug and how-could-you-not-love-me smile. OK, you got me, Eli! I will play the casio keyboard with you for four hours straight!

She's also a smart little cookie. After we told her lights out and said we wouldn't put the lamp on for her, she just turned it on by herself with no instruction. Like she purchased and assembled the lamp herself.

I sort of wish she was my roommate. I hope Eli will come back to NY soon and visit me and bring her mom with her, too.

The ER

At long last ... the dreaded pictures of the ER. So, a simple attempt to wipe Eli's nose turned into her suffering from "Nursemaid Elbow." Basically she couldn't move ther right arm because I accidently dislocated a really important piece of loose cartilage that holds the major arm bones together. My bad.
So, as I described earlier, the ER visit in its entirety was less than 30 minutes, the doctor fixed her right up, and I was not arrested by the police or questioned by social services. Unfortunately, I didn't have the wherewithal to take a photo while she was in triage or on the gurney, but I did snap a few shots with my camera phone as she and Stephen were in the waiting room after the entire incident and I was still filling out paperwork. And as we were leaving the hospital. Doesn't she appear to be fine? (Notice the bandaid that early on we thought might fix the problem. Along with a bag of ice.)
She apparently still remembers the ordeal, as there are times when we are wrestling that she says, "Be careful Mommy, don't break my arm again" or "I don't want to go back to the doctor because you hurt my arm, Mommy." What other words would a mother want to hear?

Halloween 2008

Several ideas and costumes later, Eli decided that she wanted to be a butterfly. Thankfully, it was in just enough time for her godmother, Mitze, to fashion some spectacular homemade wings (and send them in the mail in time for Trick-0r-Treating. Thank you Aunt Mitze!).

Eli spent the evening with her friend, Claire, and they trick-or-treated in Claire's old neighborhood, which is right up the road from us. They made out like bandits. Claire's mommy, Michelle, was unable to join in the festivities as the day before she welcomed Claire's baby brother to the world. Welcome, Cade!

(I know, I know, I still haven't made good on my promise to update the other stories. If you're curious about the ER story (Melissa): Eli suffered from nursemaid elbow, which precipitated from wrestling with me because she didn't want me to wipe her nose. I knew there was a problem when she wasn't moving her left arm ... and the loud popping noise. But, Dr. Pat in the ER was familiar with the ailment, fixed her up, and off we went ... less than 30 minutes in the ER. Can you believe it?)

More later.

To my disappointed reader(s) ...

G-Pa (and Aunt Betsy): (and any other Chasing Eli blog readers)
I'm terribly sorry for my lack of posts. It hasn't been quite a month, but nearly. Not there is any excuse, but my life has been a bit chaotic, and I'm obviously doing a horrible job of balancing all of the external factors with my family life. I can only hope that it gets better.
With that said, a few items of interest took place in the past month that I will be updating during the next week or so. Here is a teaser:

• The Last Day in the OC (including saying goodbye to the Pierces and pictures of the wild horses!)
• Eli's trip to the Emergency Room (my fault)
• Penn State vs. Illinois game/camping weekend
• Soccer Tots (with Eli's friend Claire)
• anything else that was photographed (my memory fails me)

Stay tuned for the pictures and brief descriptions.

Day Two in the O.C.

Sept. 15 - Well, technically, it is Day 3 in the O.C., but it is the second day of pool/beach time. We've been on the go all day: up at 7 a.m. for our 5 mile walk on the boardwalk; back for lunch (pork chops and corn. Thanks, Stephen!) Off to the beach for wave jumping and sand castle building, and then back to the pool to Eli's water slide fix.



We learned that men and women ultimately come to the same solution when the group splits up and can't find each other: the guys parked, got out of the car, and waited on the boardwalk; the girls drove around looking for the other car, drove back to the house to see if the guys went back, drove around a little more, finally parked, got out of the car and waited on the boardwalk. The guys found us within 5 minutes. It didn't help that the girls didn't have a cell phone. Oops. Either way we had an enjoyable 5 mile walk on the boardwalk (after we had coffee). Lunch, again, was delicious. I think I know why we get invitations to join others on vacation. We provide the cook :) One thing is for sure, no one leaves hungry or thin after Chef Stephen takes control of the kitchen.

Next, we headed to the beach. We loaded all the beach accessories into the cars and drove over to the Hilton and unloaded. Eli was overcome with happiness when she saw the ocean and the sand. She was in sandcastle-making heaven. She stayed out of the ocean after she was quickly knocked on her dupa by consecutive waves. We buried the children in sand. Unfortunately for Jameson, he was unable to dig his way out. Wailing, however, works. After a while, you just felt sorry for him. Although, in Adam's defense, he did equip him with a bucket hat. Jameson also tried out the boogie board. Not bad for an amateur.

After we were hot, sweaty, and sandy we decided it was the perfect time to go for a dip. We have become regulars at the Hilton's pools and we didn't disappoint today. Courage took hold of little Eli and she braved the water slide by herself! All was well until Daddy went to the bathroom and Mommy took over the catching-Eli-as-she-comes-down-the-slide duties. I wasn't quite Johnny on the Spot. However, she was fine and still blamed Daddy. "I fell into the deep water and Daddy wasn't there to catch me," was her story. And that was about the time everyone agreed it was time to head back to the house.

We just ate like kings: Filet Mignon Oupoivre with Hashbrowns (and some asparagus). We're off to take another walk on the boardwalk to get Eli some ice cream!