God help me, but apparently Ellen has now begun quoting the peasants from Monty Python and the Holy Grail when being forced to do things she doesn't want to do. Lines such as:
"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"
and
"Come see the violence inherent in the system!"
regularly pop forth from her mouth if she feels she is being underserved by the resident parent population.
Sigh.
Just got back from a nice 5 days visiting with my buddy David down in an area sort of mid-way between us called "Chesapeake Beach" Maryland. A small town, with a decent resort in it, the Chesapeake Beach Resort and Spa (clever name, huh?) Rooms were nice, although the A/C sucked (don't they always at hotels?). However, in the realm of giving the people what they want, instead of what they need, the hotel had just finished putting 40" flat screen HD TV's in all the rooms, so we plugged our XBox 360s and Wiis into that and damn if it didn't look great. Yes, folks, I go on vacation and spend time playing video games. Geek that I am.
We also fished (we caught about 14 fish), played golf (shot a 50 on 9 holes, played really well, though), tennis (damn, I suck--it's been a LONG time), and just generally vegged out. Watched some movies on DVD (yay for big HD screens!), bobbed in the pool, and overall relaxed. This is one of those vacations I didn't need a vacation from afterwards. Here's a shot of the two of us on the boat. I'm the shorter, rounder one.
Looking out the window today, I was suprised to see my eldest daughter marching back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the house with a sign (and an apron, but whatever--it's Ellen, so I just accept it.) After trying to decide what we had done to deserve protest, imagining signs such as "Ellen can play Runescape anytime!" or "Cleaning up is unfair!", I asked her out of the window what the sign says. She turned around to completely surprise me with a sign that said "SEND OUR TROOPS HOME!" We don't talk much about the war in Iraq here, and when we do it's not generally to the kids, so this was certainly unexpected. Apparently, she read an article today about how a group marches up and down along some highways and asked Kim if she could join them. Deciding a 9 year old was a little too young to take part, Kim said she could march up and down on our sidewalk if she wanted. So, sign in hand, she did.
Of course, never to be forgotten in the realm of "never try to guess what kids will do or say", as I was writing this, I heard Katie come inside from watching her sister yelling, "Mom! I need you to wash off my muffin!"
So, there.
My mother in law has made my kids' costumes for the past several years. Each year, Katie goes as someone (or something) recognizable. Dog. Cow. Ghost. Whatever.
Each year Ellen goes as something (or someone) that no one would ever recognize. Dumbledore. The Solar System. Pearl, from Finding Nemo. Lyra, from The Golden Compass.
This year, the kids are thinking about what they're going to go as. Katie hasn't chimed in yet, but here is what Ellen's thoughts on the subject were:
Eragon (with the expectation of Grandma making her armor...)
The Macintosh "Spinning Beach Ball of Death"
A quark (the sub-atomic particle)
A black hole.
A can of Sprite.
Then the giggles came and the real ideas went out the window.
