As you may have noticed, we’ve been absent from here for a few weeks. A good chunk of that was due to the holidays and our trip home to see our parents. During that time, Liza said her first semi-word: Pop. That would be my dad’s nickname among his grandchildren, and given that she only had eyes for him while we were there, I have gone ahead and written her out of my will.

Liza and Eli received their bounty of toys. Eli was particularly taken with a set of Tinkertoys two good friends of ours gave him. He would put a stick into one of the hubs, wave it around, and say, “This is a banger! Bang! Bang!” while smashing it into his other toys. He did build non-banger things, but the banger was his favorite by far.

We also secured a Wii, which has provided much entertainment. Eli likes bowling, though his release is so slow that the ball meanders towards the pins. Then again, he got more strikes than I did. He also likes “Super Mario of the Galaxy”.

Other random notes:

• Seeing a sign reading ONAN in front of a building marked “Cummins Mid-South” will cause a lot of giggling that you won’t be able to explain to your three-year-old.
• It is possible to make the trip in a Fit, though packing becomes more and more laborious after each visit.
• If there is a lolcat for every occasion — and there is — then this is the one for our trip:
  

  What gives, Little Rock drivers? Don’t they still teach you what that stick to the left of your steering wheel is for when you get a driver’s license? We hadn’t been in Little Rock for ten minutes before Eli asked, “Mommy, why is daddy blowing the horn a lot?”

• Yes, we took cute pictures. Expect them later.

It’s good to be back.