Follow the pumpkin path

Halloween in Arcadia isn't nearly as much fun as it was in Minneapolis. Our neighborhood is only marginally walkable and not many of our neighbors celebrate the holiday. We drove to another town to trick or treat, and I think we only had two groups of kids stop by during the night.

Little witch

Ellen is dressed as Hermione Granger for Halloween. Today, she wore her costume for school. She loved the tie and cardigan and, of course, using her wand.

First guests of the season

Friends and former neighbors from Minneapolis Neil and Katie stayed with us for a few days. They were struck by how much Ellen had grown. They used to babysit for her occasionally when she was a toddler.

Flying Trabants!

October 24
I had a half a day between the end of the meeting and my flight home to catch the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Fun museum. I liked the flying Trabants decorating the lobby. I think they were from a U2 tour.

Party bus

Late fall plus far western edge of the Eastern time zone means that our pickup for the morning meeting was in the predawn dark. The bus has funky fiber optic lighting and a wet bar, clearly meant for a crazier crowd than us academic educator types.

Gehry

Meeting on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. The building where I am sequested for two days of long Powerpoint sessions is kitty-corner from this much more interesting Frank Gehry structure.

Passing through

Heading to Cleveland for a work-related meeting. Changing planes in Atlanta.

Nick Live!

We surprised Ellen with a trip to downtown LA to see the Nickelodeon Live show (including her favorites, the Backyardigans). She enjoyed the show but might have liked the popcorn best of all.

Part of your balanced breakfast

I took Ellen to our local bagel place for breakfast. Her breakfast of choice: a chocolate chip bagel and a basket of bacon. The kid has interesting eating habits.

Elliptical

I've started spending a lot of time at my local LA Fitness, mostly doing cardio sessions on the elliptical machine. I have a love-hate relationship with the machines. I like the exercise when I can get the machine's electronics to interface with my iPhone so I can watch a movie. When it doesn't work, which is all too often, I'm not so happy. At least I'm doing my workouts, though!

Batting lineup

Ellen's belated fifth birthday party was a big hit! She had a lot of girls attend, including some new classmates she's befriended in kindergarten. We held it in a neighborhood park. The entertainment included party games (hot potato, pin the tiara on the princess, freeze tag...), a Hello Kitty piñata, and crowns and helium balloons to decorate. We served pizza, crudités, and cake. No petting zoo, pony rides, rent-a-jumper, or any of that stuff was required.

Rite of Passage

Ellen is called to the bima to receive a teeny-tiny Torah and officially begin her Hebrew education. In her first class, she made a sukkah out of graham crackers painted with Hershey's syrup, although this required several attempts to get the roof on properly, as it somehow got eaten.

This is pretty much the rigor of the curriculum.