What is your new school like?

[Elliot started basisschool (elementary school) upon his return to Amsterdam from America (they still have a month left before their summer vacation). Thus, it seemed like it would be good to ask him for some observations regarding his new educational environment. His response is as follows:]

I like the chuckle boxes and the giraffe -- from a long, long time ago, when I had my boots. At school, I held Wian's hand. And me and Christian, and me and Ryan and Christian saw a giraffe choking a whole bunch of boxes on his hair. And that was really crazy. And he had a sticky thing on the book...

[Apparently, Elliot feels that the rest of the information about his teacher or his friends or his school activities is too "secret" to publish at this time. So we will leave his report at this for the time being and hope for a more extensive follow-up at a later date.]

What was your first fishing experience like?

Uncle David fishes. He said at first I need a fishing pole. And then I needed to go on the boat -- the fishing boat. Well, what I did is that I reeled it in. I guess I caught a plant with it. And I said, "I'm going to let Mommy cook it!"...



Then, well, I cooked him. And I ate him. It tasted like fish. It was good. It was fun.

Who is Aydan?

[Obviously, Elliot has been a bit preoccupied lately -- with not much blogging to show for the last week and a half. A significant part of his preoccupation in the month of June has been a special opportunity to interact with his cousins from Texas: Aydan and Brennan. In our recent reunion in Ohio, Elliot particularly enjoyed the companionship of his older cousin, six-year-old Aydan. So a blog about Aydan seemed to be in order.]

He's a cousin. He's a friend. We do lots of things -- like playing stuff, do crazy stuff...

Do I throw things with him? Yes, I do. Like cases of letters and puckles and dossers on their heads -- and stuff like that. And we carry mushrooms. And we put a drum in the car! Put houses in the water in the bush! And we throw warriors.

I had a good time with him, and I miss him right now.