Elliot's Friends

Elliot and Juliet

Lily, Juliet, and Elliot

Eli, Pete, Martin and Elliot

Just some of the friends we're going to miss here in Durham. Elliot has gotten quite attached to his friends Lily and Juliet - daughters of our friends and neighbors Brad and Beth Yoder - as we've had many an occasion to swap child care between us. Also, Heather and Pete Rodrigues and Eli have also been faithful babysitters for Elliot, and he loves being around other children. It's good he's going to have lots of cousins to hang out with up in Virginia!

Family Happenings

Smith Mountain Lake. The Witmer family celebrated Mom's 65th birthday a couple of weekends ago. We had a wonderful time together. The cousins had fun playing games, feeding the ducks at the lake leftover bread and waffles, and an Easter egg hunt. The adults enjoyed games of Boggle, Rook, Settlers of Catan, and the most fun for me was a couple of games about mom - a crossword puzzle, Jeopardy, and a couples game in which Dad and Mom had to answer questions about each other...all very fun and entertaining, and we had a great laugh over Martin's answer to the jeopardy question of what Mom's favorite juice is!!

Cousins/friends enjoying a walk around the lake.




A view of our house, which we enjoyed for free thanks to Alvin's connections. He is currently remodeling parts of the basement of this house, and the owners allowed us to have the facilities for free for a weekend - how nice!


Fixing up the house in Dayton. A couple of pictures of the make-over of the living room area.


Martin trimming the tree bushes in front of the house.

A cook-out at Sparkling Springs in honor of Mom Rhodes's birthday... delicious grilled meats, pasta and cheese, broccoli salad, Lima beans, garden salad, and cake and coffee. We returned to Mom and Dad's apartment for a game of Settlers of Catan - hail Philip Lord of Catan.

Birthday Boy

On Saturday evening March 1 we held Elliot's first birthday bash at Mom and Dad Witmer's house. And what a bash it was. Nearly 30 people showed up to help Elliot celebrate. Sylvia spent the morning and afternoon decorating the house, baking cakes and preparing for supper and by 5 we were ready to go. Family and friends helped with the food and we enjoyed some of Elliot's favorites for supper such as sloppy joes, cheese curls, macaroni, oranges, and a relish tray. For dessert we had ice cream and of course, cake. Following a Rhodes tradition, Elliot had a special personal cake which Sylvia decorated to look like a basketball and which he was allowed to destroy in the process of eating chunks of it. This was quite amusing as Elliot began reaching for the cake cautiously eyeing Sylvia and I for approval the entire time. Realizing that there were no prohibitions regarding the eating method for this particular meal, he dove in with gusto, smearing hands, face and ears with icing and plunging fistfuls of carrot cake into his mouth. We all got quite a laugh at his expense, although he was laughing and enjoying himself immensely as well. After changing clothes, he moved on to the gifts and cards which he unwrapped with assistance from the cousins. Elliot had so much fun on this evening that he didn't go to bed until nearly two hours after his normal bedtime. Thanks to all who helped us celebrate with your attendance and with love and birthday wishes from afar.

Bicycle Rides and Good Music

A new purchase that proves to be a hit! Martin and Elliot put this bicycle seat to use yesterday, and Elliot absolutely loved the ride. They took about an hour long ride, and Elliot seemed pretty awed by the whole experience...mostly quiet with a relaxed dazed look on his face but a few squeals here and there. The two are looking forward to a lot more rides together through the neighborhood and to the downtown library, especially now that the weather is getting warmer.


This is what happens when you don't play classical or baby music for your infant: They gravitate toward post-modern industrial hard rock.
And no, he doesn't listen to this for those of you who are wondering.


Now this is more like it. Nothing like a little soul/blues music to ride around the apartment to. That's good taste in music!
P.S. Elliot also does listen to classical music, and very occasionally when Dad is not around he listens to kids music. He is a Rennaisance music man.

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