On Wednesday morning, he was ready to go! Usually Eli likes to hang out in him jammies most of the morning, getting dressed only when it's time to go somewhere. On the first day of school, however, Eli was dressed before I even got out of bed! We had gone shopping for a "first day of school" outfit, and of course he was super excited to use his new Cars 2 backpack.
At 8:45 we headed out the door for our first walk to school. He was a happy guy! 
Here he is lining up with his classmates and his teacher.
He had a great first day of school, and has continued to love it! His favorite parts are P.E. and recess (such a boy!), but he really enjoys every aspect of it. He loves doing his homework and often asks for more if a day's assignment is "too easy" or brief (his homework is mostly simple and fun, its intent being to introduce the concept of homework and form good habits). Some days it's as simple as "Do 10 jumping jacks" or "Write the numbers from 1 to 10 in order" while other days he has had to learn and recite a poem or memorize math facts. One day after he'd finished his assignment I told him it was time for lunch and he said "Mama, can I just finish my made-up homework first?" Yes, he had actually created an additional assignment for himself! Love it! We are so happy for Eli and proud of him. He is growing up so much, and he is such an amazing, responsible, sweet, smart, loving, fun boy. We are truly blessed to call him son!
Unkie stayed with us for a week, and we packed as much fun as we could into those seven great days. We visited beaches...
and playgrounds...
One of the reasons Unkie's visits are so fun is that we also end up doing all of the cool touristy stuff that we never do on our own. 
Bummer! Fortunately they didn't charge us! We then headed toward the piers for the next stop on our sunny - oh wait, foggy - day itinerary; the water taxi to West Seattle. The water taxi is basically a passenger ferry, and a very pleasant way to visit West Seattle. The kids had a blast on the boat!
Once we got to West Seattle we went for a 3 mile walk that would have been pleasant had we been prepared for it - we didn't realize how long we'd be walking (we were headed to Spud for lunch and didn't realize how far it was), nor that it would be freezing! 
By the time we got back to the dock, the fog had burned off and it was a beautiful day. 
I think it's pretty typical for locals to neglect doing the touristy things in Seattle, but Unkie actually introduced us to some things we didn't even know existed! We visited the Klondike Gold Rush Museum and the Waterfall Garden, both in Pioneer Square. 
We also visited a park with spectacular views of the Space needle. I can't remember the name of the park, but apparently it's a well-known spot because we saw two wedding parties taking photos there during our visit!
Probably the coolest thing we did was the Safeco Field Tour. I don't know why we've never done this before - it was seriously awesome! We got to go down to the field...
and got to hang out in the dugout...
Eli loved sitting in Ichiro's spot! Ichiro had them drill this hole in the new bench for his bat.
We visited the interview room...
And lots of hiking and wildlife...
Of course, everyone's heard of Old Faithful - Yellowstone's most predictable geyser. Geysers are hot springs that erupt periodically as a result of super-heated water below ground becoming trapped in channels leading to the surface. While Old Faithful is definitely cool, I didn't realize how much more geothermal activity there is in the park, or just how many geysers there are. It is truly an amazing place, and none of these photos do justice to the incredible beauty of all that we saw.
The geysers were my favorite geothermal feature, but all of the others were really cool too. Fumaroles and steam vents are holes or vents from which steam rushes into the air. It is like a hot spring, but lacks liquid water. 
Hot springs are similar to geysers, but their underground channels are large enough to allow rapid circulation of water. Rising hot water releases heat energy by evaporation or hot water runoff, while convection currents return the cooler water to the underground system, thus maintaining equilibrium (and thus not erupting). The microorganisms which live in and around the hot springs often make the pools very colorful.
Eli and Abby really enjoyed participating in Yellowstone's Junior Ranger program. The National Parks do a great job with this program, and completing different activities in hopes of earning their badges really got them interested in exploring and learning about the park. Our very last stop on the second day was the ranger station where Eli received his Junior Ranger badge.
Abby completed activities to earn a Junior Ranger sticker.
They were really into the ranger talk that we attended as part of their program. They learned all about ospreys.
Which I think is now Eli's favorite bird.
Abby's favorite feature was the mud pots. thermal areas where water-saturated sediment (similar to clay) is affected by super-heated steam below. Rising steam forces its way upwards through the mud and ground water, bursting upwards sending showers of mud into the air, as if in a small explosion. Abby loved watching the "bubbles" flying through the air!
I loved the sign on one of the boardwalks:
Of course, there were also beautiful waterfalls...
