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Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Team Slap visits the Milwaukee Public Museum August 15, 2016


Earlier this summer Junie and I won tickets to the Milwaukee Public Museum by kicking butt at a scavenger hunt. Although the Museum bores me to tears - I could draw a map of the exhibits, they've changed so little over the years - we made a day trip out of it on Monday. Here's Junie's "to do" list.


Junie rode with YaYa and her boyfriend, and YaYa noted the lil one bickered with him like an old married couple. 



The Streets of Old Milwaukee are newly renovated. Despite some improvements, and a ton of hype, I don't think the changes were all that impactful or grand. 

















The kids, naturally, enjoyed the general store. 




This guy was modeled on my best friend's Grandpa. 




The Nickelodeon was much improved tho'. 


As LuLu articulately pointed out, there's too much science and not enough history at MPM. It's not a Natural Science museum. I was glad to see they had a (small) weaponry display. 




I will say, their butterfly room continues to impress, although it is smaller than I remember. 












 This photo was the end of the good times. From this point forward, every kid, other than Junie, had a hissy fit or, in YaYa's case, fought with her boyfriend. Such blends of misery and joy are common for families, and something that both appalls the childless and cripples folks who by nature are not parental. The trick is to take the good times as an appropriate payment for the day, and not let the bad moments wipe out your memories. Frankly, and I'm not exaggerating, the anger I had at the last half of the day is already fading from my recollection of the trip. 









By the time we went out for lunch - minus Smiley, whose fit led us to drop him at home - all was well again. We had a good time, and Smiley was happy with the to-go we brought home for him. 






 I have promised Junie, btw, that we will return alone again soon, so she can see everything she missed. It will not be super exciting for me, LOL, but what the heck!








Fox Brook Lake - Sunday August 14th


With her brother and his two oldest girls in town to visit her sick stepfather, Lisa organized an outing to Fox Brook Lake for both families. 





Since he forgot a swimsuit, Mike was stuck with grill duty, firing up jalapeno burgers and brats. 



It was eerie how similar the second-oldest girls were physically, and in temperament. 





No pics of the swimming and diving this time, as I didn't want to risk the camera again. But we did go pedal-boating, with Mike and I taking turns taxiing the kids. 


This is FAKE outrage. Real outrage would have put the camera in the lake LOL











Sadly, as with every trip to the lake, a guest (this time Mike) dropped his phone in the water, rending it a brick :(

This is Samma, Mike's second oldest. 


Aside from the loss of the phone, I think everyone had a blast!



My Thoughts

While my first a$$holish instinct is to let the burned areas of Milwaukee lay fallow, that is wrong and short-sighted. Insurance may not cover the damages, but even if they do the City needs to suck it up and put out whatever incentives, at whatever cost, to ensure those businesses return to that area. If we can build an arena, we can build a damn auto parts store.

[my reply to a comment saying the money should be spread out among the local residents] Why should money spent rebuilding a locally owned store be distributed to the community? These businesses, owned by corporations/locals/outsiders, contribute to the community in four important ways: 1. By providing goods and services 2. By employing locals 3. By maintaining the property value of the area and 4. By paying municipal taxes. I agree, best for the community to have those owners invested personally in the area, but the absence of that doesn't negate their contribution.

And the last thing that area needs is a rash of storefront churches moving in to fill the vacant buildings, paying no taxes and employing no one. Ten years ago that phenomenon almost took National Ave down completely.
And not to get political, but if you're black, why the hell are you voting Democrat? What the hell has that party done for your community since King was silenced? Nothing. If you need the votes of the disadvantaged to win office, logic says you're going to do your best to ensure a steady crop of the poor and angry to STAY in office.

India

YaYa is interested in a Girl Scout trip to India next year, and she didn't have to try hard to convince me - it's the chance of a lifetime, 10 lifetimes even. I'm of the opinion that if you can get your kids to travel, you do it, because they may not have the chance when adult life hits them in the gut. I certainly haven't to date. Scraping together the cash, now that's a different story.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The Hypocrisy is Strong

The 33rd Grandpa's Day

Today is the 33rd Grandpa's Day, the anniversary of a road trip I took with my maternal Grandpa two weeks before he died. We drove the older two to a GSA woodworking event in Waukesha, then LK ran some errands, went to the park, and ate lunch at Landmark. Later, after the kids were home LK and I went to the cemetery, a bookstore, played pinball at the candy store, went back to the park, and went to the grocery store. I still miss you Grandpa!









I'm down one pound, an acceptable result given a couple days I slipped and went carby. I still feel awful from that allergy attack, and was tempted to ask for an appointment when I weighed in at the doctor.