Our trip to UWM - pt 1

I would say the most painful casualty of the layoff is not the everyday scramble to pay the bills, or the slooow and often complicated process of securing a good paying job (Sealed university transcripts please, couriered, not sent via post, and include a standard release form and two reference letters. And remember, we are closed on Monday's! Thank you!). No, Lisa might disagree but I say the situation I regret the most is the curbing of our traditional family activities, the things we feel to be important and hold dear.

For instance, I don't know how (or if) we'll be able to afford to keep the kids in dance class in the fall. A small matter, in the big picture, but again, something we hold dear. We've even sucked it up and asked the family for assistance on this (and note, it is the ONLY time such a call has gone out, whatever Lisa's AWOL brothers might mutter to themselves). It was met mainly with a deafening silence.

(But when they need assistance, my how our answering machine lights up!)

I digress.

One of the casualties of our - MY - failure to replace my former income was UWM's College for Kids program. YaYa had attended for three years, and LuLu for one, and I'm proud to say I participated in the same program in my youth.

Whatever they learn in the classroom is a bonus, but even if they come out without a single fact learned, I think it's incredibly valuable. It acclimates them to a university campus, to professors, and to a (faint shadow) of the expectations placed upon t students. It demystifies an often intimidating experience down the road. I'm the perfect example. I ALWAYS felt at home on campus, because I'd walked those same halls years before.

So I decided, as Grandpa's Day neared, to take the girls and spend the day on campus. I wanted to walk around and reacquaint them with the school, to have dinner on the grounds, and to finish the night with a visit to the planetarium.

Friday afternoon, we hit the road.

As we drove over the Hoan Bridge, with Lake Michigan to our right, we had a splendid view of the crystal blue water. What happened next is irritating to many people, but music to my ears. For me, one of the best parts of being a parent is wading through a barrage of questions, watching their reactions to sights and events, and answering, knowing that some small part of what you're saying is absorbed and becomes a part of who they become.

Look at all those sailboats Daddy!/Have you ever been on a sailboat? Was it fun?/ What's on the other side of the lake?/How long would it take to sail there?/ Could you, like, take a paddle boat across?/Have we ever been to Michigan?/What states have we been to?/ Have I been to more states then Lulu?/ How come YaYa's been to Minnesota and I haven't?/Why isn't there a lake on the other side of the bridge?/Are there sharks in the water?/ Why is the ocean salty?/ Why are all the people down there (Irish Fest)?/ Are Leprechauns real? (Cousin) Stacey says she's a leprechaun [No, she isn't. She's just short honey.]/ Are we Irish?/ What are we?/ I've been to Irish Fest haven't I?/Why are they stopping? You can't stop on the freeway, right Daddy?/How come sometimes the lines on the road are solid and sometimes they're dashes?

Our first stop on campus was Downer Woods, an 11 acre forested land on the north side of campus. It is/was home to a pile of logs and branches the kids believed was Eeyore's house, and it has become our custom to pay him a visit. I've written about this on several occasions in the past few years.

Anyhow, last year a storm, or rot, or just jag-off human knocked Eeyore's house down. At the center of this myth had been the sighting of a blue light inside the structure, 'proof' that it was inhabited. (I think it was a castoff of blue garland or glass, if memory serves.) Even with the house down, they were intent on looking for evidence Eeyore had visited.

(oh, YaYa claimed to be above it all, but was awfully eager for a skeptic).





We found the house still is disarray . .





But YaYa returned to "Pooh's house" and the sight of it, and something or another inside 'proving' it to be in use, saved the day.



At that point we usually reverse course and head back the way we came. But this year, with no infant or fuddy-duddy Mom around, we completed the circuit of the Woods acreage, something I'd never done before.



Every so often the kids would stop to look at something. YaYa at a spider she frightened her sister with; Lulu with some mushrooms growing on the side of a tree, complete with a big spider of its own.



Right outside the woods they both noticed the imprint of leaves in the concrete. "Fossils!" said YaYa, and they both made me stop and take a picture.



I note, with some alarm, that this post is already mammoth. I'll cut this off and call it "part one", and see you on the flip side.

Spent the day @ UWM with my two oldest girls. Great time. Supposed to have a rummage tomorrow, but it's been postponed.

Our Annual Visit to Eeyore's House in Downer Woods

First off I'd like to say 'thank you' to Rose for featuring me as one of this weeks AOL Guest Editor's Picks. I'm flattered. :)

* * *

This week, as has become a tradition in our house, we packed the kids off to the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee for the summer College for Kids program. Unlike prior years LuLu was now old enough to go and attended with her sister.

The program was started 20 plus years ago as a way of providing fun and educational summer classes for kids in Milwaukee. I attended one of those early classes and loved it.

And despite the rather hefty cost ($~150-300 per child per class - scholarships and discounts available) I do think it helps a child transition to college down the road. Not by increasing test scores or anything like that, but just by making them more comfortable and at ease in the college enviornment. Between all the times my Dad took me to campus when he was a student and my own experience at College for Kids, I was right at home when I began school there in '92.

Heck, YaYa already knows the campus layout better than some of the incoming freshman, I kid you not.

Anywho, they're taking a cooking class, a reading class, and an acting workshop. Of the three I think the reading class was a mistake. We booked it long ago when we thought YaYa might need extra help with the subject, but as it turns out she needs about as much help with reading as I need lessons in how to eat cookies. Still, it's her favorite of the three and Lu is still learning, so all is well.

On Monday we continued another tradition. In Downer Woods, a nature preserve on the north end of campus, there exists a pile of branches and twigs that mimics to a 'T' the pictures of Eeyore's house from Winnie the Pooh.

Each year we hike into the woods and visit with Eeoyore.

So after we picked up the girls on that first day

we all headed over to that part of campus and make the trek.

It's always a pain to get a stroller through the back to back 90 degree turns of the entrance.

but it's worth it.

Unfortunately when we got to the 'house' it was in shambles, a victim of the fierce June storms we had. I cannot express how truly depressing the sight was - the 'slam da book' end of our novel tradition.

There were no crying jags or things of that sort, just a overall sense of sadness. Lu took it hardest as she genuinely believed it was his home, worriedlymentioning to me several times that he would need to rebuild it or find another place to sleep. Sometimes it hits you like that; they seem experienced and worldly and with one sentence you remember they're just your little one.

On the way out the kids started to collect bugs (moths mostly) and we convinced them otherwise by telling them to 'take only pictures, leave only footprints'.

I guess the kids were a little tired after the day's events

But we followed this up by stopping at my Mom's house to celebrate my nephew's birthday.

Stand by for more pictures of College for Kids next week as the girls have parts in the class play!

YaYa's Play

As she did last summer, YaYa took some classes at UWM's College for Kids program, just like her dear old Dad.

This year: a theater class and Crunchin' Numbers.

I volunteered this Wednesday at the request of the Numbers teacher, but weaseled my way into both classes. It was a nice experience. Usually Lisa volunteers at YaYa's school activite, so I was glad to take an active part in her education.

In theater I got a sneak preview of the performance and costuming. I watched some improv exercises, then helped the kids dye a sheet green for use as foliage.

[I forgot to wear gloves and wound up with green hands. I was called Shrek and Hulk for the rest of the class]

In Numbers I saw why YaYa felt a little overwhelmed. The kids weren't the best behaved, the classroom a little chaotic, and the subject matter (math, including fractions) kind of intimidating.

I was proud of her tho'. I explained that the bottom half of the fraction dentoed the total number of items; the top half, how many of those items were used.

She got it; you could see it in her eyes. One of the questions instructed her to color in 2/2 of a box; lo and behold she thought a second and then said "So I color in all of it, right?"

She was very proud of her worksheet and honestly outperformed the two boys I was helping.

That was good, because against all logic she seems to have low self-esteem and seemed troubled by the classwork earlier in the sessions.

Anyhow, today was her finale, her grand performance in the UWM Theater class's performance of Where the Wild Things Are.

[Note: Cattyness abounds in females. YaYa was quick to point out to us in the days leading up to the play that the narrator  had a lisp and was hard to understand. A nine year old, she stressed, with professional (rather than personal) contempt.]

For your everlasting boredom, here is the performance in full, attended by my father, Lisa, LuLu, and YaYa's friend AnnaBelle.

[neat moment: I took YaYa in my car, Lis followed with the kids. When Lu saw me across the union courtyard she yelled 'Daddy!' and ran squealing 100 feet or more to jump into my arms.]

Please excuse the blurry photo - I lack photo software at this location.

 

YaYa is in front, second from the camera. She speaks the line "And they nashed their terrible teeth" and handles the visual effect of the 'waves'.

 

Some parents showed up late and so the play was performed again. YaYa needs to be prompted on her line, and the 'waves' have disappeared and are improvised.

And again, after a snack and mingle, another performance! Why, I don't know.

</P>

Afterwards we took the kids for lunch in the Union, then headed out for our annual trip to Downer Woods to visit Eeyore's House of Winnie the Pooh fame (minus a very pregnant Lisa).

But first, we stopped out at the fountain near the library, home of many memories of my old childhood visits to UWM.

The kids love Downer's Woods and ya know what - LuLu really honestly and truly believes it's Eeyore's house. She wanted to know if he was home and wanted me to check, but chickened out on my suggestion to knock and say hello.

Then AnnaBelle started saying that Eeyore was dead, and Lu flipped on her. I told AnnaBelle to knock it off, and on the way back she go into it a bit, 'identifying' Tigger and Pooh's houses.

When we exited the forest the girls were ecstatic to see Lis and ran to hug her.

Lis took the kids home, and YaYa and I went to the final numbers class.

A nice day, and a great program offered by my alma matter.

Tags: UWM, College for Kids, YaYa, LuLu

YaYa Update

I think I mentioned UWM's College for Kids in a previous post. YaYa wrapped up her second session, a two week class entitled Musical Madness, with a performance of a children's musical, held in one of the university's theaters in front of about 50 people.

Now we'd assumed that was just a cutesy title for a musical appreciation class, but the whole gig involved prepping for the musical.

Here's what blew me away. Before the show, the kids had a chance to stand up and perform solo.

YaYa stood up and sang "Somewhere over the Rainbow" - acapella. She coulda had music, but chose instead to keep her song a surprise. :)

I wouldn't have had the ba**s to do that at age 4. Heck, I wouldn't have the guts now.

Parker and I in the audience

Oh, her big line from the actual show: "It's goofy dance time!"

Afterwards I kept a promise to return to Downers Woods and see 'Eeyore's House' with her.

YaYa displays an interesting combination of talents and interests. She LOVES performing, be it singing, dancing, or doing that radio commercial for my work. But she also loves science and bugs, creepy crawlers and science in general.

Maybe she'll be the Bill Nye The Science Guy for the 2030's.

Oh, here's a SPECTACULAR drawing she did on a dry erase board. When I first saw it I assumed my wife had done it in 'kid style', not our four year old daughter. But nope, it's all her:

WooHoo! Go Panthers!

For the second year in a row, my alma matter, the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee scored an upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament, this time knocking off Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee's richy-rich Marquette went one and out.

What a shame.

Go Panters!

UWM

Congrats to the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Panthers (my old school) on advancing to the Sweet Sixteen!

Next up, a wupping on Illinois!

ff