Hypocrisy

Where's all the MSM cries of racism that were levied at Bush for Katrina?

Beauty and the Beast - an unpublished post from 2013

***Apparently, I forgot to hit 'publish' on this back in the day ***

This weekend was the annual school musical. 2013

LOL

College for Kids 2016

Once again my kids were privileged to participate in UW-Milwaukee's College for Kids program for two weeks this summer. 

This is fake outrage (again), as she had a big grin before and after the pictures. 

All are now old enough for full roaming privileges on the campus. 

They each had three classes. 

Here are some of LuLu's art pieces. 

And some Photoshop examples from YaYa - the latter was featured on the CFK website. 

YaYa and friends.

Pottery by Junie. One day the power went out on campus, and they couldn't use the kiln. For three weeks we tried to co-ordinate a pickup of the items - only to discover they all fit in the palm of my hand! (the last pic)

 She also earned a white belt in Tae Kwon Do, and broke some boards during her test!

Smiley's work was an asteroid-like video game that I obviously can't post here, but he had a blast doing it!

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!