Our Trip to UWM pt. 2

After our walk through the woods we hit a section of campus where I took 80% of my classes. Journalism and History were predominantly taught in the beautiful red brick buildings on the northeast section of campus.



The girls appreciated them for the handicapped ramps - perfect for YaYa's heely's!





Ah, the memories when I stepped foot inside. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" I asked.

"It smells like church," Lulu said, wrinkling her nose.



I showed them the huge lecture hall where took several entry level courses, marvelled at my ability to recall the location of each restroom, and was slightly perplexed at the difficulty I had in finding Holton G90, the room where I took what, seven or eight senior and graduate level courses. But find it we did.

From there, we headed across to the library, and the centerpiece of a kid's memories of the campus, the fountain.



I remember playing in the fountain when my Dad took me to UWM, and the girls love it just as much.





I wanted to get a picture of all of us, but with no one around I did the old Lisa/Dan trick. It ain't a perfect science. (and curse my flat hair. I knew I should have used volumizing mousse that morning!)











Catch that wicked scar on YaYa's arm? She's got a matching one that runs down the side of her chest, courtesy of a fall out of a tree this summer.

We then headed to the Union to grab something to eat, but the place was shut down nice and tight. You could get in, of course, but there wasn't a scrap of food to be found. However, it was good to see the pool hall (where I'd gone when skipping many a class) was still open.



to be continued . . .

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.

Jim Doyle Won't Seek Re-election

Big news out of Madison: according to published reports, WI Gov. Jim Doyle (D) has decided against a 2010 bid for re-election.

Hallelujah.

It's long been suspected that Doyle, a very loyal and left of center Democrat, would be granted a job in the Obama administration, and maybe that was the impetus for the move. Or it could be the knowledge that '10 was bound to be a nasty and difficult campaign. Taxes have been rising while the state deficit has grown to nearly $7 billion, and there are several strong challengers waiting in the wings.

So 2010 looks to be a doozy of an election. Who'll win the office? Barbara Lawton? Scott Walker? Mark Neumann? Tom Barrett can't be considering another run at it, right? Or will a dark horse take the prize?

Wait and see.

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

Coraline 3D

Well, you know what? I wanted to post this *prior* to that brief post about our 3D party, but what the hey, here it is.

Coraline is a film based on a young adult novel by a favorite author of mine, Neil Gaiman. YaYa finished the book herself sometime last year, an impressive feat for someone her age. Frankly I doubted her, but sure enough, she could recite the plot details prior to seeing the film.

A stop-motion animated film shot in 3D, it tells the story of a young girl who moves with her family to a triplex in the country. Loved but largely ignored by her distracted parents, Coraline soon discovers a mirror universe behind a small door in her apartment.

In that seemingly perfect land her Mom and Dad exist as loving and attentive parents who dote on her every wish. One small problem: they have buttons in place of eyes.

Well, two small problems actually. They also want to keep Coraline forever - and they have her buttons ready and waiting.

I liked the film and was genuinely entertained, but there are some frightening aspects to this film. While they advance the plot and are integral to it, I think Gaiman has a bad habit of pushing the boundaries of violence and fear in children's literature.

Still, well worth seeing - but I would restrict most viewing to those ten and older.

3.0 out of 4

Les Paul Dead at 94

Waukesha's own Les Paul, the inventor of the electric guitar and music legend, has passed away. He was 94.

RIP Les - you made Wisconsin proud.

CNN is reporting Michael Vick has signed with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Graveyard Book

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is a young adult novel set, as the title indicates, in a cemetery.

A young family is viciously murdered in their home by a mysterious figure known as Jack. During the attack the family's toddler wanders out of the house and down the road to a cemetery, where it quickly draws the attention and affection of a long deceased couple. They mask the boy's presence from the killer and adopt him as their own.

The boy, renamed Nobody Owens, grows up in the graveyard under the watchful eye of the numerous souls buried there. As he matures he longs for the world outside the gates, a world of flesh and blood, of living human beings - and a world where a murderer is still searching for the boy that escaped his wrath.

This is written as a young adult novel, and by most accounts fits the bill, but there is a good deal of violence for something aimed at 9-12 year olds. In particular the murder of the family, and the eventual confrontation between Nobody and his nemesis, come on a little strong in my opinion.

Even so, Gaiman is a wonderful, imaginative writer, and if you are comfortable with your child handling a few pages of blood, by all means pick up a copy.

2.90 out of 4

Smiley and his Cousin

Smiley and his cousin

Street Work

The city is marking up the street in front of my house - literally, directly in front of my house - and I went and asked what was going on. Turns out they're building a gas line from the landfill in Franklin, all the way down to Jones Island. (!) Based on soil samples from in front of my house, they may have to dig the street up to lay the pipe. Yikes!