The First Few Days

Once we finally reached Minocqua, we had a few days with Daddy before he had to hop a flight back to Tampa. However, Daddy had big plans to be on the links up north where it isn't nearly as hot and humid as it is in Tampa. So, we made do - and that wasn't hard at all - it was so, so nice to be outside and not sweaty. We got lots of weird looks for being out in sweatshirts and long pants, but our blood is Florida blood now - weather in the 70s is winter weather to us!

Mini-golfing with Amiya is an adventure in and of itself. Please notice where the hole is, where the ball is and the direction she was hitting. Uh-huh.

Kev was completely uninterested in golfing. He wanted to climb the rocks and swim in the waterfall ponds. That was $7 well spent.

Reading in Grandma and Grandpa's bed at bedtime. Kev with his Bertie the Hippo book and Amiya with (yet again) On the Banks of Plum Creek. This picture was shortly before Grandma got tangled in the blankets and a massive giggle-fest erupted.

On the beach in Minocqua. Just like home - except thirty degrees cooler and no gators in the lake. Bliss!

Circus World

After spending our second night on the road in Madison, Wisconsin, we headed to Baraboo to visit the Circus Museum. I remember the museum from my days as a wee one, so I knew it would be a memorable place. And, having one child who is completely obsessed with elephants of all shapes and hues, it was a natural fit.

Circus World did not disappoint. The admission was reasonable, popcorn delicious and (ahem, Disney) not more than the GDP of Sri Lanka, and enough to keep the kids happy for longer than we were able to stay. We probably saw half of what there was to see - next time we'll see the rest.



Roger the clown was a hit at the circus show - his humor was just right for the six year old crowd. Too much for Kev, just right for Amiya.
A circus float used in parades. Amiya was quite the little archivist on this trip - she was always on the lookout trying to find good places for pictures.

But no posing here - she doesn't know this picture exists. It's hard to describe the way they are together, but real fighting is rare. They squabble over toys and get in each others' business a bit too often, but for the most part, it is love, love, love. They love being together, love playing together, love cuddling, etc. This was a really common sight on our trip - hand in hand, checking things out.
Amiya had a chance to be a clown in the kid circus. But she choked. She couldn't come up with a joke. I think her Dumphrey the Dragon days are gone.

The highlight of Kev's life. He got to ride an elephant. He didn't smile, didn't wave, didn't even blink the whole time he was up there - he couldn't even really talk about it afterward. I think his emotions were completly out of whack and he was in shock.

And on that note, this elephant had the saddest eyes I have ever seen in an animal. I'll stay next to my soapbox and just say that this is exactly why people don't like circuses. I am sure she is well fed and well tended to as this museum makes a good amount of cash from having elephants in dinky Baraboo, Wisconsin. But if this well tended elephant is this sad, imagine those who travel 365 days a year and never have a pasture to walk around. (Alright, maybe one foot was on the soapbox.)

One of my favorite pictures from our whole trip. Again, Amiya scouted the location. Just across the river is Circus World and the kids were very proud to be modeling their Wisconsin shirts!

The Coming and The Going

It is not a short trip from Tampa to Minocqua. Not short at all, but between an excellent driver and two kids with all the books and DVDs they could ever wish for, it wasn't that bad.

We left in the (very) wee small hours of the morning from Tampa and pulled into Paducah, KY late afternoon. A quick dip in the pool and then off we went to Olive Garden, where we knew the kids would get some salad. After closing our section of OG down with a righteous vomit by Kev, we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

They thought they should sleep like this - Vinay and I were to be on the pullout sofa. How do you think that went over?

Up early the next morning, our intrepid travellers were off and rearing to go:


Amiya had a CD player and listened to the soundtrack to High School Musical 3 over and over and over again. And then some more. She also read the same books for the whole trip. Kev watched DVDs - mostly Max and Ruby - over and over and over again. He made the most of it as the DVD player is only in the car for out of state trips.

Vinay drove through the wilds of Illinois like a man possessed. The Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison was our destination and we maybe (maybe!) would make it before closing. It was a cute zoo - free admission and nice animal displays. Kev channeled Uncle Mikey and fell in love with the Fairy Dogs. Vinay spent a good deal of time at the tiger enclosure - I whisked the kids away because it was tiger / chain link fence / us. No thanks.

The next day we drove the rest of the way to Minocqua, after a stop at The Circus World Museum in Baraboo. That's tomorrow's post. Very exciting stuff.

The way home was uneventful, thankfully, but looong. Construction in Illinois kept us on the road for about 5 hours longer than anticipated. We finally got to our hotel in Atlanta and the kids practically fell into bed. Please notice who is on the pull out couch now. Mwa ha ha ha ha.

Obligatory First Day Pics

Busy, busy. Both kids going to school means way more organization than I can remember having in recent years! Lunches made at night, clothes laid out, bags packed and ready at the door like little soldiers. But, so far, sooooooooo good. I got to walk, swim and improve my karma all by myself yesterday - no little 'helpers' anywhere to be found. Bliss!

Amiya's first day was uneventful - she's in week two now. She started second grade with a (we think) great teacher. She's also heading to the advanced math for now, so she's a 6 year old in second grade doing third grade math. It's a miracle my head fits through the door I'm so proud sometimes. That's not to say she doesn't have challenges - her homework the past two days has been so basic that she could have been done in four minutes. But her handwriting is so atrocious it took twenty. So, it all balances out.


And then, there's my little man. His first day of preschool was yesterday. I thought he might cry and have an accident, but oh! Silly me. He did fantastically well and can't wait to go back tomorrow!!! Whoo-the-hoo! And I didn't even have to cut his sandwich into an animal shape.

Does he not look so tall in this picture? He does, I know. Unreal. Both kids are in huge growth spurts right now - resulting in a lot of sorting of clothes and piles for Goodwill.

Ooooooooooh. Down to the wire, right Mom? I'm messing with you!!! (Because I love you.)

Tomorrow will be a recap of our travels to and from Wisconsin's Dairyland - and then each day after that a bit about what we did while there. Fun, fun, fun!

It *has* been that long.

I know it. The last time I blogged was the last day of school and tomorrow is the first day of school. My Mom isn't happy with me, but I know deep in her heart she can remember those summer days when you're so busy doing stuff to keep the kids occupied that the 32 precious minutes you get with no anklebiters are best spent doing nothing. And then I know that she can remember, too, those days when you're so busy doing nothing and they are so few and so far between that you just appreciate the heck out of them and continue doing nothing.

I love you, Mom. Here's a blog, just for you. And I promise, in September, one post every. single. day. And if I don't, you can call and yell at me at 5 PM your time every. single. day. (We have caller ID, so I'm not promising I'll answer. But you can call.)

We have a clematis vine by our front door that goes crazy with huge purple flowers every so often. And then these caterpillars come and eat it all down and we have to start over. Seems like such a pain, right? I thought so, too, but the kids had a great time with it as this vine supports hundreds of caterpillars and gave the kids a chance to see the cycle of life up close and personal*.

These caterpillars are not cute, not even to their own mammas. They're slimy orange with black spikes. But they're easy to spot amidst the green leaves, so they're completely Kev worthy. We've watched them grow from smaller than my fingernail to butterflies flitting about the yard.

This one didn't make it. He suspended himself to start his crysalis and then just started to rot. Blegh.

The one on the right did make it - the mass on the left is rotting leaves, but the hanging thing on the right is a chyrsalis.

And about two weeks later, a butterfly. The tannish thing above the butterfly is his pod that he came out of.

And shortly after this, we saw the butterfly working hard with another butterfly to make more caterpillars. I decided to let them have their privacy and did not record it for posterity. This is a family blog after all.

And finally, I couldn't still claim to be a teacher had I not let the kids capture their own caterpillar to keep in a jar to watch the whole sha-bang with the same insect for the whole ordeal. So he started a wee caterpillar who ate a ton of leaves every single day - I think he may have been related to Eric Carle's caterpillar. And then he made himself a chrysalis and hung around for about two weeks until we came home from the beach one fine day and found him flitting about his quart Mason jar like the unhappy butterfly that he was. Amiya let him go in the front yard and then turned to me and said, "Thanks for letting us do that, Mom." I was all warm and fuzzy inside. And then she said, "You know what the coolest part was? I never knew a caterpillar would poop so much."

Excellent. That's exactly what I was wanting to hear.

The End of the School Year

Amiya has been very, very busy with everything going on at school to wrap things up. Her teacher has been phenomenal and she did a great project with the students wherein each child studied an animal and then completed a research project on said animal. When the research was completed, each child wrote a book and created artwork. As a class, they created graphs comparing the animals and learned a song and a poem. Then parents and siblings were invited to attend their Zoo Museum at school.

Amiya was very excited about the Zoo Museum. She loves any sort of show in which she has a starring role, but she's never had any lines to speak so far, so this was all well and beyond her previous experiences.

Amiya, along with a very nice classmate, got to introduce various parts of the Museum. She was extremely poised - I was actually surprised a bit by it. No nerves, no bumbles. Very clear, metered speaking. We got many comments afterwards about how nicely she did.

And then she was off to be the "expert" on white tigers (never mind that it's an orange tiger stuffed behind her - Kev, amazingly enough, does not have a white stuffed tiger). She stood next to her report and her artwork and was ready to answer any and all questions that you might have about white tigers.

Each book had a cover, title page, table of contents, text, index and author's biography. Amiya's reads:

"Amiya Gupta was born in Illinois. She lives with her mom, dad and younger brother, Kev. She ha a pet fish, Indagowa (In-da-go-wa.) When Amiya is not writing, she enjoys playing, reading and going on the computer.

Amiya has written ten other books."

(I'm not sure what the ten other books are, but I'm sure that if I dug to the depths of the debris in her closet, I'd find them.)

As if all of that wasn't enough to swell up our hearts with pride for this little chick, she was also Citizen of the Month for her class. Each teacher at her school selects one student who exemplifies all of the things that fall in line with what a student should be and Amiya got that award for her class in May.

Cute, right? Right. Please don't grow up too fast, Peanut. Please.

Getting her ribbon and her award. See? Her chest is all puffed up with pride, too!

All the first graders who got the award.

On a sort of funny note, one of the remarks that the Principal said while introducing the event was that they saved the best for last as these kids are the last to be given the awards this year. Not understanding that it's a common expression, Amiya has taken it quite literally and is feeling especially honored that she got this award last. I'm not going to burst her bubble, but someday she'll blush.

However, to keep things real, Amiya did get her second agenda note of the year recently. Her teacher doesn't call home when a student gets in trouble, but writes a simple note in the student's agenda. Three guesses what both of Amiya's agenda notes have said this year. It won't even take you three.

That's right. Excessive talking.

I love that it's so simple and so direct. Not anything emotional, a plain statement of facts. And here's why it can't be emotional.

Because it is d.e.v.a.s.t.a.t.i.n.g. to Amiya. Absolute devastation. She got off the bus when she had this note and she sobbed the whole way home. And then she sobbed at home, so hard that I actually called the teacher to find out if there was more than just talking that happened because I didn't understand the reaction. In the end, it was just talking (albeit not a paltry amount) and Amiya had been given plenty of chances to fix her behavior. So, she lost all TV, computer and fun stuff for four days. And she had to write a note to her teacher:

Dear Ms. [Fantastic Teacher],

I am very sorry for what happend yesterday. I have always been a talker. I've been able to control it most of the time. But this time I must have been to excited to ->

control it. Sorry again and again and again.

love your student
Amiya

I love the line "I have always been a talker." She is nothing if not self-aware, right?

So there you have it. The highs and low of Amiya's last bit of school. 3.5 more days of first grade and then off to second! Can. not. believe. it!

It's very hard to drive...

...with two elephants, a hippo and a tiger in the back of the car.

Washington DC

So we surprised Amiya with a trip to DC for the weekend. She thought we were going to IKEA. For three days. To sleep over. (Don't you love how gullible they are?) Anyway, she thought we were leaving our house at 4:45 Saturday AM to get in line to be able to spend Mother's Day weekend at IKEA. She didn't really catch on to the whole flying somewhere thing until the check-in counter at the airport and then she only figured out we were off to DC when she opened her bag at security to find all the DC and presidential biographies that we packed.
The kids thought the Metro was the most fun ever. Until Kev hit his head. And then it all calmed down. Amiya thought she was hot stuff for being able to do her own ticket and being able to stand by herself on the escalators. (Until we got to the escalator at the Zoo station - it's about three stories tall - that was scary for her.)

We thought she'd be really into the Air and Space Museum but that was so last year it seems. She did like touching the moon, but that was about it.Kev had had it by this point - so we threw him a bone and checked out the Natural History museum. Huge success, animals everywhere with this huge elephant as soon as you get through security. He was in love.

Amiya was very intrigued by the Morganucodon and the video that was being shown nearby. It was the clearest, most concise explanation of the evolution of mammals that we've seen.

Kev wasn't really all that interested in evolution. Bobo the chimp was enough for him.After the museum, we forced the kids on a march through the entire mall. No small feat for such small feet. I'd be lying if I said they didn't complain because they did. And how. But it was worth it. Amiya could not get over the size of the Washington Monument and she got several stamps in her national park passport, so all was well. Kev wanted to go back and see Bobo again.

From the Washington Monument we headed to the Lincoln Memorial via the World War II Memorial. It was VE Day and so World War II Veterans were everywhere. We gave up our bench for a group of Vets and tried to explain to Amiya why certain groups of people get extra courtesy and accommodation. I just hope they were able to unstick themselves from all the popsicle juice these two left behind.

Amiya is reading a biography of Lincoln right now and is full of information. We definitely need to go back - we were not able to spend nearly enough time at the Smithsonian Museum of American History - she could have spent all three days checking out the Presidential memorabilia.

Day 2. Kev had had enough and we were just getting going. Both kids (and Mom) were asleep by 6:45 PM the night before - a 4 AM start will do that to you! But Kev never seemed to recharge. Witness, Day 2. 8:30 AM

We thought a few hours at the National Zoo would do good things for Kev. And they did. For those few hours.

He was trying out for a spot in the monkey exhibit, but we couldn't part with him.
After his stirring monkey rendition, we had high hopes that he was going to perk up. Alas, no.

Amiya was still going strong. She got to meet both President Obama and Ms. Michelle, as she calls the First Lady.

I was caffeine deprived the entire weekend. Can you believe it? This is how things looked the entire time.
As seen on Pennsylvania Avenue as we walked away from the Treasury. Maybe Kev is a fiscal conservative?

Embassy Suites is the only place we can stay from now on. The kids thought the elevator was the best and they each ate their weight in Fruit Loops (get 'em while you can kids, 'cuz they don't come in the house) and waffles.

You think I'm kidding about how much they ate? Nope. Every morning. Waffles, Fruit Loops, potatoes for Amiya, yogurt and fruit for Kev.

And, in perhaps not unrelated news, Kev had issues with both poop and vomit this weekend, thus making it a full and complete family vacation.

And finally - a foreshadowing of days to come. It's Madame President who campaigned on a platform of "no smoking and no littering." That's right. By the time she reaches 35, the only problems in the world will be smoking and littering. If only it were true!

We Survived the Dentist

Kev had his first dental cleaning this week - he's been to several of Amiya's, but I wasn't making any assumptions that he was going to take it all in stride like she does.

Practicing opening nice and big in the waiting room:

I was feeling so good, so confident. We brush his teeth at home, he was excited to be at the dentist, it was all going to be g.r.e.a.t!

The super patient and very-good-with-kids hygienist buzzed his little fingers with the spinny toothbrush so he could see how it would feel. Then she buzzed his nose, his ears, his noggin and his fingers again.

Ah, sweet victory, you are so close.

This is how he sat while the hygienist was getting the toothpaste ready.

I'd like to show you more of the appointment, but once she got near his teeth with that buzzing beast, I had to hold him down. This is where your story ends. But really, it was just the beginning of mine. Let's just say I have a few good bruises and an abnormally strong 3 year old. But, no digits were severed, no fancy, expensive dental chairs ruined. There's always a silver lining, right?