(Way) Northern Wisconsin

Really, shouldn't Michigan's Upper Peninsula be part of Wisconsin? You know it should, I know it should. It's just a technicality.

Anyway, we spent two days in Michigan's UP - the first in Stambaugh, MI - where my Dad grew up. We checked out the town (which is no longer a town except in the minds of some diehard townies), saw the football field, the hill you had to ride your bike up to prove you were a man (insert grunt for effect) and we saw the house where Dad lived from his tot years through his sophomore year of high school.What was neat was that the house looked to be in pretty good shape - the last time my Dad had seen it was not so good. So it's neat that in this economy, in the state of Michigan (rougher shape than most), and in this (no-longer-even a) town, the house was being restored and respected.

After checking out Stambaugh, we continued north (or east? or west? - I was lost) to Camp Batawagama - where my Grandpa was a band director for summer sessions and my Dad camped, swam and just created a general ruckus. The kids played on the playground - another playground with this round thing. What's it called, anyway? And of course, Grandma is game for everything - so she got right up there with the kids.

A little further away from the lake was an old Native American cemetary. The Native Americans built huts to hold the bodies of their dead, with an opening facing west to see the setting sun. It was neat that they are still there, intact and respected. There is a great deal of Native American culture and history in Northern Wisconsin - next time we have to see more of it. The one criticism I have of the Laura Ingalls books is that she is not neutral (to put it mildly) to the Native American people - and her experiences weren't neutral, so that's understandable. But now it's time for Amiya to see another perspective, another truth. That's our task for next summer.

These

These are exactly what I wanted for the kids this past summer. Running, playing, chasing without Mommy yelling to watch for cars or stay away from the fire ants.

This day - just the three of us - hiking and exploring in a state park near my parents home is right up there for best memories from the summer. They were just kids doing all the kid things that they should be doing. And I got to be an observer, staying back, letting them run, revelling in the energy of childhood. This sort of picture, this sort of day, wouldn't happen here - not because Florida is a bad place, it's just not a place like this. Already, I cannot wait for next summer.

Hangin' with The Boys

A day or two after returning from our Laura Ingalls Wilder journey, my Aunt Mia, Cousin Kelly and her two boys came up for a few days. It was great! The hardest part about being far from home is that I don't get to see my family often and the kids won't get to have the relationships with their cousins that I had with mine. (But I guess I shouldn't complain when Vinay is, literally, a world away from most of his family.)

Anyway, it was great to see them and get to spend several days together. The kids weren't shy or nervous at all around each other and I think Kev especially appreciated doing boy things with Ethan. Our house has a whole lot of girly going on, but not so for these few days!

Ethan and my Aunt driving the boat - he was a bit nervous about it, but rose to the occasion! Very smooth sailing with Captain Ethan.

Less smooth sailing with Captain Kev - he loved to gun the motor and then cut it completely. Good thing the boat is older than dirt and Grandpa is flexible!

Dad fishing with Ethan. It took 4 adults to help 4 kids fish with no snagged hooks and no one overboard. How'd they do it in the old days?

After working up an appetite catching all those minnows, the two oldest boys played at the campfire. They amused themselves for at least half an hour throwing rocks down the very sleep, very perilous hill just to the right of picture. We made the rule that they could only throw if their bellies were touching the bench. Worked perfectly. Grandpa's going to have to raise the bench for next summer, I think.

Kev's first taste of s'mores. I'm not sure if he liked them or not - he never wanted another one the whole time we were there, but he had no trouble finishing this one!
After s'mores it was time to sing. The kids were crazy - CRAZY!!! And adorable. They were belting out standard kid tunes at the tops of their lungs - all around the lake windows were being slammed shut and animals were trying to find relief in the deepest burrows. It was neat to see them so overtired, hopped up on sugar and yet still in great moods!

The next day, we headed to (another) Up North beach - this one is great. Beautiful sand, clear water, lovely! The kids had a lot of fun playing together and I really enjoyed being at a beach and not being sunburned and sweaty! Living up north has a lot going for it!
Amiya wore this visor for most of our time up north - mainly because Super Aunt Mia has one just like it and she thinks Super Aunt Mia is really pretty special. (And I mean special in a good way!)
The next day was rainy and gray, but we had picnic plans to meet up with Super Grandma and Super Grandpa for a picnic. So, we found a shelter, brought a few picnic staples and visited a bit. The kids raced around and the grown-ups got to talk. Perfect - despite the gray day!

And my favorite picture from the time they were up with us - even though they're not in it! I think Amiya looks completely contented and happy and Grandpa looks like a guy who knows that the best things in life aren't things. Cliché, right? Doesn't matter. It's still true.

Pilgrimage

The Guptas aren't likely to make any religious pilgrimages in our life, so we've made up our own - this one to the childhood homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder in Pepin, Wisconsin and Walnut Grove, Minnesota. After dropping Vinay at the airport, we lit off on our journey in our modern day wagon - equipped with far more than the corn cob doll Laura called Susan.

Our first (real) stop was Pepin, Wisconsin. Laura was born here and the town has a very nice museum with pioneer memorabilia, as well as a wayside with a little log cabin just like Laura's.

Grandma sewed a pioneer girl dress, smock and bonnet for Amiya. It was a big hit with both Amiya and people passing by. She looked adorable - and between Grandma and myself - she didn't get a moment's peace without the cameras going.
At the wayside - the sign gave a brief history of Laura's time in Pepin.

This is the one room cabin that was at the wayside - we were able to go in and look around. It was a bit eye-opening for Amiya as I don't think she realized just how small Laura's house was. Amiya also made several comments about how this couldn't have been Laura's actual cabin as this, that and the other were different than the book. It was neat to see how much she had internalized.

After Pepin, we rolled down the road to Rochester, Minnesota for a sleep. The next morning we were up bright and early to make it to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Upon arriving at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, Amiya got into her costume and climbed up into this covered wagon to see what it was like.

The museum consists of many small buildings - each a replica of an important building in the town of Walnut Grove during Laura's time there. It was a fantastic museum - much, much more than I expected. Like Pepin, I think this small town is making a go of it with its' one claim to fame - and they are doing a really great job. It speaks to their commitment to history and to the claim that Laura holds on the hearts of so many girls and women, too.

In the one room schoolhouse, reading a book that was from Laura's time.

One of the buildings was filled with artifacts from the show. This is the hearth that was the background for any scenes at the kitchen table.

A sod house at the museum site. This, again, was an eye opener for Amiya. You can read about sod houses, but until you're inside of one, it's hard to get the full effect. It also brought home for Amiya a bit about our family's history - my Grandmother spent a few years in a sod house when she was a little girl. Now Amiya can see what that must have been like.

They also had a jail on site - and Kev spent a good amount of time trying to escape.

All of the buildings were in a circle and in the middle of the circle was a reconstructed prairie full of native flowers and grasses. I loved it - the perfect place for a picture of a girl in a bonnet.

And the perfect place for a picture of a girl without a bonnet. Amiya made certain we took some without a bonnet because "Laura didn't like to wear her bonnet." How authentic!

After lunch at the Nellie Oleson diner, we headed over to Plum Creek, where the book On the Banks of Plum Creek was set. The Ingalls lived several miles outside of Walnut Grove in a dugout house next to Plum Creek. The site is now owned by a family, but they keep it as it was and allow visitors to come onto their property.


The actual site of the dugout where Laura lived. It is caved in now, but the depression remains and the area is roped off.

This is the big rock that Laura talks about in her book. It's less big now as it's been covered with 150 years of sediment, but it was still so neat for Amiya to know that she was standing on a rock that Laura had once stood upon when she was the very same age.

One more prairie shot - this is the prairie behind the dug-out - no doubt that Laura played here once upon a time!

On our way back to Rochester after Walnut Grove, we took a detour and found Harkin's General Store - and what a find it was! It was an old general store that had gone out of business overnight when the trains came to Minnesota back in the day. The family reopened it as a museum several decades later, with much of the original stock still in place. The state of Minnesota now staffs it with a reenactment ranger and the ranger spoke with us for at least an hour. It was fascinating to see how things worked back then - and to see, again, how much Amiya had learned from the books. The time period of the store was exactly in line with the Little House books, so anything Amiya knew about Oleson's Mercantile was applicable to this store. It was almost as if the ranger and Amiya were having a conversation, instead of a one-way presentation.

Amiya and myself trying on hats from the period - Amiya in a girl's fancy hat and me in a lady's everyday hat.

Amiya and the ranger talking about life as a pioneer. Check out how many things are really that old - some have been replaced, but many of the items were over 100 years old.

And that was it - we hopped back in the car to make our way back to Rochester for the night.

Kev was a trooper throughout - none of it had any meaning to him, yet he was really good. And then he was back in the car where he took a big snooze to catch up on some zzzzzzs.

Love this, love her, love her enthusiasm. Can't wait to see what she gets interested in next!

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!