Summer Visits

While our original plan for a trip to national parks in South Dakota was scuttled by Erik's call to jury duty, we enjoyed a brief visit to Michigan. While in Michigan, we picked up our niece Amelia for a Kansas adventure. Various photos and comments from summer excursions follow.

Carter and his cousins posed for a moment. The picture was in honor of their grandparents' 50th anniversary.

Unlike his dad, Carter loves playing in the water. He is a regular at the city pool, but in Michigan a sprinkler substituted.

An avid gamer, Carter plays a matching game with his cousins. He has many favorites at home from the simple (like Uno - see below) to the complex (like Risk).

After fun in Michigan, we hit the (long) road for Kansas. Carter and Amelia had a few sessions at the Lawrence pool during the hot days, participated in a Dog Days workout, attended the final Lawrence City Band concert of the season, and visited several parks and museums in the region.

Amelia listens to the city band above. While the concert was lovely, the most exciting part was the firing of cannons and launching of fireworks during the grand finale.

Carter learns how to fire the WWI-era howitzer.

Amelia gets in on the action, too.

We visited two National Park Service sites - the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve and Brown Vs. Board of Education. The kids both earned Junior Ranger badges at each site.

During Erik's Sunday hockey game, Lea, Carter, and Amelia strolled through Deanna Rose Farm in Overland Park, Kansas. This city park has many animals, and a model one-room schoolhouse. Amelia dons the dunce cap above.

Amelia has a great appreciation for art - especially contemporary abstract art. Here she seeks out a different perspective on a piece at the Spencer Museum of Art at KU.

Above and below, Amelia interacts with sculptures at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.

We stopped for lunch at the original Winstead's, where Erik's dad Thomas worked the malt machine back in the summer of '45. The story from Tom is that Winstead's had to be closed on V-E and V-J days to prevent revelers from trashing the joint.

Council Grove was the last stop on the Santa Fe Trail before its eponymous end-point. We passed through it along the route to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve and stopped for photos and dinner. The monument above honors women who led pioneer families on their journeys out west.

Small monuments to Native Peoples and pioneers dot the rural highways.

During our various trips, we took several nice shots of nature. Some were snapped by Erik, some by Lea, and others by Amelia. Erik took the butterfly above and lizard below.

Amelia took these great photos of the snake above and buffalo below.

Amelia also captured this insect on a sunflower.

Our final image showcases other temporary visitors to the tallgrass prairie. Cows from Mexico covered the landscape, enjoying the nutrient rich grasses before their less pleasant stay at feedlots in the western part of the state.

An Adventure from the Past

The news from Kyrgyzstan has been bleak in recent days, with hundreds - or thousands - killed in ethnic violence and hundreds of thousands displaced. The news coverage has implied that the brutality was somehow inevitable. But, it seems increasingly clear that the clashes were orchestrated and not "spontaneous."

Three years before we started our blog, Erik visited Kyrgyzstan to set up a classroom exchange with a colleague in Osh, the epicenter of the violence. While he heard remarks from some people "on the street" that suggested prejudice, his friends and colleagues were far more even-handed and tolerant of differences between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities. Differences between the communities, in terms of daily life and practices, were evident, however.

In fact, the nastiest comments that were expressed in his presence came from a museum guide in the capital city in the north. Her bigotry knew few boundaries: she had terrible things to say about Russians, southern Kyrgyz (she was from the north), Uzbeks, French, and Germans. Intolerance has prevailed at times - Osh was the site of smaller-scale violence in 1990. But, Erik still has fond memories of Osh and its people. This entry shares some memories of the grand, exotic Silk Road city.

When Erik and his colleague Ray were en route to Osh, Erik sat next to a Peace Corps volunteer on the plane from Bishkek. He asked the volunteer how she would describe Osh. Her answer was: "Osh is a village of several hundred thousand people." This was an apt description, as the city felt like a never-ending village and bazaar.

One of Erik and Ray's fondest encounters was in the market where some young bread vendors invited them to the bakery, hidden among the back alleys. They got a lesson in lepeshka-making (a traditional flatbread) and tasted some right out of the oven. A few pictures follow.

Dominating the Osh skyline is Sulaiman, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Erik, Ray, and their Kyrgyz colleagues Erkingul and Nurjigit took a walk to the top.

Sulaiman is reported to have many healing properties. This section corrects back problems.

At the base of Sulaiman is a vast cemetery which also provided a fascinating walk.

One of the landmarks that has been shown in news coverage is the Lenin statue. Here Erik poses with it (he has a collection of photographs mocking/matching Lenin statues all over the post-Soviet region).

Following are a few more photos of daily life in Osh and the surrounding area.

As a final note, we hope that our friends and colleagues are safe, and wish for peace and reconciliation.

A Renewable Energy Source?

Carter launched into summer with a full schedule, including Spanish camp, piano lessons, and the library's reading program. While he enjoys all of these activities, he also craves opportunities to exert some of his seemingly boundless energy. Yesterday was an especially active day, with time at the pool, his first experience at Dog Days, and the Lawrence City Band concert (where he ran around for a full hour with friends). Lea and Erik try hard to keep up with him!

The local newspaper caught Carter at two of these events, and the pictures are above and below (courtesy of the Lawrence Journal World). Erik is on Carter's right and Lea is the blue shirt on Carter's left at Dog Days.

"I Want '80s Hair!"

This year, the whole family attended the 3rd Kansas City Jiggle Jam, an annual music festival aimed at kids. Carter and Lea are veterans, but it was Erik's first chance to attend since he had no overseas travel obligations (Erik often conducts research in early Spring after the semester ends). While Carter's favorites - They Might be Giants and Justin Roberts - were not on the bill this year, we found some new bands to follow.

The festival is located on the grounds of Kansas City's fabulous Crown Center. It features two stages, "bouncy things," a fountain for playing, vendors of all sorts, and miscellaneous activities. We spent most of Saturday having a lot of fun. Pictures and comments follow.

After playing in some of the "bouncy things," we headed over to the main stage for a concert by The Jimmies. The song being performed in the photo above is about Punxsutawney Phil. The Jimmies put on a great show and we have added this group to our musical rotation.

Carter bugged both Erik and Lea about playing in the fountain for much of morning. When we finally arrived, his play was limited to a quick spin through the area. The fountain erupts in a pattern, and kids line up to sit on the holes that project cold water. When all of the jets are flowing at full speed, chaos ensues. Carter's main objection was the water's cold temperature.

After a quick, early dinner at the Crayola Cafe, we got first-row seats to the next show by Ralph's World. Our friend Harry alerted us to this Chicago-based act. Lea and Carter are singing along to "We are Ants!" in the photo above. After the set, Erik encountered Ralph while playing with Carter near the stage. Ralph was extremely nice and chatted with Erik for a few minutes. His band is another one to add to the rotation.

Our first-row access was largely due to an LCNS delegation occupying several seats. Carter's friend Hayden was a particularly good dancer.

Ralph invited up the whole audience for the last song. Carter was unfortunately not game for this great opportunity.

The final band of the evening was the Zeros, a KC-based New Wave tribute band. Carter really enjoyed the music of Lea and Erik's youth, dancing with his mom, playing ball with his dad, and generally rockin' out.

Carter had a few teachable moments during the day. Here Erik reminds him to share the beach balls (provided by the band for everyone to enjoy) with other kids.

The Zeros had an '80s "hair salon" set up onstage. Carter eagerly volunteered, telling Lea "I want '80s hair!" We were hoping for a Flock of Seagulls 'do, but his hairstylist was more keen on color (the other hairstylist was all about texture). As you can see from the photo above, Carter didn't enjoy the smell of 80s hair spray and mousse. He ended up with a blue and green head. We all really enjoyed the set, with fun renditions of tunes by the Buggles, Cars, Devo, Ramones, Soft Cell, Simple Minds, and other "classic" bands.

The next day, we wandered around Union Station, the ornate transit point of the Midwest that opened just under a century ago. Erik and Lea recounted stories from Erik's father, who has told us about his semi-close encounter with Harry Truman back in the days when thousands traveled through the grand old building. Unfortunately, it is now almost empty, with just a few activities available (and a few Amtrak trains).

We stayed overnight at the Westin, which was built on an existing hill. The rock is a real outcropping, but the waterfall is artificial. On our way out, Grandfather Stark snapped our photo. He is the host of a St. Louis-based radio program who was visiting his family and attending the festival. We met him at the waterfall and had a nice talk about kids' music.

Thus ended another successful Jiggle Jam. We are already looking forward to #4!

Everybody Loves a Parade

The Art Togeau Parade is an annual event in Lawrence, attracting art cars from near and far. This year's collection was quite good, featuring crazy bicycles, UFOs, and zombies. Several photos follow.