Dotzour Family.com – Page 7 – Althea, Bryan, Andrew, and Sylvia

September 7, 2011September 6, 2011

Ishnala

When Andrew and Bryan were in Texas in late July, Sylvia and I went out to dinner at Ishnala with Terry and Tom. For those of you not familiar, Ishnala is a supper club in the Dells. It was built in the 1950s, and the feel is still much the same. Before dinner, we always enjoy some drinks and a walk around the property, looking out over the beautiful, wooded Mirror Lake. The restaurant itself has amazing views of the lake and the woods, and there’s a lot of ambiance – trees growing up through the middle of the restaurant and stuffed taxidermic models of critters hidden here and there.

It’s a special place, and it is fun to bring my own kids here to experience it!

Here’s a picture of Sylvia (in her new outfit) exploring the grounds.

And here’s our group on the patio. Can you tell that Sylvia’s feeling grown up?

Looking out over the lake.

Reflections

Inside the restaurant, Sylv got a little bored. But she did really well.

There’s Terry enjoying his dinner.

And Tom…

At the end of the evening, we’re heading back to our car.

Such beautiful cornfields in late July.

I kinda like this picture of Terry driving. He’s at home in the driver’s seat.

There are five sandhill cranes flying low over the hills and fields. Ahh, summer!

September 6, 2011September 6, 2011

First day of first grade

Andrew had his first day of first grade last Thursday. He was excited:)

There’s something so neat about seeing your kid open and ready to tackle the next challenge. Andrew just loves school, and he was excited to be in a classroom with his best buddy, Jayquan, and he was excited to be a first grader!

In the last few weeks, people often asked me if Andrew was excited about going back to school. I had to give a qualified answer. He was excited, but Andrew is (at this time) a kid who experiences life very much in the moment. He doesn’t tend to anticipate things too much (positively or negatively). He said he was looking forward to school. He smiled when we talked about it, but he never brought it up.

However, on the morning of – his excitement bloomed forth:)

I don’t think I can tell how much I love this kid. Except perhaps you can tell from these pictures a little bit of my adoration:)

For comparison, here’s a photo of Andrew’s first day of Kindergarten…

Here’s Andrew’s buddy, Alivia on her first day of second grade.

There’s our blondies…

Andrew’s teacher is Maestra Samaca. Here she’s greeting her new classmates.

Here’s Andrew and his good friend Jayquan.

There was lots of hugging:)Have a great year of first grade, Andrew!!

I like how they start school on Thursday. That gives them two (short) days, a three day weekend, and then a four day week. Seems like a nice, measured start to the year. My boy’s looking forward to heading back to the classroom this morning!

September 2, 2011September 1, 2011

Dreaming of world travels

A few weeks ago, Bryan, Andrew, Sylvia, and I sat around the dinner table, and we started brainstorming places in the world that we would like to visit. Bryan pulled out a paper and pen, and here’s what he documented:

Go to Africa and get a house…maybe for a couple years (Andrew)
Go to China or maybe even Asia (Andrew)
Ride a yellow horse (Sylvia)
Tanzania (Althea)
Horseback riding trip (Althea & Sylvia)
Australia/Great Barrier Reef/New Zealand
Costa Rica
Other side of the world (Andrew)
Riding on a kangaroo (Sylvia)
Alaska
Hawaii (Althea)
Philippines (Andrew)
South Korea (Bryan)
Brazil (Andrew) – Natal city (at this point, we were looking at a globe)
Russia (Andrew)
Egypt (Althea)
Norway (Bryan)
India (Althea and Andrew)
Canada (Bryan)
New Mexico (Andrew)
Algeria (Andrew)
Argentina (Andrew)
Fiji (Althea)
Thailand (Andrew)

Wondertime magazine (may it rest in peace) published an article several years ago about a family who saved their money and took a year-long round-the-world vacation. I think I prefer the idea of occasional trips rather than one gigantic one, but the story has stuck with me. Here it is (Around the World in 52 Weeks). The same magazine (oh how I loved it!) had a story about a family who traveled all over Africa with their baby. Again, inspiring!!

Exploring different places and cultures is something that Bryan and I would both like to do with our kids while they are growing up. I hope we’re able to put some plans into action so that we can make some of those traveling dreams reality!

August 28, 2011

Circus World!

My dad is a lot of fun:) For the last few years, he’s given the kids outing-type birthday gifts. One year, it was a trip to a Mallards baseball game. Last year, he took Andrew to the Railway Museum for a train ride. This year, he took both kids to Circus World in Baraboo.

Andrew and Sylvia were pretty excited. Here they are checking in…

We spent a little while walking around the museum part of the grounds. The kids were pretty impressed with all the costumes and spectacular circus props.

As you can guess, Sylvia was a big fan of the Cinderella carriage:)

Here’s Andrew and my dad checking out the miniature circus.

They had a whole dress-up corner, where Sylv made herself at home. Here she is wearing one of the costumes and gesturing quite emphatically.

Love the light in this picture of my mesmerized girl:)

After visiting the museum, we headed over to the Hippodrome for a perfectly-sized circus.

There were clowns and a ring master and contortionists. It was a really nice-sized show.

Here’s the silly Pekinese dog act. Here’s a 2010 newspaper clip on the circus.

David Rosaire, whose “Perky Pekes” have performed the world over, is an English performer whose trained dog act turns 50 years old this year.

SaLoutos said the act had been developed by Rosaire’s mother, then passed on to Rosaire in 1960.

Besides the Pekinese dogs in the original act, Rosaire has added a great Dane, a “very naughty” show-stealing mutt, and even a baboon.

“He’s the best dog act working in the world right now,” SaLoutos said. “It’s amazing that we’ve got him.”

Married couple Slava Byhkan and Kristina Nuss, of Belarus, perform acrobatics both as a team, and in individual acts, with Slava performing a precarious “rola bola” balancing act across increasingly unstable stacks of metal cylinders. Kristina’s hula hoop act is part of the “Ring of Illusions” show, which features illusionist Crist and a host of additional circus performances.

“We’ve actually put a couple of circus acts into the big magic show,” SaLoutos said. “It’s a touch of circus in the magic, and magic in the circus.”

You can tell that Sylvie is having a good time!

Really cool hoola hooping dancer…

Here’s Heidi Herriott & Lady Dancer performing an exacting equestrian routine.

This couple from Belarus did a great act. He’s on the “rola bola,” see-sawing all over while they juggle.

Here’s two girls and an elephant named Tiny.

Andrew took a ride on the elephant afterward.

And Sylvia chose to take a ride on a pony.

She had fun with her steed.

We took a ride on a very, very old carousel.

There’s Andrew and his grandpa.

And here’s a nice picture of Dad with both kids.

Enjoying some ice cream treats before we headed home. Thanks, Dad, for a great day!

August 25, 2011

Lake house

The weekend of July 22, we joined our neighbors, Kathy, Brett, Alivia, and Rayna at Kathy’s family’s lake house in Waupaca. A really great time was had by all.

There’s something so quieting about the pace of life in Northern Wisconsin. On a lake. In the summer.

Here’s a slide show of the weekend!

There’s the blondies, hair kissed by the sun.

In the evening our first night, the kids all played on the pier.

I have a picture of Andrew and Alivia from 2009 that I love.

Here’s the 2011 version. While Alivia was gazing at me with her amazing yes, Andrew was being a ham…

I love the way he’s looking at her in this picture.

Here’s Rayna by the birch trees in amazing evening light.

This is Andrew and Kathy and the pooch Freya enjoying the sunset.

Water time! We spent all day on the water.

Here’s the view from the shore to the floating dock where we spent the day. Andrew and Alivia and Rayna jumped and jumped and jumped off that dock. I kinda wish I’d had my camera to document the wonderful water play.

Mid-afternoon, we went for a boat ride on the pontoon boat. The big kids read, Rayna napped, and we all enjoyed this beautiful chain of lakes.

Here’s a view back to Kathy’s dad’s house from the water.

And the sunset…

Thanks, guys, for inviting us out for the weekend. We had a wonderful time. Kathy, it was great seeing where you grew up and getting to experience a place that’s been such an important part of your life. We’ll join you back there any time!

August 20, 2011August 19, 2011

Silly faces

We’re never going to be able to run for public office.

Here’s one of the things our family does for fun…take silly pictures of ourselves with the phone. Greetings from us to you from Door County!

August 19, 2011August 12, 2011

The many expressions of Sylvia

My Sylvie-girl is amazing. She’s dramatic and a shining, gregarious star. She sometimes gets shy and unhappy if people look at her or comment about her. She sparkles and spins and illuminates the room. She demands an audience. And she needs time to herself to recover from life’s small injustices.
Here, she was putting on a dance show for me. She requested photography.

Love this picture of her open face.

Dancing with the brown-haired twin.

Suddenly, not so happy.

Her dolly is dancing too:)

Dancing and spinning.

Dramatic dance-finish

Carefully positioned. Her expression here just cracks me up.

Practicing some of her ballet moves.

I love how she can channel some of her intensity. She’s so self-contained in this picture. That, right there, is my girl.

Now the other twin has come out to join the dance.

I just love the way Sylv’s lips pout out.

My sweet Sylvie.

While Sylvie was putting on this show, I was sitting on the sofa next to Andrew, who was reading books and applauding alongside me.

Boy do I feel lucky to get to see my kids do their thing and grow into themselves. Hugs to both of them:)

August 17, 2011August 12, 2011

Door County beach play

In early July, I had a great assignment to travel up to Door County to photograph Rutabaga Paddlesport’s Door County Sea Kayak Symposium. We’d had that weekend blocked off as a potential family vacation in Door County, so we combined the two. Bryan took care of the kids while I worked, and then I joined them for some outings to beaches and playgrounds. It was a great weekend! One of the highlights was sitting around the campfire as a family.

Here are some photos (taken with my phone since I was “camera’d out”) of Bryan and the kids playing in the water at Sand Bay Beach, which was just down the road from the Wagon Trail Campground where we stayed.

Here’s one of my favorite pictures from the summer:)

Here’s a picture of the kids asleep in the tent. Such cuties.

On Sunday, before we left, we visited Newport State Park.

The beach was a lot rockier, but we found lots of crawfish exoskeletons, which made for some fun hunting.

There was a spot where the sand was almost like quicksand. Andrew and I had fun letting our feet get swallowed up.

Homeward bound. Two tired kids!

August 16, 2011August 12, 2011

First lost teeth

When he was about 7 months, old, Andrew’s first two teeth came in…his bottom two. Here’s a picture of him in January 2006. There were some sleepless nights associated with the arrival of those teeth (see a January 31, 2006 post here).

By March 2006, those two bottom teeth were all grown in. Oh, what a cute baby he was!

And on July 5, 2011, one of those first teeth was ready to come out. Here’s a picture of the wiggler and of the adult tooth coming in behind.

Last picture of Andrew with all those hard-earned baby teeth. After this, he and I went to the bathroom, and at his request, I pulled that baby tooth out. He was so excited. You can see it in his eyes!

Here’s my newly minted “lost my first tooth” six year old.

And there’s the gap…

Here’s Sylvia demonstrating her teeth as well. The next morning, when Andrew was about to discover a couple quarters in his lovely granny-made stegosaurus tooth pillow, Sylvia fell off the sofa. Her top left tooth was knocked a little loose and now it’s turned a shade of grey. We’ll see if it lightens up again. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t need to come out!

Alivia recently lost her first top tooth. So we’ve got two gap-toothed smiles in the yard these days.

What cute kids these guys are!

Since I’m a month late in posting this tooth update, we’ve had a new tooth development. Andrew’s other bottom tooth loosened. Here’s his last picture with that bottom right tooth. You can see that his first adult tooth has really grown in…