The Van Auken Family wo/anders....

Love it! Smilebox is as easy as it is fun!

2009-01-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Post yyyyIKES: What is Galveston like 4 months later?

2009-01-11T20:39:00.000-08:00

The girls made a trip over to Galveston today to collect seashells for the jewelry we've been making. More on that later. Unfortunately, the question, "What is Texas like post-Ike?" doesn't get asked enough. Galveston, is still struggling. The photo of the house missing the back wall with the abandoned pick-up truck was snapped along the San Luis pass on January 11, 2009. It looks like a horror story doll house, doesn't it? The sheets on the bed were blowing in the breeze. Here we are 4 months later, and clearly, life is not back to normal. The changes in the shoreline are amazing. State law says that the area on the beach between high tide and low tide is public property. It looks like lots of homes may be seized by the state as they are now on the public beach.

Did the Galveston House Make it Through Ike?

2009-01-09T06:46:00.000-08:00

Yes! The cute little bungalow on Surf street made it through the storm, and is habitable. However the houses closest to the shore in the Palm Beach subdivision had HUGE changes to their property line. The beach literally shortened due to erosion, and as a result, a few homes will have to be re-built. We'll be posting some before and after photos for you all to view. Don't let me forget.

How do words get in our breath?

2008-11-10T06:41:00.001-08:00

To get the complete story on voice production, including a video, check out the NYU website.

Thanks for asking Aaron!

Can I still hear the voice in my head with headphones?

2008-11-10T06:40:00.001-08:00

Yes. Thanks for asking Hannah. For parents of the easily distracted: Hannah has headphones that she wears during reading time. But, to her credit, the question is not out of line. If you're an auditory learner, hearing yourself think aloud is important. So, you may just have to take those headphones off for a second, so you can hear the WHOLE story (thoughts included). For more on learning styles: http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm

Hurricane Ike: How'd it Go?

2008-09-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

Okay...Hannah asked, "How do hurricanes get made?" Good question. Right now I know you are all wondering about how we faired during Ike, and not so much about how he got to be. Well, lets begin by saying, we are all safe, and escaped any heavy damage...though the sewer backed up. This was really, really gross. We had no power, so we sacraficed our towels, comforters and area rugs to clean up the inside mess. Doug improvised and used the kids water gun squirters as the wet vac.

The storm was long and brutal. We avoided the Rita exodus, and stayed for the last hurricane, and figured this storm would be no different. We were wrong. Doug and our friend John boarded up the windows, which helped to buffer the noise. The term howling is not descriptive enough for the wind and rain that followed. What the storm lacked in windspeed it made up for in duration. For four hours the house was pounded. Then the eye passed over, a quiet eerie matinee to the next act. The second round of four hour wind proved to be even more lethal. Doug, Hannah, Abbie, and Aaron fell asleep. I stayed awake, listening for the potential thud of a tree. Kingwood is called the "livable forest", ironically the areas greatest assets becames its lethal weapons.

Once the storm was over, the neighbors collectively emerged to survey the mess. The air was still wet, hot and sticky. What we saw was a green and brown disaster area. Gigantic oaks were uprooted, tree limbs littered the ground. Utility poles were turned sideways. Pine trees were split in two. Collectively, the neighbors got to work. We raked, chainsawed and bundled. On the main streets, the street crews cleared the trees, with the same skill as snow plowers. Though this team scurried from the heavy trucks headed to the roadblocks, chainsawed and moved them aside, and continued down the road.

We had no access to communication for 24 hours, other then the radio. We pulled together. We shared generators, power tools, and our skills. Extension cords tethered us to our next door neighbor. I had the community fridge running. Two neighbors had gas stovetops and we took turns boiling water for dinner. Anu and Jana shared homemade indian cuisine.

For several days we didn't venture beyond the neighborhood perimeters. A curfew was enforced, and due to the power outages stores were closed. Really, there was no where to go, nothing was open, and workers couldn't get to work. Once the stores opened, long lines emerged, and meat, produce and frozen food were pulled from the shelves. We shopped in darkness. It is strange to go shop around a darkened grocery store. Gas lines were an hour long.

The children enjoyed the time off. The storm brought new found freedom for them. They were allowed to ride their bike unaccompanied and beyond the stop sign. They made plays, and talent shows. At night, we held a neighborhood campfire and made s'mores. One neighbor projected movies on to the garage door (plugged in to the generator across the street), for the Red Cedar drive-in. Abbie played with Luke, the new springer spaniel puppy dog next door. Someone wrote that the birth of A/C brought about the death of the community. Ike seems to prove the statement true. The hot weather forced our windows and doors open. The common catastrophe gave us common work, and a shared vision.

The lights came back two weeks later. Other then debris awaiting removal, and the bevvy of broken signs, the freeway of utility trucks, and blue-tarp colored roofs, life is back to normal. We're back in our house, doors closed, and still talk about how much worse it could have been.

Is the 99c store really cheaper?

2008-08-23T20:40:00.001-07:00

The answer is yes! On some items...

Why doesn't the sun fall out of the sky?

2008-08-23T20:29:00.002-07:00

Good question. I don't know.

How come I didn't see Jesus on the plane?

2008-08-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

He doesn't fly coach? Thanks Hannah for asking. The entire plane got a hardee-har-har out of this question. You know with planes flying so close to Heaven it does seem to follow that Jesus might be seen.

Need to know more about beachcoming? Ask your children and Google.

2008-08-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

Despite living in Alpena for a few years, and visiting when I was little, I do not remember going beachcombing. Hannah and Sophie turned out to be experts, and collected fossils, and some very artistic looking driftwood. One driftwood piece appears to be a shark or a marlin. Thanks to the girls, I now know about the Petoskey Stone, a honeycombed fossil of coral over 350 million years old. Turns out there is also a legend that claims the honeycombs are really captured sun rays. I got to wondering? How do you turn a fossil into a bead? After a lot of searching, I have no specific answers. I did stop by Bella Beads to ask, and I think Hannah and I will be learning the Peyote stitch at a Saturday class. (They don't drill holes).

I didn't have to search long to find out that the internet is a thriving marketplace for fossils, and even nature created art. I found some formidable driftwood sculptures by Matt Torrens. For the person who has everything, you may want to take a journey into Bizarre Bids. com Weirdauctions.com and Strangebids.com . There are some items you didn't know money could buy.

Step Right Up! Kids Visit County Fair; Mom Surfs?

2008-08-03T16:22:00.001-07:00

Admit it. No small town visit is complete without a trip to the county fair. Doug braved the short lines, and erector set rides, and took the kids out for a night on the town. You know the stories about carnys....I got to wondering, "Who puts these events together anyway"? After a little friendly teasing by brother E.J. about the Sker-something- brothers, and Google sluething, I found out more info about the Skerbeck Brothers. It looks like a little amusement takes a lot of work...building a town and moving it, has to be a labor of love!

According to an article about the family by the Petosky Observer, there's no evidence that traveling carnivals are less safe then the fixed variety. I need some more convincing. I'm not a carnival lover or an amusement park lover. The rides make me nauseous. Call me a wimp. There was also a very scary 70's movie about a half-man/half snake that gave me nightmares. Looked it up, and Ssssss, seems to be the culprit.

I do find the concept of traveling entertainment interesting though, and my little sidebar of Googling, led to lots of new info, including a stop at Sideshow World, a site "dedicated to preserving the past while promoting the future of sideshow for fans and performers alike."

I also had a second to look into the ride manufacturers. Wow! Imagine being a ride engineer. Now, that could be a cool job! So, sometimes surfing can lead you to fun-filled rides that are worth figuring out.

Hannah, Aaron and Doug have added Gravitator and the Zipper to their vocabulary and experience bank! Abbie (too short to ride) and I happily sat the visit out (nausea remember), and hung out with Aunt Mary, Carolyn, Mom, Marcia.

Are quirky roadside attractions worth the journey?

2008-08-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

After leaving DTW, we headed out into Detroit traffic. We thought Houston was bad! Whew! Traf-fic competition. The kids got to see the largest tire along the way. We also got to see Alex, Aunt Gina and Uncle Ed. After some super falafel sandwiches, and some primo play time with Alex, we hit the road again to see Grandma Kay. We love that other Roadside America attractions along the way included dual spottings of gigantic Babe the Blus Ox, and Paul Bunyan. We passed Dinosaur Gardens, though we didn't go for a visit this time. I do love the ingenuity of the off scale, plaster creatures from the 30's. I promised the kids a trip to the Teepee Motel in Wharton too. Another plaster palace, filled with great memories, and someone's fun idea. During the week, Doug got a chance to kayak on Lake Huron. Grandma Kay and E.J. are witnesses. We also spent the day visiting with the Connolly clan. We vote for roadside journeys everytime. There's a slice of imagination and hard work in nearly every off-beat design.

I got to wondering....what is the story behind those kitschy museums? What drives people to create off-beat attractions?

Do minnows and lemonade go together?

2008-08-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Family and Friends,
We just got back from a week long stay in Alpena, Michigan. The kids had a blast in the water, by the water, and at the county fair.

I celebrated my 40th with a homemade carrot cake, decorated with day lilies and daisies right out of grandma's garden. The children had a chance to play with some new friends..Owen and Sophie...can you believe their great grandparents also used to play together too? The kids put their entrepreneurial skills to work and sold minnows and lemonade for 25c on U.S. 23. They earned $5.25. Gordon's Bait comes to the Blair Street Pier, and were kind enough to share some of the daily catch with the kids. Of course, they had no idea they would soon be competing for customers! The venture was not without business problems including, alleged embezzlement (Aaron took 75c before the spoils were divided), fraud (dead minnows), and injury (a picked scab?) but in the end, all profits were divided, claims were settled and the kids had lots of fun! (Grandparents and parents too!) Like chocolate and peanut butter, minnows and lemonade are certainly a great combination.