Zoo day

Today my sweet little Rebecca and I decided it was a zoo day. A zoo day was just what we needed. Preschool could wait, Mom & Rebecca needed to play!

I tried getting there a new way for me, and I missed the turn. I missed a MAJOR turn! So we ended up going into Illinois on the 80. We ended up taking old Highway 6 to get to Coal Valley. It was beautiful on the drive. The trees were so colorful, but Rebecca just wanted to get there!

We rode the train with a field trip of noisy kindergartners.


The snow leopard was very active walking around. Rebecca got an eye to eye encounter with it.

We walked by the lions right as the male lion started roaring. He walked right up to the glass by us. He fogged the glass up with his breath. Rebecca said she wasn't scared by the lion.

We made a quick stop to feed the goats before heading to the pond. The fish were cold so they weren't eating the food wildly like they usually do. Instead the swans and ducks were eating all the food. One swam walked up to us on the deck and started eating the food on the ground. Rebecca started dropping food for it to eat. She started feeding it from her hands after watching a boy do it. The swan really liked all the food Rebecca gave it.

I've been trying to play with manual settings on my camera. Rebecca was more then happy to jump on the rocks while I took pictures of her playing.

I'm not sure why she's got such a potty lip in this picture. Must have been because I said it was time to go home. The Zoo's an hour away and Simeon had a doctors appointment, so we had to get home.

These days of field trips are numbered and I want to take advantage of these days with Rebecca before their gone. I love spending  time with this sweet little girl of outs.

Rebecca's Date Night

This cutie of ours is the only one home for a few days this week. Corrine's off riding horses at Girl Scout Camp and the boys are with the Smith Grandparents. When Rebecca realized that it would just be the 3 of us she started planning a "date night". She talked about our date night for days and all day long today, asking when it was time to go. She was so excited!

On the schedule was dinner and walking around the main lake at Kent Park.

We decided on Noodles & Company for dinner. We'd tried going there once before but ended up going somewhere else. Tonight we were determined to give a try. We ended up really liking it. The 100 choice soda machine didn't disappoint and neither did the mac n cheese.

After dinner we went to Kent Park for our walk. We stopped by the trees planted for Grandma & Grandpa Riddle (Rebecca's great grandparents on Johann's side) and Grandma & Grandpa Clifford (Rebecca's great great grandparents again on Johann's side.)

Rebecca the photographer taking mom & dad's picture.

 I just love this picture of her wearing my hat. 

 The bridges here are awesome. 

They have a rich history to each of them, 

they make amazing backdrops for pictures, 

and their fun to play on!

All night she kept pulling up her shorts under her dress because they just wouldn't stay up! At the end of our walk we learned it was her underwear and shorts that were too big and they would have been down around her ankles if she hadn't hiked them up a hundred time tonight!

Kent Park is so beautiful. Along the path are beautiful flowers in full bloom, ripe delicious raspberries and fun critters to check out. We saw 2 daddy long leg spiders covered in tiny little red hitch hiking bugs.

The serenity of the park is wonderful. Even with all the people we met on the path, it was still quiet and peaceful. It's a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of life and enjoy some quiet nature time. I think I know why our sweet girl wanted to come here tonight and I'm greatful for that.

 Speaking of Rebecca she was in the playful mood the entire time and a posing for pictures mood part of the time. Towards the end of out walk she wanted her picture taken. She'd pose for me, then change her pose and ask for another picture to be taken. She can be such a photogenic girl when she wants to be, and can make getting a picture of her hard at other times.

Bath house and beach 

Rebecca and the drinking fountain. 

Thank you Rebecca for planning such a fun date to go on with your mom & dad.

Another Flood

This time last year we were in a serious drought. We get so much rain here and we were so dry that the grass was dying and we had to water all out plants to keep them alive. Fast forward to this year and we have too much rain which is causing some minor flooding.

5 years ago we had a 500 year flood that ruined so many buildings, houses and land. This year the flood prevention was pretty intense. Instead of sand bag barriers alot of places put up Hesco Barriers, which are faster to put up, cover more area faster and are better protection for the area.

 

City Park is right along the river so it's the 1st place to flood. Which meant that Ammon's baseball season was cancelled. What a bummer this was for the boys. Thankfully within a week they were able to get some fields at the softball complex for the boys to play at, so games were back on despite the flooding.

Dubuque Street is on the other side of the river from City Park and it was flooded and closed for a few weeks.

As we were driving around looking at the flooding Ammon was snapping pictures through his window in the van. He's a good photographer and got some great pictures.

We took a walk on the bridge over the river by the Iowa River Power Company Restaurant. Ammon again was the photographer for most pictures. It was neat to see the flood through his eyes. He got some really good pictures that capture the amount of flooding. The rivers just a few inches from going out of the bank and flooding 1st Ave in Coralville.

This next one is one of my favorites that he got from our walk. The way you can see the water movement on the waterfall and the amount of water going over the dam is incredible.

Seeing the flooding in real life makes it so much more powerful then just hearing about it. It was a good lesson for the kids to understand the damage a natural disaster can do it just a short time.