Downtown Adventure

Today the kids and I took an adventure downtown Iowa City. We decided to take the bus, something Rebecca hasn't done since she was old enough to remember. They were so excited waiting for the bus, and once we got on Rebecca didn't stop smiling!

Dad was able to meet us downtown, and off we went looking for a place to eat that we'd never been to before. We saw some friends and got a recommendation for Atlas. I've heard quite a few people talking about Atlas, so we decided to give it a try. The vote was unanimous-2 thumbs up! They brought the kids out apples & strawberries to munch on while we ordered and waited for our food. The kids all got meals that were big & yummy. Rebecca had the mac & cheese and it was so good-just like we'd heard.

After lunch and saying good bye to dad we walked over to the Old Capital Museum. We explored all the rooms learning about the different money used just is this area. I hadn't even seen or heard of a 3 dollar bill. We also walked quickly through the Museum of Natural History. Corrine's foot was starting to hurt from all the walking so we headed back to the library to get our bus passes to get home.

We stopped for some frozen yogurt to eat while waiting for our bus. It was a nice treat after so much exploring.

It was a fun day exploring in our own hometown. We need to do this more often and explore places we've never been before. I'd love to walk on all the bridges over the river, but with Corrine's foot and Simeon hip hurting I think that will need to wait until later.

Fishing @ Sand Lake

Ammon got a closed reel fishing pole for his birthday last week and today was casting it into the

street getting a feel for how it worked. He also had a baseball game just across the street from this new lake area that the City has been developing. We decided to pack our fishing polls up and go right after the game.

Corrine surprised us with his fishing skill. She caught over a dozen fish and had a few more almost make it to shore before getting off her line. We joked that she must had put a 'love potion' on her worms because she could catch a fish, get it off, rebait, cast and bring another fish right in! She was amazing!! She had a small hook which probably really helped her get so many fish. 

Rebecca can cast really well for someone her age. She's figured out her pole and can get her line out pretty far. But the only thing she caught was the back of her shirt and the carcass of a dead fish! She was a patient fiser and she almost got brave enough to hold a fish, but settled for just touching it.

Corrine with a few of the fish she caught.

Dad caught the only big mouth trout of the night. 

Ammon caught 2 sunfish or blue gills. His hook was too big and the fish were able to get the worm off without getting hooked. He is an awesome caster and really got some good use out of his new fishing pole.

We had to finally drag the kids from the lake well after the sun had gone down. They wanted to fish the night away! Johann loves fishing, so this was so much fun for him. Simeon's at camp this week, so he missed out on the fun. Mom needs to get a license so she can fish too. 

When we were driving home I made the comment "I guess we can mark fishing off our summer bucket list." To which Ammon very quickly replied "I'm adding it back on again then!"

The kids are already begging us to go fishing again!

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.