Lost Island Waterpark

The kids and I found a hidden Iowa treasure.... Lost Island Water Park in Waterloo. It is the BEST water park I have ever been to. Gwen and I took Nathan, Joshua and Ethan (Nathan's friend) up for the day. The weather was perfect and we had a BLAST!!!!!

Oh my Gosh......

The dam before the water came over the spillway....

After the water came over...

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are alive. It is hard to believe what our town looks like. Roads I drove on 2 days ago, under water. Buildings I was in 2 days ago, under water. It is amazing to see how fast take over a city. We have just been watching the news and trying to stay entertained. We have also been praying that we don't loose power or water. The water is slowly starting to come down and then the real work will begin. Jared is home for the whole week. The University got hit hard. His clinic is okay, but they still closed for the week. Girls camp got cancelled. I-80 is closed and I-380 is closed. What a nightmare. Hopefully we will be out of here soon!

My favorite place to get drinks, under water...

Right by Jared's work. The building in the bottom left is a Walgreens and right behind that is our favorite Mexican resturant...

Storms continue to come, with wind, hail and tornados...

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

The boys had a great "last day" of school at Penn Elementary. They had a big school party outside. (It was HUMID and I was VERY sticky) All the kids came outside with their sack lunches. I picked up Subway's for the boys and they were very happy. After they ate, the teachers put on a skit and then it was DANCE and MUSIC time. Joshua ran right to the play set, but Nathan and some friends got up and danced ( I was shocked and even more shocked that he actually let me take pictures). It was fun to watch the kids do line dancing, the Electric Slide, and the Macerana (spelling?). The PE teacher was the DJ and did a great job. Nathan did great and Joshua even tried a few moves. They both are going to miss all their friends at Penn.

Mrs. Hilsman!

Joshua has LOVED kindergarten and his teacher Mrs Hilsman.

Josh and I had a conversation about how after the last day of school he wouldn't get to see Mrs. Hilsman again.... this was the wrong thing to say. He got SO sad and couldn't believe that we couldn't visit again from Louisiana. I consoled him and then added that maybe we would see her at the swimming pool this summer. I didn't realize how sad he would be, and then I suddenly realized just how much time he has spent with her this past year. I guess saying "Good-bye" is hard even for a 6 year old.

Joshua spent a lot of time on a card for Mrs. Hilsman and even drew a portrait of her.

What have we created.....

So Nathan is finishing up 3rd grade this year and part of his work has been to do a research paper. He chose to write on the Peregrine Falcon.... seems easy enough, but Nathan is a PERFECTIONIST! Picture a 3rd grader writing their first report and needing it to be college quality. IMPOSSIBLE! (Let me just say I taught 3rd grade and as a teacher you would probably expect a 1-2 page paper... not Nate's his was 4 1/2 pages long.) He finally finished it the last week of school. Not procrastination, just perfection! Yikes, I hope this isn't a preview of life to come. By the way, he did a GREAT job!

Yeah! Another Field Trip

Joshua had another field trip today. He went to Safety Village. He got to learn all about the rules of driving and being a great pedestrian. His class got to drive "cars" on a miniature street course, with stop signs, stop lights, rail road crossing, and cross walks. All I can say is watch out in six years! It was pretty scary. They also got to play on a cool playground. He had a great time.

FYI: Just so you don't think Nathan is left out on all the Field Trips... He has had two in the past month. One to the Herbert Hoover Museum and one to the Raptor Park. However, he is too cool to let mom take pictures ("how embarrassing"), so no blog time for him!!!!

Family Vacation

We decided to take the boys over the long weekend to Nauvoo and Carthage for our last big visit. We spent Friday night and Saturday in Nauvoo. Jared and I both did sessions at the temple. Then we went around Nauvoo and visited the sights. We took the horse and carriage ride around Nauvoo and saw some beautiful scenery. Saturday night we went to the performance of Sunset on the Mississippi. It was great fun. The kids participated in a children's parade and Jared even went on stage when the gave tribute to all the branches of military. The weather couldn't have been better, we even needed light jackets. Sunday we went to church in Nauvoo and then to Carthage Jail. It was a nice weekend. We really feel blessed to have lived so close to this wonderful church sight and we will miss it.