Weekend Recovery in Progress

We had a GREAT weekend but now it's time to recover and get ready ready for a full week of work again. We spent Thursday at Kara's parents pool. This was Annie's first time in a pool and she LOVED it. She was content to sit in her inner tube and just splash around. Rachel put on arm floaties for the first time and she did a great job kicking her feet and swimming around. We spent the 4th in Cascade. We took the girls to the parade that morning and spent the rest of day playing at the farm. Scott took Rachel in later that night to see the fireworks in town. We went to Lake Delhi on Saturday with a group of our friends and the weather was perfect. We stayed up a little too late last night so it was hard getting up and going this morning. We are finally back home and Annie is glad to be back in her crib and Rachel is patiently waiting for Sam to get home so they can play outside.






Nice




Rachel & Abe

More Flood Photos

My friend Kara forwarded these images to me today. Most of these were published in the Gazette during the flood. This will give you an idea of how much water was in the downtown area.




Cattle deck party


House boats piled up against the Quaker Oats bridge


Image of downtown.


View of 3rd Ave

Happy 4th

I don't have any new pictures to post this week which is a first for me. I pulled up a few pictures from the 4th of July last year to post. CR will only have fireworks this year, no parade or Freedom Festival events. Everything has been postponed until Labor Day weekend. We were really looking forward to the Balloon Glow at Brucemore which is our favorite event. We will have all the more reason to celebrate at the end of summer and hopefully CR will be a little bit more back to normal. I took Thursday off so I'm looking forward to a long weekend. Hopefully we can enjoy some nice weather & fireworks back home.


The Kids Parade 2007. I was super pregnant
and it was super hot.


Rachel as her own float


Rachel & Cael

Balloon Glow - Rachel, Quinn & Shay

I'll be back in our CR office tomorrow...hooray! We are still on generators and no water but who cares, I'm just thankful it will only take me 10 min to get to work in the morning.

Here a few pics of the girls from the weekend.



Must of been one heck of a nap


Huh??


First time on roller skates

TGIF...a day early.

What a week!!!! I know I can't complain too much. I'm very lucky to have a house unlike the approx 25,000 people who live in CR who have lost almost everything. It really was a tough week I think many others would agree with me. My work building was evacuated last Thursday and as of today, it's still closed. We've been working temporarily at our office in Davenport. I stayed in Dav Mon & Tuesday night and drove up today and will make one more trip there tomorrow...hopefully my LAST trip. Our office may open by Monday and my co-workers and I agree that we'd rather stay in CR and use porta-potties and skip the commute. It was hard being away from Scott and the girls but I can't see i didn't enjoy a free hotel room, free meals and some much needed "me " time!

Last night we drove around downtown and I gotta say, seeing the damage after the water is gone is far worse than seeing the initial flooding. I can take picture after picture but you really have to see it in person to understand how devastating it is. Tonight I drove around our old neighborhood and up Ellis Dr and started to cry...again. House after house, block after block, destroyed by the water. Mountains of furniture, carpet and appliances sitting out front of each house, waiting for the dump. The scene that really got to me was the dozens of computers I saw sitting in a pile outside the local Boys & Girls Club. Organizations like that depend on donations from the community and I'm sure it took a lot of time and planning to raise the money to purchase them. But I did hear a positive statistic today. Out of the 25,000 displaced citizens of CR, less then 500 are staying in shelters. That means they are either staying with friends or family or have already found alternative housing. I pray this clean-up goes quickly so these families can go home again.

Rachel's Dance Party

I'll let the video speak for itself.

Happy Fathers Day!!

Happy Fathers Day to Daddy!!! Thank you for ALL you do! Especially for your patience and your smiles. You make every day fun!









We also found out this morning that we can start using our water again...HOORAY!! Everyone will get a bath today and we will slowly start up laundry and dishes. We drove over downtown last night and I was amazed as how quickly the water has receded but the mess left behind is going to take months to clean up.

Cedar Rapids Flood

Unbelievable. That is the only word I can find to explain what is going on in here. I hear myself saying that word several times a day as I watch TV and talk to friends and family. I've been watching the coverage on KCRG non-stop for the past couple days. They've shown the same pictures and video over and over again and it's still hard to watch.

I walked down to the river on Wednesday over my lunch and took some pictures of the river from the 2nd Ave bridge and a few of the streets downtown had just a few inches of water on them. That entire area is now flooded.

I passed over the river and downtown on my way to work on Thursday morning on I380 and I was in total shock. All I could do was cry. All of the downtown bridges were covered in water. It was so hard to focus at work. I kept checking news online and they were closing roads every hour. I finally left work at noon to pick up the girls from daycare and our building was evacuated just an hour later. I turned the news on when I got home and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Downtown is like my home away from home. I've worked down there for almost 13 years so I'm very familiar with the area. I was watching aerial coverage and I could see all the restaurants I eat at, the benches I sit on and eat my lunch at and they are ALL covered in water.

The water is a block away from our old house. We talked to our old neighbors and they are doing fine but no one ever imagined the water would reach THAT far. Our neighbor owns a plumbing business just a few blocks from our old house and it's a total loss. As I laid in bed last night with Rachel and watched the news, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Guilty because I have dry house and warm bed to sleep in while there are hundreds of families who have lost everything and who knows how long it will be before they can go home again.

Scott helped fill sand bags last night and we are trying to figure out how we can help after the water recedes. I can't even imagine how long the clean-up process will take and how soon before life goes back to "normal".

On a lighter note, life does still go on around our house. Rachel and Sam have been playing non-stop for the past three days. Today they decided to get creative with Rachel's markers, thankfully WASHABLE markers!


The view of 1st Ave on Wed afternoon. The water
is now up to the Dairy Queen sign.


View of 2nd Ave from my office building taken
yesterday. The water is now all the way up
to the bottom of the picture.



No wonder they were playing SO quietly
in the basement!


Rachel & Sam


Miss Dimples

Going for a Cruise

Our neighbor, Roger, asked Rachel if she wanted to go with them to watch a Little League game at one of the area parks tonight. Roger also owns a Mustang GTO convertible so the girls got to ride in style to the game! This picture is of Sam and Rachel as they were getting ready to leave, sunglasses and all!!

It's Officially SUMMER!!!

Rachel has been waiting...and waiting for it to warm up so she could play in her Dora sprinkler. This weekend she was in her swimsuit by 10am and READY to play outside. This weekend was also Annie's first time swimming in her baby pool and she loved it. Amazing how one inch of water can entertain a baby for almost an hour! It finally felt like summer and despite the bugs, we enjoyed every minute it!!!


Rachel & Sam


Ahhh....this is the life!


Annie being attacked by bubbles


We knew those curls were still there, we just had
to wait for it to get hot so we could see them again!


Oh yeh, I'm using a sippy cup.

Happy Birthday Rachel...and Trey...and Grammy!

What a busy weekend!! We helped Scott's nephew and his mom celebrate their birthdays on Saturday and we had Rachel's 5th Birthday party on Sunday. Thankfully the severe weather held out until after the party. It didn't rain but it was VERY humid out. Rachel didn't care, she had so much fun with her friends. She got a lot of wonderful gifts and we had a great time with our friends and family. I took tomorrow off for her actual birthday and we plan on taking her out for breakfast and spend the rest of the day at the farm...weather permitting. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate on Sunday, Rachel had so much fun!!


Ready to eat


Rachel's Barbie Cake


Modeling their new visors


Rachel & Ellyse


Funny Faces

Relaxing Evening

Just a few new pictures of the girls from last night. It was so warm out when we got home from work so we spent most of night outside talking to the neighbors, washing the cars and drawing with sidewalk chalk. Scott and I are really loving our new house and new neighborhood. It's great living on a dead end street and Rachel especially likes having a little girl her age right next door to play with.

Preschool Graduation

Well, Rachel is officially done with preschool and ready to start kindergarten! She had her preschool graduation on Friday and Scott and I both took the day off to celebrate. All the grandparents came too and we took Rachel out for lunch afterwards. They had a small program at school and the kids were given their "diplomas". I gotta say, I did get a little teary when they called her name. Rachel really enjoyed her two years at St Paul's and it was sad to realize that was the last time she would be there as a student. We especially had a tough time telling her teacher from last year, Mrs. Stacy, goodbye. Rachel thinks the world of Mrs Stacy and so do we. It's wonderful to meet a teacher that enjoys your child as much as you do. She does an amazing job as a teacher and we only wish we could take her with to kindergarten next year. I'm confident Rachel will work her charm on more teachers down the road but Mrs. Stacy will always hold a special place in our hearts. Thank YOU!!!!


Rachel & Mrs. Stacy


Rachel & Shay


The Graduate


Rachel & Elysse

Happy Mothers Day Weekend

Happy Mothers Day to ALL moms!! I never realized how special this day was until I became a mother. I never realized how tough my mom's job was until I became a mother. And I also didn't realize how completely rewarding it is to be a mom, until I became one. My two little girls are the greatest blessings in my life. They always find a way to make me laugh AND want to pull my hair out and amazingly all within the same day. I love seeing Annie's HUGE smile when I open the door to her room in the morning and she's standing in her crib, waiting for me. I love laying with Rachel before bedtime so I can scratch her back and she tells me how much she loves me and how I'm the best mommy in the world. Being a mom doesn't pay well but it does have the BEST benefits in the world!

Here are just a few (and I mean few because I'm usually the one behind the camera!) of my favorite 'mom' photos.


My Girls


My first early morning feeding w/ Annabelle


My Rachel

Dance Class

Rachel's friend, Quinn, asked her to attend a dance class with her on Monday night. Rachel was SO excited and we were anxious to see if she would enjoy it so we could sign her up in the fall. She really enjoyed it and asked the next day if she could go back. This video is of her and Quinn doing I'm a Little Teapot. Oh, and Happy 5th Birthday Quinn!!!!