A Visit from my Greatest Fan!

Aunt Ada and Anut Jenny stopped by yesterday and today on their way to Minnesota. Aunt Jenny is starting work as a Luthern Minister / Intern in Eden Prairie, MN, so she'll only be 4 hours away. We will go see her this winter for sure. I haven't been to Minnesota yet, so that will be great.

Last nigh we had an awesome feast at Granmimi's: roast chicken, grilled veggies, whole roasted garlic, Mer Soile Chardonnay '05 (full bodied flavor and paired well with the lemon chicken, but definitely a bit on the oakey side compared to their usually buttery taste), and the most amazing strawberry- rubarb pie in history. Granmimi is an amazing chef, and her cooking is even better when she has farm fresh ingredients like she did last night.

It was wonderful to meet my most dedicated fan in person. I had only seen her once before, at the Halloween party (see October 2007 posts), so I didn't remember her by face. But once we started playing, I warmed up and showed off by walking all around the house. Everyone was clapping and cheering for my great accomplishment.

Aunt Ada came over to our house the next day to say hi before the drove to Minnesota. She had to spend some time with Denali. Apparently, Ali is a lot like her former dog, Chrissy, who both Ada and Jenny miss very much. Chrissy was Denali's Aunt, and Denali got to meet her years ago. Now Chrissy is gone, along with Cody (Denali's half brother). Denali is the last of that line and we are very happy to have her in our family. I can understand Ada's attraction to Denali- I think she's pretty special too!

A Nice Day at Home

Today we spent the day inside: reading, playing with the puppies, and practicing walking. What a great day! We started with the farmer's market, had a nice lunch of tomato salad, and then went to Granmimi's farm for an amazing feast of chicken, asparagus, garlic, and eggplant (pictures coming soon). Best of all, we got to hang out with Aunt Ada and Aunt Jenny, on their way to Minnesota to move Jenny into her new job. Daddy said we'll be sure to visit this winter.

Check out this video of me as an Obama baby!

Language Development

First: a flood update. The water stopped going over the spillway on Tuesday and waters are receeding further. The bottom on Kimball and the Park Road bridge is still not clear, but the pther bridges and roads are mostly clear. There is still a lot of clean up to do, especially in Coralville and around the arts buildings on campus. Daddy has been doing research on the impact of the floods on the Emergency Room, you can see that data here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=phMAyvMM_cGtLOzhkhFWlWA


Next, I wanted to thank Gran for her recent visit. We had a wonderful week! We would go to breakfast, go for walks, go shopping, and play for hours in my room. She was fascinated with my ability to walk and I eagerly showed off my new talent for her. We even survived a brutal monday evening where workers were putting a new roof on the house and it was VERY LOUD! But Gran made me feel so comfortable I was actually able to sleep in my room, even with the workers directly above.

Even though she was here for a week, I haven't made a new post since last week. That's becuase daddy's camera broke and we just got the replacement. Don't worry- all the data (including my walking) was saved.

Finally, I have to tell you about my wonderful advances in language. I have been able to understand simple phrases for some time, but only recently have I been able to form new words. Last week, for the first time, I called by beloved sister by her name, "Ali". I was so proud of this new word that I kept repeating it: "Ali, Ali, Ali, Ali, . . . ". Every time, she would approach me and nuzzle my face or belly, making me laugh. Although her name is harder, I can kinda say Skye: it comes out "Iye". And my favorite stuffed animal: "Owl". When Gran and daddy and I went to the Natural History Museum this week, we saw a beautiful stuffed snowy owl. Daddy asked me, "What sound does the owl make?"

To Gran's shock, I said, "WHO!"

I CAN WALK!

Yesterday we got some good news: the flood waters are receeding. And they opened the interstates that had been closed by the floods. Although we still only have two bridges in town, things are starting to return to normal. Mommy had the morning off so we all went out to breakfast at Lou Henri's, a cool coffee shop that gave me my own sippy cup of milk- thanks! Then we went back to the children's museum and said hi to my favorite turtle. '

It was such a wonderful day that I celebrated by walking! Check out these videos!

Aerial Flood Photos

The Iowa City Press Citizen just posted some amazing aerial photos of the flood in Iowa City and Coralville. Check these out! We'll follow the river from the dam north of town to the last bridge in the south end of the city. First, some wonderful news: the resevior crested early this AM, and the river will follow in a day or two. That means it can't get much worse.

Here's the Marriot Hotel in Coralville. The waters are getting really close to the facility, but they haven't flooded yet. In fact, they still had customers staying there last night! Everyone else thinks they're totally crazy and started their sandbagging efforts too late, but we'll see.

This is the main commercial area of Coralville. Our favorite Indian restaurant is in the top middle of the photo and definitely under water.

Here's the intersection of Hwy 6 and 1st Ave, one of the busiest intersections in the Iowa City Area. Walgreens is just to the left of the area pictured.

This is the Iowa River as it passes through the university campus. As you can see, mommy and daddy's hospital is very safe, off to the top right of the photo. Our house is on the same level, but on the left (east) side of the river, also very safe. But the park road bridge is totally underwater and may collpase. And Hancher, where I got to see the Joffery Ballet last year, is flooded and will be out of service for some time.
The Park Road bridge. Obviously, we need to get used to a different commute to work!

The Iowa Ave Bridge near the student union. The union is now flooded. The bridge is fine, but the street on the near side of the river is flooded, so we can't get to the bridge.

The Burlington Street bridge- a real workhorse and the only remaining city bridge left. The engineers are doing an amazing job of keeping this open, which is important for us becuase it's the quickest route to the hospital and the closest bridge to my day care. The law school is the round building to the right, and the main library is the brick building behind the white tank on the far side of the river. The library's basement is flooded, but they got the books out. This is basically the view from the top of the hospital.

Finally, this is the south part of town and the last two bridges. Benton street bridge (top) is in even better shape than the Burlington bridge, but the streets are flooded on either side of it, limiting its usefulness. The Hwy 6 bridge at the bottom of the photo closed Friday AM and is totally swamped, and may not re-open for a while. Mommy and daddy's favorite Thai restaurant is to the far right of the photo. We don't know how badly flooded it is, but it will certainly re-open before the Indian place!

Amongst The Floods, We're Happy and Together

Even though the city is flooding and is about to be cut in half by the swelling river, we are together and safe and dry. We're just hanging out at home and playing with the puppies and waiting for the waters to go down. Daddy's is on duty in the ER and he will be at the hospital for a couple of days, but we'll be OK.

We went shopping for supplies and we have plenty of water, dog food, milk, and my new favorite food: GRAPES!

Flood of 2008: The Waters Keep Rising

Coralville' business area has flooded. The waters extend from Hawkins Drive at the edge of Iowa City to at least 4th street in Coralville, a few blocks short of the co-op

The Marriot Hotel, where daddy's big conference is supposed to be held in September, is still OK, but just barely. The field in the top of the picture is the dog park, which is starting to flood. Some of the city's main water supply comes from there, so they're building major sandbag walls around it

This is the university motor pool (close) and the Riverside Dairy Queen (far). These were both destroyed in the Iowa City tornado a couple of years ago and now they're flooded.

The Park Road Bridge is basically under water and may collapse. City park is completely under water.
The merry-go-round in City Park.

The Great Flood of 2008

This is the first of many posts about the amazing flood we are experiencing. Many of you have seen the remarkable images from Cedar Rapids. It is no where near that bad in Iowa City and won't get that way, but it is still bad. In fact, the flood maps by the USGS plot 100 and 500 year flood extents- and the 2008 flood exeed the 500 year borders! That makes this not just the flood of the century, but the flood of the millenium!

These first two photos are of the bottom of Kimball near Dubuque St. The picture above was taken one week ago, and one below was taken yesterday. And the water is not done yet!


The real problem is the water above the dam upstream from Iowa City is pouring over the spillway. Its pretty to look at, but it means big trouble down below, in town.

The main road connection through Iowa Cit is the Burlington Street bridge. If it goes under, the two halves of Iowa City will be cut off from each other. This AM, the water was lapping at the bottom of the bridge.

Burlington Bridge from the other side. This is normally a 10 ft waterfall- now just a big ripple

The Flood of 2008

More pictures will be posted later this week as the waters will crest Monday, but I had to post this one of city park. It shows the shakespeare festival stage barely holding out against the rising tide. The waters topped the spillway last night- we will go visit the lake tonight to see it.

Father's Day (early)

Daddy works a lot on weekends, but not as much during the week. That's how he can take me to and from day care each day. But today he wanted to celebrate Father's Day a little early, since he will be in the ER this Sunday. So daddy took the day off from work and kept me home from school.

Sweet!

We said goodbye to Mommy as she left for work and feasted on my new favorite breakfast, yogurt, while daddy enjoyed some bananas and granola. We took care of my puppy sisters and headed out the door. We couldn't go down the hill on Kimball becuase the Iowa river has overflowed its banks and now completely covers Dubuque Street, blocking the lower end of our street. I will write more about the floods later this week, becuase the river is expected to crest monday. We should get some more amazing photos as the water gets even higher.

The first stop on our grand day out today was the Coralville resevior and the source of all the flooding. Since the dam was built in 1958, the water has cleared the emergency spillway only once: in 1993. Now, the water is about to go over it again. We saw it when it was very, very close. (the water has cleared the spillway at 9pm, June 10th, as of this writing)

Then we went on to the Raptor Center to see my beloved owls. It was a pleasant walk through the forest to the center and we got to see owls, hawks, and eagles. My favorites were the barres owl and the bald eagle. They both called out when we approached the cage, which made me smile.

After visiting the birds, we drove to the Coralville mall and ate chicken sandwiches for lunch. I surprised daddy by sucking down the chicken eagerly. I really haven't liked chicken much before, but there was something about this sandwich that was just perfect. And I washed it down with lemonade, another new discovery that I love.

From lunch we went to the Children's Museum, conviniently located in the mall. We bought a membership so daddy or Gran can bring me back any time. In the front hall, they have this painted turtle (main photo). He's a lot more active than the colorful turtles I have in my bath every night. I thought he was very cool. Did you know I can actually say, "turtle"? Its true!

The museum was lots of fun. Our favorite room by far was the physics display. They had ramps we could run golf balls down and over jumps. And a giant roller coaster for the golf balls. And a pinewood derby race ramp. And the largest wooden train playset I have ever seen. WOW! I kept asking daddy to roll the ball down the ramp. "More, more!" I said using baby sign language.

The rest of the museum was pretty cool. There is a fairy tale castle puppet theatre, a mock up farm with a really fun slide, and a special exhibit on dinosaurs. I can't wait to go back!

After all this excitement, I crashed pretty hard when we got back to the car. When I woke up I got the best surprise of all: daddy had picked up mommy from work while I was sleeping and she joined us at home for a snack.

YAY!

Alisal Part 2

Here are some more photos of us from Alisal. I like this one of the family. It might end up on a Christmas card later on. I really had fun at Alisal- this photo proves it.
My last post has pictures of me with Grandad and Boppy at the barbeque, and here's another one. I really liked the dancing- I kept moving around and smiling and laughing when the band was playing. These are really pretty roses and they smelled great! We don't have any roses at our house in Iowa becuase we don't have enough full sun, but maybe some day we can grow some.

I went swimming for the first time at Alisal. It was awesome. I started out wading on the top step, but then Grandad took me for a swim in the deeper parts. I had so much fun I kept asking daddy to take me out again. And again. And again. Daddy got really tired, but I didn't mind! He would hold me horizontal with my face out of the water and drag me along through the water. How fun! I splashed and laughed and just wanted more! I can't wait to go again.
We had 8 grandchildren attend this time: 3 grandkids of John House (myself, Laura, and Harper) and 5 grandkids of Ken House (David, Elle, Michael from Nicole and Josh and Jesse and Remy from Jody and David). We managed to get all the grandchildren in one room at the same time and tried to take a group photo. This is one of the best ones we could get, since it was like herding cats- big time. Still, playing in the arts and crafts room with all my cousins was pretty cool. I made a hand print at the arts and crafts room. I brought it home and I can make another one in future years to compare my growth. That's Jesse and Remy next to me.


Here's Remy with cousin David at lunch. She is pretty funny and I liked hanging out with her. They live in the far off land of Montana. It sound really pretty and I would like to go there some day. Daddy was very happy with Montana becuase they voted for Obama and made him the Democratic nominee!

Alisal: Part 1

I just got back from a great vacation to California. It was my first trip to the annual House family get-together at Alisal, a resort ranch in Solvang, California. The family has been going there every June for almost 30 years. In that time, babies have been born, grown up, gotten married, had babies of their own, and now a new generation is experiencing Alisal for the first time. I am a proud member of that generation- 8 of us so far. I will post pictures of all my cousins in the next blog.

The main photo above is me seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and I loved it! We drove down PCH and stopped to take a picture and smell the breeze. In March 2009, we have planned a trip to the Bahamas and I will get to see the Atlantic for the first time.

Here I am on the plane with daddy heading out to California. Mommy had to stay one more night in Iowa for a special dinner with her department (to honor the late, great Dr McCabe). So daddy and I flew together. I had my beloved panda doll with me to keep me company. I tried on the airplane seat belt and panda and I together could barely fill it!. Daddy kept me on his lap for most of the flight and I did fine. But the airplane was delayed in leaving Iowa and we (just) missed our connection in Denver. So we stayed overnight in Denver at a Doubletree hotel. I liked it- they gave me a crib and cookies and a great buffet breakfast in the morning. I got to eat pancakes- YUM!
This is me at the Saturday night barbecue in Alisal with Grandad. I loved the music they were playing, especially the Creedence Clearwater Revival. I just kept dancing and never got tired. I will ask daddy to put some CCR on my Sophie mix on the iphone.
And here's me with Boppy at the barbecue, showing off my latest in summer fashion. A pink and yellow sundress accessorized with a white sweater, hat, and sandals. It is very Hollywood, don't you think?

Here I am with 4 graduates of the USC medical school, including my beloved Uncle Steve and Auntie Beth. They are visiting next week as they drive out to Michigan to move for residency. We also had three other USC MD grads at the ranch: Cousin Nicole, Uncle Ken/Rainbow, and Grandad! Apparently, Steve had his photo taken as a baby with his Grandfather, father, and aunt at her graduation from USC med school. Maybe this photo is a portent . . .