Fossil Coral Reef

Today we went to fossil gorge- a bed of limestone that was famously discovered following the 1993 floods in Iowa City. The fossils got a fresh scouring and more were revealed this summer following the great flood of 2008. It's really close to the new Lakepointe Owlery, where the work is really progressing fast (more on that in the next post). What a great place to walk with the whee-whee backpack!

We went there with daddy's friends Lisa and Mark who were visiting from Los Angeles. He is a doctor that was in mommy and daddy's class in medical school and she is an actress. She had been to Iowa City before- as a cast member of Brighton Beach Memoirs. Cool, huh?

We walked out onto the rocks, which looks like tide pools or a maybe a worn reef. When you look closely at any of the rocks, you can see little spirals and shells and shapes of coral. Its really cool. And there were lots of birds there today- either white seagulls or very big vultures.

I am going to like my new neighborhood- lots of nature right outside.

I Can Eat With a Spoon!

I can feed myself with a spoon! Now great foods are available to me without help: apple sauce, yo-yo, hummus, and others. Pretty cool, huh?

Visiting Petra

On their last day in Iowa, I took Uncle Chris and Cousin Harper out to the Lake to see Petra, my owl. She lives at the Lake Mc Bride Raptor Center and I adopted her this summer. It was really great becuase I got to use the "whee-whee". That's what I call the backpack carrier that daddy wears when we go hiking in the woods or just raking the leaves at home. I call it that becuase as I float along, finally at grown-up height, I sing, "Whee! Whee!" It makes me so happy I pat daddy on the shoulder and blow him kisses to thank him for the walk along my favorite trees.

We took Harper and Chris to see all the owls and hawks and eagles, but most of all to see my little Petra. She is a Northen Saw Wheet Owl, really cute and small, but can be a fierce huntress. They have updated the information on her cage now to include me as a sponsor! (see below) Pictures of Petra can be found on my previous blogs about the Raptor Center.

2008 Roberts Family Reunion

Don't Harper and I look great in our Halloween costumes! She is a cow and I am a penguin. I can even dance the Happy Feet dance whenever you mention it!

Harper and I shared many meals this weekend. Here she is offering me a slice of apple. I love apple- I can even ask for by name.

I also love tomatoes! Another fruit I ask for by name.

Harper loves to eat . . . well, just about anything. Which really encouraged me to try to keep up.
Here we are with both our daddy's in our Saturday game day football gear. Daddy and I are wearing USC shirts and Uncle Chris and Cousin Harper are decked out in Penn State Nitanny Blue
We took Great Uncle Mike and Gran to the Farmer's Market. With the recent warm weather we've had, we got a late harvest of some really wonderful tomatoes, squash, turnips, peppers, basil, and other great herbs.
This is the Lakepointe Owlery- the workers have stripped the upstairs as well as poured the foundation for the new part of the house. They're making great progress! This photo is where mommy and daddy's master suite will be- and mommy and I are standing where the new bathroom will go.

Back at home, Harper and I shared a bath tub. She really likes to splash, which made us both laugh.

The daddys are so proud of their beautiful daughters!

Uncle Chris made his specal low fat-low sugar chocolate chip cookies. They kinda taste like chocolate chip pancakes, which is fine with me!

Gran was so happy to have the two girls all weekend- she just couldn't get enough of us!

What a weekend! We played so hard, we both got zonked out and dreamt of soft fuzzy puppy's and tall, warm bottles of milk.

We Voted!

On Tuesday, we had a great daddy day. Among other things, daddy took me to the County Offices to vote in this year's presidential election. It was really cool! We know that Obama has at least one vote in Iowa!

Work on the Lakepointe Owlery Has Begun!

I am still having a great time with Grammie! She is wonderful and loves me very much. I am so happy to have all this attention I have been full of hugs and loving pats. I am even calm at bedtime, happy to get into my crib even if I am not ready to fall asleep. Mommy and daddy don't seem to mind if I play with my stuffed animals for a while before falling aslseep. I also play with my famous "turtle aquarium", a toy that plays music while fake fish dance around.

The other big news around here is that they broke ground on my Owlery out at the lake. They dug a big hole next to the house and poured some concrete for a foundation. They will get to framing the addition in the next week or so.

Inside, they have removed all the carpet and the kitchen cabinets and at least one wall so far. We are starting to get a send of just own open and huge the great room will be. This is going to be way cool! I can't wait to show Harper around when she comes to visit in a week.