Breakfast at Lou Henri's

Daddy took me to breakfast again today. We had a really cool morning. I woke up to Nali sniffing my head and then daddy and I read some books right away. I read a couple of penguin books, which got me in the mood for Happy Feet. So I asked daddy, "I want to watch the penguins on TV". He turned on Happy Feet in mommy and daddy's room and I watched it while he got dressed. Then we went to Lou Henri's, our favorite breakfast spot. Of course I ordered pancakes, but I liked the blackberry jam on the toast the best. Check it out:

Hi, Gran! See you soon!

The Coralville Pool!

On Sunday we went to the Coralville City Pool for some swimming. I was really excited- jumping up and down kind of excited. When most people from LA think of public pools, then frown at the idea of a run-down rinky-dink lap pool. But the Coraville pool is amazing- it is as good as any small waterpark! It has a sloped entrance pool, like a beach, three small slides into the regular pool, 2 diving boards, a dozen small waterfalls and sprayers, and two gigantic, tower based super slides. One of the big slides sends you almost straight down super fast into a toliet bowl- shaped finish where you spin around until you get dumped from 3 feet up into the pool! Daddy can't wait to try it!

But we just stuck to the kiddie pool, which was fine with me. I slid on the small slide about a dozen times, laughing hysterically each time. After an hour, mommy and daddy had to drag me away because I just wanted to keep going! I can't wait to "come back".

Here's a bonus- daddy spotted this duck family at work. Mommy was leading the chicks across campus to the river. How cute!

Loving the Lake

One of the many reasons we moved to Lake Pointe is becuase it is close to the Coralville Lake ("the Res"). Come fall, daddy plans to cut a walking path through the forest so we can walk the short 1/4 mile to the shore near our house. The route is not passable now becuase of dense vegetation and the high probability of getting ticks. So, for now, we have to go the long way around and get to the lake by the dam and spillway (see my previous flood blogs for details about the famous spillway!)

On Thursday last week, I had my first time on the lake and my first time on a boat when daddy took me with his residents as they cruised around on a motorboat. I was beaming the whole time, except when the engine got really loud and I had to cover my ears. But as we got off the boat at the dock, I said, "Come back?"

So, we did on Saturday, this time with mommy. We walked along the "beach" and waded in the water and found all sorts of cool fossils lying around. I was so happy! We also had a nice picnic that day on our lawn with tomatoes, bruchetta, crackers, and peaches.

This AM, daddy took me to see my owl Petra at the Raptor Center. We walked around, talking to the birds, and exploring the forest. We found a little trail that led out the lake and we walked out to the shore. The edge of the lake here consists mostly of piles of limestone rocks, cut by erosion into big steps. We sat on a legde and watched the water, then we noticed all the hundreds of little fossils we were sitting on. Amazing! I will have to ask Uncle Chris what they are!

This is a photo of our porch last week during a downpour, shwoing our poor rain chain overcome with flooding! I hope we finishing landscaping our new yard before the house washes away!

Tuesday is Gymnastics Class

The next Shawn Johnson!

The balance beam is my favorite!

Hi! I love going to gymnastics class! I talk about it all day long!

Summer Fun with Friends

This is Alex. He is a boy in my day care class. We met up with him and his parents on Sunday morning at the downtown (library) playground. After a wonderful pancake breakfast at the Wedge (awesome place for breakfast- I recommend it), we played with Alex on the playground. It was totally cool. And then dad took me in for gelato! Whee!

We have had lots of parties since we moved into Lake Pointe. This was from a party in June for mommy's residents. There were lots of nice children there, playing with me in the wading pool and climbing on the lawn chairs. Lake Pointe is an awesome place to have a party.

Here's the deer that ate all our tomatoes. Mommy gets really mad at it, but I think its pretty and I like have it and the rest of the deer family around. We will have to re-do the veggie garden next year so we can eat some tomatoes too!

Cousin Laura

My cousin Laura from Pennsylvania came to visit this last week. It was very cool to have a big sister around. She taught me all sorts of cool stuff, like how to throw a ball and run and scream and fall down and laugh. I played so hard every day I fell asleep very easily. But I woke up early too, because I couldn't wait to get back to playing!

Gran was here too- she brought Laura from Pennsylvania. Did you know that Gran has spent the 4th of July in Iowa every year since 2003? Cool, huh? Here I am posing like a model on the Sophie Sofa

Gran went with me to gymnastics class while she was here. I'll tell you all about gymnastics in a future blog. But as you can see, I am very flexible and strong. Laura likes gymnastics also- maybe because it is a brief time that allows us to do what we really want: to climb, jump, and bounce on soft furniture!

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When the going gets tough, the tough build pillow forts. Here I am hiding from everyone. I can still look outside to keep an eye out for deer or owls. While Gran was here she took Laura and I to the raptor center at Lake McBride. I got to see Petra again (the owl I adopted) and even meet the scientist who takes care of her for me. I can't wait to go back!

Boppy's Visit

I am a few weeks behind, but I will try to catch up with a few big posts. Here's how the house looked a couple weeks ago, but the outside painting is almost done now. These are pictures that Boppy took when she visited in June. After Gran stayed the first ever day in our new house, Boppy was our first out of town visitor. She loved her visit, loved all the deer, loved playing with the puppies, but most all loved hanging out with me!

The Sophie Sofa is very comfy- and perfect for building pillow forts!

Skye's favorite place is our porch, where she can keep an eye on the deer in the back yard and make sure they don't get too close to the house.

Wow, the trees are big! They still have a calming influence on me.

Thanks for visiting Boppy!

Cheers! This is one of my favorite games to play at dinner time. Just say cheers and I am happy to click cups with you!

While I ate, mommy and daddy spent forever hanging our art. They very carefully put our four seasons of Japanese prints near the kitchen over daddy's bar cabinet.

Denali is so loving- but her kisses are way sloppy!

I could stare out our window into the forest for hours. There's always lots of birds and sometimes a few deer.

Goodbye for now, but I will update the blog soon with more pictures!