We are enjoying a week of very moderate weather. I have been out planting more flowers in our front and side yard; communing with the 17 year cicadas...which are noticeably on the decline in the last few days. A week and a half ago, they were deafening and swarming every tree in our neighborhood.
Chris is off from work this week, so we are taking advantage of that. We made one final pilgrimage to the butterfly show before it closed this past weekend. Here are some cute pictures from that. This butterfly might have been on its last leg, but it wanted to spend its final moments on Owen.
A boy and his butterfly. They hung out together this way for 5 minutes or so.
This girl was thinking, "How can I take that butterfly off this kid's back?" Another older girl did exactly that a few moments later...
We have been keeping up on the news about Cedar Rapids, and getting email updates from my parents. What a huge mess! Thanks to all of my friends who have inquired about the Hamills and how they are doing with the flooding. The good news is, Dad and Lee are not in the flood plain. They are of course still effected by the water shortage, and travel restrictions (while several bridges were/are under water.) I am sad to think that Cedar Rapids will never be the same again after this disaster. The water is receding, but the only sewage treatment plant is offline, leaving all of the city's sewage to be dumped directly into the Cedar River. Cedar Rapids is known as the "city of 5 Seasons"...and also nicknamed, the "city of 5 smells" since Quaker Oats, General Mills, and a corn sweetener plant are all within a few miles of one another. Lee says it is being called the "city of Many smells" now, as the flood water is settling and leaving nasty residues everywhere. There are some amazing pictures on this link they sent me...
http://www.andrealynnphoto.com
imagine if this was your office on Monday morning...
Owen is doing well this week. He continues to have uncomfortable days and nights from teething pain, but when he is feeling good; he is just one cheerful little dude! What is it with him sitting in his toybox??
Owen continues to get more confident with being in the swimming pool. This week I got to be the one in the water with him while Chris watched and took a few pictures. Owen even floated, with his head down in the water...something he has always been very resistant to before now!
Pictures from last week with Dada...
and one more swimming picture, this one is at Grampa Tim's pool.
