School's Out for Summer

Out for summer
Out till fall
We may not come
Back at all

June 1st was the last day of school! The next day we took a road trip to Omaha to visit the Henry Doorly Zoo and then we went to Jessica's wedding reception in Council Bluffs in the evening.

Happy Meal Guess Who game during the car ride:

Happy Meal Battleship, I guess:

She's hot:

Penguins, looking awkward on land, yet nimble in the water:

Walking through the coral reef glass tunnel, surrounded by sharks, rays, and fish:

More jelly fish than you can shake a stick at:

Manta rays:

The bonnethead shark's snout has the ability to detect movement beneath the ocean floor caused by crabs, which it primarily feeds on:

The butterfly exhibit allows you to walk through a building full of butterflies flying around freely:

Lots of other animals, too. The gorilla down below cracks me up:

When we came home the next day Rose decided to burn her evil math book as we roasted marshmallows:

Cynthia and I have been racking up a lot of miles on our bikes the past couple months:

We set up a new 14' trampoline in the backyard! It's kind of impressive how quickly it wears us all out:

10.25

My cousin Jill got married in the Twin Cities and we drove up for the wedding. The fall colors were at their peak up there and it was a scenic road trip.

It's really embarrassing when Dave tries to be as cool as me. Trying to wear the same shirt and tie...

Back in Cedar Rapids we went to Bart's Farm:

Here We Go Again

Cedar Rapids is once again bracing for a large flood, although this time not as severe as the hugely destructive one that swept through in 2008. Still, the same areas will be damaged and people have been evacuated from their homes in preparation for the flood waters. Cynthia and the girls volunteered to help sandbag along 3rd Ave and then I helped sandbag on Saturday. We bagged a few dump truck loads of sand and then ran out of sand, so we began piling the sandbags around houses and businesses in the neighborhood. That went surprisingly quickly with so many volunteers helping, so we started helping people move their belongings out of their basements. It was kind of a war zone and sad to see how distressed people were since many of them had lived through the mess of the first flood. It was exhausting work, but thankfully it was cloudy and cool much of the day. And it didn't rain!

In the evening we went to Cole Herb's wedding reception at the Elk's Lodge. John and Roxi were there, too and it was great to catch up with our old neighbors. And the food was awesome!

More Wedding Pictures

Abby and Justin's wedding photos were just posted and I wanted to put a few of them on the blog for safekeeping.

Yup, that's Abby:

Dave and Daphne:

The dudes:

Me and Cynthia walking the aisle:

Rose kept busy doing some photography of her own:

Everybody:

Running away from the bubbles... pfft. Our wedding took place during the biggest blizzard in years and we could barely escape from the church. Those Texas peeps don't know how easy they have it: