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it's a beaUtiful day says Scotty, 20 times every day since the rain stopped. We were lucky to be up on a big hill, live on the second story of our apartment complex, and to not own property during the floods. Aside from our favorite walking trails being closed, gobs of road closures, and more-plentiful-than-normal mosquitoes, we were untouched by the floods. We’re sad for the Iowans who lost much if not all of their material possessions. What a year! Terrible winter, worse Spring…I wonder what summer will bring? We joined the droves of Des Moiners who went river watching (no, there’s not much to do here) and took some pics. This is downtown; the police department is the large building to the left. This is a sad house south of Grand Avenue, where we live. Hopefully the river didn't rise farther than what we saw. See the mailbox in front? This is Fleur Drive, a main drag in town, and the way to the airport. Here's the railroad. A friend of ours is still stranded (but not too sad about it, right Lynda?) because Amtrak won't travel in Iowa. There are TONS of tractors around town moving sand and sandbags. Scott is having a blast spotting them. Jeremy is starting his third week of rotations and is really enjoying having more responsibility. He’s happy he made the decision to stay at Broadlawns in Des Moines for June and July. I am too. We’ve had a great time this spring, and it was nice to let James have a mellow beginning to life. Before Jer started the rotation, we celebrated the end of his carefree life with an “in town” vacation our friends told us they do: instead of traveling, spend the money you’d spend on gas and hotels on stuff you deprive yourself of at home! So we went to a bunch of movies and ate out quite a bit. We had a blast. One of our favorite movies was Kung Fu Panda. Highly recommended. It didn't take Scott long to decide which animal he wanted to ride on the carousel: One day at the park, Scotty yelled, "Daddy, I'm an X!" My favorite outings were the zoo and flying kites. I think I loved the zoo so much because I was on James duty. (haha!) Scotty was (as always) quite moody, but we still had lots of fun. This (below) is my least favorite part of the zoo. These things always make me gag -- literally. Scotty loved feeding them. We witnessed what I think must have been the most traumatic moment of his life to this point at the zoo: we walked up to the train just as it was pulling away from the station. I’ve never seen anyone stop in their tracks so fast and crumble so completely as Scotty did in that moment! Poor little guy. The 15 minutes til the next train left were very long to say the least. Sweaty mom. (Not excited about the coming humid summer.) The best part of the zoo was the elephant show. They were amazing! I had no idea elephants could be so agile. I missed the photo op when the mom was doing this pose. She looked ridiculous. And I was impressed by the level of trust the trainers showed those mammoth things. James is plumping out and is starting to keep his eyes open for probably 2 hours every day instead of one. I’m not exaggerating. He’s one sleepy guy. We feel spoiled. If he weren’t gaining weight like a little piggy I’d be worried. His eyes are focusing well now and we got our first smiles. We’re anxious to get to know his little personality! Scotty is proving to be a very good big brother: anytime James fusses in the slightest, he runs to the him and pops his binky in his mouth. If he hears other babies fuss, he’ll yell “Oh no, my baby!” And he always includes “baby James” in discussions about our family. We walked into the room the other day where Scotty was and he yelled, “one two three friends!” I think he’s enjoying being a family of four. One of his latest favorite games is to point out when things are "mommy sized," or "daddy sized," "Scotty sized," and now "baby James sized." Here are the four of us in Wedgit form. He's pointing to mommy. Quotable Scotty quotes:

To mom, as she’s running to fetch the crashed kite: “Get it, girl!”

To mom, interrupting a lecture on not climbing the furniture, “Mom, can you be happy?”

To dad, with 3 paring knives, an asian pear, and a cutting board in hand, "I'm hungry!" (eek!)

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