Mystery at Greenwood Park

The weather is warming up here in Iowa and the sunshine was plentiful this afternoon!  It is so nice to be outside!

Our morning started out with some school work at home and then we packed everyone up and joined some friends for our monthly Clover Kids meeting (which we haven't been able to go to in a few months).  The kids planted chives, played with a frog (it jumped on Elliot, which startled him into a 3 minute "freak out") and pet an Angora Rabbit and discussed uses for her "fiber" or fur as I would call it.  It was a fun, and besides the frog jumping on Elliot, they all had a good time!

I had contacted the Art316 Building downtown a few days ago to find out about what they had to offer and what their building was all about.  The woman I spoke with suggested I come for a private tour of the RDG Dahlquist Art Studio to see if we could possibly set up a future tour for our homeschool art class, so we decided to do this with Amanda and her girls then grab lunch outside and play at a park for the afternoon. 

Regarding the tour, I will say WOW!  Such a cool place!  I didn't take any photos because I was trying to wrangle Elliot and still be able to pay attention to what the lady had to say, but I can't wait to show you photos when we take the kids through next time!  I was so inspired and can't wait to learn more!  There were so many cool artists to speak with, lots of things to look at, and the highlight of the tour was a toss up between the large "playdoh" machine and the freight elevator.

The kids attention span had expired so we didn't get to explore the other two floors of artists, but I will say that it was a great experience for all of us.  I can't wait to take a few clay classes with Ethan and go back and meet the cartoon guys!  Sooooo fun!

After the tour we lunched on the Palmer's Deli patio and then headed over the explore Greenwood Park south of the Des Moines Art Center.  The sun felt so nice as we walked all through the park and around the pond.  While there we noticed that the water level was very low and there were some police gathered together on the opposite side.  They seemed to be looking at the water and discussing what they were seeing.  We were curious so we walked over to check things out. 



The kids tried to find a geocache, but we couldn't spot it. 
Ethan did retrieve a massive snail shell though, so it wasn't a waste.
(Don't you love Little Miss Laila with her pink gardening gloves?)

After asking what the scoop was, they pointed out that there was a vehicle in the pond.  I looked closer at what I thought was a log at first glance, and sure enough, it was a car!  Hmmmmm.  They said that it looked like it had been there a long time, so they were waiting for the SWAT Team to come to investigate and then pull out the vehicle. 

 

 

SWAT Team?  Pulling a vehicle from the pond?  Well, you don't have to convince me that this sounds like something fun to watch!  Kids were excited too!  We all walked back around to the other side of the pond and took our places to watch the event unfold.  While they waited the kids rolled down the hill, sorted rocks (and glass), and had a great time talking about the things in the water.

 

It seemed like forever had passed, but before long an unmarked, white "bread truck", as Amanda called it (I thought it was more like the "Three Men in a Truck" moving truck), pulled up and out jumped a few "SWAT" members in their wetsuits and O2 tanks.  So cool!  Right after that, the tow trucks arrived and the kids all sat down to watch the process unfold.  It's not every day that you see a car being pulled from a pond!

 

 

They removed the car, and from where we were, it didn't look as old as I had expected.  It had a sunroof and all the windows were down, but it looked newer to me.  The police took their time pulling it out, recorded the VIN number from the dash and the license plates and stood around talking.  The flatbed wasn't there yet and one of the kiddos in our group had to go #2, so we called it a day and headed back to our vehicles. 

It was a pretty exciting day and after we started driving away Ethan asked, "Mom, when can we go back to that park?  I had so much fun today!  That is my new favorite park!".  I asked him what he enjoyed the most and he said, "Watching the car being pulled from the pond!  I can't wait to see what else they will find once all the water is gone!" 

Overall, it was good day of school!  Don't you think?? 

UPDATE: So far, authorities have said that the vehicle was reported stolen in 1999.  They currently do not have any other info on it.