Wes Des Moines to North Riverside

That sign is looking good! This was our last sight of our favorite West Des Moines peeps. Soon they'll be our St. George peeps!




I set the GPS to Nick & Kara's place. About 30 minutes later, we realized we were heading to their old place in St. Louis. Luckily it was only a minor detour.

We passed some outlet stores in Williamsburg, IA, and Shannon got herself a Coach bag. It's kind of a big deal.




While she shopped, the boys and I took a lap on the courtesy shuttle. The driver was thrilled to have something to do.




A few hours later, we made it to Nick & Kara's place.




Walt was very happy to be out of the car.




Obligatory Georgia shot:




Nick was on paternity leave for a couple weeks. It was fun to have him around




I took Nick & Kara a new computer I built for them. Counting the cost of the parts, gas, food, hotels, and entertainment, it was still cheaper than Geek Squad.




Lunch and dinner were at Portillo's.




I had the same thing for both meals: the "combo" sandwich (Italian beef, Italian sausage, peppers, cheese, and a jus).




The next morning, all nine of us loaded up in the van and went to Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry. Enjoy this sneak preview of the Bodyworlds exhibit--that's a real giraffe's body preserved with plastic!




We spent the whole day there. The highlight for me was the German U-boat. Nick was great to have there to read all the original German labels inside the sub.


The boys manufactured their own toy gyroscope for $5. It's fun to see the robots putting it together.



From the museum, we headed to Bridgeview, IL for the St. Fabian's Church festival. Got combo sandwich #3 from "Nick's Barbecue" (no relation). It weighed at least a pound. More beef, TWO sausage links! I think it beat Portillo's.


The band playing is called "Maggie Speaks". They only cover other bands' songs and they are really good. This was the third time I've seen them and they did not disappoint.


Owen & I went inside the church and played a round of bingo. We were by far the youngest people in the game.


After we got all the kids in bed, Shannon and I went to the Walmart by Nick & Kara's place. Scary! But Shannon found some fabric she liked on clearance, but it took some shrewd bilingual negotiating with the two women working the fabric department to get it at the marked price.


Coming up next...day 2 in Chicago!