Driving to Des Moines to spend the day at the Iowa State Fair has become a summer tradition for us. We made our third consecutive visit on a hot and sticky Saturday in August, this time bringing along my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew.
It took a bit of wrangling to get eight people, including a baby and a toddler, out of the house and into two cars. The drive from Omaha to Des Moines normally takes about two-and-a-half hours, and although it was earlier than his normal nap time, I was hoping Levi would snooze en route so that he’d had enough energy to last through the afternoon. But like last year, Levi didn’t sleep a wink. Not going to Des Moines. And not coming home from Des Moines.
What kid can’t (or won’t?) fall asleep in a car? Mine, of course. Sigh.
After a rocky start (a thunderstorm woke Levi up at 5am, I had a bloody nose for almost an hour, and Levi was in time out before 8am), Levi and I made our way to Aksarban Village to meet JB at the finish line of the 
I was extremely proud of JB for completing his first 10K in just under an hour — and for not being completely sore or winded afterwards. Although Levi was excited when he finally saw the red shirt belonging to his daddy cross the finish line, the highlight of his morning was sitting inside a fire truck! And I’m guessing the highlight of the firemen’s morning was hearing me call the fire truck a “weeoo-weeoo.” Apparently, the firemen had never heard it called that before and had a good laugh.
