For those of you not on facebook, Tugfest is coming!! For those of you who are really not in the know, allow me to explain Tugfest...
Tugfest is a tug-of-war over the Mississippi River between the states of Iowa and Illinois. LeClaire, Iowa and Port Byron, Illinois play host to this festival. The tug is just a part of the 4 day long celebration in these 2 towns. Each day and night is filled with activities! From carnival rides and food to bands, 5k run to pancake feed, parade to fireworks, Tugfest is the event of the year (In LeClaire, anyway).
We are headed to LeClaire on Thursday, August 8th where we will stay, enjoy the festivities, and get to spend lots of good quality family time with all of Michael's extended family. This is the one time each year when the family is sure to get together. We'll head home on Sunday, August 11th.
I look forward to Tugfest every year! I love having all the family together and getting to chat, eat, play games with, and generally hang out with everyone! There are always lots of kiddos there and I'm looking forward to introducing Avery to the family. This will also be Avery's first vacation and her first extended car trip (beyond the 2 hour drives to Manhattan or Topeka). So I'm preparing well in advance for every possible contengency we might face along the way. I know I'll look like a new, novice mom when I show up to Iowa with anything and everything Avery could possibly need or want on the trip. But hey, if you can't do it when your only baby's under a year old, when can you? ;)
Here are just a few of the things I'm looking forward to (in no particular order): checking in with Grandma Jean before going anywhere, seeing Grandma Judy after her extended trip to India, playing games and cards with Kim, hopefully chatting with Kyle if he comes again this year, introducing Avery to all of the family(!!!!), enjoying Howards homemade popcorn while watching the fireworks, going wine tasting with Michael, walking up and down the main stretch of LeClaire and shopping, enjoying truffles from the chocolate shop, eating carnie food, listening to bands, dancing with my hubby, watching Michael take Avery down the big carnival slide, drinking southern-style sweet tea, touring the distillery, seeing friends and family we haven't seen in a year or more, and enjoying my first vacation as a family of 3! It's going to be so great! I can't wait!!
I'm sure people on facebook will get tired of seeing and hearing about it, so I'll try to post the more detailed summary of our trip here! Stay tuned as it gets closer and I talk more and more about the exciting time to be had and all the preparations I'm making for our trip. :)
Happy Wednsday, everyone!! Hope you're having a great day!!