WEEKLY UPDATE: Dearborn, Downtown Des Moines, and Other Daring Deeds

Greetings SuperFans. I hope you are ready for another exciting episode in the neverending saga of the Iowagners. Remember: the Captain has illuminated the seatbelt sign for your safety! The week started out by having SuperDad fly to Dearborn, Michigan. There he was a judge for the Ford/AAA Auto Skills Contest held on the lawn of Ford World Headquarters. It is a competition where the top two high school automotive students from each state work to repair as many problems (bugs) on a vehicle in a 1 1/2 hour time frame. The bugs may be as simple as a burned out light bulb to a faulty electronic component. Our Iowa team placed 10th. SuperDad judged Arizona, who came in 24th place. SuperDad even brought some stuff home for Monkey and Bear to play with.

Don't Worry, He'll Grow Into It

The Latest in Safety Fashion by Ford

On Saturday we decided to head into Downtown DesMo (Des Moines) and partake in the nation's largest outdoor arts festival. There was some very impressive artwork, sculpture and photography on display. Just don't mention Port-O-Potties to SuperMom!

SuperDad n' SuperKids Incognito

Cool Sculpture and Tallest Building in Iowa

After the festival we decided to revisit the Birdland/Union Park area where the Des Moines River breached the levee and flooded the neighborhood (see previous posting). Other than the sandbags, it is hard to tell anything major happened here.

Levee and Park Revisited

The Playscape Makes a Return

Until our next daring adventure...We are the IOWAGNERS!!!

The Many Disguises of Monkey

Lately, one of our SuperKids has been dabbling in Disguise Design. She is quite artistic and came up with these ones all by herself. Soon she will have a Secret Identity for every occasion. Enjoy!!

Attention all Pirate ShoppeRRRRrrrrrrrs!!

An Off-Duty Fairy Princess in her slippers.

Using her mighty power of regression. . .She has magically changed herself back into a baby.

NEWS FLASH! The Great Floods of '08

Saving the world one sand bag at a time. SuperDad has been lending his super strength to help the efforts to protect down town Capital City (a.k.a. Des Moines). He even braved a tetanus shot for the cause. Don't pass this along SuperFans, but shots are kind of our Kryptonite. Proving once again that we will brave all to save our fellow Iowans.

Even though SuperDad put tons of work and bulging muscles into building up the levees, he was no match for Mother Nature. The levee breached and the neighborhood flooded. I guess that is where we have met our match. She is one tough Mother. . .(Shut your mouth!)

P.S. For those of you who are wondering, Iowagners' Headquarters survived the storms and floods. Must be the sturdy 1970's architecture.

Yes, Man Can Move a Mountain (of Sandbags)

The Birdland Levee and Former Park

Anybody Want to Swim to the Playscape?!

A House We Tried to Save. Purchased Just the Week Before :(

Backyard River at Iowagners' HQ

Garage Sales, Tornadoes (almost) and Other Celebrations

It has come time once again to regale you with tales from the Iowagners. Last night around 10:00 PM we were startled by the sound of a tornado siren. It being the the busiest tornado season ever recorded (over 500 in the month of May) in the USA, we decided to take it seriously. The news reports were all warning to be prepared to move to a safe area. We were about to move the SuperKids into the secret lair (a.k.a.-the basement). Then the siren stopped. We were spared any major destruction. Instead, we 'only' received 3.64 inches of rain overnight and a spectacular thunder and lightning show. Flooding occured in many areas of the Great State of the Iowa. On a lighter note we were able to commence withs the garage sale a planned...and order was restored to the world once again.

A Superhero Never Reveals His (or Her) True Age!

The Superkids Ignite the Candles with Their Laser Vision!

Putting Another Year Out of It's Misery

Since superheroes are ageless and infinite, we only had a 'birthday-like celebration' for SuperDad. In the process we solved a world conflict by uniting the German (Chocolate Cake) and French (Vanilla Ice Cream) in commemoration of another year past. Stay tuned for more harrowing episodes in the coming year!

Wow! My First Blog Post Ever (with pictures!)

As SuperMom stated previously, we have decided to succumb to peer pressure and join the modern age by starting a family blog. The main purpose of this blog is to keep those that are near and dear to our hearts, but not our home informed of the happenings in our universe.

Here goes the first update...are you ready!? After having 75% of the family in the far-off land of New Zealand for nearly three months, Dad was overjoyed to rejoin his beloved family. We regrouped for two weeks of 'holiday' (NZ term for vacation). We were able to partake in the magnificent beauty of the South Island. We spent the first week visiting family in Christchurch. The latter half we completed a 700-mile family road trip. Some cities we visited with exotic, unpronouncable names included: Kaikoura, Kekerengu, and Punakaiki. Our favorite place was the seaside town of Nelson (no, not the hair band from the 80's). Dad especially enjoyed driving on the wrong (left) side of the road and from the passenger side of the vehicle through the mountainous, windy roads. Mom became a little car sick. A quick sidenote on gas prices. After paying over $7 per gallon for gas we have nothing to complain about in the U.S.

Dad n' Kiddies in Kaikoura

Is It Dead?! (no, just sleeping)

One of our 'cabins' and stylish rental wagon

Cool sign from a jewelry maker in Nelson

Monkey mobbed by Japanese tourists

Digging around for shells at Sumner Beach

Trying to get the perfect picture: Takes 1 and 2

Take...I give up!

The kiddies loved the beaches and searching for seashells. You may ask why the kids are in long pants and jackets in this tropical paradise. Well, it is Fall/Winter in New Zealand now which means the temp can range from around freezing in the morning to only 50-60 degrees during the day. All in all it was a great experience, especially with my loved ones. We even survived the nearly 9,000 mile, 24+ hour journey back to our homebase in the 'Land of Corn'.

The End...

Until next time space cadets...