So, probably a month ago Chris mentioned the Throwdown on the River BBQ at the Grand Harbor Resort in Dubuque and said that they were offering discounted rooms for BBQ judges. I dismissed it at the time, but Chris said that it would count as a vacation. So we decided it was a good enough deal to give it a go and our first real FAMILY vacation was in effect!
We left Saturday morning bright and early, though two hours behind schedule. We made our way to Dyersville to the one (and apparently only) Basillica in Iowa, St. Francis Xavier 
which was beautiful. We did not stay long however, because there was a wedding that day and in fact, while we were inside the bride and groom were seeing each other for the first time that day to take their pictures, it was a very sweet moment 
.
Next we drove up the road to the Field of Dreams Movie Set! Here we are on the road (really, I stuck my hand out the window) 
and then at the site 
. Both Michael 
and Audrey 
got to take a swing and run the bases 
and even check for baseball player ghosts in the corn 
. It was great fun, but we had more places to see! We drove a little while longer to make it to our destination of Dubuque! Our first stop there was at the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium 
but right as we got there a trolley 
showed up offering tours of downtown Dubuque so we hopped on 
and enjoyed the tour. It returned us to the museum and we made our way in to enjoy the exhibits. We saw all sorts of cool things, but one of my favorites was the alligators 
who were proud of their alligator love! The kids really liked the venom exhibit where there was a special rattlesnake viewing exhibit where they became the “prey” 
. Michael took a small break and sat down with Mark Twain 
where I’m sure they discussed the Book of Mormon. And, just to prove it, I was here too 
. After the museum we went to the Fenelon Place Elevator 
to take a frightening ride on the world’s shortest and steepest scenic railway 
. Chris, Michael, and Audrey thought it was awesome, but I was terrified the entire time, although it was a beautiful view 
. After that we made our way to our motel. Now, we made reservation with the Grand Harbor resort for Sunday night with the discount, but we decided to save some money by staying at a motel on Saturday night. It was most definitely a dive, but hey, it had two beds, a toilet, and a tv so we tried not to complain too much!
Today we packed up early and made our way over to the resort 
so that Chris could get registered for the BBQ contest and so the kids and I could enjoy the WATER PARK 
As Chris judged the contest the kids and I hung out at the water park which was HUGE and looked a lot like a ginormous playplace with water! Audrey’s favorite part was this HUGE Bucket high atop the entire structure that would fill with water and then spill out onto patrons below 
while Michael seemed to love the inside/outside 
water slide where you ride on an inner tube down a water slide that loops OUTSIDE of the building, here is Audrey and Michael at the bottom of that slide 
. Finally our room was ready, so the kids and I took our bags upstairs to our VERY nice room on the TOP floor (the kids were VERY excited about that) and then went outside to the BBQ competition to partake in the kids activities of crafts 
and a rock climbing wall 
. We are now in our cushy room enjoying the BEAUTIFUL view of downtown Dubuque watching the news of Gustov 
. Chris and the kids are talking about heading back to the water park soon, so I better wrap up!
