Since they don’t come here often, I wanted to make the most of their time. Nothing was planned for Friday night as they didn’t reach my home until 10:30pm. My husband and I gave them a tour of our new house, offered them a beer and hung out for a while.
Farmers Market Fail
While I want my guests to have a good time, waking them up at 8:00am to start checking off the events on the itinerary is not showing them a good time. The number one item on Saturday was to hit up the Downtown Farmers Market. Our home suburb doesn’t have anything like this. The ease and accessibility of many events in Des Moines is one thing I constantly brag about to Chicagoans. You see, many suburbanites have to rely on Chicago to provide entertainment. That means you have to pack up the kids, pay a ton for parking and make a day of it. Not in Des Moines. You can pop down, park, shop and leave in as little as an hour. By the time everyone woke up and got somewhat motivated to leave the house, it was pushing 11:15am. At that point, we scratched it from the To Do List. Maybe next time…
My family may have missed the Oktoberfest celebration on Court Avenue by a week, but they didn’t miss the celebration at Colby Park in Windsor Heights. The much tamer, kids-oriented Oktoberfest was perfect for my two-year-old niece. Inflatable slides, bounce houses, face painting, pumpkin carving, train rides, balloon making, hot dogs and brats, kettle corn, hot chocolate, beer and live music were available for guests. Admission was free but some of the activities cost a buck or two. The only negative to the event was the chilly 50 degree temps and gusting winds. I don’t think any of the kids minded, but I was bundled up in a coat, hat and gloves. Still, we were there for nearly four hours!
Noah’s Ark Success
After warming up on my couch and maybe slipping in a small cat nap, we were ready for the next item on the agenda: dinner. I suggested a few restaurants to my family like Noah’s Ark, Flying Mango and Django. Choosing between the three wasn’t too hard for them; they were feeling Italian. Noah’s Ark has been on my Places to Eat At List for three-plus years. I was pumped to be going there for the first time.
It’s a quaint brick building on Ingersoll – you’d pass it if you didn’t know it was there. We arrived at 7:00pm on a Saturday night. The place was pretty packed. Fortunately, we got a table within about 10 minutes. Holy moly – that’s one heck of a big menu! So many choices and only so much room in my belly. Instead of a basket of bread, they serve you love knots, which are delicious buttery biscuits. My two-year-old niece managed to eat three of them. Between the six adults, we ordered the onion rings, calamari, Joe Bayou margarita pizza, three prime rib specials, steak sandwich, halibut and fettuccine. The food came out a little slowly, but since we had so much of it that was just fine. The steaks were extremely well flavored and the fettuccine alfredo was super creamy. The pizza wasn’t as tremendous as I’d heard, but still very good. The halibut had a great taste, but was a little dry for my parents’ liking. Overall, we were stuffed and satisfied. I’d definitely recommend eating here and look forward to going back.
I asked the adults what they wanted to do at night. Options included a Buccaneers hockey game (where my hubby and I met), seeing Chris Tucker at the Funny Bone, Blue Moon piano bar, Up Down video arcade bar or the new Ingersoll Tap. My sister decided not to leave the kiddos behind so we all headed back to my house to spend a family night in. We cozied up on our sectional to look at old family picture albums and had college football playing in the background. We passed around my four-month-old nephew and were entertained by my niece. We had great conversation that is better done in person than over the phone.
They left early on Sunday leaving more on the To Do List for next time. Because there will be a next time.