Family Vacation, Nauvoo, Part 4

Monday, June 22, 2015

This was our full day in Nauvoo.

The kids loved sleeping in the tent! 

 We just bought a new tent, it was easy to put up and take down. It really is a nice tent.

Today was our earliest day yet. I was up before the sun. It was so loud! There was some crazy humming going on between the birds and the bugs. At one point I thought I was hearing and audio on replay. It was also hot and sticky.

I went and took a shower last night in the shared bathroom.  I was just waiting for someone to come kidnap me. I didn't dare close my eyes. Then I had to walk a ways to get back to my tent.  I was freaking myself out! Good times.

We had taken down camp, eaten and made it to the visitor center just as it was opening.  The first thing we did was get tickets to tour Old Nauvoo by horse drawn wagon.

 We liked it!

 The kids liked all the mayflies. Jaycee even took a picture of the lady in front of her that had a couple on her back.

 Then we rode in a wagon pulled by oxen.

 The kids loved getting to pet the oxen.

 The brickyard was next. Wesley was pretty excited about this one. Bensen fell and got a big bump on his head. Wes loved the brick they gave us!

 Then me and Bensen went to Lucy Mack Smiths house, while Mike and the kids went to the Pioneer Past times. I ran into Mike Layne's Aunt Bonnie. She told me to read a book...maybe Bell of Nauvoo.

 The kids loved the Pioneer Past Times. 

 They had all sorts of fun things to do.  When I got there they were hanging the laundry to dry. They had a cute little school house, and stilts.

A cute little house, 

 cute little sheep, dress ups, and much more.

 Then we went to a play called Just Plain Anna Amanda at the Cultural hall.

 It was really cute and they did a fun little puppet show before the play. It kept Bensens attention until the last 5 minutes or so, so that was good. When we came out of the play the actors were outside one of the missionaries gave Bensen 5.  It was cute.

 Then we went to the Scolvil Bakery. It was interesting, they told us he wasn't a baker until he came to Nauvoo and saw that they need one.  When he came to Utah he was something totally different, like a blacksmith or something..

Then we went to the Red Brick Store.  It is owned by the Community of Christ.  It felt different form all the other places we had been that day.  I'm not usually sensitive to things like that, but I definitely felt the lack of the Spirit there.

 Jaycee bought a bonnet, which she wore the rest of the day. Wesley bought a candle, which Mike tried to talk him out of. They have loved having there own money to spend on this trip.  They have been saving for a while. They also have been earning a quarter for every hour they are good in the car.  It was Mikes idea to do a Joy in the Journey Jar. It worked out great!  They have only lost the quarter a couple of times.

Then we went to the Webb Brothers Blacksmith shop.  They showed us how to make a wagon wheel. They gave us all rings and each family was given a little horseshoe. The kids loved the places that gave us free things!

 I wanted to go see Brigham Youngs house and Mike wanted to go to the Land and Records Office, so we split up.  Jaycee and Wesley came with me.  I liked it, the kids liked his cold storage and his well.  In the tour I learned that they had found dishes in the garbage hole in the backyard. They excavated them and there was a missionary that was able to restore them.

There was several pieces of furniture that was original to the house. That didn't happen in most of the other houses we had been in.

 Mike said the Records Building was a bust. Bensen was poopy and naughty and needed to come prepared with names of our ancestors.  We should have been better prepared we could have done more at a lot of our stops had we had names and dates.

Our last stop was The Family Living Center.  They told us how they made bread, and we got to try some.  Them we went and saw how they made candles.  The last thing we did was learn how to make rope. This was another one of the kids favorite places.

 By this time it was 2 and we hadn't had lunch yet and we had had a small breakfast so we drove up by the temple and ate at a Mill.

Then it was back on the road again.  We have 4 1/2 hour drive to Chicago, where we will get to rest a little bit.

So far our trip has been so jam packed.  It's hard for me to keep things straight.  I'm so glad we were able to come with Mike and see some of our churches history.  It is really amazing how strong the pioneers were.  I keep asking Mike "Why are things so far apart?"  If I had to walk everywhere I would have made thing closer together. :)

I can't imagine the courage they had to leave there whole lives behind to go into the wilderness.  Leave behind their county and everything.  They were pretty amazing people.  I hope, if ever I was faced with such a challenge I would have the faith to say I will go and do whatever the Lord commands.  I just hope and pray that my faith will be sufficient for whatever trials we have that lie before us.

Thus far on our trip we have traveled almost 2000 miles and 7 states! Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois, and we are not yet at our halfway mark!

So far our trip with the kids has been great! I was really stressing out about this trip.  Over 52 hours spent in the car.  They have been troopers and Mike has driven most of the time. We got the kids little presents that they get to open when we do our long drives.  Today they got books and pipe cleaners.  Some of the other gifts we got them were, sticker face books, highlight books, and gak.  I also made them a travel binder.

Family Vacation, Nauvoo, Part 3

Today was Fathers day! 

I am so grateful for Mike! He is the best dad, and a pretty awesome husband. We sure love him. He is the hardest worker I have ever met and the best example for my kids. I love you Mike even though your eyebrow looks crazy in this picture!

 I asked the kids some questions about Mike.  Wesley said he liked it when Mike makes vegetable people with him. Jaycee likes swimming with him.  They both knew his age. They thought his favorite things to do were swim, work, and go to Chicago with his family.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
We got up early and headed to Nauvoo. We had to stop and get gas. Jaycee was not happy with us, she didn't want to break the Sabbath. :) We had our picnic while we were at the gas station. 

The kids were so good to keep busy with their sticker books.

Our first stop was Carthage Jail.

We took the tour first.

The missionaries showed us the jail first. It was interesting, they said the jailer had given them his own bedroom to stay in because he was worried about them being on the main floor. 

After it was a jail the owners used this room as bedrooms.  When the church bought it they restored it to it's original form.

It was amazing that it still had so many original features, including the door with the bullet holes. A piece of the door was missing. A boy found it out in the outhouse!

I took a picture looking through the bullet hole. 

These kids could not keep their hands off this statue! They were hanging all over it. They just had to be touching it.  I thought that was pretty neat.

After the tour we went in and watched a video.  Bensen wasn't excited about the movie, or the tour for that matter.

Finally we were off to Nauvoo.

The first thing we did in Nauvoo was go to the temple.

The kids favorite parts were the bells that rang on the hour, the sandstones, and Angel Moroni.

Bensen liked the flowers!

I liked the stained glass windows.  It really is a beautiful temple.

Wesley needed a closer look!

Then we went to the visitors center, which has closed about 10 minutes before we got there, so we went to the Women's Garden.

The kids liked the statues and wanted to reinact all of them.

Then we went and set up our camp ground for the night.

Later we went to the Trail of Hope tour which used to be called the Trail of Tears. President Hinkley changed it. It was neat, the missionarys read stories from pioneer journals.

We also saw fireflies for the first time! They were so neat. We also saw a lot of may flies. They were not so neat as gross. They were everywhere by the river.  I'm just glad they weren't by the campground.

Family Vacation, Missouri, Part 2

Saturday, June 20, 2015
We got up pretty early and headed to Farr West.

 It was very peaceful there. No one else was around, it was just our family.

 We saw the corner stones for the temple. Then kids actually really seemed to like it here.  Mike had also mentioned that he was able to feel the spirit here. He was hoping to feel more at Adam-ondi-ahmen.

 While we were there we ran into a guy that owned a little shop down the road a ways. Wayne Galbraith was his name. He had knowledge of the Allred settlement. We went to his store, Jaycee, Wesley, and Mike all got pocket knives that the guy engraved there names into. Well Mike's says Borgstrom. We drove to the general vicinity of where the Allred Settlement was. A day later a lady was hit by lightning right where we had been! Storms chased us the whole trip. But never really caught us.

Then we went the the Farr West General Store. Jaycee bought a fan and we got Mike an oil vial for Fathers day.

Then we were off to the Historic Liberty Jail. We first had a picnic in the parking lot. 

 It was kind of hard to feel the spirit here because Bensen was being so naughty! But it was crazy to see how horrible their living conditions were.

 Then we went to Independence, Missouri to the visitors center. We watched a movie on the importance of the family. Then the kids played some games on the kiosks.

 We went downstairs to the history level. The kids liked the kids area here.  It was pretty cute.

After we left the visitors center we did a little driving tour.  We saw the temple lot.

After we drove to Overland Park in Kansas to our hotel. Me and Mike had Oklahoma Joe's BBQ. It was ok.  The kids had McDonald's.  After dinner Mike took Jaycee and Wesley down to swim. They had a blast!