All in a Days Work: Vacation 2012....

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Vacation 2012....

It started off with taking Nathan to Boy Scout Camp where he was staff in training. Richard drove him the 2 hours early Sunday morning.Richard and Daniel and Nathan went. They played a game of chess waiting for the staff to show up.

Daniel was finishing up his writing class on Tuesday. So the rest of the boys helped me to clean every inch of the house. It basically took all week. We did a few rooms a day. Friday I packed all the clothes for everyone except Nathan. Friday night we left Daniel home with Qualan, Kaydee and Chiron so we (Richard and I) could pick up Nathan. It was a 4 hour trip now. Two hours each way. Upon reaching home I quickly washed Nathan's clothes. It was a late night. Saturday we finished packing the van, Nathans' clothed, food, etc. Earlier in the week Kaydee fell and bumped her forehead causing her to get a bump and bruise. While I feed her breakfast I was looking at her and thought, "wow, that bruise looks worse." When everything was ready, we knelt for family prayer and Richard noticed Kaydee's head. He said, "looks like her head is lopsided." Then Daniel spoke up and said, "oh, she fell off the sofa last night and landed on her head!" I was upset that he didn't feel it necessary to call and tell us and neglected to mention it all morning. Turns out that her eye was really bruised. All through our trip it was changing colors.

So we headed up to Holiday Island, Arkansas to visit the Harris family. That was a treat! Saturday night Daniel, Nathan and I went with them to the Great Passion Play. Daniel and Nathan joined in the play and I watched. It was fantastic. Sunday we joined them at their church. It was fun to meet their friends and talk with their pastor. Then we went and had our picture taken with Christ.

Then we played on the see saw. So. much. fun.

Then we had ICECREAM. Chiron's favorite food. Chiron and Baylee laughed and giggled the whole time. The lady working there commented that "he must be a character!!" We said that he is this happy go lucky boy that laughs all the time!!

We then headed to Nauvoo, Illinois. We got in pretty late Sunday night. Monday morning we headed to the visitor center and picked up a bunch of tickets to different events. We started with a carriage ride that drove all around Nauvoo. It was an hour ride. Kaydee was really good considering I didn't bring any provisions with us like water. It was hot too.

Upon coming back to the visitor center we ate a snack under a tree.

Next, we headed to a play "Just Plain Anna Amanda". It is written for children. It was fantastic. It started off with puppets telling jokes and singing songs and then went into the play. It was great.

We went and got some lunch and headed out to see the play "High Hopes and Riverboats". That was great too. The people that were characters in Anna-Amanda were also in this play. Great singing and acting! No pictures of this one. We also walked around the Visitor center. I remember these sculptures from when I went as a teenager.

We took a picture of all the sculptures. I'll just put these two in. After looking around we went back to the hotel and ate some dinner and then headed back to go see the play "Sunset by the Mississippi".

Before the play they had a parade for 16 years and under. That was fun too.

We had one more play to attend, but honestly are little ones were plum tuckered out. And we were so hot from the heat and humidity. We called it a day and headed to the hotel. Tuesday morning we went early and walked the Nauvoo Temple grounds. That is a beautiful temple!!

We then put blankets on chairs to reserve our spot for the Nauvoo Pagent. Then we headed to Old Nauvoo to tour all the houses. Kaydee and Chiron wouldn't go inside the houses so Richard and I took turns staying out side in the heat with them. We had a great time. While I was waiting for the family to come out some the the young adults that worked on the plays sang for us. They did a beautiful job. So lovely, were their voices.

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We went and heard the bag pipes. They did an awesome job.

We went to the hotel for dinner and then headed back to go to the carnival. That was really fun. They had a ton of activities for all age groups. Here are just a few pictures.

We headed to our seats just as the Nauvoo Pageant was beginning. These pictures arn't great. It's hard when it's dark and they are moving.

The pageant was wonderful. The people, the singing and acting was great!! We all just loved loved it. On our way to the hotel we stopped and took some night pictures of the temple.

Wednesday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to Carthage. What a spirit that place had.

Richard got a private tour because he had to take Kaydee out. The tour lady in my group was a foreigner and really hard for me to understand. We head to St. Louis. It is 3 hours south of Nauvoo. As we approached St. Louis, Daniel's says "is that the St. Louis temple?" Why, yes it is. I couldn't get the camera out fast enough to take a decent picture.

We checked into our hotel room, and then headed out to go to the arch. The boys were hungry so we decided to go and eat some lunch/dinner.

We then headed to the arch.

We bought tickets to go inside it. Wow was that a little scary!

After going through the arch we went to Wal-mart to pick up snacks. We also got ice cream and went back to the temple to eat them.

We headed out to Holiday Island to visit with the Harris Family. That night the Harris Family and Daniel went to The Great Passion Play, while the rest of us went fishing in their backyard.