Notre Dame, Kirtland and Palmyra

The whole crew in front of Joseph Smith's family's log cabin

We drove through Chicago, but that was as close as we got to visiting.  Hi, Chicago!

As we traveled along we saw signs for Notre Dame, which Allen decided to make a quick pit stop.  The campus was gorgeous.  As we drove through we were pointing things out, like the old cemetery right at the entrance and the amazing architecture of some of the buildings, but no one was listening.  They were all completely focused on whatever screen they had in front of them, headphones in.  So we decided to change things up a bit.  Allen loudly announced, "Hey guys! Look! We're at Monsters University!" Everyone looked out the windows. "Really?" they asked, kind of excited.  "Yeah, this is where they filmed it!" I responded.  I know, I shouldn't lie.  And that was a blatant one, considering it's an animated film.  But the little kids were suddenly fascinated.

They eventually figured out that this was actually NOT Monsters University, but we played a game I called, You Don't See That Everyday to keep them looking out the windows, until it started to get ridiculous.  First, they spotted things they had never seen before and would point them out.  Then they started mentioning things like, "A whole van full of Mormons driving around a Catholic University, taking pictures. You don't see THAT every day!"  So we stopped playing.  But we kept looking.

Allen told me that the students call this mural at the end of their football stadium Touchdown Jesus, so I had to take a picture.

Before long we were back on the road.  This was one of our really long driving days. We got to Kirtland, Ohio just after the sun had set and got a couple of decent pictures of the Kirtland temple before continuing on to Palmyra, New York, which is where we hoped to stay for the night.

Something crazy was going on here, I'm not sure how Hubba is levitating.

We drove as far as we could, but once it started to get late we knew we weren't going to make it to Palmyra.  So we pulled off the freeway in Buffalo, found a hotel with two rooms available on our first try, and hit the sack for the night.  The next morning we made it to Palmyra and stopped at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center first.  Right when we walked in, Little O found a friend - his kindergarten teacher's sister who had come and volunteered in the classroom a few times.  So cool!   

After a brief presentation we hiked up to the monument at the top of the Hill Cumorah and got everyone together for a picture.

But then I counted and realized we were missing one.  And that one was Little O.  After a frantic search for about 15 minutes (it felt like hours!) we found him.  He was racing the other kids back down to the visitor's center when we called them all over for the picture and he, not hearing me, kept running and came out the victor.  He then tried hiking back up to the monument around the other way, where All-a-Boy eventually found him.

It would not be a real family trip without us losing someone, I guess.  But that was definitely not my favorite part of the trip.

We loaded back into the van and stopped by the Palmyra Temple for a couple of photos.

And then continued on to the Sacred Grove.

Everyone kind of went their own way, but still stayed together.

It was so gorgeously green and peaceful there.  I wish we had more time to spend in the grove.

There are three things that fascinate me in nature: clouds, birds and trees.  I find them all beautiful in their own ways. Of all the trees in the grove, this one was my favorite somehow.  It seemed to have a personality all its own.

We drove past a couple of other church history sites in Palmyra before heading back to the interstate towards our next stop: Boston!

Nauvoo, Carthage and Clinton

We drove through Illinois and across the Mississippi River to get to our hotel in Iowa. The next morning we drove from Iowa, across the Mississippi to get to our destination in Nauvoo, Illinois.  As soon as we parked next to this playground the kids were super excited, thinking this was our destination.  We had to let them run around and enjoy it for a little bit.

Across the street was the Nauvoo Temple.  Here's a picture of our crew behind the temple:

And here they are in front of it:

Across the street from the front of the temple is this statue which is called Calm as a Summer's Morn. It is a representation of Joseph and Hyrum Smith as they left Nauvoo for Carthage where they were killed 3 days later.

Once we got to Old Nauvoo we were immediately given tickets to see a performance geared toward kids which included a puppet show.  Hubba was lucky enough to be called on stage to perform in one of the numbers.

Kind of a funny coincidence happened at the puppet show.  As we walked into the theater, there was a family from our neighborhood.  I mean, people who live right down the street from us and have kids who are friends with our kids. Crazy, right? Some of the kids paired off with their friends to go and explore while the youngest of them stayed with Allen and I.  We were able to do a lot of really fun things like make our own rope, learn how candles and bricks and horseshoes are made and how cookies were baked back in 1840. We also saw some wildlife that was different from what we see at home, like this cardinal which was about the brightest red you can imagine.

And I hope you really like the picture of the cardinal, because I was so busy keeping track of kids and enjoying visiting the different little shops and demonstrations that I didn't take many pictures. None of our neighbors, none of the things we did.  But we all came away with a cookie from the bakery, a "prairie diamond" ring made from a horseshoe nail and a souvenir brick for the family from the brickyard.

I did get this picture of the kids in a stock for shoeing oxen before we left for Carthage Jail, about half an hour from Nauvoo.

By the time we arrived at Carthage Jail Little X had fallen asleep in his carseat and Little O was beyond the top of his threshold for patience in listening to presentations so I volunteered to stay in the van with them while Allen took everyone else inside.  After about 10 minutes Little O announced that he needed to use the bathroom RIGHTNOW so I had to wake X up and hurry them in to the visitor's center to take care of business.  It's okay though, because if we had stayed in the van the whole time I never would have gotten this next picture, which is one of my favorites.

These two boys do not know how to sit still.  One of Little X's favorite past times is chasing birds and he had plenty of them to chase here at Carthage.  At one point this squirrel showed up and kept the boys entertained for at least 10 minutes.  It would run just far enough to get away from them, then stop and stare as they came at it again.

Eventually the squirrel got smart and ran up a tree.

After a longer than expected wait, the rest of the family emerged and we got our group shot of the kids in front of Carthage Jail.

From there we drove a long way along the Mississippi River and then crossed it into Clinton, Iowa, where I lived until the age of 7. We met up with my Aunt Betty and Uncle Jack and then all went to dinner at Happy Joe's, a pizza parlor where I have great childhood memories of my family going when it was someone's birthday.  Probably my greatest regret of this entire trip was that I was so enthralled with my visit with my aunt and uncle that we never got a picture together.  That still bothers me.  I grew up next to these two and this visit with them was something I will treasure for the rest of my life.  Like my parents, they are both Deaf, and so we spent a lot of time with them since they lived a short walk from our home way back when. When we arrived at their home my Aunt Betty let us in and we were all sitting there in the front room when Uncle Jack walked in.  He looked at all of my kids sitting on the couch and floor and signed to Betty, "I don't know these kids." And then he looked at me and his eyes got huge and his mouth dropped open and he signed to me, "Herb's girl?" and I nodded and gave him a big hug. I have seen Aunt Betty once since we left Iowa, about 13 years ago, but I have not seen Uncle Jack since I was 7 years old and the fact that he remembered me and was so happy to see me just about made me cry. Aunt Betty was as spunky and full of life as I remember and Uncle Jack was just as funny as he was when I was young.

At Happy Joe's we all visited and joked and ate pizza and laughed and told stories until it got to be late and Betty and Jack needed to get home.  After they left I told Allen, "Oh, no. I forgot to take a picture!" So he took this picture of me and the kids so we'd at least have some kind of documentation of our trip to Clinton.

After leaving Happy Joe's we drove past the spot in the Mississippi River that my dad swam across when I was young, my childhood home at 443 5th Avenue South (an address I will never forget) and then past the Lutheran church where the 4 kids in my family went each Sunday and finally past my old school, which has undergone renovations and looks much different. This tour of my hometown was all in the dark so I didn't get many photos.  But this one I couldn't pass up, and it didn't turn out too badly.

Our home. A whole flood of stories and memories happened here. 

Two Days In Minnesota

We finally arrived in Minnesota in the wee hours of the morning (a definite recurring event on this trip).  Allen went into Boyd and Sarise's house to figure out where we were sleeping before waking the rest of us up. We all sleepily made our way down to their basement and just before I slipped back to dreamland I worried that we had entered the wrong house and had to get up and look at the pictures on the walls to make sure we were not going to scare anyone in the morning.  Sure enough, there were their cute kids on the walls.  (What a relief!)

In the morning we took turns waking up and exploring the house and yard.  The kids spent a good amount of their day in the backyard catching tadpoles in the pond with their Minnesota cousins.

Here's a great view of their awesome backyard from the upstairs window of their home.  It was seriously a dream come true for the kids to have this little oasis to enjoy.

They wanted to bring the tadpoles home with them but had to settle for a picture of their cute little swimmy friends.  Little O told me, "Can you believe these are teeny baby frogs? They are so cuuuute!"

The older kids did what they are often found doing at home: All-a-Boy found a good book to escape into and Thumbelina wrote in one of her many journals to document every thought, observance and detail of the trip so far.

Little X was thrilled that everyone else was busy because he got to spend some one-on-one time with this super cool car track.

We enjoyed lunch on the back patio together before a pretty heavy downpour hit.

You might be thinking we were disappointed with all of the rain we had follow us on our trip so far.  Not so! We are rain-lovers in our family. And this storm did not disappoint!  There were almost immediate rivers down each side of the street as the rain fell in sheets outside.  The little kids cozied up to watch a movie together and that's when I remembered that All-a-Boy and Thumbelina had walked to the park just before the torrential rainstorm.

I looked out the window and saw them running toward the house, but they did not come inside.  They stayed in the street in front of the house and literally soaked in every bit of fun they could out there.  They kicked, splashed, laughed, screamed, twirled and even pretended to swim and be water-benders.

These two were soaked to the skin and loving it.

Even after the rain stopped pouring down they sat outside in the puddles and talked about who-knows-what. Teenager stuff, I guess.

Eventually they came inside and dried off.  Meanwhile, the little kids were playing games and having a blast with their Minnesota cousins.

It was so fantastic to have a day to just hang out and not drive anywhere.  We loved our time at Boyd and Sarise's and would have loved to have stayed longer!  It was great to spend some time with their three adorable kiddos and get to know them better.  The next morning we went to church with them before heading back out on the road.

Here's my sister-in-law Sarise with their sweet cuddlebug baby J.  I have the best sister-in-laws, no doubt about it! Anyone who can make a family of ten feel completely welcomed and loved in their home deserves... I don't know, something awesome.   

After we left the church we drove to the temple in St. Paul.  We tried to see as many temples as we could on our trip but didn't take the time to figure out where they all were until we got home.  Then we found that we'd driven close to quite a few which we missed.  But this one was beautiful.

The skies were clear as we drove on to our next destination(s): right on the borders of Iowa and Illinois.  I could not get enough of these clouds.  They were so gorgeous they looked fake!