Summer Vacation

We've been looking forward to this vacation for a long time!  We were all pretty excited to get the last few things loaded up and get on the road (Thursday, July 20th).  We'd decided a few months ago that it would be nice to have my niece, Anna, come along with us to help 'entertain' the kids and maybe babysit a few nights.

 We thought we might have a few questions about Anna at the border, so we made sure to have all the documentation we needed... but they didn't ask us one thing about her!  Crazy!

 Our original plan was to boondock at a Walmart parking lot in Billings, MT, but when we got there it was 38°C.  By the time we got through having dinner, we were all dripping in sweat.  Using Walmart's wifi, I found a campground about an hour down the road in Hardin, so we loaded the kids up and headed to where we could plug in and get the air conditioner going.  It was about 9:15pm by the time we got there, and thank goodness they had a spot for us! It was worth every penny!

Friday - Another day on the road.  Anna did such a good job playing with the kids and keeping them entertained.  We pulled out new activities in the afternoon and it kept them going until we arrived at Rapid City, SD at about 4:15pm.  After getting set up and having a quick dinner, the kids were thrilled to get to go swimming at the campground pool!  Definitely another perk to having a 13 year old along with us... we were able to watch from the side and not get in the cold water!  They had a blast though... win, win!

 Saturday - We had a fun morning at Mount Rushmore!  The kids were so little when we were here last time.  We were able to go do the Presidential trail with them, watch one of the short movies about how the carvings were done, and explore the interpretive center.  It was quite a hot day, so anytime we found somewhere with air conditioning we enjoyed it!

 After some lunch at the trailer, we went to explore the Chapel in the Hills.  I'd seen pictures of it on Pinterest and wanted to see it in person and I'm glad we did!  It was so beautiful!

It is an exact replica of a chapel in Norway.  The woodwork and carvings were amazing.

 This is the interior of the small chapel.  There was a wedding being held there in about a half hour of when we arrived, so we took a quick peek and left so that they could have the wedding!

I'd had lots more things that I wanted to do in Rapid City, but the kids only wanted to go swimming!  So that's what we did!  Anna took them swimming at the campground pool while Lennard and I worked on fixing a few things in the trailer.  We had a lazy evening and enjoyed the AC in the trailer.

Sunday - This was our longest day of driving (I think).  We knew we had to get to Omaha, NE that night, so we weren't able to get to church.  We had brought some dramatized Church History CDs to listen to for our 'church', but after about 45 minutes the kids rebelled and we gave up.  We hadn't planned on stopping at Wall Drug, but as we started seeing signs along the road and the kids heard about the last time we'd stopped, they asked if we could please stop.  They had lots of fun exploring and hearing stories of when they were only 1 and 2 years old and playing there.

 After watching the T-rex come 'alive', the kids realized that for a 2 year old it would have been very scary!  It was really loud!

 Ben loved all the different things to climb on.  We didn't stop for long, but it was a nice break.

 We got to our campsite at about 7:00pm and we were all exhausted.  We knew we had to go in to Alicia's home still that night to figure things out for the morning, so we decided to grab some dinner in Omaha beforehand.  We introduced Anna to HuHot.  It was such a well needed, delicious meal.  The kids were pretty anxious to get to see Grandpa that night!

Monday - We were up bright and early so that we could go to the Zoo with Grandpa and Rigel.  After getting Grandpa set up with an electric scooter, we were on our way!  The kids don't remember ever being at the Zoo before, but we had fun finding a few places that we'd taken pictures before.  Five years makes a bit of difference!

Emma - 2012

Emma - 2017

 I love this picture of Emma.  She is such a photogenic little girl!

2012

2017

 Grandpa was everyone's favorite person when he pulled out quarters for the kids to feed the fish!

 We could have stayed here all afternoon!

 Grandpa Nichols with his Nichols' grandkids.

2012 - This is what Ben did for most of our visit last time.

 We had lots of fun looking at all the animals.  It got quite hot in the afternoon, so we all enjoyed the air conditioned aquarium at the end of the day!  There were so many people there though that it was hard to get around.

 I'm pretty sure Emma's favorite part of the day was when Grandpa Nichols' bought her (and all the other kids) a souvenir from the gift shop!  Emma had a hard time picking what stuffie she wanted, but finally decided on this penguin.  Ben got a truck with jet ski on behind it.  He hasn't stopped playing with it since!

 That evening, Grandpa took his family out for dinner at the Outback Steakhouse.  It was nice to get a chance to visit with everyone.

 Tuesday - We had to be up early and at Alicia's again so that Lennard and Alicia could go to a dr's appointment with their dad.  We hung out at the house and I got a few loads of laundry done (thanks, Alicia!).  The kids got a bit bored, so thankfully I had the electronics in the truck so they were able to play games and watch a movie.

Once they all got back and we all had lunch, we made a quick (but expensive) stop at Penzey's and then continued on to the Mormon Trail Center for a quick-ish tour.  The sister missionary learned that you can only tell stories and give so many facts before kids shut down and don't listen as well!  They were a little disappointed that there weren't any gingerbread houses this time... sorry kids... only at Christmas!

We had promised the kids we'd take them swimming, so we went back to Alicia's, got changed and headed to the pool.  There is an outdoor pool just minutes away from Alicia's house that we got to enjoy for the afternoon.  It felt great being in the water with how hot it was.  The kids had a blast.  Emma and Anna loved the big water slides.  Lennard ended up slipping though and landed on his right wrist.  He was in a lot of pain and worried that he'd damaged his wrist where he'd had surgery. We'd been at the pool for a couple hours already, so we loaded up and went back to Alicia's to get him some meds and some ice on his wrist.  We did look in to seeing if our insurance would cover him getting an x-ray done, but they said it was a pre-existing condition and wouldn't pay for it.  Thankfully, it ended up just being a sprain and nothing with the bones.

Alicia made us a wonderful dinner that night and we were able to sit and visit again.  The kids sure love being at Aunt Alicia's and getting to play with Scamp!

 Wednesday - We had a bit of a slower start in the morning, but we made it to Nauvoo around supper time.  We got set up at Camp Nauvoo and had something to eat.  The kids were anxious to go find my parents.  They were in meetings until after 6:00, so we checked out the Visitor's Center and the pageant grounds.

As soon as they saw Grandma and Grandpa coming up over the hill they were on the run!  It was all I could do to keep up with them.  They threw themselves into Grandma's arms and didn't want to let go.  It was awesome to see.  I finally got my hug too!

 We got a quick tour under the stage and, while Dad had to keep going with the work crew, Mom took the night off and came with us to the Country Fair.

 It had rained earlier that day, so it was extremely hot and muggy.  I looked like I'd stepped out of a shower!

 Ben absolutely LOVED the handcarts and playing with the hoops.

 Emma loved all the crafts she got to do and tried out the sack races with Anna.

 The British Pageant was amazing.  There was so much information about different people that prepared the way for the gospel to be taught.  I wish I had thought to write down all the names.  When you hear of parents being put to death for teaching their children the Lord's prayer in English, it puts things into perspective of how far we've come.

 At the finale of the pageant, all the missionaries serving in Nauvoo come marching in singing 'Called to Serve'.  It completely caved me.  I sat there and bawled!  It was such a powerful moment and it truly touched me.  Especially when I looked over and saw Lennard's face covered in tears too.

 Thursday - We took the kids to Carthage Jail and did a tour there.  There were lots of people on the tour, so we weren't able to take our time and take any pictures in the jail like I would have liked to.

 We had to get back fairly quickly after the tour so that we could get changed and take Anna to the temple to do baptisms.  My mom met us in the temple parking lot and took Emma and Ben for us.  I was able to go and watch (and pass out towels).  It is a beautiful font and I think Anna had a positive experience.  Lennard witnessed and my dad was able to do the baptisms with Anna.

The house my parents stay in while they're serving in Nauvoo.

 Country Fair was a hit again.  Unfortunately, Ben got a little too comfortable and we couldn't find him.  The first time, we found him fairly quickly, but the second time we just about had to call security to help us.  It was a little unnerving!  Thankfully, just before we'd gone in to Country Fair I'd made a comment to the kids that if we got separated that they should go find our seats (since we had the same seats and they knew where they were).  After searching for him for quite a while, we found that he had gone to our seats and ended up finding Grandpa at the stage!  What a blessing!

 Emma had so much fun coloring, braiding with Grandma, making rag dolls, etc.

 Ben loved the sock puppet that he got.

We were very thankful for mom's 'connections' at getting us ice!  It was a nice treat while we waited for the pageant to start.

 It was the Nauvoo pageant that night and it was just as amazing as we remembered.  The spirit was overwhelming and I ended up in tears multiple times.  

 Ben was in tears again (he was in tears last night at the pageant too, but I thought it was just because he was tired).  When I asked him what was wrong he just said, “I'm just so happy.”  I told him that when he feels that way that it’s the Holy Ghost telling him that what he’s seeing and hearing is true and that he’s gaining a testimony.  He just looked at me and said, “I’m really feeling the Holy Ghost!”  My mommy heart just burst.  His simple faith strengthened mine.  What an incredible blessing it was to be able to see these pageants and to feel the Spirit so strongly.

Friday - After two late nights, none of us moved until almost 9:00 this morning!  We spent the day going through a bunch of the restored homes in Nauvoo.  The brick yard was a highlight since they got a Nauvoo brick to bring home.  We also went to the Lucy Mack Smith home, the print shop, the Pendleton School, the John Taylor home, the Browning Gun Shop, the Blacksmith, the Tin Shop, the Brigham Young Home, the Seventies Hall, etc.

Brickyard

School

Prairie diamond - horseshoe nail bent into a ring!

Seventies Hall - first MTC

We had a bit of a rough afternoon with grouchy, demanding kids, we we spent a lot of time at the trailer.  It's hard when we are up so late.  Emma has been extremely clingy and doesn't want us out of her sight.  It's been slightly frustrating.  Because of how the kids have been, we decided not to go to the British Pageant again and just have an early evening.

Saturday -  We went through the site that the Community of Christ owns.  It was an okay tour ending at the Red Brick Store.  The kids loved the store.  Emma got some candies, Ben got a pencil sharpener in the shape of a paddle boat and Anna got some root beer. From there we went to the Riser Boot Shop, the Scovil Bakery and then the Family Living Center where we got to see wool being spun, bread making, rope making, candle making, etc

Bakery - they each got a cookie

Making rope at the Family Living Center - Emma got her hair stuck in the rope... so we got the rope!

We decided to see if we could get on a wagon ride (we didn't have tickets), but after not getting on two different wagons we were surprised to see my parents!  They'd ended up with a rare afternoon off and asked if Lennard and I would like to go to a temple session.  Since Emma refused to have Anna babysit, it was our only chance to go.  Lennard was waiting in line to save us seats for the pageant tonight, so we raced down and my dad switched places with him while my mom took the kids to their house.  We hurried back to the trailer, got changed, and got to the temple about 15 minutes before the next session!  We managed to get changed into our white clothes and made it to the chapel with only minutes to spare!  Whew!  It was such a wonderful way to spend the afternoon and a nice break.

 After the session we had just enough time to get changed at the trailer and get the kids from my parents before they had to leave to take the work crew for dinner.  We can't thank them enough for sacrificing their one free afternoon and babysitting our kids for us!

We did a bit of souvenir shopping and Ben managed to convince Lennard that a pocket knife was a good idea.  Yikes!  Lennard had seen a sign for a buffet at the Hotel Nauvoo, so he went to check it out while we were shopping.  He quickly returned and said that we had to go right then if we wanted to go.  So we went!

 It ended up being one of the best meals we had on our trip.  It was delicious!  (Expensive... but worth it!)  After dinner, we ended up at the Country Fair again.  It was a bit of a cooler afternoon, so it was great to wander around and let the kids play.  We even ended up having to go get our hoodies from the truck as it cooled right down in the evening.  The Nauvoo Pageant was wonderful (again).

Sunday - My parents got permission for us to attend Sacrament meeting with them at the Pageant Headquarters.  It's usually only for those in the Pageant, etc.  It was a nice meeting and then we got to have lunch with them at the cafeteria too.  The meal wasn't great, but the company was!

 We stopped at the Nauvoo temple on the way back and we got Anna to take a few family pictures for us.

 It was a hot day... and super bright!  I love Ben's expression.  lol

 We did attempt to go look at a few more houses (after we'd got changed)... but the kids were pretty well done with listening and looking at old houses.  We did go to the Scovil Bakery again so they could get another cookie.  We walked the Trail of Hope down to the Mississippi River.  It was so hot and Emma was determined to read every sign by herself (and got mad if anyone else read anything), that I was done by the time we finished.  We ended up going back to the trailer to just have some down time.

That evening we were blessed to get to see "Our Story Goes On".  It's only performed twice in the summer, so we were lucky to get to see it.  The actors do all the sound effects which thrilled Ben... especially when a grown man pretended to be a baby.  He laughed and laughed.  I loved all the different songs.  It had such a wonderful story of how our lives continue on and on.

 It was hard after the show was done as we had to say goodbye to my parents.  The kids just sobbed...which made me cry!  It's been such a wonderful experience.

Ben having fun with his shadow!

 Monday - We made it to Minneapolis that evening and after getting set up and having dinner, we decided to go check out the Mall of America.  Of course, Ben immediately found the Lego store and didn't care to look at anything else.

 Emma and Anna loved the Disney store!

Tuesday - August 1st - After being at the mall last night and talking about what we were going to do today, the kids were more than ready to go in the morning.  The mall didn't open until 10:00am so we had a nice relaxing morning and didn’t stress about doing much.  The kids were so anxious to buy Lego sets that pretty much anything else wasn’t on the radar.  We got to the mall and started spoiling them early… we bought unlimited ride tickets for everyone.  

Our favorite ride, by far, was the Fly Over America.  The kids were SO loud on the ride and were completely convinced that we were really flying over water, etc.  It was so much fun!  We would have loved to have gone on it again, but it was a little too expensive to justify it!

 Emma went on every ride she could and loved most of them.  There were a few crazy roller coasters that I wouldn't go on that she went on!  Ben went on way more rides than I thought he would.  He didn't go on two of the craziest roller coasters, but I was okay with that!

Emma got SOAKED on the log ride.  Ooops!  ha! ha!

 Since I'm always taking the pictures, I was glad to snap one ride picture with me in it!

 We played until almost 6:00pm!  It was such a fun day.

Wednesday - Another driving day through Minneapolis and on to Winnipeg, MB.  Once again, there were absolutely no questions about Anna as we went through the border.  So strange!

Thursday - We took a tour through the Canadian Mint.  It was very interesting to see all the coins being made and finding out how many different countries have their coins made there.

We'd thought about doing a few other things, but we ended up having a super relaxing afternoon at the campground for the rest of the day.  It was so nice to just sit out and read a book... something we haven't been able to do this whole vacation either because it's been too hot or we've been too busy doing other things.  We played a bunch of card games together, the kids played at the playground and Lennard even managed to take a nap!  It was great!

Friday - We made it as far as Swift Current, SK that night and stayed in a Walmart parking lot.

Saturday - We made it home!  We'd stopped at the Costco in Lethbridge on the way home and loaded up on groceries since we knew we didn't have any fresh food at home.  Anna was a little disappointed that she didn't get to go straight home, but her family was in Glenwood at a reunion.  We managed to get everything unloaded from the trailer and I started in on the laundry pile (no small task!).  It was such a great trip and a lot of wonderful memories were made.