Nauvoo

We went on a family vacation to Nauvoo, IL last week. We took the kids out of school for Thursday and Friday (although Friday was only a half-day, so I don't think they missed much). We left at 9:30am and arrived there a little after 6pm. We had some gas/potty/nursing breaks, plus a long wait at a drawbridge to cross the Mississippi river into IL from IA.

When we got settled in, we ate dinner at the hotel buffet, then took the kids swimming. They really enjoyed it, as we had the pool mostly to ourselves. I think the older four boys tried to dunk their dad for over an hour. Katie loves the water, and although I haven't taken her swimming in over a month, she seemed to remember it and like it just as much as always. She lets me lay her back in the water and float her around, and loves to splash her brothers. Aaron tossed her in the air a few times, and she thought that was great, although I though it was scary. She was clearing his head with her feet by quite a bit.

That night I got little sleep. Katie was cutting teeth and not comfortable in the pack 'n' play. She spent much of the night rolling around on my bed, whimpering.

First thing after our cereal and milk breakfast in the hotel room, we took the wagon tour through Old Nauvoo. We learned about the various houses and buildings, their owners from the days of Joseph Smith, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Katie fussed for a couple of minutes at first, as it was already her nap time, but she fell asleep and allowed the rest of us to enjoy our hour-long tour. Afterward, she woke up and the kids all petted the horses, named Tom and Jerry.

After that, we went back to the hotel for our lunch - peanut butter and honey sandwiches, grapes, V-8 Fusion, and cheese sticks. Then, I had the kids each pick a place they heard about on the tour that they would like to explore for the afternoon.

William picked the Family Living Center, where we first took some photos in a nicely landscaped yard, then we learned about life in the mid-1840s. We just went to the kids' favorite parts, the rope-making demonstration, and the candle-making spiel (the kids were really disappointed that they didn't get to make candles, as they had in the past). Katie and Aidan played with some wooden toys, Katie tried to join some baby dolls in a rocking bassinet, and a few of them sat on a sheep by the spinning wheel demonstration.

Dallin chose the Browning Home and Gunsmith Shop. There, we learned how the father of the founder of the Browning Arms Company made guns. There is a pretty neat demonstration, as well as a beautiful home to look at. Aidan wouldn't sit still, and kept going to the other side of the velvet rope that was supposed to keep people out of the sitting room, but we made it through. I liked the trap door in the floor of the kitchen that led to the cellar. I suggested to Aaron that it would be a lot faster than my current system of going all the way through the basement to get to my food storage area, but he didn't go for that.

Next, we went to the Brickyard, which was Brandon's choice. We watched the brick-making demonstration, and came out with a souvenir brick (that's our third, as it is the third time we have been to Nauvoo). Katie played in the wood chips that surrounded the equipment (she honestly looked like a cat, digging in them the way she did), and then I took Aidan out, as he wouldn't keep quiet, and there were other people in that demonstration than just our family.

After that, we were tired of keeping Aidan and Katie in line, so I kept them in the grass while Aaron took the others to the School House. What's funny about that is that Aidan had wanted to go to Brigham Young's home, but he didn't really get that - he thought it sounded like Bubble Gum, and Aaron didn't want to go there because he said it bored the living daylights out of him, and so we explained that it wasn't a bubble gum house, and I convinced him to go to the school, because I wanted to go there. So then Aaron took the older kids there, and I missed it, and so did Aidan. How did I let that happen?

From there, we went to the Blacksmith's shop, which was Tristin's choice. Or maybe I should say Tristin and Brandon went to the Blacksmith's shop. I nursed Katie in the van, Aaron played soccer with Will and Ben in the field across the road, and Dallin and Aidan collected Black Walnuts. I have a nice stash in the door compartment in my van now. I'll have to remember to remove them and let them dry elsewhere. Tristin and Brandon came out with souvenir nail rings.

Following that, we went to do Ben's choice - see the Joseph Smith home. We saw signs that tours started in the Community of Christ Visitor's Center, so we went there, and found out that they charge a $2 preservation fee per person to take their tour. The sites the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints maintains are free of charge, and we didn't realize there was a cost to that one. Besides that, we would have to sit through their video, and the tour was an hour long. We didn't think Aidan would make it through without a meltdown, and Katie wasn't in the mood to sit through a video, so Aaron and I decided to pass. They did allow us to look through their "museum," which is about a 20'x10' room. There are plaques all over that say that there is no photography allowed inside their building, which was quite strange. It makes you wonder what they are hiding from. Anyway, there were some interesting letters written by Emma Smith in there, and some beautiful paintings. To appease Ben, who was being gypped at this point, we went to the cemetery next to Joseph Smith's house, which is open to everyone, whether or not they take the tour, and he and Aaron got out and walked around for a minute and saw Joseph, Emma and Hyrum's grave site. Ben was happy with this, and we went to town for ice cream.

Unfortunately, ice cream is not easy to come by at 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon in Nauvoo. This place has turned into a bit of a ghost town. Maybe it's just that it isn't summer, like it normally is when we go, but the ice cream place across from the Mill Deli and Bakery is vacant, and most of the stores - even diners - were either closed for the day, or closed prior to 2:30pm. Wierd!!!!! The Mill was open, but only had soft-serve ice cream. We made do with that, but I don't recommend the new flavors. They are a flavoring that is like a top-coat swirl on the outside of the vanilla ice cream, and it tastes tinny. At least the peach does, which is what I had. The kids seemed to like it pretty well. We got some cookies and a small loaf of wheat sourdough bread, and went back to the hotel from there, where Aaron and I collapsed while the kids watched T.V.

After a while, Aaron went to Casey's to pick up a pizza (no, there aren't any pizza delivery places in Nauvoo), and we ate, then he and the boys went to the pool, while I nursed Katie and put her to bed. I read a book after that. When they got back, Aaron turned on the T.V., and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was on. It was about halfway through, but the kids were all interested, and we watched the remainder of it. Then we had scripture & prayer, and they went to bed. Aaron and I stayed up for Stargate Atlantis, which we haven't watched in quite a while, but Daniel was in the episode, and we liked him in SG-1, so it was somewhat interesting to us.

Then, we went to bed. Unfortunately, Katie was now not only teething, but had some diarrhea, as well, and woke up soon thereafter. She tossed around worse than she had the night before, and after a while I remembered that I had some Tylenol in the diaper bag, and a half an hour after I gave it to her she finally calmed down, and I put her in her pack 'n' play, and she whined for only a moment, and then fell asleep!!!

I woke up a little before 8am to Aaron telling me that he was going to try to make the 8am endowment session, and Katie woke up, too. I nursed her, and felt some promptings that I should get to the temple, too. We were supposed to check out of the hotel at 11am, so that was no small feat, I realized. I decided to make it work. I got up and packed everyone up, showered, got everyone to eat some cereal, found that some of the kids had failed to do their homework, got them started, and pulled myself together enough to go to the temple. I wrote Aaron a note with instructions regarding the 11am check-out, and left at 9:26am to walk to the temple. This was not fun in my sandle-style heels. It was just under a mile walk, and I had to get there in time to rent clothes and change, and I wasn't sure I would even get in, as I forgot to call ahead for a reservation. Along the way, I skipped by an older lady - probably a sister missionary - who encouraged me with a "you'll make it!" And I smiled back and told her I hoped so! I made it there at about 9:38am, and was handed the last available women's ticket to the session.

I cut my time in the celestial room short in order to get back to Aaron and the kids - they were by this time playing at a park, having had to check out of the hotel at 11am, and I didn't want to stick Aaron with all seven of them alone like that for long, especially seeing as I had gone to the temple without Aaron knowing I was going until he returned to find Tristin babysitting at 10:30am. I expected him back sooner, but Tristin is a capable babysitter, especially with Katie napping, so it was fine.

Well, that's our Nauvoo trip. I recommend it. I think I'd rather go in the summertime and fight crowds a little, though. Maybe during the week, like we did last time, when the crowds aren't too bad, but things are still open. I missed Sunset at the Mississippi, the shows done by the summertime youth missionaries, and the Pioneer Playtime exhibit, where kids get to dress up and play pioneer games. We'll have to remember that for the next time we go, and we'll have something new for the younger kids to look forward to.