Nauvoo

 We arrived in Nauvoo early Monday morning. It was warm, but not too hot yet. We drove around the city, just taking in the sights and trying to make a game plan. We had heard that the Nauvoo pageant was playing, but not on Mondays. We were disappointed, but it couldn't be helped.

We started in the Visitors' Center. My sweetie walked around with the kids while I worked on getting some tickets. My new friend from Omaha suggested that we try to see at least one show while we were there and I found one for 2:30. I also grabbed tickets for a carriage ride for the seven of us who weren't going in the temple and wagon rides for noon for everyone.  They also told us that the pageant would be having a dress rehearsal at 8:30 if we wanted to attend. They promised that it was pretty much identical to what was being staged on all the other nights except that there might be a few interruptions (there weren't any).

We wandered around the displays a little longer and then we parted ways. My sweetie took Teach, Dog Walker, Prima Donna, and Princess into the temple for their baptism appointment and I took everyone else on a carriage ride around the city. The little ones loved it! The horses were 2000-lb Perschons (I probably spelled that wrong) and the kids were so excited! It was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip. I snuggled Baby Doll on my lap and we just enjoyed the stories and togetherness.

We got back at about 11:15 and we only had to wait for a few minutes for my sweetie to show up with the rest of the kids. Unfortunately they cancelled our wagon ride because of the heat. We were sad, but we didn't want the horses to work too hard!

Since our show didn't start until 2:30, we decided to drive the 30 minutes to Carthage. That was one place we simply could NOT miss. We arrived just as they were beginning the next tour. That place is so powerful! Joseph was an amazing man! I never doubted that he sealed his testimony with his blood, but seeing it in real life with the bullet hole through the door just made it so much more tangible.

We left Carthage and drove back to Nauvoo with a few minutes to spare before our show. The show was awesome! Those kids are so talented. I would have loved to serve a mission like that back in the days when I could sing and dance. After the show was over, we visited some of the historic homes and when they were all closed at 6:00, we had dinner at one of the hotels downtown. The food was pretty good, but it was expensive.

Then we drove back to the parking lot for the pageant. It was awesome! The only bad part was the bugs. One of the girls in the pageant told us they were called "chiggers" and they have a nice sting to them. (I discovered them today all over the backs of my legs.) We used bug spray even though they told me it wasn't really necessary. I was more careful with the kids than I was with myself and they didn't get eaten as much.

By the time we got back to the van it was 11:00. Teach wanted to take a picture of the family by the temple, so we drove up there and unloaded. She put her camera on the tripod and managed to get us all in. But even with the bright lights from the temple and her flash, you can't see us very well.

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to give you a little rundown of today too. Besides, I'm washing clothes in the hotel laundry and I can't go to bed until they are done. 

We left Keokuk pretty early, but a missing key took us a good half hour to find...in my sweetie's swimming stuff. He headed toward Detroit. It was a nine + hour drive and it was a long one! We only made a few stops, one at a Kroger store for a potty run. Since Teach and Drama Queen work for Smith's Food and Drug, they really wanted to visit a Kroger store. Just to see what it was like. It was about the same as a Smith's.

Our next stop was Weko Beach on Lake Michigan. The kids loved playing in the warm water even in their clothes! Princess never wanted to leave...

One more stop for gas and a burger and we rolled into Detroit around ten. Of course we lost an hour somewhere. It's almost 2:30 EST and I really need to sleep. Hope you all had as great a day as me! And don't forget to stop by Utah Dave and vote for the Dog Walker (aka Nathan) so he can win the $1000 prize!