Vacation

I've been home for 2 weeks from my trip and I'm still not back up to speed with LIFE! Only part of my trip was at the Moss family reunion. The other part was fantastic, in large part because of Rose, a dear friend of mine. My trip started by spending the weekend in Missouri with my Sis and from there I picked Rose up from the airport in St. Louis. From St. Louis we drove on country roads to Hannibal, MO for a wonderful tour. I read the kids an abridged version of Tom Sawyer about a week before we left on our trip in preparation for this stop. I had been years ago, but I wanted to return with the kids, but NOT by myself. That's why I enlisted the help of Rose, she got a break from the stresses of teenager-hood and I got a little relief...win/win!

Inside the Mark Twain Museum.

Sailing the high seas.

After we were through with Hannibal we drove up to Keokuk, IA for the night to get our rest before we hit Carthage and Nauvoo the next day. It was so fun staying in a hotel with Rose! She's absolutely great. From the moment she stepped off the plane she was a huge help and I will always be grateful for that. I think my kids appreciated it more, because I could be fun and nice instead of mean and grumpy.

Brotherly love at Carthage.

Jack was posing for the camera. Notice Luke's blankie, yeah it got pretty nasty on our trip. Nothing a good soaking in hot bleach water can't fix. He gets extra attached to it when we leave home. Since I had just gone on the Carthage jail tour this past April, I stayed out with the little ones so Rose could enjoy it more.

After Carthage we skipped on over to Nauvoo. That place never gets old to me. We did a bunch of things we skipped in April. Notice Luke staring at Rose...he instantly fell in love with her. Luke is a pretty picky baby too, he doesn't like just anyone.

Oh yeah, did I mention we had beautiful weather? Not too hot or humid, it was wonderful!

A rare picture of me on our trip. The wagon ride was wonderful. I highly recommend it!

The temple's in the horizon. This was the last thing the Latter-day Saint's saw before the great exodus west to the Salt Lake Valley.

I love Erin's bonnet, she picked it out as a souvenir in Hannibal.

The Nauvoo Temple is my favorite temple, it's so beautiful inside.

After a full day being tourists we decided to get another hotel. I like my rest!

This time we stopped in Davenport, IA. It is SO cute! Maybe we just got lucky and drove through the nice part of town, but I LOVED it! It's big enough that there are things to do, but small enough it still has charm. After our adventures in Davenport we decided that since we had plenty of time we would skip the interstate going to Wisconsin. We avoided it in Missouri and were not disappointed so we took the scenic route. I do not have GPS, just a good map. Call me crazy, but I love reading maps and figuring out my way.

We saw the smoke for miles and didn't know what it was until up popped two cooling towers out of the trees. Seemed a bit random and odd to me.

Along the Rock River in Illinois.

The interstates are so boring to me (especially in Illinois), this is the way to travel!

It was lunch time when we hit Beloit and lucky for us there was a Taco Bell on one side of the road and a BEAUTIFUL park opposite of it! It was our lucky day.

Cute..babies!

Rose helping with lunch.

The kids getting their wiggles out. We sat in the sun, because it was to chilly in the shade.

I'm a mean Mom. I failed to inform the children that there was a wonderful play area on the other side of the pond. Rose and I knew about it, but we thought that if we took the kids we'd be there all day. This was a road trip, not a park trip.

On July 5th we went to the ward party down the street from the Moss' home. Rose was with me again and really helped me have a great day. Being at a lake with my kids by myself just seems dreadful (I have 2 non swimmers, 1 okay swimmer, and 1 independent swimmer and I only have 2 hands). There was so much to do there and the kids just had a fantastic time.

Erin attempted to kayak, but it didn't work out very well. An older kid got in with her and rowed her around.

Rose kept Luke occupied for me. He's in my arms a lot, so it was really a relief to get a break and focus on the other children more.

Howie was so sweet and took Jack out on the kayak. What a good brother!

We got a boat ride around Silver Lake. It was my first time on Silver Lake and I can't wait to go back!