Nauvoo Pics

So I'm finally getting around to putting up the Nauvoo pictures. There are lots, we'll see how much patience I have for blogger and see how many I actually put up......

Day one: We left late afternoon and drove just a few hours to Peoria IL where we rested for the night before we drove another 2 and a half hours to Nauvoo the next day.
Day two: We took the 2 1/2 hour drive to Nauvoo, though I think it ended up being more like three because we had to stop a couple of times and the rain slowed us down a bit too. What was really neat was as we were driving out to Nauvoo it poured on us but as soon as we arrived in Nauvoo and were ready to do the sites it stopped raining, I thought that was neat.

Here is what we did the first day in Nauvoo.....

We had to stop a couple of times because E had to go potty. Of course when she has to go it's in the middle of no where so here is what we did....hung her out the door on the side of the road, look at her smiling, she thought it was pretty funny!

Another stop we had to make. I love this picture.... chugging chocolate milk sitting on the curb, too cute!

When we got there we could immediately see the temple it looked so beautiful up on the hill.

With out one minute to spare we jumped on the first wagon tour ride we literally had to grab our stuff, the kids and get on before we were left. We did the two different wagon tour rides the first day and I'm glad we did it gave us an idea of what sites we wanted to see and what things we wanted to do the rest of the time there.
Here they are, the boys all bundled....it was pretty cold the first day luckily they provided blankets on the tour though we had a few of our own, but we all stayed pretty warm.

I love the old brick look of all the buildings and the old windows it just made me wish I had a nice camera so I could really capture the feel of old Nauvoo, so here is the best pictures I have....

After the wagon rides we went to the visitors center for a bit, then ate some lunch out side in the cold, and then headed over to the Family Learning Center. This was where we spent much of the time the first day, there was so much there for the kids to do and learn. Here they are learning how to make rope. Other things included how to make candles, pottery, rugs, spin wool other things that the pioneers had to do on a daily basis just to live. It was fun and the kids were actually able to touch some of the things there which is nice when you have young kids that want to touch everything!

Rope crowns they even got to keep the rope they made!

Lassoing the sheep, they loved that sheep!

J touching anything and everything he was allowed to.

We did a few other quick sites the first day but saved the rest for day #3 on our trip.

Day three: Second day in Nauvoo...

It was our second day in Nauvoo and the drive out there again was ok, we all survived though we took a 30 min detour (by accident) out of our way, oh well so much for paying attention to signs!

We were able to do lots of other sites our second day there like the brick yard, the post office, the printing press, the black smith and a few others I can't think of. They were all fun places to visit and the kids loved their brick and the ring they each got to keep from the tin smith. It's so neat that every thing is free here, the kids loved it. We also visited The Smith Family Cemetery where Joseph, Hyrum and their parents and Emma and others final resting place is. It was interesting to read about how Josephs' body had to be hid from the mobs and how it came to that final resting place, some thing I wouldn't have known other wise.

The trail of hope was really neat to do too. We walked down the trail and read excerpts of journal entries of some pioneers about having to leave their homes in Nauvoo to make the journey Westward. It was neat to read their perspective on things, I would have a hard time being so optimistic about it, they were so faithful, I am grateful for such faithful Pioneers who led the way for us. Then at the end of the trail there was a replica covered wagon that you could ride in and that was fun too.

But even more fun for the kids were the oxen, they loved the Oxen. Here is Gary and Gabe the Oxen with E and Ange. They even touched the horns, I was so surprised that E wasn't more scared of them, she even fed them Corn on the cob it was so funny to watch them with these Oxen.

Playing in the Mississippi river, kind of. We just threw rocks in it and touched the cold water, that's about it. But hey I can say I've touched the Mississippi river, yippee!

After doing all that we wanted to do and all that we had time to do in Nauvoo we headed off to Carthage to do the site there on our way back home. Like I said in my last post this was my favorite part of the trip, it was just a neat experience.

The Joseph and Hyrum Statue outside the jail.

Here is a really nice picture my Sister Angela took of the jail. I loved the look of the sun setting on the side of the brick building.

Alright, that is all I am going to post about our little Nauvoo trip and it only took me two days to get it all ready to post, wow, not what I was planning on but here it is any way.