Missouri Day 4

Mom and Dad wore the same shirt. It was not planned.

The hotel in St. Louis wasn't great, but at least it was a place to sleep. We had cereal in our room and then checked out early. We had tickets to Gateway Arch National Park, which was one of two main adventures for the day. After parking between Busch Stadium and the arch, we made the short walk over. It opened right at 9 o'clock, and we were already in line. 

The arch was awesome!

There is a large museum at the arch, and we walked through a bit of it and got the boys started on the Junior Ranger. At 9:40, we had tickets to take the tram to the top of the arch. We were assigned to tram car number 2 and lined up outside the door. When the tiny portal opened, we were shocked to see the inside of the tram. It was about 4 foot cube with 5 seats in it. We learned later, they they are called "pods," which seems much more accurate. The pods travel up the arch in 4 minutes to a height of 630 feet, which is about 100 feet higher than our trip to the top of the Space Needle. Then you climb out into a narrow hallway with wide, thin windows. There view both east and west, and they are spectacular. However, when the wind blows, as it did today, you can feel the arch sway. It was very unnerving to feel it move under your feet! It was exciting to be up there, but Seth said, "I'm going to kiss the ground when I get back down!" and we all felt the same!

The museum was huge! There was a lot to see and do.

Heading to the top of the arch.

Dax wasn't too sure about the pods. And Mark couldn't sit up straight!

It was quite the adventure going inside the arch.

Being up in the top was awesome!

We could see Busch Stadium which was our next stop.

We enjoyed the Gateway Arch.

It wasn't long until we were down as the pod gets to the bottom in only 3 minutes. Then we finished the Junior Ranger program as we wandered the rest of the museum. The ranger, upon hearing that we were from Utah, asked if we were LDS. Then he insisted on showing us the Book of Mormon printed in Nauvoo and the coins that we'd missed. We hung around the museum until our second arch adventure, which was a boat ride up the Mississippi River. 

We were excited to see the Book of Mormon printed in Nauvoo.

This is the arch from the other side.

Just down the grand staircase behind the arch we grabbed some fresh fries and a funnel cake. Our ride was at noon, and we hadn't eaten since the cereal in the hotel. The food was surprisingly good! Finally, we got aboard the boat. We rode upriver for about 30 minutes, passing several bridges and ending up at the most modern, which is called Stan Musial Bridge. Then we headed south again as far as the Poplar Street Bridge. It was a nice little ride, even though the sun was getting fierce. We enjoyed hearing the history of the area and information on the bridge, and the breeze was very pleasant.

Eating a few snacks next to the arch was neat.

We rode this steamboat down the river.

Being on the Mississippi River was amazing!

It was really windy on the way back.

There were lots of cool bridges on this ride.

As soon as we got off the boat, we made a quick trek to Busch Stadium for the Cardinals-Brewers game. We made it to our seats just in time for first pitch. There were a few exciting moments, like when the right fielder made a running, lunging catch right in front of us. We were only on the fourth row, and he ran into the wall as he made the play. Two homers landed in the section just to our right. But the sun was merciless, and most of us ended up with sun burns and near heatstroke. We are not used to this humidity! Also, the Cardinals were horrible and were down 8-0. We waited right until the end because we wanted to see Albert Pujols hit. After a lead off single and a strikeout, he came out on deck to pinch hit. But first, the right fielder was up. He grounded into a double play, and we never got to see the slugger bat. It was a disappointing ending, but we enjoyed the game and Busch Stadium.

After that, it was a long ride into Nauvoo. We arrived around 8 o'clock, and much to our surprise we were staying in a beautiful building! You can read all about that tomorrow!

We love visiting new baseball stadiums.

We were so hot! But we had a lot of fun.

Although everyone was sad not to see Pujols bat.

Missouri Day 3

The Bob pedestrian bridge was a fun stop. 

Wow. This day ended up being more like a sucker punch! We woke up early so that we could get to the Lewis and Clark Trail Center. The electronic maps literally sent us to the wrong side of the railroad tracks, so we could see the building, but we couldn't get to it. After a short detour, we finally got to the building, only to find that weekend hours had it closed. Luckily, we managed to enjoy the Bob Bridge that crosses over the river into Iowa. The kids really liked the fun signs on this bridge, and the troll that lives beneath. It was fun to stand in two states on the bridge, too.

The troll under the bridge was awesome.

One foot in Nebraska and one in Iowa!

Kissing across the states.

Mom and Dax had a blast at the bridge.

By this time, we had plenty of time to drive south and cross the border into Elwood, Kansas. We were in Kansas for only about 10 minutes, but that seemed like plenty of time. We continued down the road to the Kansas City Temple, and it was nice since the gardens were in bloom. We walked all the way around the temple and enjoyed the peace.

We made it to Kansas.

The Kansas City temple was pretty. 

Our next stop was Liberty Jail. This was easily the highlight of the day. It was quite a bit different than Mom or Dad remembered it. You could walk around to the door of the jail, and the path led right to the foot of the dungeon. It was a really nice, spiritual experience, and we all thought it was great.

We loved the Spirit at Liberty Jail.

The missionaries took a family pic for us.

Picnic time by the van.

We had a little extra time planned in the afternoon to visit the Truman House, which is where Harry S. Truman lived both before and after serving as President. His house is exactly as it was in 1982 when Bess Truman passed away. The only thing they changed was putting down rugs to protect the original carpet as you walk through. We were really impressed by the house, and especially by the fact that Truman came home and lived a simple life after serving as President of the United States. 

This was Bess Truman's cousin's home. We walked through this home until our tour started.

The Truman home was picturesque.

We were hoping for another spiritual experience at Independence, and it was nice, but the tour was less spiritual. Still, we heard some fun stories from the saving of the Book of Commandments, to the persecution of Edward Partridge. There were some nice displays of what it may have been like to live in Independence, too.

The history at Independence was interesting to learn.

We love when we get a family photo.

It was a long way into St. Louis, and we planned only to stop for dinner and then head right to the hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel called to tell us that they had sold our room. We were still charged $191, plus a $50 fee for some reason, but there would be no room for us. Mom immediately called Hotels.com, where we'd originally booked all the way back in January. They agreed to find us a room. After about an hour of waiting on hold and exchanging phone calls, they finally said they had something. They agreed to bill our credit card for the $191 and pay the difference for the room. After billing us, they got back on and told us the room had booked. Don't worry, they assured us, we'll find something else. But they couldn't. In all of St. Louis, they couldn't. 

We did have dinner at a lovely Mexican restaurant along the road. The food was good and Mark ate tacos for the first time. We even ate outside, which was very nice. But you could also see the kids were worried we might be sleeping in the van. Everyone was a little short with each other.

Mark has become a great eater.

During all this time of driving and stopping for dinner, it was getting later and later. At around 8 pm, we decided to stop at the temple and take a few pictures. We were still working with the company, and we finally told them to refund our money. Then Mom went on to find us a hotel. She did find us one, which was $270, but by then, we'd have slept in a dumpster. So, we are hoping to recoup our losses. It was over $700 for hotels today (don't worry, most of it will be refunded), and the stress took years off of our lives. So yeah, it was just like a sucker punch. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Do we look stressed?

Nebraska Day 1 and 2

Right after school let out, we loaded up the brand new van. We had to get as far as we could on our longest roadtrip yet. The plan was to leave by two o'clock and get as far as Cheyenne on Day 1. To be honest, there wasn't a lot of adventure. We enjoyed seeing the pronghorn that are ever present in Wyoming, and Dax spotted a bald eagle, but mostly, we just drove. We only took a few pictures at a restaurant called Penny's Diner in Rawlins. We listened to part of a Little House book, read scriptures, and talked. The boys watched a movie and listened to music. Even though it was over 400 miles, it didn't seem too bad!

We were all happy to be out of the car and eat!

We are ready for this new adventure!

Day 2 was a lot of driving, too. Basically, we drove across Wyoming on the first day, and Nebraska on the second day. We even decided to let Mark drive a bit, but as soon as he took the wheel, we entered a construction zone with very narrow lanes. He did great, but he was ready to give it up pretty soon! Luckily, we did have a few more fun stops and sights to see. We started right in Cheyenne looking at the Big Boots. They are a unique art installation located downtown. We didn't spend too long looking at them, but we enjoyed them for a while. Then we headed east.

We loved this mural in Cheyenne!

The Big Boots were 8 feet tall!

We enjoyed looking at the different murals on them.

Everyone loved this pony express rider!

On the long drive across Nebraska, we only made two stops. The first was at the world headquarters for Cabela's, which Mom wanted to see. We went in and looked at the animals, but we all thought our Lehi Cabela's was a little better. A little after noon, we stopped at a nice shady rest area and had a picnic lunch. It was quite pleasant, even though we only stopped for about 30 minutes. 

We like checking out all the Cabela's.

Seth takes the best pictures.

This picnic area was the perfect spot for lunch. We lucked out.

Finally, we made it to Winter Quarters. We had plenty of time to see the small Visitor Center there. It was run by sister missionaries, who spend the first months of their missions guiding tours before they go off to other parts of the country to proselyte. Our boys were pretty quiet, but we enjoyed learning about the two years spent in Nebraska along the Pioneer Trail. Since we didn't know a lot about this history, it was really interesting for us.

The Mormon Trail Center was a fun pioneer spot.

This was Brigham Young's travel case.

We grabbed a quick dinner, and then changed for the Winter Quarters Temple. Mark, Dax, and Dad had an appointment for baptisms. It was a tiny temple, but a member of the Temple Presidency spoke to us before we did our baptisms. That was pretty cool. By the time we got finished, Mom and Seth had checked into the hotel a cross the river in Iowa, so Seth can always remember that he got to this state first!

Mom and Dad love visiting new temples.

The boys were so excited to do baptisms in the Winter Quarters temple.

End Of School

Mom and Dad celebrated the end of school by going on a lunch date!

Ending school was kind of a big deal this year. Each of us had a bit of an emotional end because of the change coming their way. For Mark, he is graduating Junior High and moving over to the Lehi High School. He had a 4.0 GPA this year, and he learned to work really hard, so he's ready for the show. He also completed his Driver's Ed, and can get his license as soon as the school will let him take the road test. 

Here is Mark on the 4.0 list.

Mark and his buddies!

We are so proud of Mark and the hard work he has put into school.

Dax is leaving Dry Creek Elementary for the junior high. He had a very emotional day, because even though Dax is 13, he still loves dominating at recess and being with the same kids all day. For Dax, school is still a great place to be a kid. He enjoyed his pool party on the last day, though, and he is looking forward to the advanced classes.

Dax is pretty silly.

He was not happy about his Bruno dance, but he still did it with a good attitude!

6th grade clap out! Bye Bye Elementary School!

Best 6th grader in the school. He was a rock star on student council.

Seth is leaving Dry Creek, too. He will only be gone for a year as he heads at to Highland to be with Dad for fourth grade. This is exciting, and a little bit scary for both of them. Since they have the same personality, they may clash more than the other boys, but they are excited to get to be together every day. Seth is a natural at making friends, so he doesn't worry about moving to a new school at all.

Seth LOVED his dance festival dance!

He danced it perfectly!

Mrs. Burgoyne was Dax and Seth's 3rd grade teacher.

Dad is worried, though. For the first time, he'll be teaching something other than fourth grade. He has been asked to balance a 4/5 split, and he's not looking forward to it. Teaching is difficult enough without having to worry about two groups, two curriculums, and two tests. It will take a lot of time this summer planning and preparing for him to be ready.

Dad will be an amazing teacher no matter what!

Of course, Mom is support for all this. She is a major player at Dry Creek, spending three or four days a week volunteering there, so she'll have to spend her time at the other schools this coming year. In the meantime, she'll be driving all over the valley getting everyone to their destinations, and working to make each school better. She'll help us all make it a great year.

Mom loves going to all the school events! This was Seth's camping read-a-thon!