Happy birthday, Nana! (AKA Day 6)

After months and months of keeping secrets and fibbing and avoiding subjects, the day of Nana's big surprise party finally arrived!! There were loads of people who came from all over to celebrate the big day, and happily, there were scads of kiddoes running around the backyard, just as we did when we were little!

(I remember this hill being a lot bigger! But we had just as much fun rolling down it when we were small...)

All of the kids made new friends with cousins who live far away...

And, of course, roughed around with Grandpa Preston, the biggest kid of them all!

Nana loved the pillow that Miss G sewed for her!

There was, of course, food for an army, which is good since we practically had a batallion's worth of loved ones on hand!

We got all of Nana's kids (and most of her grandkids and greatgrandkids) together for the first time since her 70th birthday!

Isn't my Nana beautiful??

My Mom and Nana!

Days 3-5

We left our log cabin in Nauvoo early Wednesday morning for our "long" day of driving (since those wimpy days of only driving 6-7 hours aren't long at all...). We had hoped to make it all the way to Palmyra, but due to construction traffic and a tired family, we didn't make it nearly that far! In the late afternoon I started to think about finding a place to stop, and by 5:30 the kids were definitely ready to be out of the car. I was looking for an appropriate hotel when I saw a huge billboard for "Kalahari Water Park Resort" in Sandusky, Ohio. I decided to pull over and check it out and give the kids a surprise. It was a total (ly exhausting) blast! Like Great Wolf Lodge on steroids. The two big kids paired up and hit the scarier water slides while Sam and I stuck with the more modest offerings. We got a few good hours of water play in before it closed at 10pm, then another quick hour in the morning before heading out. Sadly, I don't have any waterproof cameras, so we didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time (even though the spontaneous splurge means more peanut butter sandwiches and fewer meals out!:))

After our Thursday morning swim we got back in the car for a comparatively "short" day (only about 5-6 hours!) We finally made it to the Palmyra area in the early evening, but it was rainy and we were tired, so we just went to the hotel (with all of the wet laundry that I didn't finish drying before we left Kalahari... not fun).

Friday morning I almost didn't take the kids into Palmyra because it was STILL rainy and we were all eager to get to Maine. But I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if we were so close and didn't go, so we drove over. We were a bit bedraggled, but it was a really special time, and I'm glad we went.

After we left the woods, Little Guy decided that the tall wet grass was more fun than the path, so he was SOAKED by time we got back to the car. But what's the fun of being four if you can't get covered with water and grass every once in a while?

"Look how wet I am, Mommy!" Yes, dear.

I don't know why this didn't occur to me, but for some reason I was surprised to realize that Joseph Smith's family cabin was right there (silly me, did I think he took a bus to the Sacred Grove???). We didn't take the entire guided tour of the farm but we did get a nice sister missionary to just take us into the cabin to look around. Ten people lived in this tiny house.

This is Joseph's loft bedroom that he shared with five brothers (there is another similar bed on the other side of the loft). It never occurred to me that his brothers were all there during the night Moroni appeared to him!

And finally, the kids didn't get out of the car here because they were eager to get to Maine, but we also drove past the Hill Cumorrah:

And a mere seven hours later...

We made it to Maine!

Days 1 & 2

So we headed off into the wild blue yonder yesterday morning, and about six hours later pulled into a hotel in Quincy, Illinois. Much swimming and frolicking was had by all. It is my goal to have as few meals out during this road trip as possible, so we had fresh fruit and made grilled cheese sandwiches on an electric skillet for dinner. We got a good night's sleep, and today the "real" adventure began! (Sadly, it was an adventure accompanied only by iphone photos, because my "real" camera was out of batteries.)

After a quick stop at the Visitor's Center, we headed out for a carriage ride through the countryside. The morning was chilly but beautiful (and happily, they provided quilts for everyone to snuggle under!) We had a lovely view of the Mississippi and then paused in "Dan Jones' Hollow" to sing "I am a Child of God". All of the kids enjoyed meeting King and Max, the Belgian horses who pulled our carriage.

We had a picnic on the lawn and then headed down to ride in an ox-drawn wagon. Duke and Don, the oxen, horrified Sam by succombing to the calls of nature frequently during the ride...

Then we visited the Family Life Center, where there were demonstration in spinning, weaving, baking, barrel-making and other pioneer skills, and then found the "Pioneer Pastimes" tent which was filled with many toys and games from the era. All three kids really loved the "bear climbing a rope" game and many others.

We meandered over to our home away from home for the night, which is a one room log cabin constructed in the 19th century (happily with running water, electricity, satellite tv and even wifi, which is how I am composing this particular entry!)

We headed back over to Historic Nauvoo in the evening to watch "Rendevous in Old Nauvoo", an historical musical about Nauvoo, performed by the full time missionary couples. It was sweet and entertaining in an Andy Hardy "I've got a barn, let's put on a show" kind of way! Both of the big kids really enjoyed it, but Sam had mixed feelings, so we ended up taking a walk and taking time to smell the flowers!

Tomorrow we have our longest day of driving -- we are hoping to make it all the way to Palmyra! I suspect we'll be enjoying some fast food on that particular drive! :)

Wrapping it up

Our first year of homeschool finished up yesterday, and we all survived! It was rocky sometimes, and contrary to popular opinion, my decision to homeschool does NOT prove how patient a mom I am.:) But I'm working on it. I loved it in lots of ways (and hope the kids did, too) and I'm looking forward to starting our new school year in June!

Miss G participated in a "Trash to Treasure" challenge at TCS. She created "Oscar the Trash Dog" and received a commendation, which excited her greatly! We stopped by the school to pick up the project, visit the 3rd grade rainforest and take a safari picture with little brother!

When we finished up our science unit on habitats, what better field trip to take than a trip to the "World Famous Topeka Zoo"??

Miss G is in the throes of a fun new obsession! "Hooping", as she calls it, is the new pass time. She hoops while watching tv, while listening to audio books and music, while doing her spelling, and clearly, while standing on tables...

My sweet kiddos made me a lovely Mother's Day breakfast in bed on Sunday...

Miss G and Little Guy built a model of a tidal pool. Good fun, but NOT the kind of project you want to do in the kitchen when the house is on the market and needs to be kept tidy!

And finally, when we finished up first grade and seventh grade yesterday, we celebrated by starting a bonfire and burning our excess papers. Do you think Big Guy is a little pleased?

We are off on a road trip on Monday (which I hope to blog). Sadly, Daddy will not be able to join us because he can't be away from work that long right now. So it's the kids and I on the road for almost two weeks! (Really, THIS is what our homeschooling togetherness has been preparing us for!) Wish us luck!