The BIG roadie with the equally BIG update

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After 30 driving hours, six destinations, five tanks of gas, 2 hotels, 2 KOA kabins, 13 movies, and THIRTEEN HUNDRED photos, we are finally home from our adventure. BOY do we have a lot to share!

A special thanks to my little sister Kristen for flying out and sharing our vacation with us. You made the trip twice and managable with two little children, and three times more fun!

So sit back and relax and scroll through eight days and maybe sixty photos of our summer break. (There's a state fair and anniversary tucked way back there somewhere, too.)

One short day in the Windy City

I picked up Kristen from the Chicago airport and we went straight from there to downtown Chicago to explore for the day, eat food, and go to see Wicked. I saw Wicked with John for our anniversary a few years ago, but this was Kristen's first time. It's no surprise that we both loved it more than word can describe. It was also fun to have a night on the town with just the two of us. As much for as a whole vacation was, I think this was Kristen's main highlight.

Leaving Milwaukee

After a day or two of recovery from our late night in Chicago, we are finally on our way.

First stop: Kirtland

After eight ours of driving, we arrived in Kirtland and spent the night. The next day, we explored the area. John has been on this trip before in high school, so he was able to tell us a little about the places we were visiting. We went to the Newell K. Whitney Store, the Kirtland Temple, and the temple quarry.



Outside the Newell K. Whitney Store where the School of the Prophets took place.



Hailey exerting all her energy to not touch things with "don't touch" signs.



We all enjoyed our time in Kirtland a lot. Except for Nora. Sitting quietly for long periods of time is not exactly in her field of expertise.



But there are always some boring times too.



Hailey's favorite part: being adopted by the sister missionaries. When we first walked in the visitor center, she walked up to the sisters and held out her hand and said "Hi, my name is Hailey. What's yours?" and from that moment on, she was their special helper answering questions, leading the tour from room to room, and standing next to them when they talked. Can you guess what she wants to be when she grows up? (This week, at least.)

On to New York

We started our Palmyra exploring at the Hill Cumorah. Here we had an arguement about whether this is the same Hill Cumorah mentioned in the Book of Mormon. It's been a long time since I've been to institute, so who knows?









It took a while to really enjoy the sacred grove. It just wasn't a very spiritual experience with Nora singing "Where is Thumbkin" over and over. It was fine to just walk around and talk about it, but right before we left, John offered to take the kids out and run them around for a while. Kristen and I found our own spots to sit down and spend a couple of minutes of the quiet of the sacred grove.

I learned two really valuable lessons.

1) You can be in one of the most sacred places in the world and completely miss the experience if you can't be still and listen. I think that goes moments in our lives too. There are spiritual experiences that happen daily, but if we aren't QUIET for a little bit, we may walk right out of them, too, without even knowing their significance.

2) Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in the sacred grove. I knew that before I walked there. I don't know if being in the sacred grove increased my knowledge of that one bit. I don't think you have to make a pilgrimage to New York to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. But I've been there. And it happened. And I know it. And I know I know it now.







We also went to the Printing Press where the Book of Mormon was printed. This was John's favorite place. It was really interesting to learn about the printing process back then, and all of the little miracles that went along with publishing the Book of Mormon.

Enough Sunday School. Moving right along. . .

My new favorite Temple

We made a stop at the Palmyra temple. We didn't have room to bring our clothes, so we couldn't do a session, but I loved walking around the temple grounds. There is a huge grass field to the south of the temple, and everything else is just trees. Interesting fact: the Palmyra temple is so close to the original Joseph Smith homestead that the temple grounds are on a part of the original land the Smith Family owned.








The stained glass windows were beautiful.

A Word about Kozy Kabins.

We decided to save a bit of money on this trip and stay half of our nights at KOA Kabins. When we first pulled in a ten and night, and dealt with the mosquitoes outside, and the LOUD frogs, and when we saw how tiny they were, and when we realized how much space it took to bring all our own bedding, and when we spent half an hour to make up our hard beds, we wondered if we made the right choice.

But the cabins won us over and this is why:



They're pretty cute.



They have a porch swing.



The areas we stayed in were very pretty.



We actually all got a pretty good night's sleep.



There were so many activities for two girls who had been stuck in a car all day- playground, fishing pond, bikes to rent, obstacle course, zip line, tree house, swimming pool. . .



We haven't been camping yet this summer, and it was nice to grill our dinner, sit by the fire, and make s'mores.

What we couldn't leave behind.

This is a photo of:

a) heaven shining down on the macbook.
b) using the laptop to reflect and S.O.S. message.
c) me trying to get a wifi signal so I can answer a few Relief Society Emails at the KOA campground while everyone waits for me in the car.

Niagara really falls

The next day, we headed to Niagara Falls to see what all the fuss is about. It lived up to all the expectations!




Family Photo on Maid of the Mist. Hailey is not gouging out her own eyes, as it would appear. That's how she shielded herself from the water.









This may have been THE highlight of the trip for me: exploring under the waterfall at Cave of the Winds. We all got soaked, even with the attractive yellow rain slickers. It pretty much impossible to stay dry with 60mph winds and millions of gallons of water falling on you. The have an area of boardwalk called the hurricane deck that has part of the waterfall falling directly on it. When I took Hailey up there, she ran and stood directly under the torrent. She loved every second of Cave of the Winds. Nora obviously hated it. Too bad.





I like Hailey's look here. "Yeah. I'm cool." (sniff, thumbing her nose.) "I just stood under a waterfall and wasn't scared at all."



Lucky for Kristen, she just bought a souvenir T-shirt at Maid of the Mist.



Intense humidity seems to help Hailey's hair.

So much time strapped in a carseat made Nora a little loopy.

Nora was really good in the car, considering. But every time she was stuck in there for more than a couple of hours, she started to get. . . weird.



Decided that one 'fier wasn't enough.



Snorted at Kristen for a couple of hours.



Started laughing the crazy laugh. The one you could here a man in a straight jacket laughing.



Packing the car. The whole back of the car was FULL UP. We had to punch and stuff the bedding in.



The girls finally settling down for a bit. It didn't last long, unfortunately.

Canadian/African Lion Safari

Our next stop was the African Lion Safari in Canada. It is an animal reserve that you drive your own car through.



Each girl got to choose a special treat for us to buy them. Nora chose a stuffed duck that she wouldn't let go of at the Niagara Falls gift shop. After careful consideration, Hailey decided she wanted to have Nora and her face painted as Cheetahs. They were undeniably cute.







This ostrich will be a part of Nora's nightmares for a long time.



Baboons jumping on the car next to us. This was the best part for me, because the owner of the car was so mad, he was yelling at the baboons, and got out of his car to try to get them off. Comical.



I totally ruined Nora for her carseat by doing this.



Eleven elegant elephants. . .