Summer Vacation-part 2

Here's part 2 of our vacation pics (trying not to overload with too many in one post!)

After spending 4 days in Iowa visiting with grandma and grandpa, visiting a couple musuems and the Mississippi River, riding on tractors, playing countless games of Go Fish and Old Maid, we headed next to Nauvoo, Illinois.  We should have planned for more time there (than just a day and night) because they have restored many of the buildings to what they would have looked like in the 1840's.  And there are a number of hand-on activities you can participate in. 

At the printing office, we got to see how newspapes were made--we also visited the bakery, the gunsmith, the cultural hall, the brick masonry, and many houses

 Seeing the Nauvoo Temple was a highlight for me--since we had Jocie with us to babysit, Jon and I were even able to go on a session at the temple

View of the Mississippi from Nauvoo

Grant riding on a stick horse

the boys playing the stick pull

Ethan with his wheelbarrow

Next we traveled down to St. Louis--one of Jon's favorite parts of the trip was seeing all the bridges!  We stayed there a day and night.

St. Louis Arch--impressive!

this is inside (well and underground) waiting to get in the little pod that takes you up to the top

at the top of the arch--looking out the little windows

at the City Museum in St. Louis--such a fun place!  Both inside and outside they had all these structures you could climb on, slides, and so much more!  If you're ever in St. Louis (especially with kids) you have to stop here!

We were able to drive by the St. Louis temple

Then we headed west towards home--but stopped for the night in Kansas City and met up with our friends, the Leach's.  Their cute girls are the same ages as our boys and they all became fast friends.

While in KC we met our friends for dinner at the T-Rex cafe! 

And the kids got to dig for dino bones!

It was a fun trip!  And sure went by fast with all our stops!