Nauvoo Spring Break April 4-8

Day 1

For Donovan's spring break, we decided to finally take a big family trip.  So we decided to go somewhere that we've never been.  Nauvoo, Illinois.  This was a historical place in our religion back in the mid-1800's, and come to find out, we found many relatives of mine that lived there and had some of their history there as well.

(Sorry for the car antennae in the middle)

Because of the historical importance, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) has renovated many buildings in the city of Nauvoo and restored them to what they looked like when the Saints of the Church lived there.  Senior missionary couples give tours and re-enactments to show visitors how daily life of that time was.

 Our first night, we went to a musical play called the "rendezvous" where it gave a fun description into lives of the Saints at that time.

Day 2

 We went on a wagon ride (and later on a carriage ride) to see some of the sites of Nauvoo.

 The original Nauvoo Temple was burned by mobs as the Saints were forced to evacuate Nauvoo.  This temple is a duplicate that was re-built and dedicated in 2002. 

 The boys loved the horses (Jim and John)

 This is the upper floor of the cultural hall.  This is the original flooring.  Dances, meetings, and other things were held in this room.  The tour guide let our wiggly boys dance away.  Dan and I got to dance too. (This was a great time of year to go because there was hardly any visitors there, therefore a lot of the building/house tours were just for our family.)

 In the Family Living Center, we got to learn how the people of that time period did tasks.  Here the boys learned how candles were made (and received a candle).

 We learned how to make wool into something you can make clothes with.

 The sister missionaries demonstrated how to make bread in those old ovens, and gave us a taste.  Yum!

 Our family made our own piece of rope, and got to keep it!  I loved that!  There were many things that we got to take home as souvenirs for free. (candles, rope, a real Nauvoo brick, and a prairie diamond ring)

Day 3

We drove into Carthage, Illinois to visit the jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred.

 As historical accounts tell, Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor, and Willard Richards were wrongly accused (again)by angry men of crimes they did not commit.  This time they were taken to Carthage Jail.  Here is the small room that these four and others were forced to share.

 The jailor did not believe these men to be guilty, so he moved them into this bedroom that was not so hot.  This is the room that the mobs broke into and murdered the Prophet and his brother.

 This is the original door that still has the bullet holes in it.

 They built this memorial in honor of Joseph and Hyrum.

Then we went back for more tours in Nauvoo.

 This is an old time mouse trap.  The mouse will run up the ramp to get the bait in the middle of the pail.  The wood will spin and the mouse will fall in the bucket of water and never make it out.

 This is a image of the original angel Moroni that stood on top of the temple.  All the subsequent temples have the angel Moroni standing and blowing his trump.

 An old fly catcher.  The bottom has a hole.  The flies would go in there to eat the sweet that was planted as bait and not be able to figure out how to get out.  I wonder why these types of traps aren't used today.

 I'm glad my kids don't use this kind of potty chair!

 Along the Trail of Hope (formerly the Trail of Tears) that the Saints walked to evacuate the city and cross the Mississippi River, there are many accounts from journals of Saints that trekked West.  There is also at the base of the Mississippi this memorial depicting Brigham Young and Joseph Smith to embark upon the journey.  There is also a great building that lists those known Saints that traveled but didn't make it to the Rocky Mountains.

 Among them, my ancestor Benjamin Freeman Bird.

Day 4

 Our family in the Seventy house.

 The blacksmith showing us how horseshoes were made.  This is also where our prairie diamond rings (rings made out of a "diamond"-brand nail) were given to us.

 We were on spring break, but Donovan and the boys still had to go to school!

 Donovan helped set out the type for the printer.

Then they put the ink on the letters to print the paper.  I loved how involved they would let the kids be.  Of course it wasn't real because they didn't want to damage the antiques, but they got to act it out.

 Joseph & Emma Smith's mansion house, where they housed many without homes.  (The Smith homes/buildings are owned by the Church of Christ and they do not allow photographs of the insides to be taken.)

 The Red Brick Store

 The Tinsmith Shop.  This building was built by my ancestor Phineas Bird and then sold to the tinsmith.

 The Browning Gun Shop.  The main house was built by my ancestor Benjamin Freeman Bird.  He then sold it to Browning where more home and a blacksmith shop were added .

 Browning was and his posterity are still wonderful gun makers.

The Nauvoo Temple

 The kids aren't old enough to go inside the Temple yet, but they were excited to be able to touch it.

What a beautiful place!

Nauvoo was well named - it means beautiful place. :)

The Award Goes To. . .

Famous Dan!

Dan got this awesome award at work. He's been up for the award for many years now, but he finally got it. These awards are submitted by co-workers for advisor excellence. We think Dan made lots of people happy this year because he works every Saturday so that they don't have to. We like it because it allows Dan to be home more nights, and gets him a day off instead during the week. Good job baby! You work hard, now you have an award to finally show it. :)

And. . .

If you pick up a free (Michigan) copy of this magazine this month. . .

You'll find that Dan is the weight-loss success story inside!

A co-worker submitted Dan to the editor of this magazine after he lost all of his weight. She called Dan and got an interview, and voila! He's a success story! We're all very proud of Dan for the hard work that he's done on losing his weight and keeping it off. He's quite a motivator in our home to eating healthier and using exercise to our benefit. Donovan knows where to look to find the calories (not that he needs to worry about it yet) and tells me all the time if it's something that has too many. We don't eat fast food anymore (when we did for a quick eat, we ALL got really sick afterwards) and we rarely eat out except on special occasions. It has helped us to make healthier habits that will hopefully improve and extend our lives. Thank you Dan! Congratulations!

We Are the Pirates!

Arrgh! The Pirates did a fantastic job playing floor hockey this season! Especially this little buccaneer. :) Donovan learned so much this year with hockey. There was a big difference from the first game to the last, even though it was only for 6 weeks. Donovan is an excellent player and very knowledgeable in all the positions.

The mighty Pirates!

Donovan receiving his award.

Go Dono!

Catapult Project

The science fair is here again. This year Donovan and Daddy made a catapult (more like a trebuchet) to fling 'stuff' and see how far it went. What a great project for a 6 year-old! Dono gathered 16 small objects and guessed how far they would be tossed, and which would go the farthest.

They did the measurements "march madness" style where two objects were competing for the longest toss, the winner got to go to the next round, and so on. Donovan thought that the mint would go the farthest, but it ended up being the paperclip that beat all the others.

And here was his finished science board. Donovan loves science.

We are Lucky, and We're Irish!

We enjoy having Irish roots (well more predominately on Dan's side)! St. Patrick's Day is always fun in our home. We don't go whole hog with the leprechauns and such, but we do wear green and eat the yummy grub. :)

Green Pancakes - top o' the mornin to ya!

We also finally broke down and bought a wii, with love from the tax man. The kids are much better at it than the big kids!

And Mr. Ross tried to find some gold in the potty for the first time. He didn't strike it rich yet, but some toots later and he's excited to keep trying.

Comfy and Happy

Avery is such a happy little girl. She's usually content and rarely cries (unless someone takes her away from mommy!) She can sit, and has for a very long time, however she prefers to 'lounge'. She'll sit for a bit, and then she goes right into lounging. I guess it's more comfy for her. :) Here's some more pics of her active little self.

She's always trying to get to the kitchen for some reason. hmmm... future chef? or just likes to eat??

Not All Gums Anymore

We've had a break-through around here, literally. :) Avery finally got her first tooth! We saw some white at her 6 month check up, but it was a molar! Now, months later, we realize that the gums of that molar are really thin on the side, so it looks like it's poking out, but it's not. weird. But this I guess is her first tooth that IS popping out. Yay! I like that my kids are late teethers! And she is still so happy! She hasn't had any bad temper or anything. She has been waking up a little earlier than usual and a little more clingy to mom, but she hasn't been fussy at all. We are so grateful!

GOAL!

Dono got to play goalie today! He's really good at blocking the goals. He also got to play center today and got a goal-his first one! It's funny how he tells his version of the play-by-play. "I was standing close to the goal, I wasn't paying attention, then all of a sudden the puck was by my stick, I said 'Whoa' then looked at the goal and hit it. I got it in!" He has wanted to make a goal in a game since last year. I'm glad that Daddy was able to be there, Mommy was at a church women's conference and was sad to have missed such a great moment.

Great job my boy!

Ahoy! It's Character Day!

For school, Donovan got to have storybook character day again! He loves this day! Last year we frantically scrambled to create a Super Why character. This year we made it a little simpler. We made a list of the costume items that we had already and searched for one of our favorite books to go along with it, because they needed to bring the book that they were representing.

So. . . Donovan got to be young Jeremy Jacob from "How I Became a Pirate" by Melinda Long. (We also love "Pirates Don't Change Diapers" but Dono wanted this one.)

He loved being a pirate at school. But then, he usually loves being a pirate on any given day. ARR!