Anniversary Trip to Nauvoo - Day One

I'm sorry that it has taken me a few days to get blogging about our trip, it does take a while to get back into the groove after being gone for five days. *Sigh!* Chad and I had so much fun and Jeannine was super-grandma and watched over our munchkins with lots of care and some stress. Much thanks to Heather for her turn as relief pitcher in the middle there. Chad and I were in Nauvoo almost eight years ago and snapped pictures with our film camera. In the heat and humidity, we actually lost some of them and we congratulated ourselves that this time around our digital wonder would save every moment of our trip. That was not to be, pictures can still disappear from a microchip apparently, so the first shots you'll see are of the Mississippi River. With no further ado, then, I give you our trip to Nauvoo...

The alarm was set to go off at 4am, but we were both too nervous about a) a power outage that would turn off our alarm, b) sleeping through our alarm, or c) hearing the alarm but hitting snooze and not waking up till several hours later, so we got up at 3:30. Jeannine arrived at 4:45 and we were on the road at 5am. We stopped for cash and Mint Mojito gum (it was gross and what is a mojito?) that we thought was just mint, and drove down Legacy Highway to the Park 'n' Jet. The nice shuttle driver's parents were serving their mission in Nauvoo (his dad is the car czar for the mission fleet) so we had a pleasant visit with him on the drive to the airport. I was nervous about flying since all the rules have changed since I last took to the air in 1998, but I made it through the security check point with no alarms going off. Whew! We had about an hour wait until boarding for our flight to Chicago. Our airplane had to be the oldest and most rickety piece of tin in the American Airlines line-up, and our seats were right behind the wing and right in front of the engine. I thought the noise would make me deaf by the time we got there. Our seatmate was a very nice and slightly boozy business man who knew when to make conversation and when to be quiet. We had a bumpy flight but landed on time at O'Hare Airport just after 11am. We went to pick up our rental car, and the only compact left was a hideous green. Some previous occupant had even taken a black magic marker to the climate controls so that it took five minutes to figure out how to run the AC. We looked longingly at the classier ride right next to us and then packed up the green beast and took off.

Our grand plan was to take a slightly meandering route to Nauvoo so that we could visit Sycamore, Illinois where John E. Page was supposedly buried (Chad has created a Church history map and has diligently searched to find where all the apostles of the Church (both faithful and not) are laid to rest). We got to Dekalb (how is that pronounced?) and the map said the Sycamore was just a few miles beyond, so why couldn't we find it? We drove through beautiful farm country where next to every home was a red and white barn, but no Sycamore. We took a few wrong turns, circled about a bit and finally found a road that would take us to the right road that would take us to Sycamore. The cemetary was an imposing sort of place with massive iron gates (stupid camera!), but the caretaker who was, as Chad put it, "trying to commit suicide by smoke inhalation" didn't have the proper records since the original cemetary office burned down in 1905. We found a Page family plot full of old and weathered, unreadable stones, snapped a photo (stupid camera!) and then left. We found out later that John E. Page was buried in his backyard on a farm seven miles outside of town. Oh well!

So we drove, on and on, across the state of Illinois. We were following the map and trying to follow the signs, but road signs in Illinois are completely lame. It took us all five days to even begin to figure them out...ugh! We ended up on so many wrong roads and then, to our complete surprise, we crossed the Mississippi River into IOWA! By this time we just gave up on the Illinois road system and trusted in the good common sense of corn farmers to get us where we wanted to go. When we STILL couldn't find Highway 61, we pulled over and asked directions. Finally on the right road, we drove through rain and more rain to the toll bridge at Fort Madison and crossed the Mississippi again.The rain continued to fall until we were about 5 miles outside of Nauvoo. Then the clouds began to clear and the sun peeked out as we drove into town. Our home away from home for our anniversary get away was the Woodruff Hotel (see geeky green car in front).It was nice at 40% off but a rip-off at a higher price, though it did have an awesome jetted tub that soothed sore feet after a full day of sight seeing (or in this case - a slightly frustrating, 8 hour day of car travel). The best part about the Woodruff Hotel, however, was kitty-corner down the street...

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that is a wonderful end to our first day. :)

Laughter

Last Thursday night I got to bed late. There seemed to be a million things to do and not enough time to get it all done. When I finally crawled between the sheets of my bed I experienced that feeling of frustration that occurs when you have a tired body and a busy mind: no rest for me. I lay there, trying to talk my busy brain into calm, when I heard laughter. The sound was coming from Grace and Grant's room across the hall and this wasn't snickering or sleepy laughing, it was full on chortling that went on for ten seconds and ended with a wheezy gasp and a final chuckle. It was Grant laughing in his sleep. It's been almost a week since this happened and I still can't write about it without tearing up, because it was actually a sacred experience for me. I was enveloped in the most peaceful, beautiful feeling as I listened to my baby laugh in his sleep. How loved and comforted and safe and peaceful does one have to feel to have such sweet and sunny dreams? I'm so grateful that he feels those things, that he knows he is loved, and Grant's laughter was the perfect sleeping pill; I fell asleep smiling too.

The Big Brother

Sometimes I don't think Merritt is particularly thrilled with his role as the big brother. He has more responsibility and there are greater expectations upon him in terms of behavior than there are for the smaller beings in this house. Perhaps that is why he enjoys periodically needling his siblings, cuz he thinks their lives are easier. To forestall any teasing, we remind Merritt that his job as the big brother is to look after Grace and Grant and to be kind, as Jesus is a kind big brother to all of us. Do our words of teaching and encouragement sink in? I submit the following as Exhibit A:I was upstairs finishing some chores and I could hear Merritt reading The Big, Wide-Mouthed Frog aloud. I thought he was practicing his reading skills until I heard him move on to How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? and How do Dinosaurs go to School?. I snuck down the stairs and saw him reading to Grace; pointing out pictures, laughing at the funny parts with her, and using vocal inflection to make the stories exciting. That one choice, to share his time and skill with his sister, created the best feeling in our home. He struggles a bit (and don't we all) but I must say that my Merritt is one great kid.

Yakity-yak-yak!

I am soooo behind on my blogging! I've been knee-deep in the family newsletter and that has eaten up my spare time. Now that it is almost out the door, I'm back on the blogger bandwagon. Here's what I've been saving up in the meantime...

Hair Horns

I don't know how this happens, but it always does. Merritt wakes up in the morning and has "hair horns." It doesn't matter if his hair is long (as it is currently) or short - somehow it finds a way to stick up by morning. His hair horns this a.m. were pretty spectacular, and Merritt likes them because, as he says, they make him look like a Ceratosaurus. I can't say for sure, but I think there is a resemblance. Hmmmm...

Snowy Day Crafts

What does one do when it is April and snowing? Well, if you go to first grade you make this...That's a FOIL BOY...just in case you were wondering.

If, however, you are home with your crazy mother, trying desperately to avoid cabin fever, you make this...

Where are all my dish towels????

Grace and Grant are obsessed with my dish towels. They run off with them every chance they get so when I'm cooking or washing dishes and turn around to snag a towel, it is invariably missing. That means that I then have to go get a new one and the end result (when I've gathered them all together again) is this...Who needs that many dish towels around at once? It looks ridiculous! Sometimes I decide not to get a new towel out and instead I go dish towel hunting.




I find them here...












and here!!!!!!! So cute!

Anatomy of a Tantrum

Grant really is a good egg and we don't see this very often, but I thought it was so funny I had to take some pictures. I call this an "I'm-so-tired-I-can't-handle-my-life" moment.




"No one understands my pain!"









"I'm rolling around cuz it makes me feel better, that's why!"









"Now I'll kick my feet. It's therapeutic and aerobic! "

Easter Crafts...Merritt Style!

Since I'm still mostly dead, I didn't expect to blog today...that is until I saw Merritt's latest first grade craft project. It is most excellent. Let me set up the scene. I'm in the car, waiting for Merritt to walk out of school when I spy one of his classmates walking down the sidewalk. The boy (who is totally Braden Dewey's long lost twin) was holding an adorable Easter Bunny treat bag - a bunny face on a white paper lunch bag. The bunny's ears were pink and perky, the whiskers straight, and the nose a cute button-like affair. I started craning to see Merritt so that I could admire his darling Easter bag, when into my view pops my happy son and his Easter Rabbit on crack. Note the blood shot eyes, the whiskers that are more like a wicked mustache, the jacked-up teeth, and what the heck is up with the green and red markings? Merritt climbed into the car, held up his creation with pride and said, "I made a freaked out Easter Bunny, Mom!" I had to laugh, and I really do love it.

Ode to my germs

I KNOW I never want to see
these horrible germs come back to me.
I got them from my kids, you know,
and now I feel I'm in death's throes.
The hacking cough, fever and chills...
does throwing up or aching give more thrills?
I'm barricading up the door
so I'll see these germs no more.
That is a foolish wish, and cruel...
for my son goes to public school
and brings home fun germs to roost.
They run amok when they are loosed.
So bring on the vinegar and honey,
buy some Nyquil - there goes my money.
These germs will leave, but here's the catch...
they'll morph to something else -and be back!
Rude.