Nauvoo Take 2

We just couldn't let a 4 day weekend go to waste. Especially one with perfect weather! So we packed up the van and headed to Nauvoo.

The kids have only been there twice but Conal and I have been 5 or 6 times. Believe it or not, we still found some things to do that we haven't done before.

I've never been to the Nauvoo cemetery. Very beautiful.

It's nice to live close to Nauvoo so you can go during the off season. I've never been able to get tickets to "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" before so it was fun to go this time.

***Mom and Dad---Conal claims to have learned all of the music so that he can teach it to you so you can serve a mission in Nauvoo. ha ha.

Of course we had to do the usual Nauvoo things too. Ya can't leave Nauvoo without visiting the blacksmith to get a "prairie diamond" now can ya.

Not pictured: Getting the Nauvoo brick, candle, bread and gingerbread cookie,Nauvoo bleu cheese, and fresh whole grain bread from the Nauvoo Mill and Bakery.

I learn something new everytime we go to Carthage Jail. That is probably because my kids find it so interesting that I can actually listen to the missionaries.

This time the group in front of us took a little longer than expected and we got stuck in the dark, hot dungeon room for about 15 minutes. I had to chuckle because I could hear several different conversations around me about how being stuck in there for 15 minutes gives you a little bit of a different perspective.

I wanted to spend a few minutes at the Smith Family Cemetery as well.

Very beautiful.

The Reflections of Christ photography exhibit followed us, yet again, to another church history site.
It has been moving from site to site for a couple of weeks at a time and coincidentally, it has been everywhere we have visited.

Speaking of coincidences, while we were in the Blacksmith's shop, a man came and asked me if we were in Palmyra over spring break this year (which we were). They were there too and recognized our family from last March. So crazy!

The Mississippi River is absolutely beautiful this time of year. The kids even refrained from getting wet. I thought for sure someone would jump/fall in. This is the spot where the pioneers crossed the river to leave Nauvoo for the west: (Feel free to insert SNL "in a van down by the river" joke here)

I spent some time by myself at the Land and Records building to research some of Conal's ancestors, as well as my great great great grandfather Edwin D. Woolley. The sweet sister helping me made me a cd with a bunch of info on it to take home and marked Edwin's land on the map for me. She realized that his land was directly below the temple and said "Oh my word, he owned the best property in the city!"

I couldn't agree more.

The last thing we did in Nauvoo was to take a ride on the wagon. The kids thought this was great. Afterward they brought the horses over to the kids and Jackson and Macy took off running.
Those horses were so big they scared them to death. Conal and I were laughing so hard. Jackson did end up calming down enough that he got close to the horses but Macy didn't want to have anything to do with them.

The kids were so sad to leave. Jackson told us the whole way home that he wanted to stay. One day we will move closer to home and I will be so sad to leave all of the church history sites behind. I can't imagine how the pioneers must have felt to approach the river, look back at the Nauvoo temple:

and leave their home behind.