Nauvoo

I finally got to see Nauvoo!!  We drove from Wisconsin to Carthage Jail, kids maybe got it,  but I bawled when the sister asked me to bear my testimony.  Josh could not understand why I melted down.  To see a bullet hole on the door made it all so real.  It was quite overwhelming.  We missed the time for tours in Nauvoo though:( so we drove by the temple and then as I was completely exhausted got dinner and continued on to our hotel. 

Madison Wisconsin

We left Minnesota Friday and headed to Wisconsin.  We got to visit with friends of mine from Boston post marriage days.  Happily we had seen them a year earlier when they came to the outer banks for a family reunion, but it was more fun to spend a few hours just with them!!  And happily this time, all our kids got along with one another!  Turns out the Emilys are both into the same series and sadly for my Emily, their Emily was hours away from getting her new kitten.  We also realized we are sadly lacking and plan to see the hobbit as soon as we get home,  and I will watch LOTR because it is way better than the books, which (gasp) I did not enjoy. (Sorry, I tried to like them, I really tried, but failed)

My only photo appears to be from the impromptu disco ball dance party held by Sydney, Soren, and Alice.  Josh sulked in the hall as he wanted Wii.

Mill city museum

We got to learn a bit more about how Minneapolis became a thriving city when we visited the Mill city museum.  Apparently Minneapolis was founded on the St Antony's river.  Lumber mills and grain mills sprang up, and homes were built to house the workers.  The mill tours were awesome!  I had no clue flour dust was so flammable either.

The kids favorite activity was the water lab and the build your own cereal box station.

Arriving in Minnesota

Let me say,  South Dakota is huge.  We dawdled a bit and ended up in the car until 11pm driving across one incredibly long state.  At one point Emily asked if we were still in South Dakota,  yup.  One long flat road.  We spent the second night in Sioux Falls, got up, hung out and played at the park then headed to Minneapolis, where we'll stay for a week with another good friend of mine.  On our way I messed up the trip calculator and didn't get us to the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum, grrrr,  but we saw the Sod House.  Karl's mom just told the kids all about her Dad's life in Kansas in a sod house, and I was able to show them what it could have been like.  We saw a finished and quite lovely home,  and a homesteaders version. I am so grateful for my home!!  All my pictures are in the camera,  but just imagine a tiny space  smaller than an average kids bedroom with a dirt floor, dirt walls, and thatched roof and there you have a house for 5! 

South Dakota

After leaving Denver we headed north to see Mount Rushmore. On the way, we had to check out Carhenge, a replica of Stonehenge made from old cars.  It was a hot dry drive,  but it was fun to see the car sculptures, fish, and dinosaur as well. They had all 50 states license plates  in their gift shop, but I told Emily she can

Only count Hawaii on her car state check off.  She is in the lead,  with 5 states left to see.

We arrived at Mount Rushmore in the evening but still with plenty of light.  We were just barely able to sneak into the sculptures studio just before closing time at 7 to see the 1:12 model of Mount Rushmore and read up about the history of the artist and the sculpture itself.  Did you know George Washington was supposed to be wearing a jacket?  The rock proved to be unstable enough to do his original design.

Our hotel for the night was in Rapid City, and it had a wonderful indoor waterpark.  One of the water slides had a giant funnel.  Josh and I went on that one only once together and of course I ended up going backwards in the dark tunnel.  I was really afraid Josh went flying through the air when we landed,  but he said he was ok, thank you life jacket!!  We really enjoyed playing there in the morning before we headed to Wall Drug's, bison burger, yummy homemade donuts,  free ice water, mining for fossils and gemstones, before we drove through  Badlands National Park.  The views of the rocks were truly amazing.

Seeing old friends

After a wonderful week with family,  I got to go spend some time with a good friend if mine who had moved to the Denver area.  We spent some time with her and toured a yummy local candy factory called Hammonds and had to purchase a few scrumptious treats, and went to a local Mexican place called Casa Bonita.  Lunch there was really funny-  food not fantastic, but the dessert was yummy, and the dive show and acts were really neat.

We finished off a great day with a trip to the American girl store. I resisted the urge to get a new doll!!  Yeah me!!  But I took pictures of fun things to make when we get home.

Friday-Saturday

On Friday our family drove with Ryan and Ellen to Lookout Mountain to get a great view of the city and mountains.  It was truly a beautiful site to see the hills and mountains.  We did have to pop our ears quite a bit as we adjusted to the area. We drive down the mountain, had lunch, found more license plates that the kids didn't have, and went to see Terrilynn and Brent's house.  Terrilynn has an incredible craft space he wanted me to see.  Seeing all her supplies so neatly organized made me want to run home and deal with all my treasures!  Kids had a blast seeing all the neat themed rooms too! Emily loved the cheetah room:). What a shock! 

Afterwards, we headed to Ryan and Ellen's for dinner and then Ryan took Karl to the airport. The kids and I hung out until he got back,  then we loaded up to get back to Sheri's.  We watched the new Oz movie which was awesome, then crashed.

Saturday Sheri and I tried to take the kids mini golfing, but the place was closed so we headed to another place where we played an awesome round of laser tag, bowled and had a great time!  (I passed ikea, the container store, and the american girl doll store in my driving and didn't go in, oh how I love shopping!) I met up with Elisha and JR at a yogurt shop,  thank you Ellen for the awesome tip about the cones being a flat rate.  Josh choose a truly nasty combo, pink lemonade and chocolate twist, but everyone had a yummy time, and it was so nice to just hang out with them,  hear how they met, and get to know JR.  

When we got back,  the kids finally got to ride on their scooters, and they played with Spencer in the park and the backyard until dark. (Spencer is the youngest Johanson and he is a great sport, especially with Josh!)

Next I am headed to see an old friend in Denver before galloping off to see Mount Rushmore!

Giant Purple Octopus

So we thought the kids had turned into movie watching zombies as we were driving to the mountains, calling out stuff to see, so I called out "look kids! It's a giant purple octopus."  The girls didn't respond or even twitch, but Josh turned to look.  He said "where?"  Then "oh, I sawd it."

We burst out laughing.

Family reunion

We made it safely to Denver Sunday evening in time for family dinner.  So far, the kids have had a great time playing with all their cousins. 

Monday we went to a local rev center with water slides and spent several fun hours in the pool!  Everyone had a blast.  In the afternoon we went to have a short hike and finished up with a campfire dinner.  Josh sadly wasn't feeling well.  He spiked a fever and didn't seem to want to eat or do anything, falling asleep in my lap at dinner.  Karl was strong enough to haul him on his back for the whole hike.

Today is Tuesday, day 2.  We had family team games planned,  which ended up with a dangerous wheelbarrow race.  Karl and Emily both got hurt in that one,  but they are ok.  All the ladies trounced the adult men in two rounds of tug of war. Josh had a 5 hour nap and finally perked up with Tylenol breaking his fever.

We ended the day with family photos and a BBQ dinner.