Driving and driving....Road Trip 2011

On June 17th we set off on the biggest road trip we have ever taken in our lives.  We were on our way to South Dakota for Holly's wedding on the 21st in Spearfish SD.  After the first day we stopped in Independance MO and stayed at the Drury Inn for the night.  The next day we went site seeing around MO.  We first stopped at the Visitors Center and had the tour and got information on other historical sites.

We then stopped at the Liberty Jail.  Where Joseph Smith and 3 other men were held for 5 months.  The original jail had been torn down, but the church was able to get ahold of the original stones and then recreate the jail for the visitors and church history.  There was such a spirit there.

We then went over to Farr West where the corner stones are laid for a future temple to be built.  This area is BEAUTIFUL and when you walk onto the grounds it feels like your walking into a temple.  Such an amazing spirit can be felt.  We were the only visitors, so we had a picnic, played a little and just enjoyed the beauty and spirit around us.

Just down the street from Farr West is the LDS country store.  So we stopped in.

These are replica face plastors of the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith just after they were killed in the Carthage Jail.

Lastly we stopped by Adam-ondi-Ahman.  This is the place where the saints will meet during the 2nd coming of Christ.  This place is beautiful and can totally understand why this place was chosen.  The church owns all the land.   As we were atop the hill overlooking the valley, a song came into my head and I sang it to Emma:  When all that was promised, the Saints will be Given and none will molest them from morn until eve'n and the earth shall appear as the garden of Eden and Jesus will say to all Isreal come home. 

After we left Adam-Ondi-Ahman, we stopped at a hotel in Kansas.  Pony Express Hotel.  Then headed on our way to SD.  We were about 100 miles away from Spearfish when we stopped and 1880 Town to let the kids out and see all the cool buildings from the 1800's.  This is also where a lot of the props from "Dances with Wolves" are located and the original horse "Cysco" lived his last years at this town before his death in 2007.  The movie was mostly shot in SD.

Here are some of the props from the movie:  Dances with Wolves

Rick's First Soccer Game

Rick played his first soccer game on June 11th, YMCA youth indoor soccer, Red Bears #7!

He has really enjoyed playing soccer, He is aggressive and athletic and scored several times. After he would score he would throw his arms up like a V and then say "I'm number 1". we will have to work on his humility as he learns how to be a team player. Whenever the ball got into the corner, he kept useing his hands to move the ball or carry the ball out right in front of the goal and then kick it in. After telling him "no hands" he started to use his elbows to move the ball (little smarty, but it wasn't his hands) but by the end of the game he was only using his legs to move the ball about. Its so fun to watch him play and get really excited.

Summer Time Fun

Emma got out of school on the 26th of May and its been a bit of a challenge to keep her from saying those dreaded words: "I'm so bored" which she said the very day she got out of school. So we have been swimming at the pool A LOT, and doing other fun activitis: Going to family fun centers to escape the heat outside, parks, and hangin out with friends. Here are some fun things we've done so far this summer.

Touch a Truck at pinkerton park. Kids got to see some big trucks and a helicopter.

Goofballs Family Fun Center with friends Tyler and Jillian

Emma won 1000 tickets with one pull of the handle on this game!

so she got a pillow with her winnings.

Water fun in the backyard with friends!

Emma and Makayla

Boys doing the limbo water sprinkler

Playing in the pool

Mammoth Cave National Park

Last weekend we decided to go camping up at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, there was a chance of rain, but decided to try it out anyway. We headed up early friday afternoon, pulled Emma out of school early. We stayed at the main campground, which is really nice campgrounds, at the entry way there is a store, laundry and showers, so thats nice to have with little ones camping. Just down the road is also a hotel and visitor center. Mammoth Cave got its name because its the longest cave in the world. so beautiful, and we only saw a small portion of it, the only way to see the cave is to take a tour and most of the tours that we can take the little ones on, sold out quickly. The kids loved camping, they rode their bikes, roasted marshmallows and playing in the tent. We cooked up some dutch oven potatoes and chicken for dinner, then came the marshmallows for smore's. We also went to a fireside where the forrest ranger talked about the different types of birds found in the park. We saw lots of animals: wild turkey's, deer, skunks, frogs, and squirrels. We had a great time.....up until the storm hit saturday night, while we were on a cave tour, the storm came in and quick. By the time we got back to the campsite, and it was still a downpour of a rain, our fears were manifested- we left the windows down on the tent and everything got soaked- the sleeping bags, airmattress, all our clothes. So we decided to pack it all up in the rain and head home a night early, who wants to sleep in wetness. Yes there is a laundry service at the campground but they were already closed. We enjoyed hiking and walking around the camp site and just enjoying nature.

Saturday morning we headed off to dinosaur world in Cave City just down the street from Mammoth Cave Park. The kids loved coming here, Rick especially.

Rick and Emma did a fossil dig, they dug for all kinds of fossils and after digging for 15 mins, they got to keep the 3 best fossils they found. Emma found 3 tiger shark teeth and was excited to keep them. Rick found a shell fossil, shark tooth, and a sponge fossil. Emma and Rick worked together to put the giant puzzle together.

After dino world, we stopped by a family fun center, we rode on a ski lift and went down the Alpine slide (this is the 4th state that I have done this in), Rick couldn't go down the slide but did enjoy riding the ski lift, Emma loved being able to ride by herself. We also rode on some go carts (oh Rick just loved driving the go carts) and then onto the bumper cars, Emma didn't like the bumper cars.

The New Entrance to Mammoth Cave, this part of the cave has lots of rock formations, we were in this part of the cave when the storm hit.

Even though part of the trip was literally a wash out, we did have a lot of fun and we got to see party of Kentucky. We will have to make another trip to the park.