Vegetable garden

The house we're renting had an overgrown vegetable garden with garden boxes at one end of the yard. Since it's been a cold spring I decided we weren't too far behind the planting season so we decided to plant a garden this year. The girls were very excited and willing helped pull the weeds and mix the dirt to get the boxes ready for planting. We bought starter plants since we're a little late getting started. This year we planted an herb garden (cilantro, parsley, chives, rosemary, and basil), snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, zucchini, squash, and pumpkin. We're excited to see what grows in the coming weeks and months!

Backyard fun...

The girls have loved having so much room to run and explore in our new place. Their favorite thing though is the buoy swing hanging from the tree in the backyard. They love being pushed as high as possible and flying through the air. Jonas even enjoys riding on it.

Fun with KS cousins

The next stop was in Lawrence, KS to visit Jim's sister and her family. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and spending time with Grammy who was there to help with the new baby. We also were glad to meet our new little nephew. There is a nice reservoir in town so we took the older kids out on the boat. The kids loved riding on our new Double Dog raft. We enjoyed a nice picnic on the boat.

Carthage and Nauvoo, IL

Our next sightseeing stop was Nauvoo, IL. We first stopped in Carthage to tour the Carthage jail where the prophet Joseph Smith was shot and killed. The first picture is on the first cell they were kept in but it was too hot in the summer so they were moved to a bedroom. The door shows the bullet holes of the two shots that went through it. Jim and the kids are standing in the courtyard where the prophet was shot while sitting in the 2nd story window. On our way to Nauvoo, we spotted a disc golf course so of course Jim had to stop and play it. The kids enjoyed the opportunity be out of the car and run around the park. We loved the drive along the Mississippi river as the sun was setting and you could see the Nauvoo temple sitting on a bluff in the distance.

The next morning I did any early session at the temple which was beautiful and then we headed to the historic area to learn all about life in Nauvoo. My favorite was the oxen and wagon ride.

Jim loved the tour of the Browning gun shop and the kids loved the pioneer kids play area with a play house, school, and games.

Each of the tours were very interesting though a little long for the two youngest attention spans. We got some free souvenirs from them which was cool like the rope the kids help made, prarie diamond rings, and a brick. We walked the Trail of Tears which the pioneers traveled leaving Nauvoo to cross the Mississippi river. Down by the river there is a monument to those pioneers that died on the journey from Nauvoo to Utah. Jim found one of his ancestors listed there, Mary Amick Mower.

Kirtland, OH

The first sightseeing stop on our cross country adventure was Kirtland, OH situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Much to the kids delight we arrived with enough time to enjoy a swim in the outdoor pool surrounded by a beautiful garden setting before it got dark. We stayed at the Lawnfield Inn and Suites which I would highly recommend. The service was above and beyond in everything.

The next day we headed over to the Historic area that has been preserved by the church. The early church pioneers settled here for a few years before moving west. We were taken on a tour of many of the restored structures by a pair of sister missionaries and learned about life during that time period. The area was beautiful situated right on a creek and river. Whitney loved visiting the Newel K. Whitney store as it had her name on it. These pictures below show the bottom floor which housed the store and the other side which was used for trading and bartering of goods.

Upstairs was a living area that the Prophet Joseph Smith and Emma resided in for a time along with the room that was used as the School of Prophets.

Here are the lumber mill and ashery that provided revenue for the community.

Afterwards we made the short trek down the road to visit the Kirtland Temple. We enjoyed the opportunity to go inside and tour the temple.

Last day of Kindergarten...

(School classmates (L to R) Camron, Justin, Aubrey, Ahman, Simon, Michael, Trevonna, Christopher, Whitney, Ms. Guigelaar, Azhariya, Mariah, Delaney, Madison, Carys, Davion, Jenocea, Kaitlyn, Ahviae)

Well Whitney got shafted (or lucky, depending on your view) and didn't get to finish the school year because of the move. She absolutely loved going to school each day and had a wonderful teacher Ms. Guigelaar and full time classroom aide Mrs. Lewis.

Here is Whitney with her best friend from school, Ahviae.

This is a picture of the kindergarten concert at the PTA meeting at the end of the year. They sang and did some actions to songs that they had learned in music class throughout the year.

We did a little project driving across the country where she would send a postcard from most of the states we traveled through back to her class and tell them about the things she saw that day. The teachers sent her a cute memory book once we arrived here and told her that the class loved hearing about her adventures and the states we went through.

Seneca Rocks

As our last hurrah before leaving Virginia we headed to West Virginia to camp and climb. Jim and a buddy Matt Hylton had been there previously and decided to would be fun to bring the families and camp the next time. So their climbing trip morphed into a multi-family camping trip with us reserving the last of the campsites for the Memorial Day weekend. It poured as we were driving up and setting up camp but cleared up shortly after and then was beautiful all weekend long. We had an amazing view of Seneca Rocks from our campsite. We set it up so each family was responsible for a meal so it made it nice not having to worry about cooking each meal and freed up more time to play. Some of the group went climbing each day including the older kids.

A group of us took the hiking trail to the top and even Maren and Kaikane, her 3 year old buddy hiked the whole way (1.5 miles, 1000 vertical feet to the top). The view was spectacular from up there and as you can see the ridge is very narrow.

We also did a cave tour one day and were able to do some gemstone mining while waiting. Here are some of the treasures they found in their mining rough.

It was a great weekend spent with friends!

Campbells, Fells, Carraways, Hyltons, Dahles, Napoleons