Colorado, April 18 - ???????

Carthage, Illinois April 14, 2011

Carthage was one of my favorite places to visit. The spirit was so strong there. We visited the Carthage jail where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered by a mob. You could look out the window and see where the prophet Joseph Smith landed when he fell from the window.

The original door is still on the room where Joseph and Hyrum were shot. You can see two bullet holes in the door.

Nauvoo, Illinois April 13, 2011

We had a lot of fun in Nauvoo. It was surprising what a small town it was. The Mormon temple was beautiful sitting on top of the hill looking out over the Mississippi River. Down the hill from the temple was the little shops and homes of the pioneers. It was so fun seeing where the different people lived and some of the things they did.

Riley and Christopher made a rope just like they did in the old days. They showed us how they used to haul their water to their homes, how they made rugs, candles and bread in a fireplace. We visited the gun smith, the schoolhouse, and the bakery.

My favorite part was the trail to the river where every about 20 feet there was an exert from some of the pioneer journals that told about some of their experiences. Some of them brought tears to my eyes just reading what they had to go through.

We went to an evening performance at the town hall that was so much fun!! The missionary couples had a singing and dancing performance called "Welcome to Nauvoo" that was great!

Niagra Falls, New York April 11, 2011

COLD!!! It was cold and windy at Niagra Falls. As we were driving to the falls the road followed along the river and I kept noticing a wide white something along the side of the river in the water. I kept thinking it was foam but when we got closer we could see that it was chunks of ice floating along the side of the river.

The falls were incredible but boy was it cold!! There were huge ice burgs at the bottom of the falls. It was so windy that the boys were holding out their coats to make a mini parachutes. They would lean into the wind and it would hold them up. They were having a lot of fun!!

My favorite part of the falls was Horseshoe falls. It was beautiful. We didn't get to go down on the lower level lookouts because they were still covered with ice!

Palmyra, NY April 9, 2011

In the spring of 1820 a young boy named Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees to pray and saw and talked to God the Father and Jesus Christ. In the spring of 2011 we were privileged to be able to visit and walk through this same grove of trees and feel the spirit there! What a special place to visit. You could sit and reflect on what happened there almost 200 years ago.

We went through the log cabin where the Joseph Smith family lived and then on to the frame house they later lived in.

Pennsylvania April 8, 2011

Pennsylvania is gorgeous. The rolling hills with tons of trees and farms covering the land, beautiful farm houses with huge red barns, and the incredible covered bridges!! I would have loved to just drive around looking at the land.

We stayed in Harrisburg and then drove from Hershey across the countryside to Columbia. We drove through Omish country and saw a man plowing fields with huge work horses pulling a plow. There were tons of quilt shops that I would have loved to go through. It was fun seeing it all.

We spent the afternoon in Columbia at the Watch and Clock Museum. Steve was in heaven. He LOVES watches and clocks. I did't think we would ever get him out of there. It was fun to see and the one clock stood 11 feet high and took 20 years to make. A man showed us all the different things it did when it struck the hour. The boys loved that clock!

As we drove from Pennsylvania to New York it was cold and rainy. When we got almost to New York there was snow by the sides of the road. Christopher was so excited that we had to pull over to the side of the road and he and Riley had a snow ball fight!

Hershey, PA April 7, 2011

Hershey, Pennsylvania, the sweetest place on earth! We loved seeing the Hershey's Chocolate factory!! We took a tour to see how they make all the different candy. They even gave us samples at the end of the tour! Yummy!!

After the tour we did the Create Your Own Candy Bar! That was a lot of fun. You get to choose what kind of chocolate you want your bar to be. Next you choose what all you want in your bar. Then you design the cover of your candy bar. I had milk chocolate, toffee, and almonds. It was awesome!!

The street lights in Hershey are all shaped like Hershey kisses! It was a very SWEET place to visit!!

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, April 6, 2011

Gettysburg is fun to see. There are cannons all around in the fields and you can just picture what it must have been like during the Civil War. We didn't spend a lot of time here. I think we were all burnt out on museums and needed a rest. We were able to see enough that the boys learned what happened here and got a good feel of the area.

Washington D.C. April 1 - 5, 2011

There is so much to do and see in Washington D.C. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and it is gorgeous. A little on the cold side but sooo... pretty! The boys started out by going to the International Spy Museum. I went across the street to the National Portrait Museum. The boys loved all the spy stuff. They even got to crawl through the air vents!

The next day we took the train into Union Station and went on a bus tour of the city. We went to the capital, the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and a few other things. It was a really fun day but totally exhausting. To chill out we went to the movie "Diary of a Whimpy Kid 2". The boys loved it. They were cracking up! It was fun to watch them. We were the only ones in the whole theater so they were able to just let loose!

The following day we did the museums. The air and space museum was a favorite of the boys and I enjoyed seeing the American History Museum and the gowns of some of the first ladies. We went into the Natural History Museum but didn't get to stay long. We were wishing we had more time.

Arlington National Cemetery was awesome to see also. We went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Marine Corp statue. Very cool!!

We stopped by the Washington D.C. temple on our way out of town. It is gorgeous!

Williamsburg & Jamestown, Virginia March 30, 2011

Cold, wet and rainy!! We still had a fun time though but we did break down and buy umbrellas!

In Williamsburg we went to hear Thomas Jefferson speak. He was a great man and very knowledgeable. It was fun to hear what it was like at the time of the Revolutionary War from "someone who had been there". We visited a wig shop, a silver smith, a dress maker and several other shops in Williamsburg. It was fun but sooo... cold!!

Then we headed to Jamestown. We saw where Pocahontas got married. We saw where the first permanent white settlement was. There were so many items to check out in the museum there that they had found in that area. Very interesting!!