Sunday, November 1, 2009

DAY THREE - AND WE STILL LIKE EACH OTHER!

Day Three - Best day of the trip!!!!
Seriously, this day was the highlight of the trip.
THIS is what we came for!

Brian and I got up early and went to the Nauvoo Temple.

It is gorgeous!
It was so peaceful.
Then the boys met us to perform baptisms.
There is nothing better than being in the temple with your family.

The people were so warm and kind.
They were so wonderful to share the history of the temple with us and show us around.

HOT TIP -
Fall is the BEST time to visit Nauvoo.
It is a) notpacked with summer crowds and b) the weather is gorgeous instead of hot and humid.
During the summer, the population of the town swells and the town is not really set up to handle al the tourists.  We had the place almost to ourselves. 

The temple with the boys was the BEST!!!!!

Then, we hopped in the car and headed to Carthage.
Carthage is just a 30-40 minute drive from Nauvoo.
Carthage Jail is where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred.

The Church does a phenomenal job of restoring these sites and providing information and tours of all of the church history sites free of charge.

The missionary who took us on the tour of Carthage did an incredible job.
Once again, we were the only ones there and had the place to ourselves.
She showed us the bullet holes in the door and the window sill.
There was plenty of time to look around, ask questions and sit and ponder.

It truly was a wonderful family day.

We got back to the hotel in time for a little rest.
Our room was on the second floor.
Just outside our room was a little sitting area where you could enjoy hot chocolate or tea and cookies every afternoon.
The boys took full advantage and they weren't happy that I preserved their "Tea Party" for posterity.
Garrett was somehow disappointed that with two teabags and FOUR packets of sugar, his herbal tea was "tasteless."  Total dorks!

For dinner, we got to go to Grandpa John's All You Can Eat FRIED CHICKEN and Catfish Buffet.

What a way to end the day!  More chicken wings!

3 comments:

Shirley said...

Isn't the Nauvoo temple just gorgeous! The boys could have walked the 23-mile martyrdom trail from Nauvoo to Carthage. They would have gotten a patch. (Are your boys involved in scouts?)

The Crazy Coxes said...

Shirley - Wow! The 23 mile walk! We did talk about how long the walk/ride would have been.

Both boys are in scouts. Garrett has his eagle and Parker just has to do the project/write up/yada yada - in other words the hard part! ;)

deb@virginia blue said...

what a great experience for your family! love, love, LOVE the tea party picture :)