Well, it’s about time I posted our one big vacation for the summer of 2011.
We got to fly on an airplane to St. Louis Missouri!! Sounds pretty darn exciting, huh? It was the closest airport to our final destination: Jeff’s brother’s (Rob) house in Burlington, Iowa. They moved there last summer and they only live about 40 minutes from Nauvoo, Illinois.
In St. Louis we visited the Gateway Arch……
We took the cramped tram ride up to the top. 630 feet. Here we all are in the top to peek out the windows.
Jeff can’t live a moment without his cell phone. Just kidding. Someone happened to call when we were up there and he got reception.
I made our family take a swimsuit family picture before we swam in the hotel pool. Aren’t we hot? ;)
We went to the Ulysses S. Grant Farm outside of St. Louis and fed some really hungry goats.
We went to Carthage, Illinois and visited the Carthage jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered.
We took a tour of the building but in the middle of the tour Ben and Lizzie couldn’t stand it anymore and both started crying during the sister missionary’s testimony before we got to the final room. So we had to leave but we were told we could come back up to the room where Joseph was when he died with a tour guide in a little while after the tour group left. So later we got to be in that special room with just our family and a missionary. 
We went to Nauvoo with my sister-in-law Diana and her three children for part of one day while we were there. We didn’t get to do a whole lot because let’s face it…..Nauvoo isn’t a place to take little kids and spend the whole day. So we saw the temple.
Ben and Beckham
Erica loves here cousins, Arianna and Rachel.
We went and saw the oxen.
Touched the Mississippi River where the saints had to cross the river to start their journey to the West.
Went to the place where they showed us how the pioneers made bread, candles and other things. The girls had fun playing with dolls.
Visited Joseph, Emma and Hyrum Smith’s graves.
One day we got to go to a really fun zoo. The kids got to feed birds.
Lizzie loving the lions.
We love you Rob and Diana! Thanks for playing with us!
We went to the John Deere headquarters in Moline, Illinois.
Once we stopped at a buffet place and both of the kids were asleep when we got there. So we thought they would wake up when we got them out of the car but they kept sleeping for a while. We watched Erica eat her food for a while until they woke up.
This is what Erica got at the buffet. She is such a simple girl.
