St. Louis - Gateway Arch

We flew out of St. Louis so on our way "home" we made a stop at the Gateway Arch. It turned out to be a highlight of the trip and one of our favorite things from a really great trip!

This was our "escape pod" for my Star Wars fanatic children. It was a small enclosed windowless ferris wheel type car that took us to the top of the Arch.

630 feet in the air!
Considering Alec and Noble are scared of heights, this is something to brag about!
Taller than most (maybe even all) other U.S. landmarks.

Views from the top.

Lincoln's Tomb

We were not going to go see this and I am so glad that we did!
It is stunning and beautiful and so well done.



The monument/tomb itself is beautiful from the outside and really captures and honors his life. Once you walk in the door you walk around the tomb in a circle that has quotes from his many speeches on the walls and statues representing his life. In the back of the tomb is where he is buried along with his wife and three of his four children. (the fourth was buried at Arlington) Did you know there are no living descendants of Lincoln?

love of history

I can't say enough how delighted that I am that my boys like history. Especially U.S. History. It does good things for a stay at home Mom that homeschools heart to hear her kids get excited about history and want to hear and know more. When we get in the car one of my kids, including Hewy, will say "Can we listen to Story of the World?" which are audio books of world history. I can hardly believe my ears when I hear myself say, NO! No more, I can't take it! Literally, every time, we get in the car, this is their request. I just found and bought an Audio book set that is just U.S. History that I look forward to listening to with them.

Noble has been a Lincoln fan for several years now. He owns several books about him and will outright tell you that Abe Lincoln is his favorite president. That isn't because he knows the most about Abe, although that is probably true, Noble has several books on the presidents and can tell you all kinds of tidbits about all of them. When he suggested we see Lincoln sites while we were in Illinois I wasn't sure just how much Lincoln we could all take. Turns out, we did quite well.

I know that we all came away with new understanding of the man we already looked up to. Noble says he did learn new things, but that he still thinks that he knew and understood the most about Lincoln before we went. Alec and I suggested he visit again when he has kids and is in his 30's. I think his politic views might be different and he may gain new insights to his favorite president that he just doesn't quite grasp at 10.

Lincoln was a great example of many things and I couldn't really ask that my boys look up to anyone better. This statue honors him as a deputy surveyor - which he didn't know how to do, but he taught himself. Just like he learned to read on his own. He wasn't afraid to try new things. He wasn't afraid to fail. He wasn't afraid to try again.

Lincoln's New Salem

New Salem, Illinois, is where it is said "Lincoln became a man." He came here and tried many professions, wasn't afraid to try new things and do things he didn't know how to do. He was a postmaster and a surveyor among other things. He made many friend here, but once he decided to become a lawyer he left for Springfield and it is said, "When Lincoln left, the town left with him." The town died away. It has since been rebuilt to the way it would have look when Lincoln was there and is a historic site. It runs as a Living History Museum. Each home that we visited had very informative dressed for the time people that would talk to us and demonstrate life as it was then.



The Mississippi Gnats and Mosquito's were so bad when we first arrived we had to leave and go buy bug spray! Once we were covered, we had a good time!

At one of the shops the boys learned about a Pull Saw or a Plain. The man made them New Salem Icicles. Before this trip I don't think my kids could have told you what a cooper (barrel maker) was but they now talk about it just about everyday. As well as blacksmiths, wheel makers, grain mills, etc. They may feel like they were on vacation, but I see a lot of history and other subjects that were learned!

From the start of the trail to the end was about 1 mile with houses (complete with furnishings), barns (complete with animals), gardens (that were really growing), wells and wood piles along the way.

Hewy had a good time even though he couldn't really understand why we were really there. He became fascinated with root cellars. each one that he saw he would climb on it and say "take my picture Mom!"

Mrs. Lincoln's Attic

This was at the Lincoln Museum.
They had all kinds of hands on play things for kids to do.


dress up duds

A model of Lincoln's Home complete with dolls to play doll house.
Hewy spent most of his time here.

The toys of the time.
This was one of those get the ball to balance on the cup side (the side that is down here) or somehow with the Luck of nature get the hole in the ball on the spindle of the stick - that is what Alec somehow managed to do here - ON HIS FIRST TRY! We were both shocked!

Springfield - Lincoln

When Noble heard that we were going to Illinois to see Nauvoo he said - "Illinois, Illinois? Illinois like where Lincoln is from?" We knew then and there that we would need to make a side trip to see some Lincoln sites while we were in Illinois.

We drove to Springfield the capital of Illinois.

This is the Lincoln home.
The only home that the Lincoln's ever owned.


It was beautiful inside. I took pictures, but it just doesn't do it justice.
Also, the size of the kitchen in the house was bigger than the log cabin that Lincoln grew up in.
Interestingly, Lincoln's oldest son kept the house open to visitors after Lincoln's death. It was always free and often the door was left unlocked so people could come and go. It is now a National Park and all the homes on the street have been restored and are open for touring.

This was one of our favorite statues of Lincoln that we came across in downtown Springfield. There were penny's in Lincoln's hat.

We visited The Lincoln Museum and Library in downtown Springfield.
If you ever get the chance to visit, it is worth the time!
Here my family pose with the Lincoln's outside the Whitehouse.


Here the boys pose with young Abe outside his log cabin.

Leaving Nauvoo

In Historic Nauvoo there is a street named Parley. It became known as the "trail of tears" as this was the road that the Saints would travel down as they headed for the Mississippi to cross and head West. Not knowing where they were heading or how long it would take they left the beautiful city they had built from a swamp. Leaving the temple they had sacrificed so much to build, leaving homes they could not sell, leaving most of their belongings behind.

The trail has been renamed to the Trail of Hope because we now know that they found peace, they found a new home, they found safety in the Rocky Mountains. Nauvoo at the time of the Exodus was as populated as Chicago was at the time. The population of the city dropped from 19,000 to just over 1,000 in a matter of months as mobs threatened and chased the Saints from their homes in the middle of winter.

I cannot begin to comprehend their sacrifice. But my heart swells with gratitude for it. The mobs believed that if they killed Joseph Smith the religion would die with him, when it didn't, they drove the Saints out of their homes.

We chose as a family to drive down the Trail of Hope and read the journal entries from the car (it was raining) as we left Nauvoo. This statue of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young is at the end of the trail, looking to the West, with Joseph extending his arm as if showing Brigham the way.



We know he found it.
"The Place"


Nauvoo Temple history: The Saints sacrificed much to build their second temple to the Lord (the first was in Kirkland Ohio). The temple was burned by the mobs as the Saints left Nauvoo. Years later the outside walls were knocked down in a tornado. I still remember clearly the General Conference when President Gordon B. Hinckley announced they would rebuild the Nauvoo temple. It seems such a fitting and beautiful tribute to our heritage.

Both Alec and I have ancestors that were in Nauvoo at the time and came West with Brigham Young. While we were in Nauvoo we were able to find where their homes would have been.

One of the cool ancestor stories from Alec's side is after the Prophet Joseph was killed the mob came to the house and said "Your prophet is dead! If you deny that he was a prophet we'll let you be, but if you will not deny it we will burn your house to the ground!" His response was "Burn and be damned!" He asked if he could go in to get his Bible and they said he had had enough scripture and they burned his house to the ground. Thankfully he and his family were all safe. His name was Alexander Wilkins- one Alexander in a line that Alec is named after.

My line that was in Nauvoo is the Alexander line. Following the maternal line to my Great Great Grandmother, Ada Alexander and her father Alvah Alexander.

Hewy's name is Hewlett Alexander Dunn - these are the Alexander's (first and surnames) that he is named after.

Nauvoo - So Happy Together

just a few more pictures that are too cute to be left out!


Emily, Aerie, Liam and Leonie
The three on the left are our 2000 babies. Liam is the youngest, but nearly a head taller than the girls, something he is very proud of.

Katie, Aerie, Emily and Liam
the 3 on the right are the 2000 babies, turning nine this year!

Liam, Coco, Noble and Sophia

Grandpa w/Hewy, Sophia, Gabby (Sophia's friend), Coco, Noble, Liam, Anna-Amanda (from the play), Aerie, Sallie, Brent.

Nauvoo - the boys

I came home with so many pictures!
Here is a sampling of each of the boys time in Nauvoo.


Noble - my oldest is growing up!
Noble doesn't really "fit" with any of his cousins, but he is okay with that. He fits in where he does and is okay spending time with his parents or brothers or sometimes off by himself. Uncle Rob said that Noble is a well behaved kid. I couldn't agree more! Handsome too!

Liam is very social.
Liam enjoys being with his cousin Aerie the most but is really quite happy to spend time with anyone. Finding Liam alone is tricky! He likes to be with people and make the people around him feel special. He is also turning out to be a striking young man.

Hewy (for now) is the clear baby of our family.
Hewy could always find someone to carry him or a lap to sit on! He is a gracious kid, as gracious as three year olds get. He loves his Auntie Shauna and could often be heard all through Nauvoo shouting "Shauna!" when he knew she was nearby but not right with him.

My boys!
I have to say looking through the pictures makes me grateful that my boys genuinely like to be together. I enjoyed trekking through Nauvoo on foot with them our first day. What good kids I have!

Nauvoo - Joseph Smith Properties

The Community of Christ Church (RLDS) owns the Joseph Smith Properties in Nauvoo. We toured their Visitor Center and then they took us on a guided tour.


This is the Mansion House where Joseph left Emma and the children as he rode his horse to Carthage.

This is the Homestead where they lived before they built the Mansion house.

Although Joseph and Hyrum were buried in secret and moved a few times to keep them safe this is their final resting place. The small outbuilding you see was where they were found to be buried before this final resting place was created.

This is the rebuilt Joseph Smith Red Brick Store. It was a General Store downstairs and had a meeting room upstairs where Joseph Smith's office was as well as many meetings for the church. The most important thing that took place here for me is that the Relief Society was organized here.

Nauvoo - Rocket Balloons

I bought Rocket Balloons before we left and packed them as a last minute "this might be fun." And boy was it! They were awesome! It came with a pump that pumped the balloons up. You can see how big they were. Then the kids would let them go and they would make a whistling noise as they spiraled upward.



Hewy had a knacked for getting his stuck in the tree. That upset him, but we tried to make it a good thing by pointing out that he had gotten twice as many as anyone else stuck in the tree.

Grandpa enjoyed catching the balloons as they fell.

You can see here that Alec took over the pumping job for me and that is Laura, Anna and Shauna talking on the bench in the middle. This was the night the Aunties stayed out on that bench talking until after 11pm. We did one of our classic "Pedestal game" nights, but tried to shorten it up by limiting it to adjectives. A nice evening.

If you listen in the video you can hear Hewy crying that his got stuck in the tree. :)

Carthage

We all made the trip to Carthage from Nauvoo together.
It was a big group to tour the small jail but it was nice to be all together too.


The building in the background is Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred and a statue of the two of them in front.

This is the bedroom where they were when the mob broke in and the window that Joseph Smith fell from after he was shot. The "jail" was actually in someone's home. The back room was the "low security" jail, but the jail keeper didn't feel they were safe there so he allowed them to stay in his bedroom on the second floor.

This is the door to the bedroom. The bullet hole is the bullet that shot and killed Hyrum. You can also see a second bullet hole on the edge of the door. John Taylor was also shot, but not killed, he became the third president of the LDS church.

This is the staircase to the bedroom upstairs.

This was an interesting part of our trip and I think we all benefited from seeing it, however the most powerful experience that our family had was on Sunday when we watched The Joseph Smith Movie at the visitors center in Nauvoo. It may have been that it was the last day after several days of history and weeks of learning and studying Nauvoo and Joseph Smith's life. But our family (all 5 of us) had a powerful spiritual experience from watching the movie. As parents, Alec and I will always treasure seeing our children's testimonies grow and witnessing the powerful spiritual experience they had at such a young age.