May 28th - the Petrucka family arrived!! It was so exciting to have them here to visit! A popular past time for "the girls" - Eliza, Amanda, Joy & Mary - was the game of Slap Jack. They had a blast playing that game and got VERY noisy and a bit out of control sometimes!
Hazel tries to get in on the game...
Adam and Lydia were VERY excited to show me the caterpillars they found. You can't see it in the picture, but they made the caterpillars a wonderful little home in a shoebox!
On Thursday, June 2nd, we went down to the Coral Ridge Mall. While the little ones were in the Children's Museum, Mary, Adam, Eliza and Amanda went ice skating. They were a little wobbly at first, but caught on pretty quickly and had a great time!
Adam didn't want to let go of the wall, but he finally ventured out... and then fell. The girls skated over to help him. We were proud of him for giving it a try!
After leaving Coral Ridge Mall, we headed to Nauvoo. Thursday night, we visited Carthage Jail, where the Petruckas got quite a surprise! At the exact same time we pulled in to the parking lot...so did Tammy and Emmy!! Tammy had hoped to come up behind them and surprise them in the Visitor's Center, but no such luck! So, they had a happy reunion in the parking lot instead. The tour through the jail was wonderful as always. We ate at Dairy Queen for dinner and then drove back up to Nauvoo and checked in to the condo Mom and Dad rented. It was SO nice! We just visited for the rest of the evening and then went to bed.
The next day, the adults went to the Temple in the morning to finish the work for Granddaddy Wornom. What a wonderful experience!!
Then we picked up the kids from the condo and headed back in to town. We ate at Grandpa John's for lunch...how appropriate, eh? (My Granddaddy's first name is John!) Here's some pics of the kiddos at the restaurant. Check out Hazel's "ruby slippers". We got those for Hazel for her birthday which we celebrated during their visit. She LOVED them! That little girl already has a shoe fetish!
Next we went to the house of sin...the fudge shop!!! That fudge is sinfully delicious! Attached to the fudge shop is this little gift shop. I had to take a picture of this "jewelry tree" cuz Tammy almost knocked it over and a bunch of the jewelry fell off! We kept telling her to look and not touch, but she just couldn't resist touching all the pretty shiny jewelry! Just kidding, Tam! Had to give her a hard time about it!
After browsing through the shops, we went down in to Old Nauvoo. We went to the blacksmith shop and got our "prairie diamonds" and then went to Pioneer Pasttimes where they demonstrate all kinds of cool stuff the pioneers used to do and how they used to do it! We also stopped at a park area where they have pioneer toys and dress up clothes, but they were shutting down, so we didn't stay.
This picture is in the blacksmith shop. This missionary called Adam up to help him with his demonstration. Adam thought it was pretty cool!
This was at the park. They had some wooden horse and sheep the kids could sit on. Who are these adorable little girls?
Everyone at the park...
Unfortunately, we had to say good-bye to the Petruckas. Mom and Dad and the Petruckas headed back home Friday evening. Tammy, Emmy, and the girls and I stayed in Nauvoo. That night we went to Annie's Custard for some frozen custard...YUM! Then we went back to the condo and sat on the bed and talked for forever. We finally squeezed in dinner and a movie and went to bed late...but it was so worth it. We had so much fun!!
Saturday, we spent the day going back to the shops and touring Old Nauvoo some more. We had the neatest experience going on a tour of the Joseph Smith homes and buildings that are owned by the Community of Christ Church. We had the most wonderful tour guide and it was just the 5 of us, so she took some extra time and told us lots of stories and showed us some really cool stuff!
This is us in front of the Nauvoo House.
This is the Homestead where Joseph and Emma lived for a time.
This is the Mansion House which became Joseph and Emma's permanent home and was meant to become a large hotel where visitors to Nauvoo could stay. It was so cool to see that...I had never been inside that building before.
Here we are in the upstairs room of the Red Brick Store, the general store that Joseph owned.
Outside the Red Brick Store...the girls getting "tipsy" on their Old Fashioned Root Beer...
It was such a wonderful week and weekend!! Time is always wonderful when you get to spend it with family!
