Road trip leg six

Our next visit was to James and Emily in Maryland.  I always feel a spirit of peace in their home.  I enjoy visits with them.  This time, they have an orphan named Denys staying with them for the summer.  That was fun to meet him.  We spent our days with them playing games, foosball tournaments, making pasta, swimming in a river, visiting DC and going to church.

We didn't visit because it's under renovation, but at first glance the DC temple is always very impressive.

Sam, Denys, Ada, James, Wesley, Evelyn, Graham, Henry, Seth, me

I think that Ian and Duncan were on James' lap but got cut out of the picture.

Evelyn+Graham+pokemon+Alexa=funny business.

They took us to this fun and beautiful river just a few minutes from their house.  It was just right.  All the kids had a blast.  I especially liked this little waterfall.  

Jer and Wesley were skipping rocks to each other, this one he skipped towards me.

Then they took us down river a little bit where there was a rope swing.  These boys were pro at it and Jer said later that he was super sore all through the middle from gripping the rope for all he was worth.  Sam had a blast, but after we said it was time to go he jumped down from one of these rocks into the shallow edge onto another rock and split his heel open.  6 or 7 stitches and a dramatic instacare visit later he had to walk on crutches the rest of the vacation.

Ada in her happy place.  She loves lakes and rivers.... every time we swim in one she just finds time to chill.

Road trip fifth leg

We stopped over at Kirtland.  It was super hot, but it was awesome timing.  We've been reading in the Saints book about their time in Kirtland so the kids at least recognized names and places as we went.  We didn't take the official tour because of time constraints, but I loved Jer telling the kids about the school for prophets and reading the plaques in front of the different buildings.   We were going to take the tour of the Kirtland temple, but there was a one hour wait and we didn't want to put off getting to our cousins too late, so we just walked around it and tried looking in windows.  When I was little, we did go in and it looked like a tabernacle with two ends instead of one.  Now as an adult, two things struck me.  One was that it was like a practice temple.  The craftsmanship and the materials of the second temple are so much superior.  I know that they had more craftsmen and more resources for the second, but the Kirtland temple gave them a chance to practice what they would go on to improve.  The second thing is that the sacrifice of the early saints is not cheapened by the fact that there is no spirit left on the grounds.  We went to the Community of Christ visitors center and it was interested to read about all the saints that had left the church and stayed.  It was also surreal to see all the things that the break off churches still treasure.... like Emma's collection of hymns and the Book of Mormon that they've edited and reprinted differently. It was weird to see and talk about these things and not have the spirit present.

Road trip fourth leg

We swung up into Wisconsin to visit Jed and Jenny Harris.  We've been friends from since the beginning of our marriage, and despite distance we still remain friends.  I very much enjoyed catching up and they not only made a Star Wars game for us, but they recommended a small cheese store to us on our way out of Wisconsin.  It was sooooo good, and we made it just in time.  The family owned business was closing in one week, so it's now closed, but the cheese was amazing.  Then we stepped over to the touristy cheese store that had over 700 different types of cheese.  We did find a couple of good ones, like an aged Havarti and chocolate cheese.

We drove through Chicago on our way down.  Yummy pizza and a look down the coast of the great lakes.  Our introduction to toll roads.  I love the architecture and someday we'll have to come back and see the Zephyr train at the museum.

Road trip third leg

 After seeing Mount Rushmore, we stayed in Andy Ollerton's house.  Andy was Jer's best friend growing up.  It was fun to see them reminisce.  He lives in Sioux Falls, SD.  We went to play at the park, had hot dogs and pizza for dinner and chatted until all hours of the night.

We needed to stretch our legs on the way out, I searched for something along our route where we could get out and stretch.  We found the Corn Palace.  It was funny and a great place to get the kids attention and play for a minute.  It's all decorated with corn.  Of course we bought popcorn from the corn palace to eat in the car.  They had the same type of tractor that my grandpa Ellis taught me to drive when I was Ada's age.  I was pleased to be able to look at it and remember most of it even though I haven't driven one for 20 some odd years. 

Evelyn and Andy's daughter decided that they were immediate and fast friends.  It was super cute.

The kids saw lightning bugs and heard cicadas for the first time.  They all liked the lightning bugs and only half liked the cicadas.